Starting Chemo March 2015

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  • eheinrich
    eheinrich Member Posts: 792
    edited April 2016

    Yay Allison!!! So happy to hear it!

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited April 2016

    for my March dear ones:

    image

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  • ThePrincess
    ThePrincess Member Posts: 424
    edited April 2016

    YAY Allison!

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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited April 2016

    Good news for both of you!

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  • Italychick
    Italychick Member Posts: 2,343
    edited April 2016

    Yay Allison! Always such a relief!

    Eileen, one less scar, so big yay there too!

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  • pboi
    pboi Member Posts: 663
    edited April 2016

    Yay Allison, great news!

    PB

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  • pboi
    pboi Member Posts: 663
    edited April 2016

    Had a 3 month follow up appointment with my MO today. Happy that all is well for now. My next appointment is in 6 months! I thought I'd go back in another 3 months, but 6 months seems so far away...guess I'm not ready to let go of the security of being looked after. Geez...feeling very clingy I guess.How often do you have MO appointments?

    It's getting quiet here...hope that means everyone's doing well and enjoying spring!

    PB

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  • neverthought
    neverthought Member Posts: 90
    edited April 2016

    Why am I up at 4am? Started having hot flashes after not having them for years, I can't remember when. What's with that?

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited April 2016

    Katy: I just wanted to tell you that the cardinals who visit me regularly built a nest just outside my kitchen window on the crabapple tree and so far, she has laid one egg. I am enjoying watching the whole thing so much. I hope we don't scare her away.

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited April 2016

    great news Allison

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited April 2016

    Thanks, Karen! How are you doing?

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited April 2016

    Allison! What wonderful imagery, a cardinal with nest and egg! I remember last year at this time you had a pair of somethings building something, but ultimately did not lay. I considered it then, and now even moreso, a harbinger of good times ahead. I can just imagine how nice it is to look out at that as you recover. Again. We don't have cardinals here in Oregon but I caught this purple finch the other day while I was sitting at my sewing machine quilting:

    image

    Wishing you all a lovely day.

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  • jumbledbamboo
    jumbledbamboo Member Posts: 158
    edited May 2016

    hello ladies. It is quiet I'm here now which is so good! Allison congratulations! Katy I think of you a lot. Hope you are well.

    I finished Herceptin!!!!!!! Now I go every 3 months for 2 years for blood work and every 6 weeks for port flush. I guess just the regular post stuff now! So happy!

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited May 2016

    Congratulations, Amber! I hoping some of your SE's ease now.

    Katy: I am very sad to say the cardinal laid another egg this morning and by around 1, it was gone. :( I am hoping she comes back and lays another tomorrow. I can't for the life of me figure out what got her egg.

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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited May 2016

    Congratulations, Amber!

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited May 2016

    Wonderful news, Amber. Keep well. Don't be a stranger.

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  • jumbledbamboo
    jumbledbamboo Member Posts: 158
    edited May 2016

    i will try. My mom came to visit and I wanted so badly for a different experience: ( sigh sigh. Fuck! It was not good. But hey I'm looking forward not back. I go for follow up on my ostenecrosis on the fifth. I hope the xray is great. I have a lot of pain but oh well. My neurologist said after a while my stroke symptoms that are so aggravated by chemo might back down again. I have found some relief in the form of herbal tea and salve. Thank goodness for that. I take a ton of gabapentin and baclofen and trokendi. The tea is a nice reprieve from pharmacy meds. Just regular tea mind you. Yes. Regular lol. Thanks for listening ladies! You're all amazing.

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  • jumbledbamboo
    jumbledbamboo Member Posts: 158
    edited May 2016

    and I'm not asking for advice but I saw immature granulocytes in my bloodwork that was never there before so I am trying not to obsess. But I am curious if you have ever had that?

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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited May 2016

    Amber, "immature granulocytes" is a category of white blood cell. It appears on some of my reports but not others, depending on which lab ran the blood work.

    image

    Here's the traveling bracelet as I walked a half marathon. I haven't made my addition yet.

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  • Jackbirdie
    Jackbirdie Member Posts: 4,693
    edited May 2016

    awesome accessorizing! That bracelet sure has traveled!

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  • jumbledbamboo
    jumbledbamboo Member Posts: 158
    edited May 2016

    ok thank you!

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited May 2016

    Allison, I am doing well. I had a clear MRI which was good news. I have follow up appointment with RO next week. I will ask about my pulmonary function test at work which decreased from 105% to 75%. I am interested to hear what he has to say; I am guessing it's from rads ... Hoping it is not permanent

    Amber, Great news on Herceptin!!

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited May 2016

    How do they test pulmonary function?

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  • pboi
    pboi Member Posts: 663
    edited May 2016

    Karen and Theresa... I'm continuing to have discussions with my MO about Zometa vs. Prolia so I thought I'd come back to update. I'm on Zometa, and it seems to me most others are now being given Prolia. I'm just trying to figure out which one would benefit me the most. I emailed my MO the results from the latest findings from the Prolia study and here was his reply:

    The consensus is - both agents help only post menopausal patients. zometa improves overall survival and progression free survival. Denosumab improves PFS so far, OS still pending, per the article you referenced. The meta-analyses for zometa appear "conflicting", because they mix pre and post menopausal patients. When focused on post menopausal patients, zometa helps. Since zometa improves both OS/PFS, and is less expensive than prolia, which only improves PFS, then zometa is the recommended therapy. Prolia is reserved for people with renal failure.

    I wonder if I'm considered postmenopausal now after having my ovaries out? I guess for now I'm staying with the Zometa, but still in the back of my mind wondering if this is the right choice...these decisions are so hard!

    PB

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited May 2016

    pboi - yes, no ovaries = surgical menopause, so you would be considered post-penopausal.

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  • KBeee
    KBeee Member Posts: 5,109
    edited May 2016

    My MO said that Zometa had more side effects, which is why he recommended Prolia. It's such a crap shoot!

    Pulmonary function test is done in office by breathing into a machine. You take a deep breath and then exhale out forcefully and keep blowing as long as you can. You repeat for a total of three readings. I see RO next Thursday; I'll see what he has to say. I meant to mention it to mention it to MO last month, but realized on my way home that I forgot to bring it up. Uuugh. I see him again in July. If RO ignores me, I may message MO sooner because it is concerning to me

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  • rleepac
    rleepac Member Posts: 755
    edited May 2016

    Kbee - what was reduced? Was it the FVC or the FEV1/FVC? If it was the FVC, then it's probably related to radiation because FVC is the total amount you took in. Radiation can cause restriction (lungs can't fully expand) so that would make sense.

    If it was the FEV1/FVC, then it's more of an obstructive airway problem (asthma, etc). The FEV1/FVC shows how much air you are able to exhale in the first second so in conditions like asthma, there is obstruction from inflammation and mucous so it takes longer to get the air out.

    There are several other measurements on the PFT but the FVC and FEV1/FVC are the two biggies we usually look at. Either way a significant decrease like you're describing should be brought to both your MO and RO attention.

    Bekah

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  • Trvler
    Trvler Member Posts: 3,159
    edited May 2016

    Let's see some hair pictures!

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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited May 2016
    image

    This is about as long as I ever wear it. I've had 3 cuts since chemo ended.

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  • Italychick
    Italychick Member Posts: 2,343
    edited May 2016

    My morning bed head.


    image

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