April 2015 Chemo Crew... Starting in April? Please join us!

Thank you Sheshe

Ginger

chi, the waiting areas are really beautiful and if possible, I'd say enlightening in a positive way, but truthfully the infusion rooms are very typical- 4 chairs and a row of Windows, but they are comfortable and relatively quiet if you want to sleep.

KBee I agree with noticing people's eyes. I have met some incredible people with amazing karma through this! Congrats on finishing AC. I'm in awe of your energetic positive spirit- thank you for sharing and motivating us!

Today's infusion went well. They changed one of my anti nausea drugs I guess because I had a migraine for 3 days last time but it occurred a week after tx so I thought it was weather related. Guess I'll find out. I was so happy I got chemo today because my white counts tanked and my neutrophils were right at bottom of normal. I hope they don't drop further for next wed. tx. For some reason my Onc hasn't ordered neurogen shots but I will ask at next clinic apt.

Ksusan you look awesome! You rock it!

Little blue, I hope your mouth is feeling better. I found rinsing with warm water with salt and baking soda helped a lot but then I had more problems with my eyes.

I'm sorry if I've forgotten anyone but I spent 10 hours at the hospital (3 hours waiting after tx for volunteer driver- ugggg) and I'm off to bed. Wishing everyone a comfortable evening and strength!

Shari

I have had good luck with Biotene and also ACT mouthwash sensitive. I hope you get some relief.

ERNurse21, love your wig and the photo!

ksusan, hope the pain is getting better. I heard with Taxotere/Taxol the pain can be pretty bad. Take it easy!

Stacy, congrats on being done with AC too! Love your daughter's dimple

Rpayton, good for you to stand up for yourself! hope unpleasant situations at work won't happen again.

slv58, get some rest and hope this one treats you well!

Positive_spirit, hows your daughter now? Do wear a mask or something. My son is also sick, so I am trying to be very careful.

Kbee, love your picture with your daughter! Your hair looks great! Your daughter must make you very proud! And congrats on being done with AC! Hope Taxol treats you well. Is the blood in your urine thing getting better?

Went to see MO and had another Xray. Although my symptoms are better (no fever, less cough), the Xray was pretty much the same as last week. So frustrated...

MO asked me to rest for another week. He said usually it takes weeks for pneumonia to completely clear up on XRay, but we can't wait that long. He also told me to skip the last AC because the white cell suppression might cause pneumonia to come back. He told me to move on to Taxol next week. He said since I had one TC already before I started AC-T, 3 ACs + 4 Taxols should be sufficient. I guess I have to listen to him given the pneumonia situation. In a way I am relieved that I don't have to the last AC because my heart has been racing really fast lately (from a baseline of 70 to 100+).

Anyone doing chemo today?

Lynn, they will give you a written schedule/instructions about when to start taking the A-N drugs at home. For me, they gave me oral Zofran at my treatment, then said I could start the next morning with more - you can take it every 8 hours, but I usually made it 12.

Yes to the soda/salt rinsing, start today every time you go to the bathroom, which should be a lot because you should be drinking a lot.

Eating for me on day of and day after really was not a problem except for having difficulty swallowing, but MO and NP said to stick with "soft" foods and easy on the digestive track. At infusion, I had a bunch of snacks and ate what appealed to me. I had mine over lunch time like you are, so you might even want a sandwich. I had Outshine no sugar frozen fruit bars to have while they were pushing the Adriamycin.

Do you have a port? Don't forget to put on the Emla cream and cover with plastic wrap or press 'n seal (the nurse had actually given me a couple of those plastic bandages, so that's what I used the last time - it was perfect.) before you leave for treatment/about 30 minutes before. I seriously did not feel them access port - just a dull pressure for 1 second - the last time.

You are going to be fine!

Lynne

KB, you are so right, it takes time to adjust to wig. Sigh. Also, I would like to whine that it's not as "care free" as everyone seems to think. I just went to the bathroom, and, a lot like my real hair, found I was a hot mess. Somehow, the wig was just a little too forward, which was really making it look like a bad toupee. I slid it back and fluffed a bit, but now it feels precarious. I think my phone head piece messes with it.

