Starting Chemo in Nov 2016

Welcome Latinmxy, how are you feeling? Are you on the AC/T infusions?

I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. Slept well last night. Trying to work through today and then will focus on my health through the weekend.

Gmmiph, how'd your injections go?

Love you ladies, thinking about you.

I'm back home from my first treatment! Went out to lunch with the hubby and then early voted before coming home

The treatment didn't seem bad at all. I was there for about 2.5 hours. Probably even shorter next time since they took time to explain everything to me today. Now I'm just waiting for SE to kick in. I too have a Neulasta self injector. Should go off around 2:30 pm tomorrow.

Hi I am so new!

I am triple positive, and I start chemo on Tuesday the 8th. I am so very overwhelmed and scared. I had my port put in on Halloween, I also had biopsy of the lymph nodes and that came back negative. I will go every 3 weeks with the first 6 treatments being the "worse" and then the remainder of the year after that will be still every 3 weeks but just the one chemo drug (not 4 like my first 6 will be).

You ladies seem like you know exactly what y'all are talking about. I am still in a cloud. I know I'm stage 2, high grade, and 2.3cm. I tried reading through my Path report but didn't see the actual grade listed.

XOXOXOXO

Shannon

Hello To all November Chemoladies,

Thank you so much for the prayers and well wishes.

I am still in the hospital, 5 am nov. 4. all went well, it took about 5 hours for the actual administration of 2 pre-chemo meds and the FEC. the onco nurse said she slowed down the flow of the FEC so that it wont be too hard on my vein. i will be out in about 2-3 hrs. No side effects so far except for the red pee.

i am glad all those who went ahead of me are all doing well. for those about to go thru the process, I can tell you, the worrying is not worth it. i am speaking about the actual session itself, not the days to follow. take it one step at a time

ok i have to get ready for discharge now.

gmmiph

Hi everyone. I'm 37 yrs old and was diagnosed couple months ago. I had my masectomy but now due to my high onco score I'm starting chemo treatment next week. I don't know what day yet. I will be doing T/C every 3weeks for 6 rounds. I will be doing the cold caps so hope it works. I'm scared and have not gotten any thing prepared. No wigs, scarves. Nothing. I will still be needekbg this since I i will still be loosing a large amount of hair so ive read. Glad to have others to share my experience with

I will be starting Nov 8th, weekly Paclitaxel for 12 weeks and possible study drug (Keytruda I believe). I find out on Monday if I am getting the study drug. Then I go for AC for 2 months.

It's about an hour drive from where I live, but my mom is driving me so that's helpful, and I get to spend more time with her. My son will be going with us as well (he's 13 and homeschooled) so they will hang out those days as well, which is great.

My half-sister works in another building of the medical center where I will be, and I have a few other relatives in some of the buildings so that is sort of comforting.

Glad to know there are others starting at the same time.

Yes, starting right along with you. AC and T. 4 treatments of each every 2 weeks. 16 weeks total and all before surgery just like you! Hope you are hanging tough today.

Felt nausea this morning, took some medicine and went back to bed. Was good by noon.

The worst part of starting this week was menstruating too. Thus, feel achy, sweats and can't sort the side effects from the period. Worried about all the side effects and how to report to the doctor. For instance, I had chills and sweats last night, but no fever.

Had my first chemo treatment today so got that over and done with. I still have steri-strips on my port. The MO wants them to come off on their own so there was a little pain when connecting to the port. I had felt so good all week long I forgot there could be underlying bruising from the port placement, but that was the worst for the day.

I also have a Neulasta patch on my arm and even though I knew it was coming I was still a little startled when the tube was pushed into my arm. lol The woman next to me got a good laugh from that one. :-)

My head feels a little weird. It's feels as if I've had too much water intake. Hmmm

Other than that, all is good.

Nfullblume - thanks so much for your Claritin mention. I asked my MO about the Benadryl I take, and I'm now taking Claritin, killing two birds with one stone. :-)

Kellly, anyone else who started today. I hope it went well!!

Again, nothing but good thoughts!!

Nfullblume, if you can master the side-effect management right from the first round, you are rocking out. It sounds like you're doing great. Emend is something i've only heard of, and was never offered for whatever reason. My oncologist is excellent, but side-effect management is reputedly not her strong suit. (I should have been offered Zofran after telling her i'd had 13 hours of nausea and vomiting following the first infusion. My 21 rounds of vomitting after the second infusion were unnecessary suffering. And i was alone at home, no one taking care of me. So glad that crap is over.)

Don't skimp on the senekot! Seriously, even with two a night before bed, it was like the wall of china in there for three days.

Time to go inject myself with Neupogen! Four vials left.

Well, my steriod dexamethasone knocked me out of sleep again last night from about 2:30-5:30. Thank goodness I only take them for 3 days after chemo!! The combination of them and the other anti-nausea drugs are doing the trick, but I really would like a full nights sleep. The dog was interested when I came downstairs at 3:30am tho.

I'm a little nauseous this morning, but not bad. Took a gravol, and I'll take my dexamethasone and emend in about an hour. Nurse is coming at about 9:45 to hook up my hydration for the day. Hopefully that will stave it all off for another day.

Had my first neulasta yesterday...interesting that you guys are talking about a patch on your arm that auto injects. I got an actual needle that I will have to give myself in the stomach. Wonder why the difference? Don't seem to have any aches from it yet. Hope that lasts too.

Hi Everyone,

I get my port next week. I am very anxious when I wake up in the morning. I usually wake up at 4 and try to go back to sleep. This is all so overwhelming. I get nauseous easily so I'm not sure what going to happen with the chemo AC/T. I am working a new job so I am hoping SE are not too bad.

Grandmama your diagnosis seems similar to mine. Is anyone going on hormonal medication during chemo or perhaps started them already?

Are you getting much support from you friends? Some of mine have not even called.

So far so good this morning! Didn't get much sleep, despite taking a melatonin. I was up every 2 hours going to the bathroom. It was like being pregnant again! I guess I drank a lot of water yesterday lol. No nausea at all so far.

That's too bad about your friends Nanpop. I unfortunately have friends and family who have been through this before and they understand how much it means just to get a text that they are thinking about you. I find a lot of people who have not had to deal with a friend or family member having cancer just do not know how to help and may be counting on you to ask for it.

hey y'all:) I had my first chemo treatment on Nov 1st. Every 3 weeks for 6 cycles. I'm also on the neupogen shot for 6 days straight after each treatment. Anyone else doing this? Just wondering how youre handling the bone and muscle pain bc so far that is much biggest side effect :

javamama

Thx so much.

Just got home from buying mine Java! Tried on about 10, but the very first one she put on me is what I bought...it looked exactly like me, style and all. Not very adventurous. lol

I have a store in my town that caters to ladies that have had mastectomies or other cancer treatments. She has wigs, caps, scarves, hats etc for hair and all the bras that can hold a "fake" if needed, other stuff. Nice store. Had a fitting room in the back; she tried the wigs on until we decided and off I went! It was painless.