April 2017 Chemo
Comments
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Dodgersgirl - Had a little problem with Taxol #2, anaphylactic shock. Glad my BF took off work and went with me to treatment, it happened very fast and all I could do was look at him and whisper, I can breathe. Scared both of us so bad, bless his heart, he lost it. I'm so grateful he was there and then staff was on top of it.
Still waiting for my test results from OBGYN, hoping I get "normal" results very soon. Hope everyone is having minimal SE's
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tonyaberryman- so glad to hear from you. Had been worried and now see that you had to go thru a reaction to Taxol. So sorry that happened. Surprised you didn't have issues with Taxol 1. Glad people were in place to handle your reaction quickly!!Will you miss a week or will they try Taxol 3 later this week???
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Dodgersgirl - I will receive Taxol #3 on Friday and I will also receive Iron. MO said it was pretty low last Friday, my MO came right to me when I went into anaphylactic shock. She held my hand and stayed with me until I felt better, glad she's not making me skip a treatment. Can't believe we are already receiving #3 ....
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tonyaberryman,
Glad Your MO has good manners. Mine rolled her eyes when I asked for wig prescription. Glad you got the infusion as scheduled.
Flexitouch pump massage (highly recommen it) followed by Epsom Salt bath and Ativan shoul have knocked me out by now. Damn steroid premeds. Hope I can get some Zs before getting up to go to Moffitt for 730 am appt
If not I will be a zombie for the next few days anyway
Mimi
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waiting for Nurse Practioner. Got to be firm about hydrocodone and radiation plan. I dont want a gap more than 3 wks. Gotta get radiation prescriptiob from Moffitt and take it to one of the two places. I prefer the one by work.
Two more visits to my onco. Two more prick to my port.
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nurse.practioner was million times better. She told me to go find my own radiation place. The fact I asked Onco a month before and was told." I am not an oncologist" the only other thing i was told was rads start about a month later after chemos are done. So i consider this bad service.
Good thing came out that my last chemo originally scheduled for june 27 is now on 26th.
And my request for hydrocodone was denied doc wrote 5 mg w 325 acetamenophen 30 qty once evèry six hours. Bottle clearly says for 7 days. Now I am being told i should not take taken for more than 3 days. I was able to add tylenol to the mix. Not comfortable bc my liver enzymes are elevated. I will be juicing quite a while.
95% settled on radiation. 1.5 miles from walk and RO has a medical degred from Johns Hopkins. It is only 1 yr old facility. If I like it I am going to get a new MO. I still like my BS though
My blood pressure and heart beat finally calmed down
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definitely emotional. I still cannot believe that my onco told me no to refill. I am trying again before I leave infusition ctr. Told them I dont have enogh for me to over the hump. I even showed my nicely arranged pill box. Yea I just got shot down.
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sorry ladies for my silly rants. Got over it of sorts. Got to move forward. More juicing for liver and kidney improvements. Got to select radiation place ASAP. Started working on it already
Mimi
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I hope everyone is doing well. No SEs and infusions are going well too.
I met with my MO for my everyother labs and appointment. I talked with her about the numbness in my finger tips. She said to take B6 and Alpha-Lipoic Acid. That was a new one for me but I will try it once I locate it.
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annbee- did see recommend a dose for those 2 meds
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No she said that if it was part of a multi vitamin then don't take an extra vitamin.
She said that centrum complete might have both? I remember things halfway sometimes ugh.
I will check again Monday when I go for my infusion.
How was your infusion yesterday? -
annbee- infusion itself was fine. Had trouble getting blood draw from port again but the blood draw nurse got it to work by laying me down and rolling me to left side. She said she thinks it's right up again the wall. So was successful with blood draw and passed my blood test so moved on to infusion. They couldn't get a blood draw ( which they are required to have before chemo so I was given Activase to unclog the port. That process takes 30 mins. Normally, I am on my way home around 230 pm but wasn't finished until just after 400 pm so was there's fir 5 hours. Long day!
Slept last night thru to 230 am. Oh boy!! Riding premeds today and drinking lots of water 💦
Thanks for asking!! And sharing about vitamins to help stave off neuropathy.
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Hi All - So had a new side effect show up - have a discoloration of my vein which looks like a faint red line going up my arm. The NP thinks it is phlebitis. I have a whole host of things to watch for, but so far no pain, swelling, fever, signs of blood clot etc. She thinks it was caused by the toxicity of the meds. Has anyone else had this happen?
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Dodger's Girl - glad they got your port working, but a long day. My taxol infusion last 3 hours after premeds. Must be because of every other week compared to once a week.
StaceyB- I have not heard of that side effect. Definitely something to kee a close eye on. This chemo sure messes with our bodies. Keep us posted. -
Happy Monday!!! I am off to dd Taxol # 2. I have taken my premeds, gathered my things to occupy my time, husband is ready and my bags of ice, gell packs, and frozen water bottles (going to try that today) are all ready too.
