Anyone.Starting Chemo in October 2016?

kshorten- Wow! Another graduate!! So happy for you. Seeing you ladies get through treatment is so motivating ... now I want to ring a bell too!! (Note to self: verify that my infusion center actually has a bell to ring. If they don't, I will bring my own darned bell and ring it long and loud!!!).

Congrats on finishing kshorten!! It's inspiring to start to see those from this group reach the finish line.

Whistlestop, I'm counting down to Jan. 13th too. Which is supposed to be treatment 6 of 6. I just hope the 3 weeks until then are nothing like the 3 weeks after treatment 4. I'm so ready to be done and start to heal.

kshorten- Now I'm really getting inspired! It's a good thing I have another 12 weeks of chemo to go ... I'm gonna need that time to pick out some music, throw together a little dance routine, and find me a great big bell. Do you think they would frown on a big bell-ringing dance finale if it's tastefully done? LOL!!! I would try to keep the whoop-whooping to a minimum!

Ha! You made me smile!! I'm gonna go out and do some errands with a grin on my face!

congrats to the ladies who are done with one part of their journey!! I am so happy for you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and seasons greetings to all of you, my sisters. Hoping that you all have a beautiful holiday season filled with love and peace, and that 2017 is a healthy and positive year for us all!

Best wishes and holiday hugs,

Barb

Huge CONGRATS to our members finishing their chemo. Woo Hoo!

What Julianne said, and far more eloquently than I would! ;-)

Lyn

RATS! Three weeks after my last AC treatment, I'm losing my eyebrows. I'd really hope that wouldn't happen because I stink at makeup application and will undoubtedly look like a clown. My eyelid is significantly improved, but I won't know until tomorrow whether I'll get the green light on my delayed first Taxol. It seems weird to think, "Gosh, I hope I can have poison tomorrow," but ya can't finish if ya can't get started!

I didn't check to see if it can be downloaded for off line viewing, but I watched an Amazon Prime movie yesterday that might be a good choice for chemo. It's called "Noble" and is about an Irish woman whose personal tragedies shaped her due to establish orphanages for street children in Ho Chi Minh City after the Viet Nam war. Quite inspiring without being preachy.

Lyn

Congrats to all who finished 😘😘

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Vlh, I'm on bi-weekly taxol and I'm taking claritin the day b4 the neulasta shot.

For those who had surgery b4 chemo what was the recoup time? My first time (2009) I had a mastectomy so was off of work for 3weeks. This time I'm having whatever is left from the tumor removed after chemo, nodes and breast implant removed before radation.

Just curious on the recoup time since I don't have time at work. Trying to prepare in advance.

Btw I'm losing my eyebrows too. They stuck around during AC but everyday I have less and less.

hey ladies!! I'm switching to Taxol tomorrow. Did you guys cut your nails short in preps? I'm really hoping to keep my nails.

Hi, Ladies,

My eyelid had improved enough that I finally got to proceed with my first Taxol treatment. YAY! Despite anti-nausea pre-medication, I felt very queasy at one point. The nurse stopped the drip briefly, started it at a slower pace and I was able to continue. For the only the second time, we were able to draw blood from the port without using an anticoagulant first. I clarified with the MO that I don't need to take Claritin; however, she said it won't hurt so I can certainly do so. I haven't had none pain yet and hope it doesn't rear its ugly head.

Nfullblume, I have cut my nails shorter. I took supplies to ice hands and feet, but didn't do so after talking to the MO. She said about 15 years ago, they had all their Taxane patients ice and simply didn't see any pattern of a better outcome with nails vs. not icing. She said it wouldn't hurt, but it's uncomfortable and awkward for reading, using the restroom, etc., so I guess I'll pass. It's too bad the aren't larger studies so we could be better educated, but without a financial incentive, I doubt anyone will research the topic in depth.

Luwusu, what exciting news on your response to Taxol. WOW! Not to be snoopy, but is the skin condition a type of cellulitis? I'm really debating on whether to do radiation because of skin issues. My surgical scars healed beautifully; however, I got severe cellulitis from having the seroma drained. And more recently I've had the eyelid infection. With only tiny needle holes introducing the infection at my Sentinel node biopsy site seroma and no break in the skin that I know of with the eyelid problem apparently related to an oil gland being plugged, what in the world will happen with whole breast radiation and the related skin damage? The fact that my cancer was on the left side, my breast is an F / G cup and radiation only impacts local recurrences and doesn't affect overall survival for my type of cancer complicates that decision.

Lyn

Hello Ladies:

Hoping that all of you are enjoying your holidays. Congratulations to
all that have finished their treatments and are moving onto the next phase! Can’t
wait to ring the bell and if I have to bring my own, I will!!

