Chemo in May 2014

Chev0814 Just take it one step at a time. I had 8 treatments one dose dense treatment every two weeks and I can honesty say that it really was not bad at all. I did not experience any stomach problems, mostly lost my taste and appetite. Everyone is different but I have met a lot of people who have not had a difficult time with chemo.

hi there Chev0814, I'm going to be in the May Chemo group along with you. I have my MO appt on May 6th and am seriously nervous about the SE possibilities. I have had two lumpectomies this month and can do that all day long compared to the unknowns of Chemo. In 5 weeks I found a lump, had a mammo, ultrasound, biopsy, met with a surgical oncologist, had a lumpectomy, found out 2/3 of my sentinel nodes had small amount of cancer = buying me a ticket to the chemo chair, had a second lumpectomy bc they also found pre-cancer cells that we all agreed needed to come out, and now I have to wait 2 and a half weeks to meet with my MO which feels like a lifetime. I like to move just fast enough to be thorough, but not slow enough to have time to think and get anxious. You know? 

Kat4856, I hope we are like you in terms of SE's. Thanks for sharing. 

I've been lurking on the April chemo 2014 thread, and am finding their tips and high spirits very helpful. 

lakegirl1, I agree... normal would be nice.  This situation feels anything but normal. I feel like a stranger in my own body and most of all, I don't trust it. Well, enough of that. I'm going to fight this with all I have (and I have a lot of fight in me!). I'm technically cancer-free and I'm going to do the chemo, radiation and hormone therapy to give me the best chance of staying that way. 

I think through this bumpy, windy road we have ahead of us, we will get some normal days and when we do, we have to hold on to them real tight! 

Hi everyone, I get to join this group too. I never imagined I would be on this journey either. I was completely shocked after getting my first mammogram on 2/14. I had a BMX on March 12th and my team was pretty confident that tamoxifen would be the only other treatment. No such luck. A small amount of cancer was found in my sentinel node so chemo and radiation here I come! I had a very big pity party for myself for about 2 weeks, I had no idea one person could cry so much. I spent hours and hours on this forum and gained strength from those that have been through this or are going through this now. I have picked myself up and am trudging forward. I start TC on Monday (5th). I've been gathering supplies from all the recommendations I've found here. I think I'm as prepared as I could be. My son has his senior prom tomorrow so I'll keep my mind busy but I think I'll be pretty nervous Sunday.  I'm trying the cold caps and have found many success stories here. I hope I'm one too! Good luck to everyone! Let's hope we all do great and have minimal SE's! We can do this girls!!!

Still at a loss for words, but starting TCH on May 8, so I thought I'd join your group. Nice to meet you all and good luck to everyone.

Looks like the May group is growing sadly. I've been reading and getting information lots of prep information off these boards and have taken the plunge to start posting. I had my first chemo treatment this past Friday, May 2nd. I will say it was a long day. Started at 9:30am in "the chair" and back in the car to go home at 4:15pm. Three more to go, every three weeks and then I drop down to just a Herceptin infusion (90 minutes) for the next year. So far, so good. No reactions while in the chair and presently feeling fine. Of course my oncology nurse (sorry haven't picked up all the abbreviations yet for people) said 3-5 days out I could start experiencing flu like symptoms. I have still to get my Neulasta shot I need but you have 24-72 hours for that and we decided it would be okay to wait and get mine on Monday mornings rather go in to the walk in clinic on the weekend and risk being around sick people.

As far as I know the game plan for me anyway is to start my rounds of radiation in August (this year) and I'll be doing that in conjunction with the Herceptin infusions. They're not waiting until those are all completed new year before radiation starts.

Good luck to everyone. I hope we all get through this with as few SE as possible. Next Saturday is buzz cut day for me. I decided I's rather take my hair before it starts coming out on it's own, I win that battle (and you need to take your wins where you can). Also sounds like it's less painful to take it off yourself than let it fall out. Losing my hair is the one thing that has been said to me by my docs since the initial surgery consult.  Better to be bald in the summer than in a cold New England winter. (looking for those silver linings.)