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Annbee- best of luck today!!
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I second that!
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enjoying a few peace days till this coming monday. I decided I will leave the infusion center doing Irish Jig and singing my silly song " no more visits to onco no more prick to my port" Two church volunteer opportunities. RO consul two PTs maybe some retail therapies.
Did 6200 steps this morning. Darned it I voluntarily made 20 oz smothie using tomato, red cabbage, almond milk, banana and avocado. Finished all of it of course. In my wildest dreams...
Mimi
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StaceyB,
I'm on the same treatment that you are on. I had a reaction on my vein that turned very red after my second treatment, May 18. I'll try to send you a picture of it but I have not had luck with attaching pictures to this website. My doctor called it phlebitis too. She recommended putting hot compresses on the site. The nurse at the infusion center said it was due to Taxotere. It almost seems like the drug infiltrated the vein and is right under the skin and burned the skin. I just had my third treatment in a different vein, and so far I have not noticed anything. Are you using a port? I am not so they are trying to find bigger veins for my last treatment the end of June. I'm limited to my left arm due to having lymph nodes removed in the right side. I think I'm running out of veins. Mine has turned bright red and now is a lighter color but it appears I'm going to have a scar on that arm from the phlebitis. Picture is from May 30, 12 days after 2nd chemo treatment
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Mimi- am I reading your post correctly? You are finished with chemo???
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momojcbc- haven't heard from you lately. How are you doing on Taxol? Hope all is going well.
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dodgersgirl,
Not yet. June 26th is the last one. Can't believe I had BMX wo recon and 7 strong chemos wo any delay. Just thinking about it makes me teary. It has been a very dark long tunnel which I had to find my way out. My eyesight is bad to begin with. So seeing a glimmer of light at a distance is simply overwhelming.
Forgot my manners, How are you feeling? Any relief? Physically and psychologically?
I have a silly statement to all of my BC sisters. All of us on this site basically got bitchslapped. We are bitchslapping back 1000 times harder.
Mimi
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dodgersgirl,
Not yet. June 26th is the last one. Can't believe I had BMX wo recon and 7 strong chemos wo any delay. Just thinking about it makes me teary. It has been a very dark long tunnel which I had to find my way out. My eyesight is bad to begin with. So seeing a glimmer of light at a distance is simply overwhelming.
Forgot my manners, How are you feeling? Any relief? Physically and psychologically?
I have a silly statement to all of my BC sisters. All of us on this site basically got bitchslapped. We are bitchslapping back 1000 times harder.
Mimi
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Mimi, I am working today. Bone pain is ok today. Just sinus issues and a bit of queasiness today
How exciting that date-June 26th- must be for you. So cool!!!!
Certainly isn't a journey I was planning on taking this year and know we all feel the same. We will get thru this. We are fighting a nasty enemy but what choice do we have?
ps- love your songs
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Hi everyone! I had my second 2nd CD of taxol yesterday. Everything went well so far. Mimi I feel the same way, I have 2 treatments left and radiation and I am starting to see the rainbow. A rainbow because it always follows a storm.
Stacy B I have a port. It was not an option for me because the MO took one loom at my veins and scheduled a port placement.
Dodgers girl I hope the bone pain is not too bad and the queasiness goes away.
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Annbee, Dodgersgirl, momijcbc and anyone else I forgot to mention.
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Pambc - Thanks for the info and sharing the picture. I think your looks a little worse than mine - but same idea. Mine looks now like a narrow brownish red line up my arm with a little bit of a wide base where it starts. In the same exact spot as yours. Are you noticing improvement? That is a bummer, they didn't tell me there would be scarring. Ugh. I am not using a port and I am in the same boat - can't use my right arm, and I am having a lot of issues finding veins on the left. There was a vein they didn't want to use again (scarring) but now that I am looking at it, I think that vein may have been affected by the taxotere, to a lessor degree. I am hoping this doesn't happen again with the 4th.... looks like we are on the same schedule - my last one is June 28th.
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Y'all have got me wondering if I have phlebitis. I thought at first it was just a bruise, but now it's just red right at the injection spot, and maybe an inch past that
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headed to Taxol 4 in a few minutes. I studied hard last night to pass my blood test. Hope WB counts are ok this am and hoping my port will cooperate this morning. My port stubbornness freaks me out
Once Taxol 4 is completed, I will be at half way point with 8 Chemo sessions behind me (4 DD AC + 4 Taxol) with an 8 Taxol's to go. If all goes well, should be done with chemo near the end of August. Can't quite see the light at the end of the tunnel but after today will be halfway done and moving to the finish line
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irwells50 - hi you may want to follow up with your doctor. When I had my taxol infusion on Monday the nurse noticed I had a bruise from my lab draw last Wednesday. She said to keep an eye on it and if it turned red to call. Better to be safe.
Dodgersgirl- I was thinking of you today. You are almost there. Half way is huge. I have two more to go and then radiation. I am starting to see the rainbow after the storm.
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