Chemo in June 2015

Just had my MUGA scan today. Got my arrival time from In/Out Surgery for my port placement on Tues also. All set for my chemo to start on Wed. I am so ready to get this started.

Thinking of all you ladies as we go through this together.

Hello everyone,

I also jumped the gun and posted on the May chemo board. I started my first AC (dose dense) on Wednesday, June 03. Everything went fine during the infusion. I was a little tired on the drive home but feeling good. I slept well the last 3 nights and was able to ride my bike and work a few hours as I had planned without any difficulty on Thursday and Friday. I'm giving myself injections of Neupogen since I'm doing dose dense AC and started those yesterday (Friday). I had a bit of constipation but that's under control now. I took my last prescription meds to deal with the nausea last night and have been dealing with a little bit of upset stomach and queasieness today, but it's not too bad. I'm just listening to my body and eating/drinking what sounds good. Soda crackers and ginger ale have been good. I also had a yogurt and some naan. I've been keeping really well hydrated; drinking 3 to 4 liters (100oz+) od non-caffeinated drinks er day. I'm taking minimal vitamins and minerals and adding some Vitamin D and probiotics. Also keeping up the electrolytes. I haven't taken any Claritin yet as I wanted to see how the first cycle went without it. So far, no issues from the Neupogen. I have 5 more injections to go this round.

Good luck to all of you starting this week and to those of you who are dealing with SEs from treatment you've already had.

So, I am new to this site and this board. I had my first chemo (A and C) on June 3rd. I went home after the treatment and rested. I am calling the day I receive chemo day 1

I worked all day on the 4th (day 2), really just felt as if I was just recovering from the flu - tired but no changes to appetite.

From all the reading I'd done, I knew it could get worse, so I stayed home on Friday (day 3). I was so glad I did. I woke around 3:30 am feeling a bit nauseous and so I took my backup nausea med (prochlorperazine), then went back to sleep until 6 am- when it was time for my regularly scheduled Zofran (ondansetron)- which I am supposed to take every 8 hours for the first 4 days after chemo. I ate some dry rice chex, sipped water, then fell back asleep for a few hours. When I woke, nausea was mild, and I made myself nibble throughout the day and by evening I had some cream of chicken soup.

By day 4 (Saturday), nausea was under control again, and I ate - carefully. I had oatmeal, yogurt, a banana, saltines, and whatever small amounts of things I could tolerate. By dinner I had a small grilled burger

Today (day 5) - I actually woke up hungry and ate 2 saltines with my 6 am Zofran, and went back to sleep until almost 8 am. I had my normal yogurt and banana breakfast, an actual grilled cheese for lunch, and for dinner- grilled chicken, green beans and potatoes. I ate much less than I normally do, but it was a fairly normal meal

I am very tired, and nap alot whether I intend to or not. I am easily fatigued, just short walks require some rest, but I feel it getting better each day. I am taking a walk with my husband each day- I have read that even if you are tired, try to keep moving. From past experience with bed rest during high risk pregnancies, I have found that it is a downward spiral, so keep moving as much as you can. The rest after exercise seems much more restorative than just laying around.

I decided to keep a blog to share with my family and friends who are not nearby, and have found it to be catharctic. I made it public to hopefully help others as well, if anyone is interested in reading it:

http://ginakarasek.wordpress.com

On the right hand side of the blog page, you can click to follow it and you will get notifications whenever I update it.

Good luck to all of you on your treatments!

Hi Ladies! DX May 15th , started Chemo June 2nd.. port wont be placed until the morning of my second cycle because things moved to quick... so far besides extreme fatigue and a giant cold sore things are allright... glad for the information on this site for sure !

hi all - starting AC + T Wednesday. Metaplastic carcinoma - took nearly 11 weeks to get a firm diagnosis, which is scary and frustrating in itself. Feeling better to have a plan in place. I'm 43; a mom to 11 & 13 year old boys. Doing the first one without a port, because I couldn't get scheduled for that before we began, but will get one before the next round. I'm apprehensive and anxious but pasting on the "happy mom" face for my boys. Like I told my doctors, lets get this show on the road.

Hey there, all -- I hope there's room for another chemo newbie in here!

I just started AC + T chemotherapy (4 AC treatments 2 weeks apart, then 4 Taxol treatments 2 weeks apart) last Friday, June 5th (with my port put in a week before that).

My original surgery (simple unilateral mastectomy, no reconstruction) was actually back in March 2012, shortly before I turned 40. At that point, they felt that there was a low chance of recurrence; no cancer in the sentinel node, clear margins, and ER+/PR+/HER2- which should respond well to Tamoxifen. Except, well, apparently it didn't! I found a lump under the same arm at around my 3rd "cancerversary."

Tests have shown that it seems to be a regional recurrence of the same cancer, with no remote metastases detected. So I had my second surgery (axillary node removal and dissection) on 4/30/2015. And this time we're being more aggressive with treatment: chemo, then radiation, then probably more hormonal therapy.

I've been trying to take it one day at a time, but I have to say that I'm nervous about how it will all go. The first infusion went pretty well, and I'm really proud of myself for giving myself the Neulasta shot (I'm a real wimp about looking at needles)!

