Anyone starting chemotherapy in July?

Good Sunday evening to everyone. Scared67 and Lindsay - I didn't realize heartburn was going to be such an issue as I also am getting it, especially on day 3,4. They give me pepcid 30 min prior to infusion; I am hoping OTC like Zantac might help @ home. Sorry that your husband is less than supportive, Scared. CWhitney: don't really know if steroid withdrawal is entirely responsible for emotional crash/depression but am highly suspicious based on my experience so far. My infusions are Wednesdays. On day 3 my red face (very attractive - NOT) and energy goes away, I have problems with blood sugar all day (known steroid side effect), with it spiking and diving to the point where I'm shaking. Indigestion starts on day 3 too, and then on day 4 morning (Saturday) full depression mode kicks in. Fortunately at least this time the dark fog lifted late Saturday afternoon. Boricua: so sorry you're having GI problems - hope thy resolve soon for you. Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep after hydrating and daubing Vaseline in my nose. The chemo and the AC is drying it out so that it bleeds even when I blow it gently. Pleasant dreams to you all of when this is all over and we are disease free! (( ♡ ))

Hi everyone! Been awhile since I posted. I was out of town at my Mary Kay seminar. I was very nervous about going after reading that I would be losing hair while I was there. I brought a wig with me just in case and one of my roommates was a hairstylist so that made me feel a little better going. However, my hair started falling quit a bit while waiting at the airport all day for my flight out. I was fine until about 10 minutes before boarding and went into the bathroom and cried. I did not want this to happen until after I returned. However, my second roommate, whom I had never met, turned out to be a breast cancer survivor. She knew exactly what I was going through and understood my anxieties and fears. Having those 2 ladies with me during the week was priceless. The third day there, I wore the wig during the sessions and then came back to the room and my hair had balding spots where the combs on the wig were and the hair was continuing to fall like crazy. I felt like Chewbacca!! I told my roommate it was time to cut it. She cut it into a short pixie cut. I didn't cry at all and actually felt very empowered. I wore it that way the final 2 days there. I've been home for a few days and it just continues to fall. I look like an old man with a bad comb over. LOL! I wear ballcaps most of the time and the wig during my MK appointments. My almost 4 year old is dying to see me bald. She's so silly but it has kept my spirits up and I find myself laughing rather than crying about the hair loss right now. I know it won't be long before its all gone.

I had my second treatment today. No Benedryl this time so my energy level was high.I was able to do some errands afterward and go to my MK meeting. I'm not looking forward to my food tasting bad again. Most foods were starting to taste good again the last 7-10 days. My first treatment had some nausea in the early morning and after eating certain foods so I will keep the meds next to my bed and work hard to keep the mouth sores away. Someone in a support group said eating garlic worked wonders for her during chemo. It cleared up the mouth sores she got and kept them from returning.

Sorry for the long post but it has been awhile. I will continue to catch up on your posts. Hang in there everyone. We got this!! I bought a cup in Dallas that reads "Crazy Brave Wicked Strong" on one side and "Oh yeah, I've totally got this!" It was a must buy!!

Going in today for AC #4, last one, hooray! Although I am not thrilled just knowing how crappy I'm going to feel for the next 5 or 6 days. Then on to Taxol, REALLY hoping it's easier like everyone says.

We got this. Hang in there everybody!

Lindsay - Congrats on making it through to your last round of AC!! I am on a weekly Taxol only infusion plus herceptin having been thankfully spared the AC-T regimen after a 2nd opinion. I have to say that so far the side effects after 3 rounds have been minimal compared to what the rest of you have been through. The good thing with the weekly taxol is that the weeks seem to fly. If I had to wait 3 weeks between tx, I don't know if I'd have the guts to go through with the next one. You are all superheroes in my book. So far my biggest issues have been with the pre-meds, but now both the benadryl and Decadron have been cut in half thanks to detailed discussions with my onc MD & NP. The taxol is giving me some minor neuropathy, and major heartburn (since I have never had heartburn before). I find the weekly steroid high/lows to be the most disturbing, but everyone is different. Now I'm just waiting to see what happens with hair - apparently it's anybody's guess.

