Starting Chemo in JAN 2007

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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Hey Ladies,
    Thanks for all the heartfelt congrats on finishing my 8 rounds of AC and Taxol, and passing them on to Shorti as well. Shorti, the Homer brain is just too hilarious. On my worst chemo days, Homer is Albert Einstein by comparison. I love the Simpsons.

    On the way home, I asked dh if he remembered back when I tearfully told him I didn't think I could ever make it thru chemo, and he said OH yes! He told me I could, and now I have. I'm so relieved. The onco staff loved the cheesecake and fruit, it was gobbled. I did sleep for all but one hour of it but every time I woke up I could feel the nausea wanting to swirl up...I never had that before in any infusions. Luckily I had taken Emends and they had 2 other anti-nauseas in the IV. Afterward it was the worst I ever felt on Day 1, I went right to bed when I got home and slept 2 more hours. Tomorrow I have to leave at 7:30 am and run on a treadmill for stress tests. Yet my onc told me today he thinks I've done "remarkably, remarkably well." I told him I could not have gotten thru it without my online support group and (MUSH ALERT) how wonderful and informed you all are. But anyway, I'm so glad this is last Taxol. Yippeeee!

    Question on Ativan...does it make you sleep thru the night without waking up for hot flashes?

    I use Splenda, I believe it's the best of all the artificials.

    Melia I'm staying too. There is Herceptin, rads, and today I found out possibly seven years of Arimidex (maybe a couple years of Tamo altho the onc would prefer not). Oh and we finally compromised on the Herceptin dosage. He wants me to stay on weekly infusions til I'm thru with rads as he believes the larger doses would be hard for me to take in combo with rads. He also said not to worry about antioxidants from anything but concentrated pills, especially E.

    Anyway, it still feels like a red-letter day. Once I get thru this week I'll be a lot happier though. I'll let you all know how the cardio goes. - Lovin' the mush too, Lynn....Skye
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Mel I'm so glad your eye surgery went well, and that it seems to have WORKED! I love when one of us gets a victory like that. If mine don't stop tearing after the Taxol now I may consider doing that myself.

    Joni, sure hope you feel better very soon. Is the shaking part of chills? Let us know what you find out.
    -- Skye
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Quote:

    I am so discouraged. Not only do I have a rash from the first taxol, but my blood cell counts are down again. What if I can't finish the chemo???? I need the taxol since I am triple neg, and have no other meds (ie tamoxifen, herceptin) to fall back on ... darn it.



    Melia, I don't think the rash will keep you from finishing chemo. Are they giving you Benadryl with the Taxol? I got 25 mg in my IV today and it kept any rash from forming. As for rbc counts, I get Aranesp in the IV as well. Haven't they offered these to you for these problems? If not, you should ask and they should be covered by your insurance. And then I go in 24 hours later (tomorrow after my stress test) for Neulasta for the wbc. With these, my cell counts have stayed good. And if for some reason you really can't do the Taxol, you could switch to Taxotere like Tae did. There has to be a way you can work it out, hang in there! --- Skye
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  • Caya
    Caya Member Posts: 971
    edited April 2007
    Just a quick chime in here - I also use Splenda in moderation, I agree with Skye, I think it is the best of all the sweeteners. I have heard of a natural sweetener called Stevia, I believe. Anyone ever used it?
    We can't win - the sugar isn't good, the weight isn't good - the sweeteners aren't good... Oy!!!
    Viddie, I'll be bringing up the rear with you - I start Herceptin on June 7th, will finish May 2008, and be on Tamoxifen and/or an AI (not sure which one yet) also for years - but I'll happily take those years.
    This is a great group, you gals are the best...
    hugs
    caya
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  • Rebecca
    Rebecca Member Posts: 971
    edited April 2007
    On sweeteners: I tend to switch around a bit. My feeling is too much of ANYTHING is bad. The sad reality of modern life is that you can find something bad about almost anything that you eat if you do enough research with the unfortunate result of winding up afraid to eat anything at all! Anorexia may not give you cancer, but it has other rather unfortunate side effects.

    Moderation in the name of enjoyment is my key. I use REAL butter when I cook, but do not use it as a condiment (I use smart balance instead). I only eat red meat (maybe) once every two months, and only eat chicken/turkey 2-3 times per week. I try to eat as much fresh veggies and fruit as I can, but do not buy organic. I use my car a lot, but I try to do formal exercise for at least 20 mins a day, but then will park my car far from where I have to be, and then take the steps instead of the elevator.

    I go into this because I have always done ALL of these things, and I still wound up with cancer. And maybe there is something I am unwittingly doing that will do it to me again, but who can really tell what it is?

    I beleive that it is important to balance moderation with health and happiness. If sugar in your tea makes you happy, and you only have one or two cups a day, I say GO FOR IT! If you drink gallons of iced tea all day long (as I do) maybe sugar free is better (I drink 4-c lite green tea with splenda). Remember that life is to LIVE, and if you drive yourself crazy with every individual dietary choice you donot allow yourself to live.

    The sun is brighter, the sky is bluer, my children are even more beatiful now that I have (almost) spit in Death's eye. LIVE! (and drink your tea without guilt Viddie!)
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  • TPPJ
    TPPJ Member Posts: 1,017
    edited April 2007
    Caya, I forgot about Stevia. I had heard of it but you'd almost thing Splenda bought them and put them out of business...them or Equal. I forgot about it's existence.

