Starting Chemo May 2017

msrobin58, Thank you for your honest response. It seems that everyone is surprised at the pain following port placement. I'm glad I read the posts so I can be somewhat prepared. Knowing how I respond to pain and how anxious I am already, I think it might be best to send my family to the dinner and make my excuses. Because in our family, there's no way to avoid BIG HUGS!

hello all May 2017 Chemo starters. I come from the April groups and wanted to wish you all no or minimal side effects

Drink lots of water and take your anti-nausea Ned's as recommended by your MO. If getting Neulasta, take Claritin the day before chemo and for the next 3-5 days. (I also take a Tylenol 30 mins before it gives its dosage)

Apply EMLA cream at port site 2 hours before treatment and cover with Press and Seal to keep on sight before treatment. Should keep any pain at port sight to minimum.

The fear of the unknown is much worse than the actual chemo session (in my opinion anyway)

You probably will feel pretty good on chemo day because of the pre-Meds.

For me (getting AC every other week), day of and next day are pretty normal. It's the following day that the yucky feeling starts. For me, this feeling lasts for 2 more days. During this yucky time, for me, it is really important that I eat something every 3 hours. Soup is my friend. As is ginger tea or diet ginger ale. I also wear Sea Bands to combat nausea if I don't eat often enough

By day 6 I am starting to feel better. A week out I am pretty much back to normal -- other than I have problems sleeping all through the night. Waking up around 230 am seems pretty common. My MO nurse suggested melatonin which I purchased but haven't taken yet.

We can get through this. One day at a time.

DodgersGirl, that is great information to have. Thank you for sharing.

brneyegrl66, Good to know! I hope I do as well next Wed. Wish me luck!

DodgersGirl, Appreciate all the information and great tips you share from your April experience. I'll have to find out what EMLA cream is. And who knew how useful Press and Seal could be? Sea Bands - another tip I hadn't heard about in the war against nausea.

Because I was expecting surgery before chemo and not the other way around, I'm feeling rather overwhelmed and unprepared to start AC+T soon. Once my surgeon sent me to the MO the ball reallystarted rolling. I need to catch up!

I have my PET scan tomorrow morning to finish staging. I'm feeling very anxious, not about the test itself, but worried about the results. Thankfully, I have an appointment with my MO on Wednesday to go over the results and finalize my treatment plan.

tonyaberryman, sounds like some neuropathy, but I'm not sure what you can do to help yourself out with it. Did you check with your oncology center?

It's my 59th birthday today, and tomorrow I start chemo. Trying desperately to keep myself distracted from dwelling on it. My friends threw me a surprise birthday party last night, with an outpouring of love and support. Touched beyond measure. I think to myself that I'm not strong enough to get through all this, but I know that I am. Let's do this thing all you May ladies, we're tougher than we know! All the best to all of you.

Jackster51: Thank you for the advice. I will definitely ask my MO about switching to Taxol over Taxotere. I'm sorry to hear about your hair; that is something that has been on my mind, especially with all of the ads about the class-action suit that have been popping up on my Facebook news feed. You are strong and you are beautiful and I appreciate your response to my post.

DodgersGirl and Nurseinboots: Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Nurseinboots: Good luck with the weaning! I can definitely sympathize, as I, too, have a strong-willed toddler. Hopefully, that will make for a strong-willed adult.

Still not sure when chemo will be starting. We're watching to see how my nipple recovers from the reconstruction surgery and that is pushing out the start date. A friend sent me a cancer care package yesterday and it contained a port-a-cath seat belt cover, which is pretty cool since the seat belt tends to irritate my port site when I drive; there are different kinds that can be purchased online. Mine looks like a lamb, so I will probably have to sneak it away from my daughter before I can use it.

Best to all!

I'm two days out from my first round, and I made it to the gym again this morning to do some strength training. I've got a lot of "deferred maintenance" for the last few years, and the dx has been quite a wake up call. I'm also hoping to avoid neuropathy.... and I figure that the more I can circulate the chemo, the better.

