January 2016 Chemo!

The hair on my legs has continued to grow. It's not as thick or as coarse, but I have to shave every week or two. I think the hair I have lefton my head is slowly growing, but I never lost all of it.

Shiningstar: I had the super hives after my first Taxol treatment. It's described more probably earlier in the thread, but basically it was one of the worse cases my MO had ever seen. I skipped a week of chemo. He dropped the amount of Taxol from 150 to 144, upped the steroids and I had to take oral steroids for two days after each treatment for (what I thought) was a couple of weeks. Actually I was supposed to do it for longer, but it worked and I haven't had any more problems. The steroids were lowered again recently, now they're not a drip, just an IV injection, so I just get straight Taxol.

I try to drink about a gallon of water a day to flush my system out. Idk if that's impacted the hives, but no reoccurrence.

I watched EyelineHer's YouTube video on how to apply false eyelashes. You'd think it would be easier to apply it on the side with your dominant hand, but not for me! I like the way they look, but I feel like I didn't get one of them on the right way. Luckily I still have some eyebrows, so I can just fill in the existing line.

Labs tomorrow to see if I can have my last round of AC on Thursday. Decided to do the blood draw a day ahead of time instead of possibly wasting a drive to Seattle and not get treated.

Cathytoo - Yes. I've had the bad taste since my 1st infusion. I have my 4th infusion on Thursday. The bad taste gets a little better a few days before the next infusion, but never goes back to normal.

Cathy yes, The bad taste was much worse for me the last one. First I had no taste then bad taste! (Day 14 now and I'm okay again)

My eyelashes are going. Gonna practice false tonight.

Adorable picture!

No blizzards here in San Antonio, Texas. Ever.

EstelaLorca -- Claritin does not seem to help with my runny eyes or nose. I keep tissue in my pant pockets as well as my purse and sweaters

Welcome BDMommy! Great group of support in our January 2016 group:))

MissBee/Zinny-I am right there with you. Bad dry mouth and lips. Also drink water before bed, middle of night and upon wakening. I use Vicks rub on my lips at night and reapply a few times within the night followed by Biotene toothpaste and mouthwash.....crazy what we do to combat the dryness )

Welcome Bdmommy. You will find lots of support, whether you post a lot or like me do a lot of what I call lurking (lol). Be sure to post your diagnosis and treatments. You will find a lot of kindred spirits here.

Dry mouth, lips and skin. All of the above.

Had my last AC yesterday! Paclitaxel starts 4/21. I get an extra week break to let my blood counts recover. My MO warned me about the dryness. She said a humidifier near your bed at night can help.

Looks good, Jill. The liner really helps make it look like you have lashes. Glad you're finally feeling better.

LovesToFly...Jill, you look fabulous. What liner are you using? And what for your brows

So I guess I will catch up in the discussion with my breast cancer journey so far...

In October 2015 I went for my regularly scheduled every 2 year screening mammogram. I got a call from mt Ob-gyn letting me know that I needed to go back and have additional mammogram of the right breast and have an ultrasound of the right breast. I just assumed that they didn't get good pictures or they were seeing some fibroid tissue that I have has since in my twenties. After the additional tests I received another call from my ob-gyn, this time they were referring me to a breast surgeon for follow up of a suspicious looking area. At my first appointment with the breast surgeon she reviewed my films and then did a physical exam and ultrasound in her office. She showed me the area of concern and pointed out the calcifications. Based just on all the evidence she showed me, I knew deep down this was bad. She scheduled a biopsy the next week and even came in early before seeing patients on a day she normally doesn't do biopsies just to get mine done. Well that obviously scared me, this was serious. On December 15th I received the confirmation of what I really already knew, I had breast cancer. Not only was it breast cancer, but it was triple negative, which meant I would definitely have to have chemotherapy. Myy head was spinning and the only words I remembered from that day were "aggressive" and "been there a long time". Next we scheduled all the additional tests for the week of Christmas. So I had genetic testing, PET scan, chest xrays and breast MRI. Because of the holidays I could not get the results until Jan 5th. For two weeks including Christmas and the vacation to visit my family I worried and panicked that the cancer had spread and was convinced I was dying. On January 5th I found out that the cancer had not spread, I have a 2cm tumor in my right breast next to my chest wall and another .5mm satellite tumor in the same breast. I have triple negative breast disease and whether lymph nodes are involved will not be known until we do surgery. We decided the best course of action was to do chemo first to try and shrink the tumor away from the chest wall to hopefully make the surgery easier. I was going to have to have the chemo regardless of whether it was before or after surgery.

