Starting Chemo in Nov 2016
Comments
-
Dbear,
You should change you nick to Dhair. Absolutely fabulous! I just bought mine and compared to yours, I look like a shaggy dog. LOL
-
Hi everyone,
I'm starting chemo next Tuesday, November 15th. My port goes in a couple days from now on Wed. the 9th. This is my second round of breast cancer, the first was April of 1995.
I've done well until the metastasized Breast Cancer was found 2014. We found it again in my L2 vertebrae and have been on Letrozole and Xgeva since then. I'm continuing on those meds, as one is my hormone therapy and the other is for my bones. Last week it was confirmed that it is also in my liver, so now we are going to add the chemo Abraxane. I'm nervous about the possible drug interaction and somewhat frustrated that I'll be on chemo over the holidays.
Next week I'll know more about how this is going to go and hopefully I'll be able to enjoy my family while they are visiting. I hope all of us can enjoy the holidays, and our daily lives as we go through this challenge. Being a Christian I know that God won't require anything of me that He won't help me to get through.
-
Hello Molly,
Welcome. I am sorry to welcome you here in your condition but know that there are nice ladies here who are ready to help and comfort you thru your problem. You've survived yours for a long time, 21 years, that's a reason to celebrate but I guess we really are all under threat of this dreadful disease once it gets to us. Unbelievable. So why did it metastasized? Is it just all of a sudden, without symptoms?
-
Molly,
There's another thread here, if you still havent looked, that's for cases like you, those with mets. Maybe they can help you better having gone thru what you have now. Most of the ladies on this thread are first timers as far as the C is concerned, but we will also be happy if you stay. You having survived for so long is like an icon to us already insofar as experience is concerned. I regard you as a battle-tested warrior and certainly you still have that innate instinct to fight and beat this thing, all with God's help. You dont lose hope, we follow you. I will pray for you and your family, for continued guidance, strenght and wisdom, we both know, God is good and merciful, He knows best
-
Hi Sorella
Started TC chemo last week, absolutely no nausea or sickness. I am very tired and every bone in my body hurts but going to bed with hot water bottle helps. Take all the drugs going, you do anything just to get through it. Hello from Ireland!!
-
Molly09, you're a true warrior! I couldn't agree more that He has a plan!
Sabina1974, welcome! Happy you're keeping the bulk of you SEs at bay!! I never took medications prior to 60 days ago. Pretty crazy how my vanity looks now!
Happy Tuesday all! Anyone having procedures today?
Hopefully momandwife36, Kelly, and Sorella are feeling well! I wake up with you ladies on my mind. 😘
-
Hello Nfullblume! Sorry for my delayed response. My first infusion was not bad at all. I did not have any terrible side effects up until now. My stomach has resented all the attention this cancer has been getting. LOL!
Has anybody experienced this issue with chemo? The Neulasta injection was an experience. My husband and my mother felt the need of supervise me. I felt like if I was in nursing school. I started Claritin the day before chemo, and I have to say I have not experienced any bone/body pain.
-
Hi Ladies-
Looks like we are hanging in there! I actually made it to my work offsite meeting in Maryland and feel pretty good. LatinMixy- my stomach is also resentful- took 2 more Senokot last night and hoping they work today. I am also still taking the claritin "just in case".
I hope everyone has a great day!
Kelly
-
Hey all. No treatment this week. I actually wish I did because I want to keep it rolling!!! Only thing is that my breast is so sore. Ugh! I'm off of all the meds until next week. It feels nice to have a break. Having to address my hair though soon...I'll keep you all posted.
-
So, I managed to look in the mirror this morning without the cap on...and I survived!! Don't like the look, I'm too heavy to be a sexy bald, but it's ok.
Pluses to be bald:
Getting ready after my shower was quick! Don't think I've ever been ready to go so fast!
No hair in my eyes
The cap is keeping my head nice and warm.