Yesterday I saw a manager for whom I had worked back in 1998-2001 or so. We keep in touch, but I hadn't seen her in a while. As I was talking to her, I was fascinated with her hair which was in a just below chin length bob - it was perfectly straight and the color was very uniform brunette. I know that she's about 6 years older than I, so she must have gray by now. After a bit, I was convinced it was a wig, but didn't want to ask her about it. Then I remembered that when I worked with her, her hair was really curly. We used to talk about hair cuts and our challenges (like women do) with our hair. So, now I'm wondering why she's wearing a wig.

Lynne

Good luck to all heading to the chemo bar today!

Thanks to those several pages back who helped me identify the rash on my head as folliculitis. I did a little research and started washing it with Hiberclens and applying hydrocortisone three times a day. It's been a few days now but it's so much better. I did ask my MO and he said I was doing the right things and didn't need to call back unless it got worse.

Anyway, today I head out to a town 2 hours away for my son's graduation ceremony tomorrow. He's getting his master's degree. When I first learned about chemo, my first thought was I had to be well enough to attend his graduation ..... and without looking like a concentration camp survivor. Sadly, that's what I thought chemo would do to me. Well here it is and I'm feeling pretty good overall. So thankful!

Thanks to all of you for your tips and wisdom and to KBee for starting our thread!!

Allison

Good luck to everyone going tomorrow, and I hope everyone who made the trip this week is doing well.  I'm just home from AC 2.  Halfway through the AC part!!!  WBCs were in the cellar on Monday but back to normal today, so chemo went on schedule.  It seemed easier this time, probably because my port was not so sensitive and I knew what to expect.  Plus I'll get the neulasta shot on schedule, so I shouldn't have such a significant WBC nadir before Round 3.   However, it's super hot today and I'm really feeling it, so I'm just going to take it easy this afternoon. 

I'm using Biotene toothpaste and mouthwash, and swishing with salt water and baking soda.  So far, I'm fine.  But I really have to stick with soft foods as my mouth is very tender.  

My oncology nurse said take the Zofran tonight at bedtime if I was concerned about nausea.  That worked last time so I'll do it again this time. 

Warning to those who are in the sun...make sure your lip balm has sunscreen.  Mine didn't [I just assumed it did]. so I'm dealing with overly dry lips at the moment.   Slapping on aquaphor lip repair at night, and spf30 lip balm during the day.

So it's really hot today, and coming home from A/C #2, my husband kept insisting the a/c on the passenger side wasn't working.  But I thought the air from both vents felt the same - cool but not cold.  He took the car in and it turns out he was right.  Anyone else having difficulty determining what the room or car temperature might actually be?  I'd hate to let myself get overheated because I'm misjudging. 

Iced tea with stevia or splenda (or one that doesn't need a sweetener), club soda with lemon, low-carb lemonade, low-carb Crystal Light?

Very little sleep due to steroids. Finally got up and treadmilled. Since my surgeon heard a "weak beat" while listening to my heart last week, and I felt some mild PVCs, I got an ECG before chemo--"unremarkable" so on with Chemo #3; no complications in the chair. Float nurse was a little rough on the port but as long as it worked, I don't care. MO was pleasant, relaxed, and helpful. She gave me tentative dates and arrangements for Chemo #4 and last in-chemo follow-ups, getting the port out, radiation, and Tamoxifen.

