Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

heathet I finished six rounds of chemo on April 19. It wasn't really bad for me at all. I had a different regimen but a lot of the medications are the same, and on the chemo boards I can see that the side effects and ebb and flow of them seems to be similar as well. I found that as long as I was good with my side effect medication, was mostly okay. Make sure to take antinauseants the minute you think you might be queasy, don't wait to actually get full-blown nauseous or it will be harder to get rid of it. I did not throw up once but I did let myself get too nauseous once, there were also no days that I was chained to the couch all day however there certainly were some days when I didn't do very much

I did a Neulasta shot after every infusion, and did not have any problems with infections. I had a fever once, but it was because I had a really bad cold, I went to the emergency room to get my blood tested and everything was fine, it was viral and I just had to wait It out. I have two school-age kids, that was the only time I got sick.

When I did taxetore I iced my fingers, and did my fingernails and toenails with dark polish the whole time. I've had no nail damage that I've noticed so that's a good thing.

I did two different types of chemo, three of one and three of the other. The side effects were a bit different but I noticed that mostly I felt good for the first day or two, then had a few days where I felt very wiped out probably because of coming off the steroids, and then I started to perk up. On both of them by the second week I was feeling mostly better, and by the third week I was pretty much myself except that by the end I noticed that I was much lower energy that I had been at the beginning. Not struggling with huge amounts of fatigue, but I tried to work out throughout and by the third or fourth cycle that had turned into only walking! I'm starting to work out more vigourously again now, and realizing just how much strength and stamina I have lost.

Of course I lost my hair and that has been hard. Six weeks past Chemo it has grown about half an inch, but it is very fine and sparse, so you can still see my scalp through it and it actually looks worse than it did bald. I did not do cold capping but if that's something you're interested in you could look into it.

We live in FL and have swimming pool. All winter I look forward to the day when it is warm enough to swim. I received my DX the week we started swimming.

Can I swim during radiation? We have a saltwater pool and it is cleaned by a pool service weekly.

Molly- in your pocket for Wednesday!  YES!  We have a great BCO meet up and concert.  Sandy and Cathy (aka MLPoodles) are just wonderful folks.  Sandy's concert was fabulous- she is such a talented musician/songwriter.  Wish more of you could have joined us but we will just have to meet up another time...like maybe out in Cali where so many seem to be and once Peggy gets settled and adjusted to her new home and territory.  Anyway- it was great fun and money was raised for Healing Touch which is sucha great program for BC patients in the Hickory area. 

Thank you SO very much, ChiSandy for all of your efforts to raise money for Vital Touch!!

Just got back from my first MO appointment. I feel like we are a good match. I did find out my cancer is HER2 negative today and my Ki-67 scores were 3% and 6%. I was unsure what that meant at first but she explained it well.

Next steps are my post op for the lumpectomy and to discuss the upcoming BMX and SNB surgery. If nodes come back positive the Oncotype test will be done to determine if I need chemo or not.

Each day gets a little bit better. I was freaked out about chemo and now I look at it as a another tool in the toolbox to get rid of this sh#t. I credit the BCO members for the support and letting us know we can get through chemo/rads/surgery, as many have before us.

Many hugs,

Traci

Traci, I would recommend you ask for an Oncotype test no matter that status of your nodes. I'm glad you like your MO. It sounds like you have decided to have reconstruction. Another decision made and one less worry. This group IS supportive and helpful, making some of the scary treatments we can face less so and more manageable. It is very comforting. And it helps that a bit of time has passed and the initial shock of a BMX has worn off a bit. Here's hoping chemo won't be needed.

HUGS!

Hi, first day back at work since surgery last Wednesday. Between it being my 2nd surgery & adding the SNB, not bouncing back as fast as I did first surgery. Did ok, no pain & just a little sore, but started getting tired after lunch, so left a couple of hours early and an resting now. Have my post op Wednesday. I'm trying to be good, but it's hard for someone who's always had lots of energy & is a chronic multitasker.

Molly will be in your pocket Wednesday

Traci I agree with you about the support that we have here on bco. It makes it all doable & not as frightening. I appreciate everyone here who share their experiences so much! I'm getting ready for Rad's & tomoxifen after, so I'm reading up on everyone's experiences so I'll be ready.

Hugs to all

Trish

Thanks to everyone who wished my son well.  I really appreciate it.

Dear HappyHammer:  Thanks for letting me know about the book, Medical Medium.  I appreciate it.

