Starting Chemo January 6, 2014

Hi guys,

Wanted to share some of my experience. 

katiegrey - I did my double BMX back in November before chemo. Prior to the surgery I spoke to a few people who had done it before but then decided I heard enough. Everyone has a different experience and I didn't want any other experiences to scare me or put the wrong ideas in my head. The important thing to know is that you will be OK. Be prepared that the first few days will be different than what you've experienced so far but you will be shocked to see how your body recovers and how quickly you will start to feel strong again. The best advice to prepare yourself is to enlist some help for the first few days and let them do things for you. Everything else will fall into place and you will heal If you have specific questions you can msg me. 

RHGSR - You asked about exercise. I wanted to share, after my first AC I began going to pilates and discovered it was the BEST thing for me, it has saved me. I was feeling weak and useless and it gave me strength and confidence. I found a private pilates instructor that is trained in rehabilitation and has had cancer herself. Since January I have been seeing her 1-2 times per week. She is always able to gear the class around my strength that day. Sometimes we just do stretching other times a full workout. It is fantastic, wakes up all of my muscles and puts me back in control. It is a great way to work out while being gentle and kind to your body. The downside is its expensive but so so worth it. Seriously, it's amazing. 

I have more than just fuzzes…my hair seems to be growing

These aren't exactly my favorite pictures, but I'm going to be brave and share them anyway so you can get an idea of how much hair growth to expect. This was from when I did TCH in 2010. I had my last chemo in early July -- the 2nd, I think.  The first picture was taken mid-September (2.5 months PFC), the second picture was Christmas Eve (nearly 6 months PFC).

Stephanie, I am doing Taxol and I have them all over and now they are turning dark brown. My hair is black. I don't expect much since I still have 4 Taxol's left.

congrats again Barbara, ok so now I see what the flower and streamers were in your other picture, May Day maypole! Nice. And no bell at my facility but thinking of getting one and donating so others have something "noisy" to mark the milestone. Welcome to the PFC club. Now onto rads and discussing hair regrowth. This will be soooo much better than discussing SE's from chemo. 

Hoping everyone else good days with manageable SE's. 

I'm glad you found them helpful Susan. I'd played musical hair lengths so many times, going super short then growing it back out again, I think I may have had an easier time than most about my hair loss just because I'd had so much experience growing it out. It took me 3.5 years to do it, but I grew it back out past shoulder length. Then I had to start chemo again. So before it could fall out, I got it cut super short so I could donate it to Locks of Love. And I loved the short short style I got. That's the style I'm going to when my hair comes back this time. Here are the before and after pictures from that day. (The "after" is with the lovely lady who cut my hair.) :-)

my hair was long and I cut off 8 inches or more.  I wish I had though to go bold to start and give to locks of love. live and learn.

carolsue ~ your short hair looks amazing! It's sassy and hip and really flatters your face.

I see you are Stage IV too. Congrats on the last chemo, mine was March 12. I'm growing my hair back for the second time

Thanks everybody, Got home a little while ago and trying to rest up. Our county Relay for Life is tonight, and I really want to go. We have so many friends heavily involved in the event. Our former neighbor who also happened to be my son's elementary school PE teacher chairs the event every year, so they get a lot of participation out of our schools. My BC support group signed up as a group and we're planning to meet for the survivor dinner and walk the survivor lap together. My church will have a tent there, and I almost always see a group from my radiation oncologist's office there. It's like a great big reunion and my son has a blast running around with his friends. I really really hope I'll feel good enough to go.

good luck with your upcoming decisions Marren. It's a lot to think about.

Katie-congrats on finishing chemo! 

My bs  said they'd give me 4 weeks off after chemo before surgery. So I'll prob have surgery in June. But I'll def check out the May board. 

looks like I'm on the June schedule as well.   Haven't posted in a while, just finished #7 taxol, has been great compared to the AC.  Main complaints are constipation(trying senna tabs at night) and nail pain.  I will gladly put up with these though!

I finish taxol 6/5 and then will have bilateral mast. Followed by radiation.   I meet with the plastic surgeon on Tuesday to get a timeline for the surgery and expanders, etc.    Glad everyone is starting to think about the end of chemo, it's nice to have something to look forward to.  

Glad to hear so many of you are moving along through this journey.

I have had some setbacks again. My husband had his gallbladder removed & a hernia repaired a little over a week ago. I caught a cold/flu from taking him to surgery.  So, I had my first ER trip & three days of fluids...no chemo last week, my blood was too depleted by illness.  We are both frustrated because we have been so careful & thought this would be ok since our help had to cancel due to the flu.

There is a Race for the Cure Team that is walking for me on Mother's Day, but now I cannot go because of germs & exertion. I am bummed about that. I just want this chemo trip to end...8 more weeks.

Oh, Asb, I am so sorry to hear this.  I've been wondering how you have been doing with your recovery.  I had BMX in December.  It is very good news that your nodes are clear and that they got it all.  Try to focus on that.  Also that your chemo got stopped and the tumor was removed, instead of waiting until you finished the chemo, especially since it was not working.

My chemo goes until July 2, so I'll be getting it part of the summer with you.  Sending you lots of healing thoughts.

Asb -- I can't imagine how upsetting it must have been to learn that the chemo wasn't shrinking the tumor. I'm so glad they were able to remove it all surgically. Wishing you well on your next treatment. On a side note, my husband is from Concord. :-)

Desimone -- congrats on reaching the halfway point! Hope your side effects stay manageable.