Starting Chemo December 2015

Lyra10- You look beautiful & have wonderful smile! (I was only allowed to have someone with me on my first chemo.)

Opt4Life- Your wig looks amazing!

Lou53- My #4 is next week also ~Thursday 2/18. i'm on a different chemo regime. While i'm so looking forward to being 1 step closer to being done, the wild card of potential side effects always make anxious right before.

MvSpaulding- Are you getting Neulsata shots the day after chemo? My WBC has been just over 7 a week before chemo.Congrats you completing chemo!!!

• Does anyone do any special prep at home or with their self care in the days leading up to their chemo?

• I notice that quite a few of you had mastectomies for early stage cancer. My doctor thinks that i'll be good candidate for lumpectomy. Did anyone decide to just do the mastectomy for peace of mind or were they all doctors recommendations?

I'm 45 and the though of such a larger surgery and future reconstruction scare me.. I have fibromyalgia as well, so post surgical pain may be accentuated in fibromyalgia due to enhanced pain processing & I may need longer postoperative convalescence. I think this adds to my fatigue with chemo. I've only been able to work from home since starting chemo..

Hope everyone is planning on a relaxing and restorative weekend! xo

Morning Ladies,

Just checking in ... finished my FEC and just had infusion 1 of 9 of Taxol on Monday.   Thankfully the bottom end issues have improved ... but ouchie on the bone pain this week in the hips, arms, legs, feet ... I'm feeling and walking like a very old woman.  Onc prescribed some pain pills which are helping but I'm a bit of a chicken little taking narcotics.

Wishing you all a wonderful Valentine's weekend .. may you all feel joy, loved and have some fun and know that we are all bonded in a special way

Beth

LiLNutmeg, I had horrible bone pain after my first taxol treatment. It started 3 days after infusion and lasted about 3 days. My MO says it was due to Neulasta and as it turns out my wbc was ridiculously high (50,000). Maybe your wbc is also high. No Neulasta for me next time and I'm so excited because the bone pain was really the only major SE I had after taxol. For me, taxol is much more tolerable (I'm afraid to say easier) than AC.

Chinookmom, I am 43 and had lumpectomy and will have rads after chemo. I saw 2 surgeons and both said they would not recommend mastectomy for me. I have peace of mind with this decision. We all have differences in our lives and in our cancer so this decision is very personal. There's not a right or a wrong.

Lyra, opt, karenbo, mvspaulding and anyone else I am missing, you all look fantastic!!

Thanks Chinookmom, I am getting the Neulasta after each chemo but it is not keeping me above that low level. Hopefully my body will take care of this since no more treatments after this one. I was just surprised that this new doctor didn't seem concerned with giving me full dosage even though I was still low. Guess its good because I was a little concerned when they lowered it last time that I wouldn't get the full benefit of what this is supposed to be doing for me.

As far as surgery goes, my BS told me she thought the lumpectomy and rads would be just as effective for me as a mastectomy. But she left the decision up to me. My cancer was on my left side and after reading a lot about radiation the fact that it would be on my left side where my heart is, that concerned me. There was a slight risk of heart disease for this. Also, I had two benign tumors removed from my right breast prior and the last one 5 years ago had ADH (atypical cells). So for my peace of mind on those two issues I chose mastectomy. At the time I didn't know if I would need chemo yet either, so it was hard. But now I am glad that I got the surgery and chemo behind me and I am not looking at 6 weeks of radiation ahead. I will need my final reconstruction surgery to put my implants in. I have to wait about 6 weeks to have that done so my body is fully recovered from chemo. I think it is a personal decision. You can take into consideration your recommendations from Dr. but it is ultimately what you feel is best for you. I just knew how much I had worried about my every 6 month checkup since my ADH diagnosis and didn't want to live with that anymore. Also, I now will have a little smaller perky boobs when this is all over.

Holy cow! 3/4 of my pointer finger fingernail (actually on both hands) just came off! I guess the finger pain I felt from what I thought was the antibiotic was my nails lifting. I can see the new normal growth at the base and the old nail bulges up. Glorious side effects....

Chinookmon, I had the choice of lump with radiation or mastectomy as well and I chose mastectomy for a couple of reasons; I didn't want 6 weeks 5 days a week of radiation where I wouldn't be able to hug & kiss my 3 year old, & the mastectomy would give me the satisfaction that we got it all. After my surgery and having the numbers come back I'm super happy we did because the proliferation numbers were astronomical and then the Oncutype test also made me glad.

I had number 4 yesterday and knock on wood I've only had to take 2 nausea meds and wait for it...I even pooped today!!! Hahahaha!

Red rock...friend of mine said that Wig Solutions here in town is closing and has great deals, I'm going to head over there this weekend

My surgeon thought a lumpectomy would be just fine. But I ultimately chose a mastectomy. And I'm glad I did. They ended up finding two more very smaller tumors that we didn't know were there. After the surgery, the doctor said we made the right decision. I didn't want rads and I didn't want to worry about it in the other side. I wanted piece of mind, no rads, and implants in both breasts instead of a lopsided one. I'm only 29, so that is important to me at this stage in my life as well.

They didn't know if I would need chemo until my Onco score came back. It fell right in the middle, so that was ultimately my choice as well. But we wanted to kill any cells that might have been left behind and lessen chance for reoccurrence as much as possible.

I go in for my final chemo on monday! Then in March I get implants and I should be, crossing fingers, done!

PezGal, I hope I'll never have the 'opportunity' to get henna art on my head again. For now, I'm seizing the moment:)

Twirp, I bought the paste at a shop in my town. You can for sure get it online. It's inexpensive. My niece did the art. If you don't know any artistic people you can get stencils.

Chinacat, wow that is so beautiful. How long did it take? Know what you mean about hoping never to need anything to covera bald head again. But I just think its so profound that each of us find some manner or way to get through this really awful time in our lives.... whether its through looking good despite all, fashionable headwear, refocus on marriage/family, a vacay or whatever.

Pezgal, OUCH! Glad its just fugly and not painful.

Mvspaulding and Nebraska-Big Congrats on crossing the chemo finish line.

God bless us all

Nebraska, I have an appointment in 3 weeks with oncologist to get Tamoxifen started. He also mentioned a while back that I would have a follow-up Pet scan.

Then just try not to live in fear of recurrence and get back to life. That and get these baseballs off my chest, can't wait for that

Happy Valentines Day everyone. Wish I could have celebrated it. But this is my crappy time too Sammy.

Does anyone know why arm hair doesn't fall out?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Sammy3 - I didn't notice until you mentioned it, but my arm hair is gone. I guess it varies from person to person. I do still have body hair in other areas, but it's really sparse. I'm 2 days ahead of you treatment-wise, and this time all I really felt was fatigue as a SE and minor aches for a day. Right now I'm going through the phase where I can't stand eating because of the taste. I was able to get the Neulasta on-body injector after the treatment last week because the forecast was calling for snow on the day I was supposed to go in for the shot. (We ended up just getting enough to cover the grass.) I was worried I would knock it loose while sleeping, or it wouldn't inject properly. It worked well so I'm going to ask for it the next 2 times.

I'm so over the cold. Winter can't end fast enough. For one thing, it will mark the end of my chemo treatments. Stupid snow and freezing rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Sigh.

Congrats to everyone who is finished with chemo. Everyone else hang in there till you cross the finish line.

Congratulations mvspaulding and nebraska and finishing chemo!!!!!!!! That's awesome! And I'm glad to hear you will be sticking around on the discussion boards. Love this community of "sisters". Good luck with the Tamoxifen. That will be my next step after chemo as well.