Off to genetic testing soon. That's my only appointment this week! Whoot!! Feeling good today and ready to face the world. I've got this.
Onward....
-
Chemo starts tomorrow, how do I prepare food wise, does it matter? Do side effects happen right away? I am still panicky! Any tips would be greatly appreciated
-
5 days past my first chemo and you know what's going to kick my butt? My period. Good lord, period cramps could take down chemo any day.
-
Hi gmmiph,
Thanks for the info on the mets thread, which I'll look up and for the prayers.
I had no symptoms before we found the mets. It was discovered in a routine Dexa Scan which I have every two years for my Osteoperosis. Thank God the only place in my bones was in the L2 which shows in the Dexa Scan was started on hormone therapy immediately. Within a month I also had radiation on the L2 both because pain had started and to stabilize the cancer. What we didn't do and I hope I don't regret was my medical team did not check my internal organs for signs of Mets. We don't know if it returned to my liver before it was in my spine.
It was found in my liver, after I had muscle spasms in my back and they were trying to figure how why the pain was there. In a lumbar MRI, the liver was somewhat visible and then another MRI of my liver was done.
A word to the wise would be if mets are suspected, an ultrasound of all internal organs, in addition to the bloodwork and bone scan should be requested. Since this thread is for the first timers, make sure you have a conversation with your specialists about radiation exposure to ensure you don't exceed your radiation load in case radiation is part of your care plan.
-
You look great! Good choice.
-
DBear, you look great! You made a terrific choice.
-
Hey Nfullblume,
I have levofloxancin, which I choose not to take. The side affects are a little too much for me, but the other is Ondansetron, which is working very well. I just hate taking medicine, but realize this is not a situation where stubbornness should play a part. My nausea has not been debilitating, just constant, but also consistently getting better. I took Odan... this morning. I did not take it this afternoon. I've eaten dinner and feel pretty good, and I'm taking advantage of the tips on the website for what to eat and when. I'm really good at over analyzing! :-/
A coworker of mine also suggested ginger chews, so I picked up some today at the nearby MOMs.
Glad you're doing better!
Amyemn, sorry if this seems late, but haven't been posting everyday....
I don't know how long you've been married, and I don't know you or your husband, but could it be he simply he is unsure of how to support you since this is something he cannot fix?? You've hear of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus? Even though it might seem simple or not for him to offer to do a chore or something similar, he might just be feeling overall helpless with your diagnosis. And he's a guy! I don't say that to offend, but they are a different breed. :-) Just food for thought..........
Hi Pink91316,
If your doctor hasn't given you any specific instructions, treat it as any other day. My chemo day and the following day were good days. I had a steroid and anti-nausea before the chemo (AC). I also found my self over prepared as far as what I took with me. It just depends on how long you'll be there as to whether you bring a snack, a book, music, etc.
I hope it goes well!!
Molly09 - You are truly an inspiration!!
Good luck to you, to all of us November Chemo Warriors!
-
I just got approval from my onco group to switch my chemo location to the one where they have a medical freezer so that I can use cold caps and try and save my hair. But it's pushing out my start date by one week. I get to start the week of Thanksgiving instead of next week. Which is a good and bad thing. I hope that I can cook for Thanksgiving, but now I am considering one of those services that cook everything for you and you just go and pick it up. I might be too crapped out. I just don't know because I haven't had the chemo yet and just don't know which days in my cycle are going to be bad days for me. Ugh. I also got notification of my port placement date... Nov. 15th now since I'm pushing off the chemo start by a week.
Went to chemo class today. Got a few answers, but not as many as I would like. Next up is going to the doctors tomorrow to get all my results from the test yesterday. I get my teeth cleaned Thursday. Oh, and I need to go and get a flu shot before I start all the chemo.
-
Molly,
I hope your L2 condition improves with the hormonal therapy. Maybe your medical team did not bother to check your internal organs because you were already placed on hormonal therapy. But I think you should.
