Starting chemo August 2017 - would love some moral support!

Sammi~ I am so sorry to hear all the things that you and Heather are dealing with, sending thoughts and prayers your way!

Cherry~ I too am in your shoes,I have not made a decision on the AC part of my treatment yet. I could not tolerate the taxol so I was switched to abraxane and am able to tolerate it better. I had so many bad SE with taxol I am terrified of the AC. I do believe I am going to expect my MO to show me the pros outweighing the cons before I decide to go ahead with the AC. Keep us posted with your findings and decisions, I have 4 more treatments before I have to decide. Wishing you well!

Susan -I am trying to be healthy also, unfortunately taxol made me eating more sweet than I would like. However I lost the weight I wanted. I will continue to eat healthy, eat organic food, do my exercises once I get my energy back. Also go to church and praise the Lord who gave me a second chance

Hello BC Warriors! Well we met with oncologist before Heather’s Taxol treatment yesterday. I have to say the steroid has put her in a horrible mood.

She did have a problem at the end of her infusion where her bp spiked to 170/121 so they gave her 2.5mg injection of Ativan and we had to wait a bit to take it again and it got better so they let her leave.

The doctor basically said her mass was inoperable right now because of the size and the surgeon wouldn’t be able to close the wound if she had a mastectomy. She’s small and doesn’t have any skin to spare for a skin graft. He wants to stay the course at least 6 treatments on Taxol (2 she’s already had) if there’s no change to mass he said the next option is to shut down her ovaries and hopes that will help the mass to start shrinking. But, it will take longer. I am not liking that option and praying the Taxol works. She just wants it out of her. He said surgery can cause the cancer to spread sometimes too so they really want to get it down as small as possible before doing the double mastectomy.

Heather asked him about getting a second opinion. He said he had no problem with that and would suggest Vanderbilt or Emory if she wants to get one. He said he’d set it up. I think she’s decided to give the Taxol a chance, first.

Heather has been sleeping downstairs on the couch so she’s close to us instead of her own room upstairs. I don’t think it’s comfortable for her so we decided to buy a daybed and mattress and get rid of our couch. At least that way she’s more comfortable and close to us if she needs anything.

We didn’t go out and buy a real expensive one and the one we got was from Wayfair and delivered today so I better go in and help with the assembly. I just wish the mattress had also come in today. Sigh. I’m sure it and the bedding and sheets will be here tomorrow. We got a pretty good mattress for it. I’m just afraid with us putting it together she’ll be sleeping and it will fall apart!😂 Let’s hope it at least gets her through all her BC treatments until she’s rid of this awful monster.

Cherry: I hope you decide which route to go and you feel piece with your decision and of course have much success.

VL: How’s the ponytail hat? I hope you are enjoying it. I smile just thinking about you wearing it and how kind you were to offer it to Heather.

Everyone as always I’m thinking of you gals. Gosh, I am sorry we all met under these circumstances but I’m glad I’ve gotten to lean on such amazing women.

Blessings and healing prayers to all.

So much love ❤️ to you too.

Samm

Sammi, one of TP ladies who is trying to talk me out of adding EC (another form of antracycline) told me that when she did neoadjuvant treatment her tumor did not shrink much with AC but was almost home with Taxol so you should give it a try. Hope that it works out for Heather.

K - so sorry that you will be alone this Christmas, can you get one of your friend or family comes to stay with you by the lake?? So happy that you are almost reached to the end of the rainbow please save me some gold! 😀

Sammi - you are such a good mom, Heather so lucky to have you. Pray to God her tumor will shrink and she will have her surgery quickly. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Cherry - whatever decision you make, just keep forward, don’t look back.

VL - we have several people on FB group now, it is good to get to know each other better.

If anyone wants to join us on FB, you can contact me or JenRuns or SusanGA.

I think taxotere is similar to taxol?? Am I right?

tough did you take lomotil? (Sp?) Big D makes you lose weight and water. hugs!!!

rljessu, my onc gave me a pretty detailed explaination to me about the different regimes, but the deciding factor for me was that TC isn't as hard on your heart. My mom died of congestive heart failure in February and, while cancer isn't prevalent in my family, heart problems go back generations on my mom's side of the family.

I have had shocklingly few side effects with TC--a little diarreha and nausea that is easily controlled with otc meds, dry skin, restlessness, and fatigue. Maybe it's because I live on the shores of the sacred and powerful Lake Superior that I've done so welll! Or maybe compared to the life-threatening illnesses I've experienced in the past,chemo really does just rank #4 as my cousin suggested.

Kay - Sorry to hear you are feeling down. One Christmas I was alone and I planned a dinner out at a very posh restaurant. I was alone which I suppose could be kind of awkward, but I sat at the bar and had a glass of champagne and ordered the most luxurious meal. If no one can come to you and you can't leave, plan on doing something that is indulgent. If it's not a fancy meal maybe something else. I doubt spas and such are open Christmas Day, but just be sure to give yourself a special present so you will have something to look forward to and be thankful for.

