Starting Chemo January 2017

Hi. I just came back in from a nice, 2 mile walk with my husband. I needed to walk off some annoyance.

I had the experience today of speaking to someone on the phone who minimizes what I am going though. "Just 11 weeks and you are done. Yipee!!"

Um, crap no.

That's all. Have a nice night, ladies.

I start tomorrow - Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin, and Neulasta for the white blood cells. I will admit to being quite anxious especially about the (admittedly low) risk of permanent hair loss. I think that would be really tough. But that answer is a number of months off so no point in getting worked up about it now, right?

Good luck tomorrow lps!!

I agree dp1 when it rains it pours. I have not had one good dr appointment where things are they way they are supposed to be. I should have had chemo by now. Met with surgeon today and he is putting in port tomorrow. I thought I would start chemo next week. Had echo last week and ct the week before. No calls from the MO that anything is out of wack. I met with RO she gets the CT REPORT sees a cyst or something on the kidney wants me to see urologist. Do you think the MO should have seen that never mentions it until tonite at 5 pm when I am sitting in Surgeons office. Now she wants a bone scan cause their may be something in the bones and if so that is a different protocal. I am so frustrated with this process and I am in the medical field. Someone is dropping the ball and I am not getting treated and this is so unfair

ty for letting me vent

Hi all, sorry to hear about your recent setbacks goincrzy8. Just remember we will persevere and get thru these trying times. I get frustrated but have learned to just face one day at a time. And definitely use this wonderful message board to vent and let it all out! We are all here to help each other.

Welcome Alffee, glad the treatments are tolerable at this point. I know the hair loss must be very disheartening . I am not at the wig stage yet, but have a couple waiting. Your right, they feel odd on my head too. We are probably just not used to wearing them.oh well...

Good morning Ladies!

Lps- hope your chemo session went well. We have the same chemo drugs.

Goincrzy- I'm so sorry to hear that this process is taking so long. I was feeling the same way, but decided to bug the crap out of everyone. My last MO visit was the 19th and I had to have a CT, echo and port before I could start chemo, the earliest date for chemo start being 1/27. I got everything scheduld and done this past week after teling the onc nurse to open up other facilities so I can have more flexibility in when I can have these procedures done or else it would have been another week or so. It's very frustrating because you would think they know time is of the essence. Get the number for your MO, the urologist and the onc nurse who should be helping you. Someone is definitely dropping the ball on your care and it's not fair to you. Good luck! Chemo will be soon!

Welcome Alffee- Sorry to hear about how youre feeling. I will most likely shave my head this weekend. I feel like I can control my emotions better if i take some control. We'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'll still cry like a baby as it's shaved off. The nurse at the chemo center said she is always surprised at how good people look when their hair comes out and I can't help but think that won't be me. Lol. Oh well. I'll be wearing lots of beanies and head scarves (if I can manged to tie them correctly).

Hi Jens74- Congrat on #3 being done. How wonderful! Great to also hear it took less time. Hope you are recovering well!

As for me, I had my first chemo session yesterday (1/27) of HTCP. It took 6 hours! But everything went well except for a snag in the beginning. I had my port placed yesterday and it was still quite sore and painful, so it didnt help that it took 2 tries to get IV access. I was in tears! But the nurses were so sweet about it all. I also got a little warning about maintaining and or gaining weight. I lost 8 lbs after the initial diagnosis and surgeries and Im petite. I told them it wasn't on purpose obviously and the stress and recovery was hard. Now I have lots of family and friends pushing food at me. Its sweet but Im hoping they dont get too cared away. I'm feeling pretty well today. Took my anti nausea meds to stay on top of it and lots of water. Hoping for the best in the next week but know the fatigue will start after the steriod wears off.

Hope everyone is doing well!

My lesson I learned yesterday. Do not wear a pull over shirt when you get port installed. I was not even thinking till right before they took me back, I told my son and BFF I wore a pull over shirt, I dont know how I will get that on as the port is on the right side and my MX on left. Thank goodness my cousin gave me a black hoodie that has the F*** Cancer logo (not real happy about wearing that cause I have grandkids etc) but it saved me last nite after surgery. I was able to put it on zip and get home.

Nurse navigator and I met face to face yesterday she came to hospital before I had surgery to meet me. She is working on getting things moving, PET scan scheduled for Friday. Hoping for a clear scan.