After my mx, my MO ordered for a ct scan, bone scan, echogram and bloodworks before she decided on what chemo regimen i should get. My bone scan was clear. my blood shows a little bit high cholesterol and white blood cells. My echogram showed my heart is beginning to enlarge and my ct scan showed i have a very small nodule in my right lung and small lesion in my liver, which were all downplayed by my MO and said they are all still very much manageable.
I wonder if we have Dexa scans here in the Philippines. We also do not have actual gene testing here. They send samples abroad and gets the results after a long time and they're really expensive. You're lucky you have everything available in your country.
Did you read the other posts here. Funny thing, Nfullblume called you a true warrior and Pmevans said you're truly an inspiration. When you entered this thread, you seemed vulnerable and worried about your condition and I told you, you are going to be an icon on this thread of first timers like us. It's funny to think that your story is regarded as a triumph (no offense meant), you having survived for more than 20 years.
Try to always look on the bright side and May God heal us all.
Gina
-
Javamama, I'm laughing seeing your post. We are at the same point. I just did the dentist today and last Thurs I had my flu shot. I'm starting Nov. 16. It's great you found a facility with a freezer, one less thing to stress about. My chemo class was yesterday. Praying you feel good for Thanksgiving with your family!
-
Molly- you are providing hope and inspiration to us first timers! Hope the chemo gets your liver mets!
One thing that helped my nausea was ginger tea- I washed, peeled and cut a one inch hunk of ginger root and let it sit in a mug of warm water for 10 minutes, then added a little fresh lemon juice. I washed the lemon before squeezing- I'm super paranoid about unwashed fruits and veggies! There is also a recipe I found for ginger simple syrup- im going to try that this weekend.
Kelly
-
Hi Kelly,
I do that ginger brew too. Really helps. Sometimes, when available, I use fresh turmeric, which is also excellent and to which my MO dont object. Lemon and stevia make them taste better
-
Ok, I'm 6 days out from my first round...does anyone know, are you suppose to keep super hydrating all the time in between treatments? I feel like if I drink one more glass of water or tea I'm gonna bust!
-
Leslie,
Yes. You want to keep hydrating, but it is possible to over hydrate. If you feel like you're drinking too much then, forgive the method, just check the color of your urine, which you probably already know, the more yellow it is, the more dehydrated you are. I know when I drink too many fluids my head feels funny, similar to medicine head but not as light.
hope this helps! :-)
Kelly, I'm going to try your method for ginger tea tomorrow!
-
Pmevans50, glad the nausea is getting better. The Zofran worked well for me.
Latinmxy, glad the SEs are staying away! My intestines decided to come to a full on stop on Sunday night. Senekot and a hot water/sea salt mixture helped me out. I'll be proactive next round and will take Miralax everyday that I take anti-nausea meds.
Javamama, the worst days for me were day 3 evening- day 4 evening. I felt pretty normal on day of chemo and day after. Just started going downhill in the late afternoon on day 3.
Amyemn, I'm supposed to start this week too. Blegh! MO told me this would probably be my last one. Chemo would end it afterwards.
Pink91316, my MO told me to eat a light meal prior to my injection. I took frozen grapes with me and sucked on those during the Adriamycin injections. It's supposed to help with mouth issues, since the ice is contracting the capillaries in the mouth. You could suck on ice chips too. What medications will you be on?
Leslie, yay!! Happy the baldness is tolerable. Probably less than a week til I'm saving mine off too. How close did you go, I'm a pretty big beat freak and I'd love to keep thousands of small hairs from pillow, but know I can't nick my head by trying to shave it too close either. My LGFG class is on Nov 15, I plan to be shaved by then.
Nite, all!!
-
Nfullblume- did it start to get better after two days of bad? That will put me on the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving. I will look into ordering something then.
