Starting Chemo in Nov 2016

Well I had to have my husband cut my hair today, when I took a shower this morning my hair was coming out in huge clumps! The pile in my garbage was depressing :-(

So now I have short hair (whats left) and I wore my wig today for the first time.....I kept thinking people could tell (we went to a church event) but my husband and best friend said you couldn't tell at all...we'll see how it goes over with my students at school tomorrow.

This weekend I have felt great (chemo #2 was Friday) late this afternoon I could feel the muscle/bone pain starting...it just feels like my skin is bruised all over ugh....but if this is the worst I get I'll take it! I'm just so happy I don't have the bad headaches this time around...

I hope everyone else had a nice weekend!

Becky

Becky, glad this round has been good for you. I'm starting to get the hang of how I feel. Only 1 treatment of AC left for me!! This round has been much easier on the pain and muscle aches. I try to explain to folks that all of my skin feels like I've been in an NFL game, everything is sore. Very weird, random places. Until you've experienced this, it's tough to describe.

Pamela, here's the website. You're supposed to start using the Brian Joseph's brown gel prior to chemo. I'm on day 5 of treatment 3 (day 33) and I haven't lost any eyelashes or eyebrows that I can tell.

https://www.brianjosephs.com/html/lash_brow_condit...

Hope this helps.

@annie16, It sound like our experiences have been similar. My first treatment was 11-16, and my next is 12-7. I too was down for almost a full week. Good luck this week!

Pamela- I ordered a tube of the Brian Josephs as well. I thought I'd do the latisse when chemo is over to help with growth. I was worried that the weird discoloration the can sometimes happen with latisse would while on chemo. Reading the hair thread, it seems eyebrows/lashes are come and go for several months to years after treatment. So whatever we do, we're going to have to do for a while. Ugh.

hopfull2- the docetaxel works on slow growth cells. I didn't realize that the hair on our head and those of our eyebrows/lashes are actually on different growth cycles. From everything I've read, head hair is more impacted by AC than CT and hair on the eyes is more impacted by CT than AC. Weird, I know. But there you have it. What one chemo treatment leaves, the other treatment kills. Go figure. lol

Today I go see my MO and get more labs drawn so that tomorrow they may infuse poison into my veins. I can't top thinking about it. I am also cold capping and it makes for an incredibly long day. No big shed so far and no big scalp tingling. But my first AC treatment was just two weeks ago. So, I'm not expecting anything on that front until next week or a little later.

I need to get to one of the those look good classes. I feel terrible. The cold capping is making me wash my hair far less than I normally would and I look like a meth head. Not heroin chic, but meth chic. lol

Infusion Tuesday has me up at 2am. I'd just gotten my body to stay asleep until 4am. But the stress of the upcoming infusion has me all insomniacal. lol That's a new word I just invented. Not maniacal. Insomniacal. lol Crazy with no sleep. That's me. I am one down, seven more to go. After tomorrow, I will be two down, six more to go. I can do this. To live and see my sons have children and travel with my husband, I can do this. To play with my puppy, I can do this. Yes, I got a new puppy back in April, long before I knew my life was changing. I am so glad I have her. She's so awesome.

I bought coloring books with bad, naughty words. To color while doing chemo and cold capping. It seemed appropriate. lol

Hey Nfullblume, is online the only way you found to get the gel? It seems to be...I can't find anywhere to buy it locally here in Canada. I wonder since I'm two treatments in if it will do me any good to start now...by the time it gets here, I would probably be on treatment 3. I am losing my hair all over, except my eyebrows and lashes are sticking in there so far. I would like to save them if I can as you don't look as "sick" with them, if that makes sense. I can deal with being bald but as long as I have my eyebrows and lashes people can't tell for sure, if that makes sense. It's also that I don't mind the $50 price tag, but that's American, then add on shipping to Canada and the exchange rate...that's gonna cost me so it's too late I don't know if it's worth the expense at this point. Going to search some more to see if it's for sale up here somewhere.

So, I'm going to a Christmas party this weekend. Just curious...have any of you had any alcohol since starting chemo? I haven't had any and really haven't had the urge to have any but might like to have one beer at the party. I'm pretty sure I remember someone in those first 2 weeks of whirlwind saying having one wasn't an issue as long as it wasn't daily, but I don't want to do anything stupid either that could work against my chemo. Any thoughts?

Thanks BG. As I said, I really haven't felt like having one since I've started, so I may not feel like one anyway. Just thinking I might like the option.

Pamela YES! even though I feel some "pain" it mostly feels like my skin is sore and my neck...the pain is definitely less this time (on my belly)

I will be getting it on my belly from now on for sure!

Becky

Becky, I have not had a fever but my MO also told me to call with a relatively low grade fever. She said to call with anything above 100.1.

Leslie, I had 1/2 glass of white wine at TG and it was fine.

Hope everyone is doing great. I will have 2nd FEC tomorrow, I am not as stress out as 1st round, hopefully the SEs will be kept at minimal.

Pamela- I'm not shedding... yet. I go for my 2d AC tomorrow. I'm expecting something this week. After all this PIA, I better have some hair left when this is all over. lol

Hey Leslie, my MO told me I could have a glass of wine, "2 at an absolute max." I was a pretty regular drinker prior to cancer and now I've only had about 6 glasses in 5 weeks. I don't crave it because I didn't want to turn the nausea on. I normally wait til I'm on day 7 or after of my cycle. I've had no issues with it. Beer is totally fine. I found champagne to be perfect, since it's low alcohol and you tend to drink it slower. If I drink wine, I drink 8 oz of water after each glass.

On the eye brow gel, I bought it online and don't know about the effectiveness after you've started treatment. You might try emailing their customer service inbox to ask. It can't hurt to try.

Becky, happy your temp is back in line. I'm a subnormal, so it'll have to be a big fever for me to get to 100.4. My temp runs around 97.1-97.5. Right after my Neulasta shot, I do run warm though, high 98s.

Sleepless, I really try to intake a lot of yogurt to keep my stomach happy. I'm still dealing with C issues. I stopped the Zofran earlier this time, but still dealing with it. Sure will be nice to be through the tummy troubles in a few months!! I have a history of hemorrhoids even prior to cancer. Not a fun part of the aftermath now either. Ugh. My MO says I can't use meds until day 11 of this cycle because of the WBC dip. Cmon on day 11!!

Javamama I am all for a private FB group for midnight (or later lol) chats! I am always going on fb when I am up at night and its pretty boring at 3am LOL

I have a hard time following the conversations on this board...we should eventually start a fb group also...we could do both :-)

Becky

Glad you are feeling pretty good Sorella! Yea the hair shredding was the most disturbing to me too...

I haven't taken anything for sleep yet, but I'm thinking of asking about it at my next MO appointment...I wake up every night...

If we do a FB group it should be "secret" not just closed...who ever starts it will add the people who want to join...no one else will even see it or be able to join etc.

Becky