Starting Chemo March 2015

Thanks for your reply to my question yesterday about a halo wig using your own hair. I'm considering it.

Had my port put in along with lumpectomy on Thursday. My port is high up and bulgy and will show with most of my clothes. I've named her Portia and don't like her at all! She is getting under my skin! May have to strangle her with a scarf.

Any of your MO's consider Navelbine? What is Perjeta for?,

Trvler- we really like it. Everyone is so kind and welcoming, it's taken some getting used to being from the NE we usually get suspicious when someone is really nice, LOL. It's a beautiful area. Spring has sprung here full force. It's in the low 60s now and it's supposed to be in the high 60s low 70s all week. The only thing that worries me about that is allergies and chemo at the same time. I have severe grass and tree allergies. At least I'll already be taking Claritin for the Neulasta shot!

Oh, bummer on the allergies. Yes, I remember about mid to late April when the azaleas bloom there is breathtaking.

so. Regarding hydration. It's a challenge for me to drink enough. I've never been one to carry a water bottle around with me to make sure I hydrate and once upon a time I actually thought wine and coffee counted toward fluids, not subtracted from them. I never seem to "feel" thirst, and at the end of the day no way could I even approximate the number of fluid oz. I've taken on board that day.

I miss my cocktails sometimes. I miss a nice glass of wine too. I think as much as the relaxing feeling, I like the pomp and circumstance of social drinking.

I recently learned that for me, a big tall glass of water looks like a job and I avoid it. But a little sumpin sumpin in one of my pretty cocktail glass is inviting. Even if non-alcoholic.

So I just made myself something special and I'll probably have several. It's "simply berry" brand juice with ginger ale. Yum. Thought I'd share with my girls.

mm Jackbirdie that looks so refreshing. It is 85 here today in San Diego at the coast, if you can believe that. I am addicted to the Tazo Passion Fruit tea, it tastes great and is a beautiful color like your drink. I make a whole pot of it and drink it iced all day long with a little bit of liquid vanilla stevia. Trying to avoid the sugar, which hasn't been easy. But day of chemo I said screw it and ate two cookies lol.

Went for a 32 mile bike ride today, came home feeling crappy. Then realized I had no caffeine today, so I drank some, and immediately felt better. Darn caffeine! Trying to be as normal as possible for now since I have a little over a week to go for my next infusion. I'm trying not to post as much about exercise, but it is my way of feeling sane and normal. I feel so bad for women with kids, I don't know how you do it! When I was raising my kids, I was exhausted all the time just from the kids and their activities.

So far, hair still hanging in, and it is day 12. Scalp still not pink or red, or itching or tingling. But I know it is coming, not naive. Just hoping for another weekend or week of normal I guess. Some women on this site said their hair didn't start falling out until day 21!

To all of you having infusions this week, tell them about anything you feel. They can help. I started itching so they gave me benadryl and the itching went away in like five seconds. Don't suffer. I am one of those weirdos who actually gets hyper on benadryl so it actually made me feel better. I never take anything, not even Advil, so I figure if there is a time to take advantage of the medications, now is it.

Xoxo to all of you. So thankful I have this group that understands the physical and mental hardships. Nobody else does. My boss even asked me if I was sure I got chemo and not a placebo lol. Another person said are you even sure you have cancer, you look too healthy. Oh yeah, I'm sure. 1.3 centimeter IDC monster taken out of my breast, I am 100% sure.

jackbirdie that drink looks amazing,love the flowers too.

I've had a couple of stressed filled days and my chemo doesn't start till 3/23. MO called and is willing to do the regiment recommended by my BS,great, called back within 30 min. But she said "did anyone call you with cat scan results?" I was like no why? Well I need a Pet scan, anyone have this? I went and picked up copy of report as she didn't say too much about it. Now I've been a mess most of today. I think I'm going to be restaged to stage iv. I have 2 nodes in my lung, a liver cyst and some enlarged lymph nodes along the aorta. It's looking like my breast cancer has spread but I won't know for sure till results of pet scan which isn't even scheduled yet. I hate hate hate the waiting. My mind is filled with the worst and I've burst into tears numerous times. I wish I could erase these last few weeks, this breast cancer sucks!

Katy-just crawled into that metaphorical guest bed and I am comforted tonight by your kindness. You are on my list of top 10 authentic humans/dogs can't help but be! I do sometimes wish I had some of Venus Williams money to hire a chef to prepare healthy meals each night when I come home from work. Ha. Italychick I don't think I thanked you for putting together that list of items to reference as I prepare to start chemo on Tuesday.you offered meme117 some great advice. I've had benign liver cysts too.I know how scared you must feel and with good reason. Waiting to hear is the toughest. I will be sending you positive thoughts all week!

oh Shaz.....I am sorry. Well yes, one less worry. But I know it must be hard. You are lovely from the inside out. And it will come back.

Italychick- please do not stop posting about your wonderful bike rides and other exercise. I for one find it exciting and interesting and challenges and motivates me to do the very best I can at my own level. This is who you are. It's who you were before the beast tried to knock you down. It's who you will still be after you complete your treatment successfully

I can only imagine the time and devotion it has taken-years- to get into and stay in the kind of physical shape you are in. We are proud you can still do iit. That you want to do it. I usually don't like to speak for others but I am quite sure your March sisters will say the same.