But I'm just so bone tired almost all the time, even today, 4 days afterwards! Does anyone else get hit this hard by the fatigue? I'm worried about how I'll manage to work enough -- they're moving me to Monday infusions, and I'm a freelancer, so I don't get any paid sick time.

Anyway, hope to chat more with everyone!

Hello all ..glad to hear your news. we can do this. i felt really tired on the anti nausea drugs but once they wore off ive had good energy.

so for me ... day 9 --my mouth feels like ive eaten nothing but salt and vinegar chips for a week. not too bad, getting used to it.

and i keep tugging my hair to see if its started falling yet lol ..

Natejordlee, so good to hear that there's a light at the end of the tunnel for our energy levels! I'm starting to feel a bit more more energy today too, though I was very tempted to take a nap around the middle of the afternoon.

My scalp is already sore, though my hair isn't falling out just yet. Sometimes I scratch it when it itches and I forget -- yowch!

I have a wig that I need to do another fitting on, once I buzz my hair short (well, shorter, anyway -- my hair is very short to begin with!). I tried it on and had really liked it right after I got my port in, but perhaps I wasn't quite in my right mind at the time, heh! We'll have to see if it looks good when I'm not recovering from anesthesia.

Cheers to all the June chemo ladies!

HI Ladies,

I am here after finishing my first day of TC (Taxotere and cytoxin) chemotherapy yesterday. I will have 4 rounds, followed by radiation and hormonal therapy. My tumor was on one side, was 2.9 centimenters and grade 2. I had 5 lymph nodes removed with one with a small amount of cancer. I have IDC with lobular features. I noticed a lot her are using the AC or AC-T therapy. I am going through U of M in Michigan. I have some pretty bad acid reflux, but am still pretty ramped up from the steroids I took the day before, day of and 1 today. They made me sleep very little the day I took two. I am finding it hard to believe that the two small bags of medicine will wipe out my hair in a couple of weeks. That this stuff is staying in me and hopefully killing microscopic cancer, but the thought of it lingering is kind of bizarre to me.

Hi coolteach66, and welcome to Breastcancer.org. Sorry that you have to be here, but we're glad that you found us and this particular thread where you'll be welcome with open arms!

Good luck with your treatment. Please keep us posted on how you're doing.

The Mods

To my hair

We've had some ups and downs, my friend. The baby book picture with a haphazard red bow scotch taped onto a nearly bald head. The little blonde girl who caught that big fish. The 8th grade mullet and rat tail (in my defense, was 1984). The gelled back sideburns, those bangs. Oh, those bangs with enough aquanet to hold the pick straight upright in them. The college grunge years with the ensuing tension headache from the worlds heaviest ponytail, but Lord, I could headbang like a rock star. The college graduate mature chop. Bad cut after bad cut living in a rural ohio town, then the move back up to Cleveland and a stylist, not hairdressers. The wedding grow out. The ill advised pregnancy bob. Hair that my sons wrapped their tiny sticky fingers in as they nursed and snuggled. hair that bigger boys buried their faces in when they cried.

And now, at 43, a love story. A stylist who trims and shapes and lets it grow, who paints on highlights like the sun itself did all those years ago. The right balance of products and benign neglect that has strangers complimenting me in the library parking lot and in hospital waiting rooms, colleagues sighing wistfully as I walk past, and friends playing with after a cocktail or too (there's so much....).Hair that my African-American students excitedly tell me, "you got good hair, Mrs. J". (I believe there are few higher compliments than that). Hair my husband wraps his hands in in his sleep, hair he comes up to and lifts the tension off absentmindedly while he kisses the back of my neck. Hair they all complain about in the bathroom and the kitchen, but that's why you can't shake a stick around here without hitting a pony tail holder. It's long, soft, caramel and brown and blonde (with grey that sneaks out when I'm to cheap and busy to address that). To the middle of my back in a wavy V that finally looks like all the damned Pinterest pictures.

And now they tell me you're leaving. We've got 2 weeks left. It's not just hair. It's history. It's intimacy. It's pride. It's control. It's time. It's a goddammned fortune, to be sure, but it's who I am. And once it goes, I'm just another terrified cancer patient.

I made it through AC #1 yesterday with flying colors. My hospital is awesome and their infusion center is completely designed for patient comfort. Great staff and one entire wall is just windows looking out onto their Arbor Courtyard, where you can actually choose to have treatment but it's too warm out there for me so I just got a chair with a view. I watched birds and butterfiles, it was very calming.

I'm feeling good today and back at work. I have all my meds with me though plus drinking lots of fluid and eating small meals throughout the day. So far so good.

Hi ladies.

I just had my port put in on Thursday. I'm scheduled to begin chemo on Monday June 15th. Although I'm nervous to begin, I'm ready. It felt like it took so long to finally have answers and now I just want to start fighting.

Tammy

Thanks eaglemom. I actually asked my MO and he said dyeing my hair would be unadvisable

Oh well, maybe just get a mohawk like you then buzz it when it starts to really fall out. I think I have about a week and 1/2 yet.

I wish I could give myself my Neulasta shots. Because of insurance I have to go to my heme/onc clinic. $35,000 for a shot...yipes! Just glad I have insurance!!

Well, hope you are well and everyone else too. Keep on keepin' on!!

Julie