-
Javamama, I have felt normal since the morning of day 5. I will say you may suffer a little fatigue though. I love to cook and don't know that I would have had the energy to make Thanksgiving happen on the morning of Day 5. You just feel a little sluggish. My brother is taking Thanksgiving from me this year. I'm just making one dish, and hoping to have 1 glass of wine that day. It'll be my holiday trest
-
Nfullblume, I went pretty close, but yes I will have little hairs falling out. I'm thinking the clean up won't be bad as I wear a cap to bed, so all the hairs should end up in the cap? I guess we will see. my LGFG isn't until the 24th I think, so after my next treatment.
Side effects: I felt fine the day of my treatment and more or less the day after. I think days 3 & 4 were the worse for me, but even they weren't bad. Hoping that stands true for all treatments, but I know that's probably too much to hope for. I'm sure I'll have my ugly days. I think being proactive is the big thing...if I even thought I might be getting nauseous I ate something and took a gravol. One of the nurses explained to me that a lot of the time when people are feeling nauseous it's because they are actually hungry...but they don't eat because they are afraid of being sick, but not eating makes it worse, etc. So gravol at the first sign of nausea, I took senoknot the first day I didn't go to the washroom regularly, I took tylenol as soon as I felt a headache or body ache starting. I honestly can't say that I had any major side effects (other than the bone pain at the top of my spine a couple of nights after my neulasta shot) because I treated everything before they were able to take hold. Also, I'm very glad I accepted the hydration for the 3 days after my treatment (a nurse came to my home and put me on a saline drip of 1L over 4 hours each day) because I know on the 3rd day, it really perked me up after it was finished. The only side effect I didn't deal with proactively was the waking up for 3 days at 2:30 am and not being able to get back to sleep because of the steroids. I will talk to my team before the next round and have something in place for that this time.
-
after my doctor prescribed Prilosec, Zantac and Tums, and after following the BRAT diet for the last few days, my stomach has regained some sense of normalcy. Yay! I am going for my fourth expander filling Friday morning. The boost my self esteem, so I keep them coming my way
-
I'm starting a 5-month regimen of AC/T on Nov. 15. The side effects will be no fun, I'm sure, but what really scares me are the long-term risks, which seem to be associated especially with the doxorubicin (adriamycin): leukemia, heart damage, cognitive impairment. I can barely bring myself to go through with this, frankly.
-
Chemist,
The side affects are scary and so many treatments and medicines have some crazy ones. Try not to get too wrapped around the axel. My MO assured me the percentage of women who actually experience side affects from the adriamycin are very low, and doctors take everything into consideration when determining which type of chemotherapy you'll be having. Stay positive!! :-)
My plumbing has been stopped up for two days. Eating bran cereal, fruit, and water for dinner. It's driving me nuts. Not painful, but consistent in that I sit down and I feel like I could go and as soon as I stand up and move around, I feel great and nothing comes out in the restroom. I'm hoping this dinner helps or I'll have to take something. blah
Javamama,
my chemo treatment day and the following day were just fine. I did start to feel symptons on day 3, just nausea and I feel like if I had taken an anti-nausea then and not waited until Monday morning, I would have been fine over the weekend, too. Everybody is different. I hope you and everyone else get to enjoy Thanksgiving!!
Update: Looks like the high fiber dinner worked! Relief! Note to self: Balance meals better!!!!!!
Anyone cramping, yet?? Regardless of how much water you might be drinking? Cramp911. I feel like I should buy stock in this company. I've been using Cramp911 for years. It's a topical roll on for the area that's cramping and in less than one minute the cramping is gone.
Categories
- All Categories
- 679 Advocacy and Fund-Raising
- 289 Advocacy
- 68 I've Donated to Breastcancer.org in honor of....
