Starting chemo July 2018

Rose I can’t beleive your mo said the effects are only temporary! He’s not the one who went through what you just did! I had a fever for not even half that time when I had pneumonia and it was miserable. Did you decide on a new regimen yet? Glad you’re feeling better!

Rose- prayers and good thoughts to you that all this works out!

Getting Taxol #5! It’s going fast!

Anyone else who’s getting surgery after, have you been scheduled for your surgery yet? I’m getting impatient because I need to have my surgery done this year because my deductible is paid!

Mary- thanks for checking in! Good luck with rads! And the hair regrowth!

It’s good to hear from someone whose gotten through and is moving past the side effects. You’ll have to let us know how rads is and if the Rogaine actually works!

Taxol #6 in the books! Half way finished with Taxol! Other than the fatigue, hot flashes, and my sore nails, I feel pretty good! Eyebrows are going, and ironically I need to shave my legs again! I gained back the six pounds I lost during ac. Was hoping to keep that off, but I know I need to eat right now.

MO agreed to a breast ultrasound to check my lumpiness. He thinks it’s just hormonal, but he can feel what I can feel and he says let’s take a look. I am grateful he didn’t blow off my concerns. I also get to call the breast surgeon to begin the process of getting scheduled for surgery! Yay!

Hope everyone is doing well!

JaBoo-hi there! Ultrasound was great! They could hardly find the tumors! Doc said it showed I am responding to the chemo! Good to know this is all worth it!

I have an appt in a couple of weeks with the breast surgeon to get on the schedule. I also don’t know about radiation yet. I do know I’m doing a bilateral mastectomy! I don’t want this coming back! I like how you did it, lumpectomy first to get out the cancer, then a prophylactic mastectomy! I was not given that option.

Hope you and everyone else is managing the SE’s and making progress!

JaBoo-I’m glad you have a supportive MO so you can choose to have the BMX. I know it’s an individual decision, but I feel better knowing the breast tissue is gone. 2cm is about the size of mine too. Supposedly there’s is a smaller tumor, 1cm, behind the primary one-that was part of the reason for the ultrasound, to try to confirm that there was a second tumor.

I’m hoping our other ladies are living life and not thinking too much about SE’s and are too busy to post!

i think this will be my last chemo post here. I am 2 months out from chemo (TC) now. Hair still thin, but it has improved a little. While brows are filling in, I've now lost all my lower lashes on the right, almost all on the left. A delayed effect I guess. No underarm or leg hair yet. Not sure if the Rogaine is doing anything, but package says it takes 3 months.

15 total radiation treatments completed as of Monday 10/29. I've got a rash on my chest and my cording flared up a bit, but that's it. No fatigue. Now it's on to Femara and probably a bisphosphonate to help with bone loss due to Femara.

Good luck to you all on your journeys.

Hey Ladies!

Its been a while. I started my taxol then traveled 1/2 way across the country for work for two weeks, home for a week, back out to work for two weeks and have been home since then. I finished my 12 weekly taxol. Although they were nothing at the start, all the side effects just slowly grew. I iced my hands and feet to minimize the neuropathy and what I did get is almost completely resolved now. The worst thing at the end for me was the muscle fatigue. I felt like I had just finished a major work out every time I went up the stairs my legs screamed. That is now gone too.

I've also completed 2/4 of every other week AC. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be, although the first round was much worse than then second. I think that the taxol side effects have worn off more now so I don't have side effects from three chemos affecting me at once. The weekend after my first AC (Tuesday infusion) I ended up total loss of bladder control when I woke up! There was NO closing that sphincter to stop the flow! I have a bowl my my bed now if I need it so I don't have to spotbot the carpet! Also had killer heartburn and thrush that weekend, so that was fun. I think I basically had total weakness of all those involuntary muscles. It got better quickly and the weekend after my second infusion had similar side effects but a day later and not as intense. It was also easier knowing that it might happen.

I've been cold capping through it all and kept my head hair great through all the taxol and thought I was doing great when I didn't seem to have much increased shedding on days 16 and 18 post first AC, but the shedding has really picked up starting at about day 25. I can only do what I can do and see what happens at this point. I have 10 eyebrow hairs on my left and 20 on my right. I received my eyebrow wigs on Thursday and wore them for a short while yesterday and liked them. Then I lost them this morning. It is breaking my heart. $55.00 and I was happy to have them and while walking from the bathroom to the kitchen (better light right now, mirror I can get REALLY close to) I misplaced them! Things are such a mess due to my lack of energy and interest in cleaning that I'm afraid I'll never find them!

Question for everyone: where do you get your best support from? I feel like I've been slogging through all of this and doing a pretty good job considering I'm single, dealing with chemopause 12 years before expected menopause, I own my house that I have to maintain, no real friends as I've spent way too much of my life devoted to my career, a mother who is a total narcissist and makes me feel like I should be doing more and better at everything. I feel like no one is there to tell me I'm doing a good job and that it's OK. I could really use a cheerleader. The closest breast cancer support group to me meets in the middle of the days on Tuesdays, my chem days, so I haven't made it to one yet.

