Starting Chemo March 2015

and Dear Shaz- thanks for the wonderful compliment !

Marcibh, go get a second opinion just for peace of mind. I did, even though I went with my first oncologist.

dianeDavis, one day at a time! Totally understand the worn out thing. Do something nice for yourself, you are totally worth it.

Jackbirdie, enjoy the seals on the Oregon Coast. I'm in San Diego, and it is the most gloriously beautiful day along the west coast today.

You are all beautiful ladies, and I cannot express how much it means to me to have you all to talk to through this process.

I grew up in Illinois, married a traditional Midwestern man. Later in life, we moved to San Diego, divorced, and I met my now husband (of 20 years). We took our first trip to Italy together two months after we met, and we fell in love there, moved in together (after about 3 and 1/2 months), and have had a wonderful life for the past 20 years. So he has always known me as his Italychick. It also doesn't hurt that I am Sicilian and Greek! I am 52 - don't know if my bio information says that. I am interested in how old everybody is on this forum

I am not fasting. I killed myself to lose 50 pounds 4 years ago, and have become religious about working out. I cut out all processed food, etc. already. I can't take anymore deprivation lol.

Wilkigirl, I gained 7 pounds during the four days of steroids, but most of it is gone now, 3 days later. Scared me pretty bad, though. My feet and ankles were swollen and I couldn't wear closed toed shoes.

I'm going to try sucking on ice chips for round 2 to try and get rid some of the mouth stuff. I read it on a forum, and I figure it can't hurt.

Shaz101, I have been brushing the crap out of my tongue and it may be helping. Hope the beach was enjoyable - I went to our San Diego beach this afternoon too

Oh yeah, I wasn't given oral steroids - which was fine with me so I can't speak to that.

I do brush my tongue but I bought a child's toothbrush for the extra soft bristles.

my birthday is April 17, so another Aries here!

good morning ladies! Better night's sleep last night but have swollen glands. Yuk. Ordinarily I would br it off.

I'm stopping the steroid today and am thinking about an advance attack on nausea. Does anyone have any opinions, experience, hearsay, guesses, on Compazine/Prochlorpet vs Zofran/Ondansetron?

Had the burps yesterday but not really reflux. I'm ready for that if I do.

Tips?

Otherwise I feel ok. Hydrating and planning a walk soon.

Katy

I'm doing the AC right now so it's a different cocktail but that's correct...for me I wasn't given any oral steroids before or after infusion.

I've been taking both Zofran (every 8 hours) and Compazine (every 6 hours) to combat nausea. So far it's working.

I just can't believe how dang tired I am - and shaky like I had the flu. I have lost 7 pounds because I've only eaten a few bites over the past several day.

Hi all,

This seems to be the place where I should fully introduce myself. So, a formal introduction...

My name is Whitney. I'm 27 years old, I found a lump in my left breast in November 2014, then I was diagnosed with ER/PR/HER2+, stage 1, grade 3 breast cancer on December 1, 2014. On December 15, 2014 I had a lumpectomy, and in February I went through fertility treatments to freeze eggs due to my age. Doctors are pretty confident I'll gain my fertility back, but I decided to save the eggs as an 'insurance policy' if you will. Up until dx, I was positive I wanted kids, now, after dx, I'm not entirely sure where I see my life going, so better to have all options on the table. On February 6 I had my retrieval surgery.. not too bad, and had abdominal discomfort for about a week. On February 23, I had my port placement surgery... the surgeon did an AMAZING job, and the incision is incredibly thin and will hopefully fade quickly. I just hate that it looks like I have a little alien growing under my chest. Since I'll be living with it for a year, I named her Penelope, aka Penny the Port.

My treatment is going to be TCH-P, 6 rounds over the course of 18 weeks (so once every 3 weeks), then continuing Herceptin once every 3 weeks to complete a full year of treatment. I had my first chemo last Monday, March 2. So far, the side effects have been okay. I'm already getting the tingling in my hands and feet, despite taking vitamin B6 to try to help minimize it, and I'm super wiped out. I've been sleeping a lot this weekend, which I suppose is normal. The doctors and other women say to sleep when you feel tired, so that's what I'm trying to do while I have the time to do it.

I'm doing cold capping because I wanted to feel a sense of normalcy during treatment. However, not getting to wash my hair as frequently as I used to is driving me a little nutty, and I almost feel like a wig would be easier. I found one that I liked that my mom and stepdad helped me pick out. A little different than my normal hair, but it looks like I just went to the salon. I'll post a picture below. The cold capping process was time consuming, although the cold really wasn't that unbearable. I had a heating blanket and wore comfy, warm clothes, so it wasn't a big deal. Maybe my pain tolerance is higher than I thought.