Dear Tsoebbin:  YAY! for Her2- and a 3% Ki67 score.  I am praying that your nodes are negative, that you have a low oncotype score (request the test no matter what happens with you lymph nodes), and that you don't need chemo.  Good luck with your BMX. 

Dear Peggy:  I hope that you feel better.

Dear Molly:  I am in your pocket on Wednesday.

Dear Heathet:  Good luck with chemo.  Just keep thinking that you will have beaten cancer once the chemo is completed.  Peggy has a great mantra for this.

Dear Sandy:  I'm glad that your concert went well.  You are so "giving".  I use Healing Touch services in FL.  It is a great organization.  You are very funny - "The most fun that I have had with clothes on!"  lol.  Happy travels!!!  I hope that your husband gets favorable results.

Dear HH, Poodles, Sandy, and anyone else who joined the concert in Hickory:  I'm glad that all of you were able to spend time together.  I'm jealous.  I would love to meet you and to hear Sandy sing.  It sounds glorious.

Dear Ejmann and LTF:  I hope that both of you will be able to swim soon.  Check with your RO's.

Dear TBalding:  I am in your pocket on Wednesday.

Dear Poodles:  Your "Apple House" reminds me of when I was growing up.  My family would go skiing in Vermont and go to the lake in the summer.  We would always stop at an apple orchard and buy MacIntosh apples.  I love your "fruit" breakfast.  lol.

Dear Ejmann:  When I first moved to Florida, I was told that I was "Keysian".  I had no idea what that meant.  Apparently, people who live in The Florida Keys have a tendency to be laid back and mellow.  That is my personality type.  I wish that you lived closer to me.  I hope that you can swim in the salt water.  Your pool sounds phenomenal.  Good luck with Rads.

LovingGrouches- am so glad you joined a gym!  After looking at the pic of us in Hickory- I started back walking today- did 2.2 miles in 38 minutes and while that time STINKS- am considering it a baseline.  Have pledged to do a 5k every Sat for the next 3 months with my sister Meg, and friend Angie.  We are starting off walking and am hoping to improve on the time every week.  Looking to feel (and, look) better.  When I am exercising the anxiety is better as is the eating...are you interested in kind of keeping up about the workouts so help each other or are you better when you do it alone?

Loving Grouches and Happy Hammer,  Yeah on setting exercise goals, when I started Tamoxifen, I started exercise at the same time.  I was just walking on the treadmill in the beginning.  In the first month, I lost 5 lbs without making significant changes to my diet.  Then started Jenny Craig and have been steadily loosing weight averaging around 1.3 lbs a week.  I slowly added, elepitical, bike and other workouts.  After a few months I added strength training,  I am now going to the gym 4 to 5 days.  I'm also trying to get in 10K steps every day.  It is still tough somedays to get to the gym but I know without it my health will not improve, so I drag myself off the couch.  Good Luck,  MJS

HH, love the pics! I don't mind keeping up about the workouts. I did a baseline today of a little over half a mile on treadmill in 13 minutes and 10 minutes on elliptical along with hip, leg,abs and arm strengthening machines at the gym. I'm being careful with the arms due to the 2 surgeries, lymph node area and breast irritation from finishing rads and still have a little pain from partially torn rotator cuff tear. ( something how that pain sent me to doctor to ask for mammogram that found my cancer in the OPPOSITE breast) I can remember when I was 25 lb lighter and would do 2 miles on treadmill or down the road and 40 minutes on the elliptical. My legs were like jello! Lol! I think I will go back on low carb diet too, but be generous with no more than 60 gm of carbs a day. I'm not a big meat eater, so I can't do lots of protein, it makes me sick (but I'm also diabetic and don't need the carbs that turn to sugar) I'm hoping to improve every day, but I will probably have to start over after the surgery (sigh) let's keep each other motivated!

MJS, so glad you are doing so great! It's hard to stick to sometimes I used to be on 1300 calorie diet and went to gym and lost 46 lb, but when I started working so much overtime, I quit and have gained over 20 lb back. Don't give up like I did!!

614, I too worry about putting EVEN more weight on between ovaries coming out AND tamoxifen. I figure it's not too late to start over again, but it's going to be rough!

Ok, soooo, would it be helpful to start a new thread for those of us who are now wanting to add exercise to ALL OF THIS DAMN bc stuff......?  Sorry, but while I am happy to get myself back in shape...I do not want to leave any of you out but also, know that many of you do not need this extra thread for whatever reason....SO....we could just call the new thread...Dammit- we are adding extra exercise, too....haha, or   ???

we have a forum called exercise and well being during chemo and radiation but it has continued on,

Come join us!

Good news--Bob's lung CT scan came back "stable--no followup required.”

