Starting Chemo in Nov 2016

thank you very much, gmmiph. I feel I am as ready as ever. Got my headcovers.com stuff in today. I'm thrilled, everything is really cute!

Leslie, it is totally okay to do chemo infusions without a support person. I did three of my four that way and it was perfectly fine. Took a lot of bravery the first time i went alone, but really it was smooth sailing and the nurses were kind and lovely. I appreciated the time to just rest and read or whatever.

Nanpop, icing hands and feet is for protecting finger nails and toenails from Taxotere. Much colder than scalp cooling, by far. Some people have mentioned icing to prevent neuropathy, but really it is just for keeping fingernails and toenails from turning black. B6 is for neuropathy according to these forums, so i took that sometimes. Not sure it worked, but i had no neuropathy.

You gals that have had mastectomies, i think that is a much scarier thing to experience than chemo. I'm awaiting genetic test results and would gladly go completely through chemo twice more if would mean i can keep to my plan of lumpectomy + lift + radiation and not have mastectomy + reconstruction.

Best of luck to everyone

Tomorrow is my day. Can feel the stress moving up my back. Deep breaths. Onward....

Hi to all November Chemoladies,

Wishing you all good luck in your chemo sessions. Try thinking of happy thoughts and focus on a bright future ahead of you. I'll be getting my chemo tomorrow and i have lots of soothing christian songs to go with it. I do have this particular song though,that keeps playing on my mind...

Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
And I've got all my love to give and I'll survive
I will survive, hey, hey...

All the best ladies and no goodbyes please.

gmmiph

ei Nfullblume, Hugs and prayers for you sis.

Hi Ladies,

My MO said I will have AC-T dose dense for four months. He said my hair will fall out. Does that mean all of it? He also said the T causes neuropathy. So I will up my vitamin b-6.

Any other tips?

Do I need a port?

He also told me to exercise for 30 minutes a day just enough to break a sweat. Anyone ever heard of that

Kelly, wow, the 3rd mom? That's crazy! Thank goodness you have them forsupport. I love this group; being able to talk about it is so comforting.

You can do this susicaldy. I can do this. I truly believe positive thoughts are more important than anything else. I WILL beat this.We can do it together.

Hi javamama, welcome.

I am sorry to hear your experience. I guess we all have gone thru anxious moments when we find out that we have this nasty disease. I fully understand youranger, confusion and anxiety. I myself is in disbelief. Ive tried to be healthy throughout my life, but still cancer found its way to me. Its miserable and this feeling is shared by most if not all of us here.

Maybe what you can do is to release your emotions somewhere where nobody could see you, if that would make you feel better afterwards. You can have support groups such as here on BCO, where you can find many nice ladies willing to help you thru their own personal experiences. You can learn a lot from them, from their medications, to diets, to releasing stress and controlling emotions. Really a big help.

Then try to focus on your future, by setting a goal or having an inspiration from someone here who has survived this disease for so long. Like maybe think that you will be the first one in your family to beat this, i do this coz we have a long family history of cancer, no survivors, and i am determined to be the first.

Relax thru music or hobbies. Reflect thru prayers, gain friends, reconcile with your loved ones, etc.

Wouldnt you be happy and proud to beat the odds? Yes, of course. and all of us here willl try and support you.

Dont accept defeat without a fight. You can get thru this. We all can.

Wishing you well and praying for you and your loved ones,

gmmiph

hi nfullblume,

I am glad you're ok with your chemo. i am three hours away from mine. Praying for you.

gmmiph

Gmmiph, you're going to do great! Thinking of you.

Leslie, glad yours went well too. The Neulasta is a self injector, it's a little cartridge that is stuck to the back of my arm. I hate needles, so happy I don't have to inject myself. They've told me if I need fluids, that I'll need to come back on Friday by 12pm or go to the Saturday clinic and they could call someone in. Hoping to keep enough liquids in me that it's not an issue.

I'm already peeing some of the red devil out. Happy about that! Do your duty, and then get out of my body! LOL!

Susicaldy, welcome to our fun little group. HEHE! What medications are you on? It'll be nice to hear how you're doing since you're 3 weeks in. My 16 year stepdaughter lives with my husband and I, so I'm doing my best to teach her it's ok to feel down and to kick ass fighting! I am definitely struggling a bit with that communication though. I can't imagine having a young kid around. Tough!

Have a great night ladies.

Leslie and Rachel- glad all went well! Hoping you don't get nausea and need the fluids. My coworker said the neulasts autoinject is not bad at all- it feels like a rubber band snapping your skin.

Gmmiph- hope its going well!

Tomorrow is my day! Hope I can sleep tonight, my port is sore and forcing me to sleep on my back. Today at lunch I picked up my wig and ordered some more scarves. Let's do this

I hope everyone has a great evening,

Kelly

When I left today, they attached the Neulasta patch. When they install it, within 3 minutes, it injects you with the needle and leaves a small catheter in you. So the "snap" is already done. It will inject the meds through the little catheter. I've been taking Claritin since Sunday, so hopefully, I'll skirt around the bone pain. By tomorrow at 9pm, I can take the patch off. A best practice to share..I wore a long sleeved shirt with fitted cuffs today and I basically had to strip for them to put the Neulasta patch on. You can't knock it off, so they didn't want me to pull my sleeve back down. I had my sweater, so I just put that on and closed the front. So you will want to wear something that will allow them to access the port and access the back of your arm (opposite side of your surgery.)

Also, the lidocaine cream works well. I used a qtip to apply about a pea size. I'll use more next time and won't use a qtip that soaks up some of the meds. I used a small square of cling wrap over the site for the hours prior to my labs. That also allows the nurse to touch and feel where the port is, without rubbing off the meds.

I have a lot of allergies, so I consider today a success that I didn't have a reaction to any of the meds. Injection #1 done. 7 more to go. I'm intentionally not allowing myself to "wait" for the SEs. I'm keeping busy and when they kick in, they do. I don't want to be like "what was that? or that gurgle." I think that will just amplify the anxiety.

Oh yeah..liquids.. I've had about 84 oz so far, shooting for another 28 oz before bedtime. The nurses made a great point that I hadn't thought about...drink it while you can, because if you do vomit or have the big D..you can't replace as fast as it's coming out. She also said that if you're not feeling great, you may not be able to force yourself to drink. So, I'm trying to stay ahead of it.

I heard the steroids made a lot of folks jumpy and wired, but I'm not really getting that effect. I stay really busy, so it was kind of nice sitting still for 2 hours today. I'm heading to the couch for more!

Good lucky, Kelly! I'll be thinking about you tomorrow.

Glad to hear things are going okay for you ladies. Thanks Nfullblume for the info about the Neulasta patch, my MO told me I would be getting that. I didn't think about them needing to get to my arm.