Be strong everyone (as strong as we can be).

greetings all!

I started my chemo last year in May and wanted to drop in and give some words of encouragement, and some advice, as well as my experience.  Take from this what will make it work for you.

First, my chemo was TC, 4 rounds, given every 3 weeks.  It IS doable.  The "lucky" part of this schedule was I was done in July.  I took my family to Disneyworld for 2 weeks the end of August (stayed in time shares)...I did pretty well given what I was recovering from!

Now my memory is bad (always has been) but I will recall as best I can my experience.

Treatment day, I felt good

Day after treatment I would go for Neulasta shot. Still felt ok, but taste of things started to change

By 2nd -3rd day after chemo things definitely tasted different and I was more tired, this lasted a few days.

By week 2, into week 3 I felt pretty darn good.  After first round of chemo I even went to the gym during this period!

I will say by 3rd dose of chemo I was a bit more tired...and didnot get up to the gym..maybe a mistake?  I do believe the more you get up and walk around the better you feel.  I also do recall just sleeping, on and off, for a whole day...so go with it!

My tips:

Icing:  I brought along frozen veggies (in a bag, not box) and iced my finger tips and toes during Taxotere drip.  I had read that somewhere on these boards. Purpose: avoid neuropathy.  Oncologist said she never heard of it and said I could do it.  My center also had ice dispenser so I sucked on ice chips during that drip...to avoid mouth sores.  It seems to have worked for me, no neuropathy, no mouth sores...though at one point I did feel odd in my mouth so they wrote a prescription for "magic mouthwash"

Hydrate, drink lots of water (or another liquid)the day if treatment, during your treatment, and after, as well as the next day.  First, a well hydrated person makes it easier for the chemo nurses to find your veins.  Next, you want to start flushing that poison out.  By day after chemo plain water seemed gross, so I purchased a bunch of different flavored waters and kept drinking til I found something I liked.

Neulasta shot...I hope you have all heard about Clariten 24 hour to avoid the bone pain associated with the Neulasta shot (check with you oncologist before taking anyone's advice as to supplements and OTC items please).  My onc had never heard of taking it and she said "it couldn't hurt".  The onc nurse said I was their ONLY patient that did not complain of bone pain!  Gee wonder why!  Anyhow, take a Clariten 24 on the morning of your Neulasta shot and each morning thereafter for 7 days.  I had zero complaints of bone pain.

Steroids:  make sure you follow the directions of taking the steroids.  Each doctor has their own variation of prescribing, but don't forget.

Anti-nausea meds. Nah be them filled before hand.  Take at first sign of feeling ill.don't wait.  If they don't work, call and get new med immediately.  No one should suffer, you don't want to become dehydrated and hospitalized for throwing up too much. (I never threw up-took my anti- nausea meds about 5 days following chemo).  Also, get a small pill bottle and take a few of those pills with you...because you never know. (Oh, and they came in handy when I went on those big roller coasters in Disney! Lol)

Stool softener/Metamucil...some of the things, like pain meds, can cause constipation.  Have your items ready and institute as necessary...I think I took those along with my pain meds those first 5 days.

Anti-diarrhea:  some patients get diarrhea as a side effect of chemo.  Have this handy. (Never happened to me)

Food:  you need to eat.  Things will taste different.  For me, a mcdonalds chocolate shake and a McDouble (had to be a McDouble, a regular cheeseburger didn't do it for me!) tasted like heaven.  I also LOVED watermelon, it was so cold and juicy.  I went through a watermelon each round of chemo .  And eggs, lots of eggs.  Worked for me.  You need to keep up your energy levels. Keep trying til you find something you like.

Rinse your mouth each time after you eat.  I used Biotene. (Available in Walmart, CVS). Try to keep your mouth clean that first week after treatment. There are also concoctions you can make, which escape my memory, involved baking soda and salt and water? Rinse. Especially if you feel "odd" in your mouth.  

I kept all my meds in a shoebox, along with a thermometer and a notepad to jot down side effects...then if people were coming over I could put away the shoebox as opposed to carrying bottles..