Afterward, my wife and I went to Powell's Books to spend money my mother and her husband sent us to "do something nice with." She bought medical texts; I bought two books on meditation and mindfulness by Tich Naht Hahn, a Doctor Who episode guide (we're watching every episode Netflix has from the 1960's), volume two of a travelogue by Sir Richard Burton, and Ruth Ozeki's novel A Tale for the Time Being. Next, we went to the Thai place we've been going to after chemo; she had drunken noodles, I had ginger chicken and sticky rice; we shared a green papaya salad, and both had a black flower-infused iced tea. Really excellent. Leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. Our last stop, since I still felt fine, was at Fred Meyer (chain grocery/department store), where they didn't have open-toe slippers (my nails hurt), but did have a memory foam dog crate liner for me to try under my right side, which still feels like I'm lying on a lumpy mattress. If I could sleep for a few hours not on my back, I think I'll be able to decrease the pain I still have in the bottoms of my shoulder blades since my February surgery. We are now digesting, then I'm going to treadmill a bit more at low speed which she takes a bath. Then to read trash young adult post-apocalyptic fantasy (the 3rd in Susan Ee's series, which came out 3 days ago). Neulasta tomorrow, then a little work, then a repeat thoracic echocardiogram (with luck, again as unremarkable as the one in March). My white count is actually slightly high, so again I won't have to come in next week to check it. My MO agrees that I can try glucosamine for neuropathy on the grounds that it might help and won't hurt. This is good because I have some pain already from diabetes and some from chemo on top of it.

I predict tonight I'll have loose guts, some off-tastes in my mouth, dehydration, slightly sore neck and throat, slight temperature, and some aches. Tomorrow I'll have post-Neulasta discomforts, Sunday will be my worst day, and Monday I'll still feel under the weather but will have lower temp. These SEs will wax and wane until about 10 days out, get a little better, then worsen from day 16-20. That's if I don't have new major SEs. But #3 is in me and no matter what happens, they can't suck it back out so it's in there killing any stray cells!

My 124 students are finishing an online test tomorrow morning, so I'll have some grading to do at home over the next week. Just my speed. Work knows I'm skipping or Skyping into meetings, and can be reached by email and phone. Grading with no shirt on, yay!

I've been drinking club soda with a slice of lime. It seems to cut the throat funk and not irritate my Stomache like plain water, which is weird, I know. Also weak black tea with rice milk. And water, even though it makes the nausea worse....why is water so hard to keep down? Makes no sense to me...

thinking positive, right out of my surgeries all I wanted was flat coke....and I never drink soda. Weird, huh?

I loved cold water pre-chemo, but I agree it just tastes weird now.  Seems ironic the thing most likely to "hydrate" you does seem to make nausea worse.  Tazo Keuring green tea and Teavana Youthberry and Orange Blossom both taste wonderful for me [Teavana is pretty expensive but for the first 4-5 post chemo days it's worth it].   I throw a little organic sugar in and drink them warm and maybe that helps.  About a week after chemo 1, water started tasting drinkable again, but today we're back to the bad taste.  

I've tried every fruit juice in the grocery store as well as all the "drops" and they seem to make matters worse for me. Oncology nurse suggested cucumber slices and mint, and drink through a straw.  For some reason the straw helps with nausea.  I'm going to give that a try today.

Body temperature regulation is still off, but I think is a little better today,   I must be the only one with this weird SE, since no one else has reported a problem. 

Hope everyone is having a good or at least tolerable day.  Just took my Claritin so I'll be ready for this afternoon's neulasta shot.  Then steriods will wear off and I'll be exhausted. But at least I know the drill. 

Have a successful trip, Alibeths!  Thinking of you.

Oh, my body temperature swings, but sometimes only my perceived body temperature, I've decided that a real swing is a chemo SE and a perceived swing is a hot flash. My MO had me buy a forehead thermometer at CostCo and it's great! An oral won't give you an accurate reading within 30 minutes of drinking fluid.

The straw is a good tip for bad tasting fluids. Another is to rinse your mouth with club soda beforehand, and another is to sip throughout the day rather than trying to drink a high quantity at once. I'm up early responding to my students' overnight online test problems, and I've drunk 10 oz of water without really noticing--every time I change messages or screens, a little sip.

My night of/after TC #3 has had the lowest SEs yet. Fell asleep right away, returns to sleep after two trips to pee, had a non-constipated, non-diarrhea movement, don't have big aches (just a little surgical scar pain and a little armpit pain on the right, where I have a tighter surgery, no bone or nail pain. Neulasta today will add its effects, but I'm seizing the opportunity to treadmill early while listening to an audiobook in about 15 minutes.

Hoping for an easy day for everyone, and relief for those of you having a hard time.