I have a lot of the same concerns as all of you, as to whether I'll be able to work during treatment, how bad the side effects will be, not feeling like 'myself' during treatment... I just started a new job in January in the middle of all of my surgeries, so I can't take advantage of any FMLA benefits or long term disability benefits that my job offers. This past week after my first chemo was okay, I started to fade a little near the end of the week and had a hard time focusing, but I made it. I've already decided that if it becomes too much to handle, my health comes first, and I'll have to say something to HR and see what happens. Hopefully they'll be compassionate and will let me take time off and save the job for me. If not, then it wasn't meant to be.

Anyway... that's my long, drawn out story. Right now I'm having a really bad acne reaction... not sure if that's from chemo or trying a new face wash the other day (bad idea as far as timing on my part), but since it's not letting up, I'm thinking it's the chemo.. waiting on a reply from my oncologist to see if this is common and if he can give me an Rx for it. It's super embarrassing and uncomfortable. I'm almost wishing I had the bad nausea or vomiting instead of this...

One thing I will say is that I started taking the anti-nausea meds as soon as I got home that night after my first chemo, and took it in the morning and before bed, for about 5 days. I figured it was better to be ahead of the side effects rather than try to get them in control after they happened. So far, a few bouts of diarrhea (probably because I took a Sennokot for constipation, and it worked TOO well, so not sure I can blame the chemo), and exhaustion are my main side effects, along with the acne.

Wishing you all the best of luck. We'll get through this, even if there are days where it doesn't feel like it.

Me the day before Chemo #1

Me with the wig I'll be getting if cold capping doesn't work for me. I'll have them cut bangs into it since that's how I usually wear my hair, and probably trim it to be a little shorter.. Clearly it's a wig, but not too bad, right? I sent the picture to friends, and many of them asked if I simply got a hair cut, until they noticed the tag. Not sure if they're being sincere or just gentle with me..

wpmoon- the wig looks great! It really does look like your natural hair!

I have very curly hair so I couldn't find a wig that will match my hair. I got a shorter pixie cut and figure this will be the one time in my life I get to try on straight hair for a while.

One of the nurses at the infusion center mentioned the creme to me. I must have a high pain tolerance because I wasn't bothered when they accessed my port. I'm more bothered right now by my tissue expander than anything else!

Hello Ladies,

I have been reading all weekend, just not posting - low mental energy.

Physically I'm doing not too badly. Maybe I think so, because I was expecting worse? Besides, I only had one treatment of Taxol and Herceptin so far, last Tuesday.

I noticed there was a question of steroids earlier in the thread. I only got them via IV as a part of premeds. Also, I was given Zofran via IV before chemo. I was prescribed some Zofran (generic though) pills to take home, but I was instructed not to take them earlier than Thursday evening (two days after chemo). I'm guessing the IV Zofran was supposed to last in my system until then. I felt nauseated a little bit on Tuesday and Wednesday mostly. Not so much on Thursday, but I did take Zofran on Thursday and Friday night, before dinner. And that was it, nausea-wise I'm doing pretty well this time. I don't have a huge appetite, but I try to eat small amounts frequently and I do drink much more water than usual as I was told both things help prevent nausea. I try to drink 1/2 gallon water, which is not easy for me.

I have some finger and toe tingling here and there, it seems to be coming and going. I do take the vitamin B6 and I drink L-Gluatmine 3 times a day - tastes horrible to me.

So far no mouth problems, I do rinse throughout the day with Biotene. At times my tongue has a little burning sensation, but not much.

I did get constipated, I finally took Senokot and Colace, hoping for things to start moving with all the hydration. I walk at least 1/2 hour each day on my treadmill or outside, too.

Other than that, I am a little bit achy today, but again - very slightly. I think my TE and my port are more bothersome. Also, my eyes are a little more dry than usually. I wouldn't call it a blurry vision just yet, but a little off.

So, having said all that I am halfway expecting some major SE crisis, like it's supposed to happen any minute now.

wpmoon - I'm using cold caps too and not being able to wash my hair drives me up the wall, especially since I used to wash it every day, and now I can do it only once a week, since my chemo is every 7 days. I washed it last Friday, and today it is so greasy already that it looks wet. Hmmm, maybe that's why I'm not paying much attention to all the side effects. Everybody is saying that chemo dries out hair, I'm hoping it will happen for me soon. I think your "just-in-case" wig is very cute. You and I have a similar diagnosis, I'm 18 years older than you though.

BB

Italychick, I didn't know about the potassium issue. Taxol and Taxotere are in the same family, I wonder if Taxol does the same. My oncologist did not mention the potassium, though, only L-Glutamine.

hey Italychick! How bout a pic of that Raquel Welch scene stealer! I'm really enjoying seeing the beautiful faces of the beautiful people on this thread