None of us here should edit ourselves in any way. If we can't be genuine and authentic here, where the hell can we be?

IC, you just reminded me my infusion nurse brought me ice packs to ice my fingertips to save my nails. I thought it was very sweet. I am putting tea tree oil on them too. I have never been much of a nail person, since I always break them in the garden, but I bought some dark nail polish to hide them if they turn black

Gross.

ItalyChick - thank you so much for the advice. I plan on talking to HR next week and seeing what they suggest since realistically I only need to miss one day of the class I have to attend for work and can schedule it on a day where my side effects will land on the weekend, and then I'll go from there. My performance has been great since I've started, so I'm hoping they'll work with me.

My port, Penny, doesn't really bother me anymore. I don't even care about covering it up even though it's pretty noticeable - you can see the outline of the catheter, and I'm pretty sure you can kind of see the color, but whatever. It's no longer a big deal to me.

It took about two weeks before I had my full range of motion back in my neck without the port being sensitive or my neck feeling stiff.

My rash is FINALLY almost gone. I'm going to continue the antibiotics for the next few days just to be on the safe side. Pretty sure it was an allergic reaction that was delayed from the steroids. I've read that it's pretty common. I figure acne would've only been a few pimples here and there, and this was swollen, red, itchy, and had the pustules. Hopefully it doesn't happen again with the next treatment.

Today I've been having a really good day. And I keep thinking, "Is this real? Why do I feel so good? Almost better than normal." I'm happy to feeling like myself and having normal days. So I'm spreading my good vibes and good days to all of you that have been struggling and need a boost! Take some of my positive vibes!

HUGS! Happy weekend!

Meme, try not to panic! Something benign showed up in my salivary gland on my pet/ct, requiring a ct w/contrast and another freaking biopsy (just to be absolutely sure). So your results might be fine. One thing I've learned on my admittedly still very new journey through BC is, for my own sanity, I need to stay on the step I'm currently on and work that step as well and as hard as I can. No peeping ahead of me and definitely no looking behind me. Those areas are the curling edges of my map, marked with a THERE BE MONSTERS warning. Just can't go there. Maybe later, I'll be able to handle the broader landscape, but nope, not right now. Compartmentalizing is this girl's best friend.

Shaz, so sorry about your hair!

IC, I hope you'll keep posting about what all you're doing biking and whatnot. Inspires me to get up and get moving,in my own small way.

Bekah, I'm so sorry you're dealing with another SE so quickly after your last one. I think the first treatment is the worst because we don't know what to expect, which parts of the SE buffet each of us will get and when, but maybe easier after this first treatment because we'll be able to anticipate? Hope so, anyway. Also hoping you feel better pronto!

Day 4 of my first AC and when I expected to hit my (fatigue) wall, since this is when I go off steroids, but I'm mostly preoccupied with a rumbly tummy this morning. Not nausea. Not even constipation, though maybe the fringes of that? Just...rumbly.

Diane, on some other forums on this site, women said they iced their mouths, and it has something to do with shrinking the blood vessels so the blood flow gets constricted so not as much of the chemo agent enters the mouth area all at once. Some said it helped them with chemo mouth and mouth sores. I hated the way my mouth felt after chemo, and I am willing to try it. The feeling was like my mouth had all these rough patches and anywhere I ran my tongue felt dirty and scabby, like I hadn't brushed my teeth enough. But it was really from my tongue getting kind of burnt feeling. And my mouth tasted like burnt coffee. I think wpmoon said the same thing. So I'm not sure if there is any science behind it, but I'm willing to give it a try.

http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/side-...

http://www.texasoncology.com/cancer-treatment/side...

I don't know if those links will work, but I hope they will.

Tthanks girls for all the positivities! I feel better today just came to the conclusion it is what it is and I'll deal with it when/if it happens. Thanks Princess, I am now gonna stay focused on the present step.

I'm sorry for each of you suffering with the SEs. Hugs out to you💓 which reminds me I need my chemo bag put together.

I'm nervous for the port operation, any info to calm me? I've never had surgery,only in hospital for birth of my son and did that au natural.

Gonna go get my Irish jig on - here's to a wonderful day for each of you!!

Rleepac- feeling any better today? Thinking of you.

Thinking of you too, Meme. Have been all night. Glad you found a little black box to put the worries in till later. They'll try to get out, but you just slam the lid right down on them. The port. I worried too, maybe even more than the surgery, but it was totally doable. They'll take you back to pre-surgery, and people will be with you, talking to you, taking your vitals, explaining again what will happen. They will take very good care of you. If you are nervous tell them. These days they usually use what they sometimes refer to as "twilight sleep". It carries less risk than general anesthesia, and you may remember bits and pieces of what goes on, but you will not hurt and you will not care. You may experience tenderness, bruising, and awkwardness in the entire clavicle area for a day or two, possibly up to a week or more. They all told me in there that my port would become my friend. Since you can have blood drawn out of your port, as well as putting stuff in, it will save your veins. During chemo, they take your blood even during off chemo weeks, to monitor the whites, the liver, other stuff. Without the port, our veins would would be very messed up by the end of treatment.

I think you'll do well with the procedure. Get working on your chemo bag! Have some fun with it. Mine reminds me of Mary Poppins' nanny bag where more stuff, great stuff, comes out than ever went in!