Had a reasonably uneventful trip home today (although I discovered that Hertz’ NeverLost ought to be renamed MapsNeverUpdated. Got turned around in circles more than once when ordered to make maneuvers that were impossible due to road closures. Practically no TSA line to speak of at Charlotte--in fact, the TSA Pre line was only a bit longer than the wheelchair line, but I opted for the former because I wanted as little fuss & feathers as possible--got to keep my shoes on my feet and my computer in my bag. Of course, the woman ahead of me needed a patdown and they were short on female screeners--so I had to stand there behind the scanner for 10 minutes before she got her patdown and I got waved through. The waiter in the airport restaurant topped up my glass of cava, so I was feeling rather mellow by the time I boarded. But because this plane was an older 737-700 the overheads were shallower and the lid hinges kept my folding-guitar backpack/case from fitting, unlike on the newer plane I’d flown on into Charlotte (so I had to detach the computer compartment--luckily, I wasn’t dinged for an extra carry-on).

Then when we got to Midway, there were no wheelchairs available so we had to wait while the other passengers cleared out. Some of my fellow pre-boards had connections to make, so I offered to stay on the plane and give them first crack on the chairs. One finally arrived, but that was about it. So the woman who had a tight connection decided to hoof it. I asked the flight attendant our gate number--A12, squarely mid-concourse, with at least two moving walkways. So I reattached the computer compartment, put it on my back, stuffed my jacket into my tote (from which I’d extricated my purse), and headed out on foot as well....just as a parade of chairs arrived down the jetway. I figured I could make it on foot, and so I did--even the Long March (uphill through the cattle chute that serves as the TSA-line feeder) to the bag claim escalator wasn’t bad.

But I searched in vain for my flight on the carousel-assignment board. Then someone pointed to carousel 5, which did list the flight. Relieved, I made a pit stop and when I emerged....neither of my bags. No bags at all, save three little rollaboards that had apparently been circling for half an hour. (Dontcha just hate it when you’re waiting and the same sorry bags are the only ones that keep coming around the carousel)? And “Charlotte” was no longer on that carousel’s individual monitor. I panicked, and the SW rep suggested I try “Oversized Baggage” because they had had to clear the carousel for the next flight (yet those three little bags kept circling...maybe they plant them there like a $5 bill in the tip jar on the piano in a bar). So I went to the Oversize stall, and there was my large dulcimer bag...but no suitcase. I panicked again--after all, anyone can walk into Baggage Claim off the street; an experienced thief knows which bags are expensive (such as that Rimowa Salsa Air); and nobody checks bag tags against claim checks anymore, so anyone can walk off with any bag.

Next stop--Claims office, to file a claim and hope they’d find and deliver it to my house. I was really ticked off--there was only a 50% chance it wasn’t stolen; and I was now going to have to rent a cart to schlep everything through the taxi line to avoid worsening my LE. (I use that suitcase as a cart in itself, hanging the tote off the handle and balancing the dulcimer bag across the top). Just then the radio squawked that it had been found at Carousel 5, so I was told to go get it (mind you, the Claims Office is past Carousel 10). Got back to Carousel 5.....and nope, still just the three little unclaimed rollaboards (did they belong to the Flying Dutchman)? I began to swear up a near blue streak, stopping just short of launching F-bombs, when the rep ran over to me and said it had been delivered to Claims. So back to Claims we walked, I rigged up my de facto cart arrangement, and opened my Uber app...only to see the message “no drivers available, try again later.” So I decided to spend the extra $20 on a cab rather than wrestle my bags up to the outer “arranged rides” curb. The dispatcher kept pulling people out of line from behind me to share cabs into the Loop (nowhere near my house). My luck that I finally drew a taxi driven by a sweet Jamaican lady roughly my age and physique--so the dispatcher had to load my bags into the trunk. When we finally got to my house, she took the bags to the curb. Called Gordy to come down and help me, but no answer. So I made several trips up on to the porch with the smaller bags, hauling “Big Bertha” up, mostly with my left arm, one stair at a time, holding on to the railing. Finally made it in--2 hrs later than planned.

I figure I did my distance walking and weight lifting for today.

Sandy- So happy for you and Bob about the scan news! As far as your getting home- I'm exhausted for you! 

Italychick- thanks for the info...will head over now.

Ejmann44- Hoping you feel more like yourself son.  However, resting and napping really may be in order so that you can take the girls to their extracurriculars.  Your body has been through a trauma- not to mention the emotional stuff.  Hang in there, it will get better!

Peggy- are you feeling better?