Does anyone have any experience with seeing PT pre op? I'm wondering if this would be helpful.

My wife was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer almost four years ago, she had her left breast removed along with 8 lymph nodes. She went through Chemo and also radiation. Except for the recovery from surgery she went to work everyday and was never sick. The secret to her amazing journey is that we began juicing. I am not a doctor, a dietitian, or some trickster trying to get money from you, more than anything I am just a happy husband who is so glad to have his wife back and healthy. It could be that it was just a special gene or some other factor that affected her resilience but I think it was the nutrition. I wish you the best in your journey and my thanks to God is that I pass on this information to you and anyone starting Chemo.

There is a big difference between juicing and creating smoothies. Juicing is exactly as it says it is the juice separated from the pulp. I have tried two different brands of juicers and I like the Breville juice fountain, we have had it for over three years and have had no problems with it. In conjunction with this juicer I also use a Magic Bullet and I will explain how I use it in the processing. I make this juice every day, I know that the second vegetables are juiced they begin to loose their vitamins so to get the best out of the juice you need to do it every day. This is my recipe:

1 apple cut into eight pieces ( I use an apple cutter, Use Gala, Honey Crisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady apples.

4 stalks of asparagus ( snap off the butt end, the heavy pulp clogs the machine)

1 stalk celery

1/4 inch slice of beet ( I peel it because the outside is bitter.)

1/4 inch slice of fresh ginger (about 1 oz)

1/4 inch slice fresh lemon ( I quarter the slice, squeeze it into the machine and I also put the the rind in the machine, it will make a bang when it processes but no problem.

1 small zucchini or yellow squash (clip off the ends)

2 large carrots (clip off the ends)

1 large leaf of romaine lettuce

1 large handful of baby spinach ( wrap the spinach in the lettuce leaf)

I try to buy all organic and I wash everything with a veggie brush, especially the apples. This makes about three cups I fill the magic bullet almost to the top and I add 1/2 avocado, when it is blended you get a nice smoothie. The rest of the juice I drink. I did this once a day, everyday during Chemo and now we do it 5 days a week. There is nothing wrong with nutrition and if it keeps you from getting sick its a plus. You will be surprised at the taste and of course you can adjust the ginger and lemon to your taste. I wish you good luck and God bless.

Wonderful news about the scan, luvpugs!

Hi Stacy,

Do you know when you are starting or what treatments you're going to have yet?

I had my first treatment today, and all went smoothly. I've been very groggy all day, so rest has been my game plan. Honestly I feel a little stoned! Tiny bit of nausea tried to break through, but I took a pill and it's gone. Still, I'm eating lightly, plus drinking lots water. I keep waiting for the steroids to kick in and give me energy, but it hasn't happened. Still sleepy and tired. Putting lidocaine on the port side kept me from feeling any pain there. As soon as she started giving the pre meds, I fell asleep. No bad taste in my mouth either. I know the treatments are cumulative though, and the next ones will likely feel worse. Plus I expect I'll feel worse in a couple days when the pre meds wear off. I do have the Nuelasta thing on my belly where it will give the injection automatically after 27 hours. All in all, much better than I expected, and at least I can check one treatment off the list. Somehow I managed to go in relaxed and happy, after all the nerves I been fighting.

I start TC May 8, 2017. I am scared to death, of course. I am currently, mainly, trying to process the impending hair loss. I tried on wigs but think i will go the scarf and hat route. My port goes in day after tomorrow but I'm not really concerned about it. Trying to keep moving forward

DodgersGirl my treatment plan is AC+ Taxol, four doses of AC spaced two weeks apart, then twelve weekly doses of Taxol. There are so many possible side effects to fear, but nausea is the big one for me. I used to say hair loss was the biggest, but it is no longer. I've simply come to terms with that because it's not painful or life threatening. I'm wearing sea-bands given to me by my physician daughter in law who says there is strong research behind them. But at the first twinge of queasy, I'll take my compazine.