Hair loss...it is a very personal choice as to what to do.  I personally had my cut short (from shoulder length) and it started falling out about the 12th day after round 1 of chemo.  (Out a strainer in the drain so you don't clog the drain!). I have 3 children,  my 10 year old would come and pull out my hair, I found it helped her cope...as she had been very upset when she found out my hair would fall out (told to her by some kid in school!). Anyhow, I never did lose all of mine, but I surely wasn't going to be seen looking the way I did. I hated the wigs I had ...well except for a really cool pink and white wig which I wore to 2 parties!  Anyhow, I wore BUFFS. You can google that.  I loved them., I would pull the extra into a "ponytail " some of them even matched my clothes (I'm not a "matchy" person)

Wigs..I hope you have all signed up for a Look Good Feel Better workshop run by the American cancer society.  They give you FREE makeup, and a wig..usually on site, but some are vouchers to one of their wig banks. Well worth the appointment.  They taught me some tricks for making my eyes look better when the eyelashes fall out.

That's all I can remember for now.

Wishing you all the best.

Pat

So very glad your first treatment went well for you missy!  A lot of people are saying to take the nausea meds even if you don't need them, as it's harder to combat once it starts. Not sure if you plan on it or not, but better to be safe than sorry. I will definitely be taking them ahead of time. I'm terrified of the nausea. Yeah, out if everything to be scared about, it's the nausea that has me a mess.

I find out tomorrow what my meds and schedule looks like. Hope your post treatment days are all uneventful! 

Thanks for the info on the cold caps. I plan on bringing that up tomorrow just to get her opinion.

Dd

My first treatment is May 15th. This Saturday I'm having a "pre chemo" party. My husband will be out of town with one of the boys, so it will be me, my best friends, favorite beverages (orange Mojitos!) and thinking about shaving my head. I ride motorcycle, and have a big ride for Make A Wish on May 31st. My daughter was a wish recipient a few years ago and I do NOT want to miss that ride. I'll be about day 17 then, right when my hair would be falling out, so I'm going to shave it ahead of time. I'm thinking my scalp is going to hurt inside my helmet so I bought some sleep hats to wear inside. 

Hi ladies

I'm poking in to say hello and GL to all of you starting chemo this month. I'm from Feburary and have 2 more TAC's left. I remember going into the first treatment...I was scared to death! The fear of the unknown is the worst I think. ((hugs)) to all of you!

The ride is only about 50 miles, but its an all-day-long event, street dance, etc. My daughter (who was the wish recipient a few years ago) rides along in my sidecar. 

I see some of you had the DIEP flap reconstruction.  What can you tell me about surgery and recovery? I had a lumpectomy, but the margins were close, so I'll need another surgery after chemo. Thinking about a BMX withDIEP instead of another lumpectomy.

Chemo starts Thursday for me. Taxatore, carboplatin and herceptin.

.

Hi ladies,

I am joining the group and starting my ACT chemo on 9th. Good luck to all of us, girls.

I am still very pissed about being diagnosed on my 35th birthday. All my life I was looking for 35th bday, thinking that this going to be a maturity milestone, yet it turned out to be a final countdown day - well, at least it felt this way back then.

@CherryHill Remember us guys here too. 

Thanks, debiann. I am still in a bit of denial I think. This all started one night in December when I just happened to roll over in bed and my hand brushed my chest and I felt a bump. Neither my general practitioner (who's VERY good) nor my specialist who looked at it thought it was anything to worry about, since it was not in my nipple area, but further up nearer my collar bone. That plus my age (43 at the time) made them think it was just a lipoma (fatty deposit). My general surgeon offered to take it out in the office and I said sure. Then a week later he tells me it came back as invasive breast cancer! Even my surgical oncologist at U of M Cancer Center was shocked at where mine presented. He said he'd never seen that before  - and he sees hundreds of breast cancer patients a year! So in five short weeks I went from an in-office "harmless lipoma" removal to full-blown breast cancer with lymph node involvement. I think I'm still trying to adjust to the new reality somewhat.