So, chemo round #1 was yesterday and more or less uneventful! The steroids taken before the treatment is throwing off my sleep, which is not helpful, but that is about the worst so far. I find the Neulasta device a bit odd to have attached but it completed its cycle this afternoon without problems. So, so far so good. As others on this site have had luck with the dark nail polish to prevent nail problems, I will give it a try as well. I am assuming it is only your hands that you need to worry about to polish and not toenails? Any guidance would be great!

2moveforward, I am also receiving weekly taxol/herceptin. I just wanted to let you know there is a weekly taxol/herceptin group on here that I follow as well. It's more targeted to my treatment as far as side effects, things to look out for. It's titled "who has started herceptin and taxol regemin in October 2016?" in the Her-2 positive forum. Good luck to everyone this week.

Hi All,

I'm a bit late joining but started Taxol last Friday (January 27th). I am on a three week cycle, unless neuropathy becomes a problem at which point I will probably go to weekly. In my case, we're trying to get those nasty cells under control before I switch to hormone therapy for what I hope is a very long time.

In terms of SEs, I have had some nausea but believe that is primarily due to the pleural effusion in my right lung. The last two days I have had the aches and pains. I had to laugh as they told me I needed to let them know if I had pain in my leg. What kind of pain? My left leg was killing me!

The biggest issue for me has been my bladder. I think the problem was that I did not drink enough fluid before, during or after. On Saturday I had that wonderful burning sensation and urgency. Now, it's just the urgency and I general level of discomfort in my nether region. Anyone else have this problem? I am not sure if I need to let them know at the Cancer Agency.

Thanks. Pat

I began CMF chemo on Jan 19, 2017. Did not have a port. Arm was sore from chemo IV for about a week. My "kitchen counter pharmacy" managed side effects pretty well. I'm scheduled to have a port put in next week, then have second round of chemo the next day. Does that sound doable to those of you with a port? Part of me wonders if I could get through 5 more treatments without a port

MKT1 I'm visiting from Nov chemo group...I will be have having chemo #6 next week and I have done them all with no port, just used my veins. It is possible if your dr thinks you have "good veins". My MO was the one who said I didn't need a port, and he said we can always revisit lt later if we needed to...my veins have been pretty good. I did have one "harden" after they used that same vein 2 chemos in a row (with AC) they probably should have rotated...but oh well, its not bad...now they rotate each chemo to a different vein, back and forth between arms (I did not have surgery yet) if you had surgery already you are better off with a port since they can't use your surgery side arm.

Good luck to all of you starting out soon!! The actual chemo day is not that bad...very uneventful LOL I had very minimal side effects so far through all of this, pretty much just very tired, my advice, take the nausea meds like clockwork!! keep that under control...drink lots of water and fluids (soup etc) and rest when you feel you need to. Take a stool softner or Senokot starting the day before chemo, constipation has been the worst during all of this!

If you get Neulasta, take the claritin to help with the bone pain.....I also found that getting the on body put on my belly made me have way less side effects (the first chemo I had it on my arm....HORRIBLE bone pain that time)

I am working through this whole ordeal (teacher) and I swear keeping my routine as "normal" as possible has been great at keeping me positive (and helps the time go by faster) I also have 3 kids who keep me busy, another reason I try to keep things as normal as possible...

I have only had to miss work for my chemo days or dr appts...I think I missed 1 day for just not feeling great.....

Good luck to all of you!!! You've got this!!

It's Day 18. My scalp is itchy, but I am trying not to touch it. Also, I have this one uterine fibroid that has just been throbbing, "Hello!"

I did do some sewing today. I have a Pfaff machine.

Thanks for the explanation about the port. They wouldn't be able to switch arms because of the lymphedema risk. I have not really come to terms with the port being there.

Bareclaw and Mexico Heather , glad to know you two are getting back into sewing. Im not here yet, while I love sewing , sadly it just does not interest me right now . I have to find something to interest me right now, just to relieve the stress and anxiety.

Just wondering how many of your ladies are working while going through chemo and how are you handling it all . I'm seriously thinking of going back to work after I see how my second round goes.

If some of you could please share you working and chemo experiences Thanks

Skichick

Thank you for your reply, yes my counts also dropped mostly my platelets, so that worries me a little about going back to work and just being to tired to work , I don't want to go back only to have to take leave again, yet I need to get out of the house and do something. I have a desk job but it can be demanding some days.