Sammi - It sounds like a good idea to get a second opinion. I keep wondering if I should have done the same. I'm so sorry Heather is going through all this, but thank God she has you and your husband to see her through.

Cherry - I did AC and am glad I did, but the last treatment really ended up being a beast. However, I think it worked well. Something to consider....

rljessu - they just put me on Taxol+Carboplatin. Nothing to report out yet though as I just got the first treatment yesterday.

Paulette - how do I find the Facebook group?

All, sorry my previous posts were so depressing and I haven't been checking in with everyone. I had a really rough week last week. Being hospitalized for 6 days is really no fun, especially when you think you are just running to the ER and will get meds or something. When the doctor told me I would be there for a week I cried. As it turns out, the doctors disagreed on the port removal (two opposed, 1 for), so I opted to not do it. I had a not great experience with having it put in, so I don't want to mess with it if it's not necessary. It looks perfectly find from the outside, and they drew blood from it which they are culturing over a 5 day period to see if there is any infection. They check the culture every day for 5 days. If at the end of the 5 days there is still nothing, I will feel confident we did the right thing. If it comes back as an infection, I will get it removed.

I also got a blood clot while in the hospital and am taking blood thinners to resolve. It seems to be working. The clot is in the vein where my port is. I guess we are all more at risk for blood clots when we have cancer. I didn't know that. Laying in a hospital bed just increases the risks. <sigh>. One thing leads to another. My neck originally was so swollen on one side it looked like I had a goiter. It is going down, so that seems like the blood thinner is working.

Finally, I had chemo yesterday and my MO added Carboplatin to the regiment, so now I'm doing Taxol+Carboplatin. Low dose. I was totally expecting the Taxol, but the Carboplatin was a little bit of a curveball and I'm not sure what to expect. The nurses say since it's low dose I shouldn't have too many SE's, but we'll see. I've learned that you never know what you're gonna get and even each treatment of the same drugs can be different.

I'm so glad you are all here. I really have been following along with everyone and thinking of you all, even when I have not written much. I hope everyone is having a good day today!

Rebekah

rdeeside- so glad you are doing better and able to keep the port. I heard about blood clog when I was in the surgeon office I met a lady had blood clog on her leg from chemo. I'm doing mills taxol and I have reaction on infusion now we have to slow drip during infusion. Will send you a private message.

K - my mom died of heart attacked when she was 69 and I think my heart was good now I don't know after chemo.

K - are you okay?? Don’t feel bad I said before I’m became clumsy so I try to move slowly like an old lady. 🙄🙄🙄 beside clumsy my memory is getting bad also. I used to remember my department filing, people can’t find things they asked me. I’m going to get couple more hats, and I found a place for wig I might go there to meet with their hair dresser she will trim it for me.

Tonight is my taxol infusion night not sure how many hours would I able to sleep

KByTheLake, sorry to hear you fell like that, but I am sure getting back on your feet by a young man made of solid muscle cheered you up. I have to go to the shores of the mighty Lake Superior to be picked up those, literally, from the pavement, I will just keep falling) May they all look like Keanu.

Did you wear this cute black wig? It does look sexy I give you that)

Rebeckah, indulgent is a key word here, I imagine you sitting in this bar like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I have indulged myself today, me too, I just craved jamon cerrano I happened to have in my frige, was sitting there tearing small bits from those thin slices and stuffing those into my mouth, just like that, ate too much of it.

Paulette, hope you will get your sleep tonight. I still have the dates and did not cook your recipe, I cook my usual chicken soup with the veggies, but I will try it soon.

For those who asked for Taxol compared to Taxotere, I am reading Swedish national guidelines for bc treatment and according to it: (I Google translated it to English)

compared to AC x 4 → pakli80 given weekly x 12 vs AC x 4 → doce100 given every 3 weeks x 4 vs AC x 4 → doce35 given weekly x 12) showed paclitaxel once a week was better for 5-year survival than paclitaxel given each 3rd week, 89.7% vs. 86.5%. The result for weekly paclitaxel was equivalent to docetaxel every 3 weeks

The guidelines contain a lot of information about weekly paklitaxel giving it a lot of credit.

Cherry

Cherry - thanks for the info, have you made up your mind what to do? How are you dealing with taxol?

K - now you get all of us thinking about the young man who picked you up 😂😂😂😂

Rlj- are you having problem with drainage site? Your surgery was 8/23? Didn’t you finish your chemo

Cherry - hope you find the best treatment you wanted

Autumn, it was me, I have been given an option to discontinue my current treatment with weekly Taxol and replace it with 3 sessions of epirubicin, also an anthracycline as AC, three weeks apart. I have not decided yet, will have my 9th Taxol on Monday and will meet my oncologist on Thuesday. I had Her2+ positive tumor and I am not comfortable to discontinue Herceptin meanwhile doing epirubicin. The SE are horrendous too, even the risk of developing neutropenic fever and even a smaller risk of develpoing leukemea later in life. On the other hand an anthracycline with addition to an taxan is considered to be the most effective modern treatment when you have aggressive disease.

herry