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

I think correlation is healthier life style and diet leads to good health I think sugar in small sometimes large (if your in the mood) is ok.im more worried of all the additives they put in our food nowadays I'm buying more organic and looking at labels even put in my own garden this year!

Just jumping in to add my 2 cents....

I ABSOLUTELY believe that there is a horrible twist in what is happening with the food that is mass manufactured for us.  Way to many hormones and chemicals than ever.  I also believe that going forward after a cancer dx ppl should try to focus on real food and eat our veggies and limit sugar intake. BUT............While enduring chemo....poisoning every cell IN YOUR BODY.... it doesn't matter what you eat!! Eat whatever taste good and gives you calories for your body to sustain any sort of energy.  Focus on treatment .... then after chemo worry about chemicals and sugar.

Mysunshine... Not sure if you are going through chemo or not... it's not in your sig line... That really is good info... just maybe not in the chemo forums.  Most ppl are just trying their best to trudge through this part of treatment!

Yes, I am going through chemo! Feeling like crap today after 2nd T/C treatment last Thursday! I am right with you! I know, we don't have a lot of good going on right now.....eat what tastes good is probably good advice. We need the calories and good nutrition. I did not mean to scare anyone. It is just SO important and I pray none of us EVER have to go through this again!

I also wrap my head in a towel after the 10 seconds it takes to wash my head! Funny, how I still think about turning on my curling iron! LOL Oh, joy

I still "smooth my hair back", ready to find a pony tail or something. Or I go to loosen my imaginary pony tail cause it feels too tight. Weird.

LOL... just so ya know... When I get out of the shower... I flip my head over the bathtub.... every damn time!!! My hair had been long for so long.. I just can't stop!!

were all creatures of habit. I still shampoo and condition my head. Figured I have to keep my peach fuzz healthy.

Lol Leighrh, I had hair down to my butt, so I know, girl. Although, once my hair comes back in, I think I'm gonna leave it short. So much easier!

Don't feel bad about having your son sleep with you. He's 2 1/2. No biggie. I give each of my kids a turn to sleep with me....usually on the weekends. Sometimes, they all end up in bed with us! They're not going to be young forever!

I suppose it's helpful for me that I still have diabetes to manage during all of this. It reminds me to keep my blood sugar as stable as possible, so I at least make a conscious choice of frozen yogurt vs fruit vs a piece of cheese. I'm eating mostly but not entirely organic and preparing rather than buying prepared foods--but if a McD's cheeseburger was the only thing I thought I could stomach, or I wanted to eat one, I probably would. I also wouldn't tell myself that since I had a burger I might as well get the fries and a shake--that's all-or-nothing thinking, and not useful. Research is good, anecdotes may raise useful questions, and each of us will find her own meaningful self-interventions.

Hi - I'm sorry, having a chemo brain moment, I know a couple of you have already visited RO to get ready for rads, and has anyone else been told anything definitive about how long between chemo and start of rads? I have notes about a "4-week break", but I'm wondering if that is from last infusion date? Or starting a week from infusion (i.e., last infusion week doesn't count towards "bread") Also, is it always 4, or can you start in 3 - what is the criteria used to assume you are well enough to be radiated?

Can you tell I'm in planning mode? I am trying to figure out when the absolute latest I'll be done (and the soonest!)

Lynne

Lynne... I did the same thing today.!. Asked when I could get my port out. Was told right after chemo ends... So I could call to schedule that as soon as chemo ends... He said I wouldn't need it anymore after chemo. And RO told me it would take a week after I see her to map out where to radiate... So depending how I feel to call her within the month to schedule the mapping app and could start as soon as that's ready. So I plan to call as soon as I end (depending on how I feel) cuz it will prolly take a bit to get an app

Feel ok after #6... So far.

KBeee! Yay for being 1/4 done! So glad you feel good!!!

Happy birthday all you ladies with birthdays this week!!!

Here's my schedule:

6/4: Last chemo.

6/25: Last labs drawn from port. (3 weeks from chemo)

7/1: Radiation sim. (4 weeks from chemo)

7/7: Port removed. (Could have been earlier but had to fit into surgeon's schedule)

Radiation should start the week of 7/6.

Okay, swill, here's my almost-done-with chem SE update:

What I've done:

