Starting Chemo May 2018

hellos, just dropping in from April group. But no I havent heard of that and if it last plz call ur MO..

I'm excited to have my first few Herceptin-only appointments scheduled. I still have five T+H but I like looking at them on my calendar, being able to plan around them, . . . . Last T+H will be August 2nd, first H only will be August 10th (I've been on a Friday schedule but had to move my last T+H up because of work). Kind of nice to have that three-week break in between appointments!! (Still waiting to get on the books with my RO's office. MO's office called them Friday to say I'd be finished with chemo 8/2 and could start scheduling preliminary rads stuff but someone wrote it down as 8/21. :-( )

Wlo002- im on taxol and got little hair growing faster than the rest. Like you i never shaved my head bald ..but been trimming the longer piece til they all start to grow. Dont have a clue !!

I'm having hair issues as well, it's like I have one row that's growing, it's weird. Also, I haven't had to shave my legs all summer so far, but noticed yesterday that I have stubble, even though I'm still in treatment.

Heather, I remembered when I was in the hospital, one of the nurses told me the face numbness could be my lack of potassium too, I'm taking potassium now and it has gotten much better.

Hello beautiful ones! I hope everyone is doing their best. Just a quick update on my mom, she just finished her round of AC this past Monday (4 total infusions over 8 weeks). She had her ultrasound this morning and we were pleased to hear that the tumors and lymph nodes are shrinking! Next round is 12 weeks of Taxol that starts on 7/23. Things have been mostly uneventful for her during this round. Her ankles starting swelling last weekend but could be due to doing too much with her great grandchildren and the heat. This is such a long journey that it's best to find those milestones when they pop up. All the best to you, Susan

I have my last infusion with Taxetere tomorrow, then it's just Herceptin and Projeta. Hopefully this time a round we have the side effects managed better, you'd think we'd be pro's at this by now!

I go back in 3 weeks and then it will just be H&P. I'm still struggling with this procrit decision. They want me to have it every week and I'm just not feeling that idea with all I've read about it, my hemoglogin is a 9.5, just below the 10 threshhold to get the drug and I went ahead and let them give it to me yesterday (burns like fire too).

The decisions we are constantly faced with *sigh*

Hi all,

Just checking in. I don't post much but I read on here a lot. I had TCHP #4 of 6 on Friday. Normally I do it on Thursdays so my schedule is a little weird this time around but so far so good. I've had good cycles and bad cycles. Seems to be random. My biggest issue is keeping up with working out the week after chemo. I feel "loose/unbalanced" so my cardio is pretty sloppy and I don't have energy to finish my daily workouts during that week but I'm trying to keep up, even if I only do 1/2 of my workout in a 1/2-assed way for those days. I worry about losing my balance or twisting an ankle while working out. I'm jst fuzzy headed/unstable, kind of hard to explain. I assume it's a normal part of chemo. No neuropathy & the nausea meds are working great. Yay!

I hope everyone is doing well. Does anyone get restless? It's annoying to not have normal energy to go out and do stuff but still want the mental stimulation. It doesn't help that it's been super hot outside so going hiking/walking is not really an option. It wouldn't be as big of an issue if the weather was cooler so I could get outside and enjoy the day without frying!

I was diagnosed with a hyperthyroidism/Grave's Disease recurrence a few months before my bc diagnosis that made my heart rate too fast. Luckily, the meds they prescribed for it started working quickly and that coupled with Propranolol lowered my heart rate to normal. Unfortunately, I've noticed since starting chemo, that the week after I have chemo, my resting heart rate starts jumping up over 100, & goes really high when I work out. It goes back down to normal the week after. I've talked it over with my Endocrinologist & my Oncologist & they've both said it will be hard to pinpoint exactly which is causing it (graves/chemo) but it's likely a combo of both. For now, they've said I can keep using Propranolol to help manage the heart rate but its a little annoying, since other than the week after chemo, my heart rate stays down in the 60's & 70's. It's just that one week that it goes up to high. Is this something a lot of people deal with? I'm just curious how much of it is just chemo or if it really is chemo combined with Graves. I'm hoping it's just chemo since my Graves is controlled right now and this fluctuation doesn't put my heart under any undo stress (I'm sure the herceptin/perjeta is stress enough).ETA: I'll have another echo towards the middle of next month, as a normal course of treatment.

Thanks for listening to the chemo brain vent! I hope everyone is doing well.

Hello InnaB2018, fellow Graver! I was treated with Methimazole the first time I had an occurrence (in 2009). No Propranolol last time because my heart rate was only a little elevated at the time. They caught it early during a routine health screen. Within two months of going on the Methimazole, my thyroid numbers were normal and my Grave's antibodies had started to subside. I believe I stayed on Methimazole for around one year and then they weaned me off and said I was in remission. I've been told they've since determined 18 months to two years is a better length of time to be on it for hopes of full remission.

This time when it came back, I knew instantly something was wrong. I was all out of sorts and have never felt so rough in my life. After a few weeks of feeling horrible, the Drs did blood work and confirmed hyperthyroidism & Grave's antibodies and then did all the thyroid scans, etc to figure out the best course of treatment. Unfortunately, I started showing signs of Thyroid Eye Disease this time around but luckily they've subsided with treatment.

They've mentioned using radioactive iodine to kill my thyroid as a last resort but since the Grave's antibodies are attackingmy eyes and not just my thyroid, the fear is if they killed my thyroid the antibodies would full force attack my eyes, which isn't a good option, so the goal is to get the Grave's antibodies under control by giving my body time to adjust to normal thyroid levels using the methimazole. Last time it worked fairly quickly (minus the eye issues I didn't have then) so my Endo's hope is it will do the same this time. I'm pretty hopeful it will also since my eyes were swollen before treatment & had a lot of pressure behind them and now they're back to normal.

Thanks for the well wishes! I'm glad that the radioactive iodine was a good option and it worked but so sorry you have to deal with being hypothyroid! It's really a shame there's just not more they can do for curing thyroid issues rather than only treating the symptoms. Here's hoping your hypothyproid symptoms are well controlled and not giving you too much aggravation.

BigPeaches—I’ve posted this elsewhere but I’ve really been pushing the protein and my blood levels have been really good. We’re probably eating red meat five nights a week, plus I’m drinking a protein shake every day. It’s worked well for me.

Hey sisters—FINISHED WITH TAXOL!!!!

Congrats, Ingerp! Have a drink on me

InnaB I had one for you + one for several others. ;-)

Welcome and sorry you are here, baseball. I've been having a little eye twitching too but not bad. I'm looking forward to all of these silly SEs leaving--had my last Taxol on Friday. (WOOT WOOT!!)

Hang in there, cccmc2!!