- Test
- 322 Walks, Runs and Fundraising Events for Breastcancer.org
- 5.6K Community Connections
- 282 Middle Age 40-60(ish) Years Old With Breast Cancer
- 53 Australians and New Zealanders Affected by Breast Cancer
- 208 Black Women or Men With Breast Cancer
- 684 Canadians Affected by Breast Cancer
- 1.5K Caring for Someone with Breast cancer
- 455 Caring for Someone with Stage IV or Mets
- 260 High Risk of Recurrence or Second Breast Cancer
- 22 International, Non-English Speakers With Breast Cancer
- 16 Latinas/Hispanics With Breast Cancer
- 189 LGBTQA+ With Breast Cancer
- 152 May Their Memory Live On
- 85 Member Matchup & Virtual Support Meetups
- 375 Members by Location
- 291 Older Than 60 Years Old With Breast Cancer
- 177 Singles With Breast Cancer
- 869 Young With Breast Cancer
- 50.4K Connecting With Others Who Have a Similar Diagnosis
- 204 Breast Cancer with Another Diagnosis or Comorbidity
- 4K DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)
- 79 DCIS plus HER2-positive Microinvasion
- 529 Genetic Testing
- 2.2K HER2+ (Positive) Breast Cancer
- 1.5K IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer)
- 3.4K IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)
- 1.5K ILC (Invasive Lobular Carcinoma)
- 999 Just Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastasis
- 652 LCIS (Lobular Carcinoma In Situ)
- 193 Less Common Types of Breast Cancer
- 252 Male Breast Cancer
- 86 Mixed Type Breast Cancer
- 3.1K Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned
- 189 Palliative Therapy/Hospice Care
- 488 Second or Third Breast Cancer
- 1.2K Stage I Breast Cancer
- 313 Stage II Breast Cancer
- 3.8K Stage III Breast Cancer
- 2.5K Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
- 13.1K Day-to-Day Matters
- 132 All things COVID-19 or coronavirus
- 87 BCO Free-Cycle: Give or Trade Items Related to Breast Cancer
- 5.9K Clinical Trials, Research News, Podcasts, and Study Results
- 86 Coping with Holidays, Special Days and Anniversaries
- 828 Employment, Insurance, and Other Financial Issues
- 101 Family and Family Planning Matters
- Family Issues for Those Who Have Breast Cancer
- 26 Furry friends
- 1.8K Humor and Games
- 1.6K Mental Health: Because Cancer Doesn't Just Affect Your Breasts
- 706 Recipe Swap for Healthy Living
- 704 Recommend Your Resources
- 171 Sex & Relationship Matters
- 9 The Political Corner
- 874 Working on Your Fitness
- 4.5K Moving On & Finding Inspiration After Breast Cancer
- 394 Bonded by Breast Cancer
- 3.1K Life After Breast Cancer
- 806 Prayers and Spiritual Support
- 285 Who or What Inspires You?
- 28.7K Not Diagnosed But Concerned
- 1K Benign Breast Conditions
- 2.3K High Risk for Breast Cancer
- 18K Not Diagnosed But Worried
- 7.4K Waiting for Test Results
- 603 Site News and Announcements
- 560 Comments, Suggestions, Feature Requests
- 39 Mod Announcements, Breastcancer.org News, Blog Entries, Podcasts
- 4 Survey, Interview and Participant Requests: Need your Help!
- 61.9K Tests, Treatments & Side Effects
- 586 Alternative Medicine
- 255 Bone Health and Bone Loss
- 11.4K Breast Reconstruction
- 7.9K Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After
- 2.7K Complementary and Holistic Medicine and Treatment
- 775 Diagnosed and Waiting for Test Results
- 7.8K Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After
- 50 Immunotherapy - Before, During, and After
- 7.4K Just Diagnosed
- 1.4K Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy
- 5.2K Lymphedema
- 3.6K Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment
- 591 Pain
- 3.9K Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After
- 8.4K Surgery - Before, During, and After
- 109 Welcome to Breastcancer.org
- 98 Acknowledging and honoring our Community
- 11 Info & Resources for New Patients & Members From the Team