Natalie68: if you have problem veins like I do, you'll find the port to be a very good thing once the placement and post-op healing has taken place.

Glad to see posts from everyone indicating they're doing relatively well, all things considered. Pleasant dreams to all of chemo/radiation/disease - free days in the future and living our lives again. (( ♡ ))

Cwhitney, your post about exercising inspired me to go an on hour long walk today and it worked wonders for my energy level! I feel so much better. I read an article that said the risk of permanent hair loss with taxotere is 3%. I will ask my MO about it when I see him on Monday. That being said, if there is the most minute chance that the alternate chemo is less effective than taxotere, I will take the risk of permanent hair loss. The aggressive nature of this er-, her2 + terrifies me.

Roofcat59, I also suffered with excruciating heartburn. I am now on omeprezole, but before it started to work I slept upright on the couch for two nights (and yes, that helped, but I made sure to take a sleeping pill before settling in on the sofa). The benefit of sleeping on the couch is that my family really believed I was in pain and not just whining 😊

Helenwnz, I debated sharing my "news" on Facebook, but decided against it. I think I am still in a bit of denial that this isn't just a terrible nightmare from which I will awake cancer-free...

Getting my port on Monday and chemo #3 on Wednesday. Best wishes to all for easy treatments ahead...

Stephanie

hi cwhitney,

I was also a runner until I developed anemia a year and a half ago. I hope to take it up again once this is all over. I have been walking on my treadmill on an incline while watching Netflix. Not as goodness as running, but it is a pretty good workout.

As for hair loss, I just bought a great product from www. headcovers.com. It is a baseball cap with synthetic hair attached. I find that it is quite natural looking. (I took my wig out for a spin at the local mall last week and could have sworn I saw people doing double takes because it was obviously not my real hair. My husband said I was imagining it but I think he was just being kind). I don't feel self conscious at all in the baseball cap and it is extremely comfortable. Here is the link: https://www.headcovers.com/baseball-cap-with-hair-...

Lucky you for living near the beach. That is our dream for retirement!

I had my 3rd AC last Thursday. I'm normally ok the Thurs and Fri and then rest up feeling pretty ordinarySat and Sun and starting getting back to normal on the Mon and am mostly fine by the Tues. I went for my walk today. A very gentle stroll and have tried to post a pic for you guys. This cycle was fine. Better than the previous ones except the day before chemo I was unwell but it passed quickly and they went ahead with the chemo.It turns out it was a bacterial infection and I am now on antibiotics for it. It feels like forever before there will be an end in sight. I'm also now on panadol osteo around the clock for back pain from the neulasta and chemo as well as a heartburn tablet every day. Both of which worked out well.

HelenWNZ - I understand how you feel about the dose reduction being a fellow IIICer with lots of nodes. 10% is no big deal. Proper reduction is scary as is this whole cancer business. Hopefully the next proposed chemo regime is much better tolerated by your body and does the trick against any stray cancer cells. Who's to say which regime will be the one that works for you anyway. My physio was happy with my arm reductions except in one spot and my hand is definitely more swollen now so I have a new glove with fingers to use now rather than the gauntlet. I'm also disappointed with the backwards step on the cancer side of my chest from the bacterial infection there. The Lymphedema is definitely the gift that keeps on giving and I really don't know how it will hold up to radiation after seeing how much progress was lost from one short lived infection. I'm not keen on the wigs either. I've been making do with my hippy head wraps and being winter and living coastal no one is giving me a second glance