Had my first Taxol/Herceptin treatment yesterday & so far so good.
It was a long day – got there at 8:30 and didn’t leave until almost 2:30! It was
an interesting regimen – Tylenol first, a steroid then something akin to Pepcid
and then the Benadryl (which immediately made me woozy) then the Taxol and
finally the Herceptin. I was very woozy from the Benadryl so I basically nodded
on and off during the Taxol infusion. For this first infusion, they did a
larger infusion of Herceptin which made it take longer than what will happen
going forward or so they say. I’m thinking the steroid will wear off tomorrow
so will be looking for any SE to kick in – so far no neuropathy. Hopefully they
will be minimal as everyone from my MO down to the nurses tell me it will be.
Fingers crossed! Will start taking the B6 and Glutamine tomorrow.

Barb – such good news on the surgery. Can’t have enough peace of mind
on this journey! As to your question on “chemo brain”- can’t help you there. I
was making lists to remember things before this journey started. I chalked it
up to my milestone 60^th birthday last year. That’s my story and I’m
sticking to it
Seriously, I don’t think what you described was “chemo brain” – just a mix up due
to stress and anticipation of the appointment. I’m sure you’ll be fine. And let
me know your playlist for ringing the bell – like you I have 12 weeks ahead of
me so plenty of time to think of music – I’m leaning towards 80’s disco!!

Terry – great news on the manual exam results. Hoping the tests will
confirm what the doctors think. I too have been in a bit of a funk – thankfully
I took this last week off so I can recharge, rest and get things back to normal
when I go back to work next week. I haven’t been able to exercise these past
weeks due to the hemoglobin thing that reared its ugly head with each A/C
treatment. Hoping the switch to Taxol/Herceptin will be less of a tax on the
hemoglobin and I’ll be able to get back to the treadmill again.

Lyn – noticed my eyebrows thinning when I was getting all dolled up (or
at least my version of dolled up) for the holidays. Went to CVS today to get
one of those stencils to help with filling them in when/if I need to get dolled
up again – they didn’t have in the store so guess I’ll be ordering them on-line
from somewhere. My eyelashes seem to be holding up pretty well so happy for
that small achievement. I took Claritin the day before my Taxol but haven’t
taken it again. I’ll see how the SE progress for the rest of the week and if I do
get joint pain, will take it. My MO doesn’t seem to be against it.

Nfullblume – I’ve been getting my nails done throughout treatment with
my MO’s blessing. Had to get separate polish, tools, nail files, etc. I’ve been
keeping them shorter than I normally do and have been using a product to keep
the cuticles from drying out and my nails harder. Hoping this will help during
Taxol. In talking to the nurses, they didn’t encourage icing – they haven’t
seen it make a marked difference with nails so like Lyn, I’m going to pass
& hope for the best.

Julianne

I haven't been around for awhile as I really went through something for one solid month with major improvement only in the last week. After every test in the books, 3 days in the hospital, they still don't really have a clue what caused me to get high fevers at night only. That doesn't sound nearly as bad as it was. I lost almost 20 lbs through this and for close to 3 weeks did nothing more than get up to use the bathroom, change clothes and take 2 minute showers (because that's as long as I could manage). I've seen 2 specialists.....nothing. They decided it was a reaction to one of the drugs.....most likely the Neulasta. But they obviously aren't too sure about that because they're still running tests....the last one for TB. I didn't even realize people still got TB. I'm not too worried about that one because they ran this test due to some lung damage they saw. Well, I'm pretty sure the lung damage is from all the times I had pneumonia before they finally came out with the pneumonia vaccine. The good thing is that all tests have turned out good so there are a lot of things that are NOT wrong with me

But I was enough improved that after missing the first 3 taxol/carboplatin infusions, I was finally able to have the first one yesterday. 11 more to go. The oncologist swears this isn't as bad as the AC and I had no problems with that.

I am icing my hands and feet....not for the nails but for the neuropathy that can happen with this treatment. My dr. highly recommended this. I have used OPI Nail Envy and the OPI cuticle stuff since the beginning and my fingernails are still turning dark at the quick...sigh. Heaven knows how long it will take for that to grow out. My toenails are painted and I didn't notice anything the last time I did them but that was awhile ago.

my oncologist let me decide whether to have Taxol 11&12. After a lot of back and forth in my head, I decided to have #11 last Thursday and to see how that goes in deciding whether to have #12. I have done well these past few days so I think I I'm good to go for #12.

Since I have a few weeks off before I can begin A/C, we are flying to So. Florida to see my dad and sister. Then we are going on a 5 night cruise out of Miami. I am very excited! I will not be able to be in direct sun due to this wonky skin condition I've developed, but I don't care.

I am wondering if all is well with our den mother, Barb. I miss your posts and hope to hear from you soon to know all is okay.

We are going to a NYE party tonight. A big social event for me since I've been keeping close to home theses past 11 weeks. Any one else have any plans?

Gratitude: I am thankful for my kids. They both (daughter age 35, son, 39) drove with my husband and meto Boston last Thursday for my doctor appointments and chemo. I had quite the entourage!

Nancie

Luwusu, how we your weekend? Will you do the 12th Taxol?

Good to see you back, Barb. It's tough to be Little Mary Sunshine still the time when dealing with all the cancer poop on top of regular life stuff so please be gentle with yourself. Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how it goes!

Lyn