• Bilateral mastectomy (+ 3 SNL, one positive), plus chest port.
• I've had 4 of 4 TCs and am just waiting out the last chemo effects round before starting radiation.
• I received Aloxi and Emend as drips, plus dexometasone tablets the day before, of and the day after chemo, plus Claritin and Benadryl the night before, of, and 3-4 nights after chemo.
• I have not been constipated, I have had some diarrhea, but more than that, what I'll call "poorly formed stool." With MO's assent, I've had Imodium after diarrhea and that's taken care of the problem.
• I've softened my soft-bristle toothbrush with hot water and brushed my teeth, including nights with Clinpro (prescription fluoride paste), 2-3 times a day.
• I've rinsed my mouth and gargled with baking soda and salt in warm water, and with Biotene, and with L-glutamine, 2-3 times a day.I take one sugar-free Tums at night.
• I've been very careful to use moisturizer with a high SPF sunscreen when I'm going outside.
• I've kept very my whole body moisturized, generally with a light non-comedogenic moisturizer (Cetaphil), except my mastectomy and drain and port insertion scars, which get a rotation of light moisturizer, calendula moisturizer, vitamin E/aloe moisturizer, and occasionally almond oil (vitamin E) or calendula oil when I want to massage them lightly to stretch the scars.
• I've put a tea tree nail treatment on my toenails a few times a week, and my finger nails once or twice a week. I've moisturized my hands and feet every evening, and have put bag balm on my feet when they've been very dry.
• I buzzed my hair and shampoo with baby shampoo twice a week.I sometimes put little coconut oil on my scalp.
• I sometimes throw a little coconut oil in my bath (be careful of the slippery surface).
• I've done the American Cancer Society's anti-lymphedema exercises, plus some I found online, at least once a day.
• I've changed my socks and underwear at least once a day. I'm sleeping in footies to avoid snagging my toenails.
• I've drunk 80-120 oz of fluid (water, sugar-free Gatorade, iced tea, tea) every day.
• Since my eyes got dry, I've been instilling glycerine drops every 4-6 hours and wearing sunglasses outside.
• I eat protein and yogurt every day, kale at least every other day.
• I take a D vitamin and CoQ10 (the only supplements my MO permits), non-soy fiber when needed (like during/right after the steroid), my normal Metformin for diabetes and HZTZ for blood pressure, and a potassium supplement.
• I walk 1-3 hours every day whether I want to or not.

What I didn't do:

• Cold caps, icing of nails, cold drinks during infusion.
• Wig.
• Reconstruction.
• Pain relievers other than lorazepam (my MO doesn't allow them, though my BS will probably put me on an aspirin a day after I'm one with my treatments and back to my normal supplements and supports).

My side effects thus far, from the top down, which are probably partially my circumstances and body, and (I hope and believe) partly all of that time-consuming stuff I just listed:

• I do not have chemo brain. I sometimes feel unattentive, and I'm having a little word-finding trouble, but that's been true since the first biopsy.
• I'm a little dizzy at times.
• My hair began loosening before TC #2, and more dropped with each treatment. I still have fuzz, and it grows slightly between treatments. Sometimes my scalp aches, so it's easier to sleep with a satin pillowcase or a soft cap. My eyebrows are sparser. My eyelashes are not (yet) affected.
• My eyes became dry after #2. For some women, this presents as watering. The air here is full of pollen, so I've been washing my face frequently and blotting dry lightly.
• Right after Neulasta, my teeth and jaw, as well as the back of my neck, are achy. I've had a headache once or twice (from the steroid, I think).
• My mouth, tongue, and throat are somewhat sore/tender and my mouth tastes rather metallic. No sores. My sense of taste is dull or off at times.
• My nose is a bit runny.
• My neck, shoulder, and area around the port, as well as my BMX and drain scars, plus anywhere I've ever had an injury, feel achy after the Neulasta. The port has never felt comfortable. I'll be delighted to get it out in a few weeks.
• I don't appear to have lymphedema. I have consults for PT and lymphedema risk scheduled. My triceps are not a thing of beauty. I choose to interpret the cottage cheese look as meaning that I did a really good job of not lifting or using my arms when I wasn't allowed to.
• My range of motion is getting pretty good, though the port interferes, and I still feel tight along my scars. I have some numb/painful spots on my back that my partner is massaging for me.
• My hands are colder than before surgery.
• My body hair is slightly sparser and loose at times, but hasn't dropped much.
• I have had very little nausea and no vomiting.
• I haven't had much heartburn. My digestion has been good.
• I had a little cardiac irregularity, but a repeat ECG and echo came back unchanged.
• I haven't menstruated since I stopped BCPs in January. I have hot flashes.
• I had what felt like the beginning of a vaginal yeast infection, so I increased my live active culture yogurt consumption and did a few rounds sitting in the tub with topical yogurt, which took care of it.
• My elimination is more loose than constipated.
• The longer bones ached after Neulasta. Claritin and warm baths help.
• Some of my fingernails are a little red at the base, and my big toe nails look pretty bruised. I'm keeping them clipped short and being careful to wear shoes or protective slippers when I'm up, and footies when I sleep.
• I've had a very small amount of lower leg edema. Putting my feet up takes care of it.
• Some of my veins protrude more after chemo, and some of the spider veins on my legs are more accentuated. No pain.
• My skin is mostly clear, though I do have the occasional weird bump, pimple, discoloration as others have mentioned on my face and hands.
• A little neuropathic pain in fingers and toes. I get this sometimes from diabetes, so it's hard to sort out.
• I run a slight temperature (up to 99.4) after chemo/Neulasta. In a few days, that stops and I fluctuate in my normal range.
• I have some sleep disturbance, but it's better than when I was so agitated before the surgery and chemo starting. It's worse with steroids.
• I have increasing but manageable fatigue. It's actually making it easier to sleep.
• I've got a flexible job and I've worked all the way through. I don't like asking for help, but I have.