I met with my MO on Jan 11, 2016 and received the chemo regime I would be enduring. Four rounds of AC (the red devil) bi-weekly then 12 rounds of Taxol weekly. Even then it sounded so overwhelming. First we did an echocardiogram to make sure my heart was strong enough since chemo can damage your heart. Seriously?? My port was installed on Jan 20 without any compications and my first AC treatment was the very next day Jan 21. It totally freaked me out that they were using a port that still had stitches. The infusion itself went well. I had watched a couple youtube videos people had made of their treatment day so I knew what to expect. Well let me just say that I now have my self given nickname "Queen of Side Effects"! I was given anti-nausea meds to take before the infusion called Varubi, then had IV anti-nausea meds during the infusion and was sent home with Zophran in pill form. So even with taking all of those at midnight I was up heaving and vomiting uncontrollably. My hubby called the on call doctor and they called in another prescription for Phenagrin and I had to ake both of the pills in a rotation every four hours. Well it stopped the nausea/vomiting but it knocked me completely out for three days. I had the Neulasta on body injector and when it dispensed it made everything that much worse. I experienced every single side effect listed for the AC chemo, I was completely debilitated. I even added some of my own that weren't on the list, like getting vertigo where I couldn't even stand up, so I had to crawl to the toilet for my hours of dry heaves and not being able to even keep water down. One week after my fourth and final AC, I ended up in the emergency room because of severe abdominal cramping and vomiting/diarrhea. They did a CT scan of my abdomen, etermned I was dehydrated and my hemoglobin was low. The CT scan showed my spleen and liver enlarged and fluid in my abdominal cavity. I was told to follow up with my MO at my next visit. Two days after the ER visit was my first Taxol infusion on March 17. My bloodwork was good enough to do the infusion, but my hemoglobin was very low, so I was scheduled for a blood transfusion the next morning at the hospital. I don't know why but getting someone else's blood pumped into me really freaked me out! I also was scheduled for an abdominal ultrasound and an appointment with a GI specialist to follow up on the abdominal stuff. I had my second Taxol infusion yesterday Mar 24th. So I now have 10 Taxol infusions remaining and then we can make some decisions on the surgery.

As far as my hair goes, the week before starting chemo I had my hairdresser cut my very long hair into a cute very short style. I figured it would help transition my kids from my long hair to no hair. On the second day after my second treatment (14th day since starting chemo) I was in the shower and went to wash my hair, two handfuls came out. That was it, I had always said when I saw the first handfuls I would shave it off. I immediately called my hairdresser and he met me at the salon and shaved it off using the clippers with no guard. Even then I still had these 1/8 inch hairs that would drive me crazy at night and they fell out everywhere. Then I tried the lint roller trick. That was taking too long, so my hubby and I went into the bathroom and with shaving cream and a razor he completely shaved my head! I just wear scarves and hats for now. I am in Florida and it is so hot for wigs. I do plan on getting a wig soon, just to wear for my kids upcoming awards ceremonies and band concerts.

Well for the good news! Since the AC was so horrible and I had every side effect possible, I find Taxol to be a relief so far. Obviously it is no picnic but some days I jut wanted to die on the AC so I am tolerating the Taxol much better. Also the doctor did a preliminary physical check and they estimate the tumor has shrunk by 50% down to 1cm so at least all this misery seems to be doing what it is intended.

Next up I get my genetic results next Tuesday, 3rd Taxol next Thursday, onward I march!

Sorry to be so long winded, but just wanted to catch up with the thread since I just joined!