Chemo starting June 2018

bgirl:

Hopefully I will be able to have the surgery within four weeks of my last infusion. But yes it is nice to have an extra week of good eating. My mother is going to make a nice dinner

hikinglady! thank you for the fantastic post!

I have a post-chemo check up and 6 month mammogram on Monday. Chemo has changed the way you see everything, because I'm feeling more anxiety than usual. Anyone else feel this way before doctor visits now?

HikingLady-congratulations and thank you for the detailed post! Fatigueis my worst side effect right now-still walking daily, but lots of napping too. I have skipped social outings just to sleep. Only 8 more Taxol infusions. Hope to ring to ring the bell by Halloween! Take care out there Chemo Warriors!

HikingLady, I had 2 DD Taxols before I was switched to Abraxane due to allergy. First time I was in pain for 8 days, second time for 5. The only thing that made a difference for me was acupuncture. No idea why your oncologist said it’s a rare side effect. My MO specifically warned me about it. Thank God it was the last infusion for you! Congrats! Mine is on Wednesday.

Hikinglady I had pain in my hips and lower back and I iced my lower back day 3-10. I have one of those big blue flat ice packs. It helped.

the doc lowered my dose of the T+C by 20% for round #5 and it’s made a huge difference. It’s day 4 and I feel almost human, whereas before it was taking me 10 days to feel ok to go to work. One more round left hope you all are hanging in there. xxx

cc738nj, you can try drinking green tea because it's diuretic. Acupuncture and massage helps. I also try to walk a lot. Swelling comes back in the evening, but at least I am moderately fine throughout the day.

I had my pre pectoral exchange yesterday. It went well. So much easier than the mastectomies. Lots of water retention from the Taxotere that I'm hoping resolves itself soon. Green tea and acupuncture is on my list once I get through recovery. I'm supposed to start Tamoxefin next week and hear acupuncture is good for the SEs too. New foobs for my birthday.

Rachelcarter35 - glad things went well. Happy birthday

@RosieRed, congrats on getting close to the end of chemo!

My port gets bruised easily, as I am small and thin -- so it's coming out as soon as they are reasonably sure I'm done!

I've had a port in since 2nd treatment, early July. Chemo is finished, final TC #4 was September 4. My implant surgery will be in early January. So, I'll keep my port in until after that surgery, so my Port-a-cath will be in for about 6 months.

Long time to wait for that surgery, but my SO recommends a 3-4 month recovery for me after chemo and before that surgery. My right side has radiation scarring, so everything I can do to set myself up for good healing for the implant exchange surgery will be important.

My arm veins had a hard time with my first chemo infusion. I had b.c. in 2003, and I save my right arm and don't risk needle pokes on it, since it's now had two bouts of axillary and breast surgery + radiation on that side, and I don't want to raise its lymphedema risk. My left arm had a lot of pokes several months before my 2018 May surgery, because I had an extensive foot surgery in February. So, by the time chemo came along, that arm had just had 2 surgeries' attendant I-V and blood draws, and the veins were not having an easy time, said my #1 Infusion RN. So, I had a port put in before #2 infusion.

My husband is an RN. He suggests that I leave the port in, so that the pre-surgery blood draws and the IV during that January surgery can be completely easy. Why not, I'm used to it at this point, and it isn't terribly bothersome. Sometimes I feel it if I get into a funny position, but I think I'd rather not worry about arm veins managing that last surgery.

One thing always on my mind, is that I carry around that little safety card they gave me after the port placement surgery. So that, if I ever land in an ER and need blood work or an IV, they know Which Type of Needle matches my port. My SO who did the port placement surgery instructed me about this. One more thing to (usually) remember every time I leave the house. It's always in my wallet.

Today is my 6th and FINAL chemo! So happy that this phase is about over. Got a whopping 4 hours sleep last night, hope it's quiet in there today so I can nap which I usually don't. I'll be meeting with the surgeon as well today. Looking forward to at least a month of whatever normal is these days before surgery and radiation and.....

Timetobebrave: how are you? You've been on my mind a lot.

yes toenails are half black but hoping that's all. fingernails went sort of brown but I'm not seeing a line where the fingernails are starting to grow a little and the color below the line is normal so I may have lucked out. Hang in there Washington 48!

And I'm DONE I'm DONE I'm DONE! Surgery plan is in place and I'm gonna get my taste buds back and grow hair! No more trips to Hell every 3 weeks. So Happy!