Still have the stress of figuring out if I'm going to do additional surgery at this time or not.... I'm too pissed about losing my libido, having my ladyparts shrink and become so fragile, the dryness and all of the other loss of estrogen things to give up having feeling in my breasts right now, even though the recommendation is bilateral mastectomy..., And then of course, there is figuring out which insurance will be best for next year given all those questions. I just feel so alone right now...

Thanks for letting me vent.

Cria

Alright ladies! I started a December Surgery Group, so anyone finishing up chemo and moving on to surgery, come on over! Those of you who’ve already had surgery can give us advice!

My surgery is in January...

I'm nearing the end of treatment, how about others? My last Taxol is Dec. 4th. So I will be having Treatment-free and hopefully SE-free Christmas, I can't wait!

I'm concerned about RoseRed, she hasn't written anything since her allergic reaction... I hope she is OK and going on with some kind of treatment...

Less than one week til my last chemo! Last AC on Monday November 19th. So Thanksgiving dinner will taste like crap. I think the taste changes have really been the thing that has bugged me the most.

I've been doing the cold capping and about 3 weeks after my first AC (following 12 weeks of taxol) I had some MAJOR shedding that scared the bleep out of me. If I had continued to shed at that rate, nothing would have been left after all that hassle. in actually slowed down though, after a couple of days and now is down to less shedding than before the AC (probably because there are so many fewer hairs on my head). It has diffusely thinned but strangers wouldn't know it, so I'm hopeful that the worst is over and that it won't shed much more with the time I have left with the poison.

I got eyebrow wigs a couple weeks ago and LOVE them! Glue them on and instant 3D brows! left them on for three days last time. So much easier than trying to get the right color of pencil/chalk/powder and make it look semi normal. Dark blond doesn't seem to exist in the cosmetics world.

I'm starting to work towards figuring out my further surgical plan at this time. I talked with the folks at NOLA after meeting with two plastic surgeons in town. The first one was an ass, the second one gave me more options than I had considered. Unfortunately, one of the best ones would have been to have him to the original lumpectomy and do a breast reduction at that time. Now I might go with a reduction, then radiation. Have to find out if delaying the radiation to heal from the reduction is acceptable to the oncologists. So in short, don't know what month surgery group I'll be in but wishing everyone the best with the options that they have chosen.

Recommendations: Get a good comfy bra without wires and ideally a front zip if you are having a lumpectomy. expect swelling, expect some numbness, too. About 75% of my breast was numb initially after my lumpectomy, but that went down to about 10% after all the swelling went down.

For those getting mastectomies, make sure to get some camisols/bras with pockets for the drains. There are also little drain holders that you can put around your neck in the shower so that you don't have to figure out how to not have them just dangling from stitches holding them in place.

I've heard that there are some heart shaped pillows that can be fantastic for comfort during recovery.

Looking forward to taste buds coming back for Christmas Cookies!

I have two more Taxols. Last one on Monday the 26th! I’ve been told by the breast surgeon we will do the bmx 21 days after my last chemo, so that would be Dec 17th! I have my first appt with the plastic surgeon in a week, so I’ll know more after that.

I’m really feeling those SE’s this week. I feel like I’m walking on marbles, my nose is so congested and it bleeds all the time, plus I’m so tired and yet don’t sleep well at night. And there’s the taste issues too! Basically I’m really wanting this to be over!!

I think I will send a private message to RoseRed and see if I can find out how she’s doing!

I am grateful for this site! It does help to know I’m not alone. Even though we are all over the world, we are able to share in this experience. Which I am glad, again, is almost over. At least the chemo part anyway!

Keep posting ladies!

After I recovered from my allergic reaction and started feeling halfway normal again, I enjoyed eating all my favorite foods a little too much and gained a few lbs 😝 Really starting to hate that scale at the cancer center 😂Thought it’d be so easy losing the weight once I started chemo again, but so far no mouth or stomach issues on the Abraxane, so now I’m stuck with the extra weight...grrr Lol It’s a good problem to have, I suppose especially when I remember what I went through with the AC when I had to force myself to eat to keep from losing weight.

Misha, CONGRATS!!!! You look happy ringing the bell, that is so nice! Do you plan to do anything as a treat?

Well, I should have been there too, I mean having the last dose on the same day as you! But I got delayed one week due to low WBC, so AT THIS MOMENT I am sitting in my chemo chait getting Taxol no. 11. Next week I am done too!

My BMX with recon is planned for January 18th, which is my birthday

This weekend we celebrate the birthday of my little pre-schooler princess, I am so looking forward to it. I was hoping to be done with chemo untill then

RoseRed, how are you? How are you feeling on Abraxane and when will you be finished? I realized I never wrote reply to your earlier posts! I am glad you and your MO found a way to continue treatment.

I gained weight on Taxol too, since I have zero stomach issues. Only occasionally some weird taste in my mouth which is solved by eating ☺️ Well, I have gained 5 kg 😲 I already said to myself this is enough and started eating differently. Hope that helps. I am on hormonal treatment too, which will make it difficult to lose anything in the future. But my MO is very happy with my weight gain, since I was borderline underweight. But I hate clothes shopping, so I have to shake that off, not all, but most of it.