CWhitney - I certainly love the beach and am glad to live close by. I haven't had any reconstruction so I was glad the infection hasn't caused any real issues. No real pain just an annoying swelling feeling that I thought I was long past. Fortunately it didn't last longer than half a day. I hope the antibiotics work and I've seen the back of it. I'm not planning on reconstruction at this stage. I hated having big boobs and I really wasn't too keen on the anaesthetic from the mastectomy. The girls at my real life support group say it takes around three surgeries to get results they are happy with, one girl was five. Not something important to me right now but you never know I may change my mind yet. It must be so comforting having a friend that's been through it all ahead of you and is living life out the other side. Unfortunately for me I lost both my dad and husband to cancer last year both two years after diagnosis so I don't think I'll be able to let my guard down even a little until I'm past that two year mark

morning - thanks xxyzed we do have a very similar diagnosis with probably the same nuisance things going on. With the 3c business I just wanted everything thrown at me but it's proving too much for the old body. I've been signed off my surgeon until after radiotherapy when we pick up again and hope to have the discussion what to do with the other boob. I was big busted and not overly Keen either so may look at having it removed to. The thought of ongoing surgeries is very daunting.

I was sorry to hear about your husband and father - you will definitely looking towards anniversaries for yourself.

Hi all, just popping in to say hi. Finished my 4th AC a week ago, HURRAY! This one really kicked my a** though, I was so tired I am only today feeling like myself. I thought I was going to go crazy with fatigue induced boredom. Next week start the Taxol. Had another chemo teach about it and everyone at the infusion Center is acting like it will be no big deal, I sure hope they are right! I am nervous about neuropathy and my nails falling out!

Sorry to everyone experiencing infections, poor side effects, etc. Hope everyone is on the mend.

Helen you look absolutely gorgeous in your photo. I hope your doses and SEs sort themselves so you can throw as much as you can at this.

Wishing all a good weekend. Stay strong. 💕💕💕

Lindsay

Hurray indeed to your last AC Lindzanne. I have my 4th AC next week so will join you in the hurrays when I get over it. I too am starting to freak out about potential taxol problems. Seeing as I have managed AC well enough I keep thinking maybe I'm just one of the ones that goes ok with it and taxol or the Herceptin will be my nemesis.

I don't know how you manage to keep working as normal boricua. There is absolutely no way I could hold down my job at the moment, still manage my boys and my fathers estate and look after me at the same time. At best I could do a few days every second week and that's really not enough for an executive level job to keep things running.

I agree Cwhitney on the worst nightmare thing. I could sort of understand my dad and husband getting cancer because they liked to live life on the edge. I'm a boring, normalish healthy person that doesn't smoke, drink or party and still copped the cancer card. I'm definitely at a low emotionally now and can feel depression trying to creep in. My husbands cancer was supposedly very treatable with long periods between relapses and he still managed to repeatedly relapse and die at a time when virtually no one dies. My prognosis statistics look pretty bad compared to his and he's deadso I really don't believe most of what the doctors say.

Good morning girls. I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I have my third round of treatments tomorrow so I will be at the halfway mark for chemo. I had a terrible side effect of a crazy heavy period that left me homebound for two weeks. It really made me hate being premenopausal. My doctor said it was normal but it made me miserable. Plus I have been having post mastectomy pain under my arm. Sorry to complain but I know you all understand. I didn't lose all my hair but I shaved if off yesterday. I couldn't stand the shedding. Anyhow, I hope you are all hanging in there!!!

That's my worst nightmare scared! 😳 I had my 3rd ac round last Monday and Thursday to Saturday were miserable. I feel like the anti nausea drugs were not doing their thing! It was awful. I have a serious phobia of throwing up 😖 I'm going to talk to everyone (oncologist and nurses) as it really feels like it's built up and I'm deadly worried about round 4. My daughter and I 'joked' last year that if I had to make a choice between chemo and throwing up vs dying from cancer the cancer would win ( obviously I changed my mind and was reassured that the nausea wouldn't be a problem 🙃)

I'm working most days. Well reduced hours on days 5 6 and 7 but last week I just couldn't do it - I spent two days in bed and the others I was pleased to get to the couch. I had my port put in on the previous Friday and so I was feeling quite miserable with the slash in my chest, the chemo and the chest muscle feeling so bruised. That has left me really worried about the mastectomy and the pain that's going to bring. I think everyone else here has had the mastectomy - it's even made me re think the reconstruction as well. 😥

This week has been by far the hardest.

I will read the first taxol users reports with keen interest to help work out how the weekly infusions and side effects will go.

Luv to all. Xx. Natalie