    Skye, you can get Aranesp in your IV????!!!! I was under the impression you could not. I had an IV in and they still shot it in my arm...it stung pretty badly. Like a bad bee sting, I recall someone likening it too. Not intolerable but certainly not fun. I contemplated ovarian supression shots but I hear you get those in the stomach and those sounded painful too on the boards (the scary boards).

    Melia, try to not get too discouraged. My counts would be all over the place and for no rhyme or reason. One day I'd go in feeling like I could run a marathon and they'd be awful. The next week I'd go in exhausted and they'd be fabulous. I have to think part of your exhaustion is your VERY early days. Granted, I know starting at 6 am is pretty much a necessity in SoCal due to horrible traffic... boy, I don't miss that at all. I do miss the gorgeous purple hillsides in Aliso Viejo and Laguna. Never knew what that plant was but it made my commute to Fashion Island so nice...that and PCH just north of Laguna... I'd watch that show The OC just for a glimpse of that. Hang in there....you WILL get through and you WILL get your tx's!
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  • TPPJ
    TPPJ Member Posts: 1,017
    edited April 2007
    Quote:
    On sweeteners: I tend to switch around a bit.

    Rebecca, very good advice. Never really thought of that.

    Hey, where has Jan been? Not here in awhile...
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  • TPPJ
    TPPJ Member Posts: 1,017
    edited April 2007
    Shorti,

    Just checked out Shane's b'day card video. Sad. One of my best friends daughters had leukemia..same type (A.L.L.) and dx'd at age 5. Was treated at Dana Farber and will be 16 this fall. I read that only certain cancers are said to be "curable", childhood leukemia and Hodgkins disease being two of them.

    I grew up about ten miles north of Boston in a city called Woburn...it was the topic of the movie A Civil Action starring John Travolta..was about the leukemia cluster in that town. When I was 11 my friend six houses away died from leukemia. My other good, good friend had Hodgkins three mos. after we both got married in '92. She's doing great..went on to have two kids. (She recently had a BC scare..had to have that biopsy where they put the metal clip in your breast...I was sweating it for her...thank God she's OK.)
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  • meliaanne
    meliaanne Member Posts: 682
    edited April 2007
    Thanks all for the encouragement. I was always so healthy, never even caught the colds, etc that went around the office. Now to be having trouble after the first taxol just got me way too upset. I haven't had any shots for the wbc but will bring that up if the dr talks about delaying treatments. To be fair, his nurse said they might use more decodran or benedryl, she never mentioned delaying. That's my paranoia jumping in. I am pretty darned aggressive and will argue to finish .... I feel such a need to get back to "normal" in terms of hair, energy, etc. I know I will never be the same person as before, but hopefully I will be more sensitive, more compassionate. You have all taught me so much. It's amazing that women whom I have never met have all come to be my greatest support.

    Have a good day all.

    Melia
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  • Dar1
    Dar1 Member Posts: 146
    edited April 2007
    I just wrote a long post and lost it!
    Condensed version:
    Joni, Shorti, Skye, feel better soon. Everyone must be close to being done -at least the chemo part. Women I know on Herceptin say it is not so bad - their hair even grew back!
    I'm still in la-la land - Shorti I relate to the "Homer" brain! One day I went for a check-up, was sent for a mammogram and then... they cut off my breast, made me sick for 3 months, and made my hair fall out! I guess it will take awhile for my mind and feelings to catch up to that. It just seems surreal. Part of me feels like "WTF"? and then I tell myself that they saved my life. That's a biggie too.
    And what is causing this? Our food, environment, hormone/birth control use, falling birth rate, aging population? There is a reason - different for each of us I guess. Personally, I wonder about all the processed and fast food we eat.
    Have a good day all. Spring has FINALLY come to the prairies. I'm going to go for a massage and then wash windows today.
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  • NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING
    NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING Member Posts: 778
    edited April 2007
    Hi all,

    Congratulations to everybody who's finishing; pretty soon we'll all be finished and I won't feel so lonely out here in Rads land. Rads ladies how are you? How ARE you doing?

    I am finally OFF Ativan AND sleeping. After going down to quarters I went off them and couldn't sleep, so I tried Zyrtec one night, a darvocet the next, and slept both nights. But I didn't want a new addiction, so I changed it each night. Last night it was just milk & aspirin and I slept like a baby. Twelve hours!!!

    I'm on my second weeks of rads and wondering if fatigue is setting in; maybe the rads are what is making sleepy. Amera, are you on radiation now. Anybody else getting sleepy??????

    Mizsissy xxxooo
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  • Amera
    Amera Member Posts: 452
    edited April 2007
    Quote:

    I'm on my second weeks of rads and wondering if fatigue is setting in; maybe the rads are what is making sleepy. Amera, are you on radiation now. Anybody else getting sleepy??????



    Hi Mizsissy. I am on my second week of rads as well. I still feel pretty good. My doc said most folks don't get tired until around week 5 but that couch potatoes get more tired, sooner. I am a little tired but attribute that to allergies and my period showing up soon (or not--who knows at this point?).

    No real redness from rads yet. They said that would show up probably next week.

    Okay, off to rads right now.
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  • NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING
    NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING Member Posts: 778
    edited April 2007
    Whew...Shorti that is so great, and SkyeDivine...what a great day!!! Went running; it's georgeous outside. Bright sunshine, 60s, everybody I see waves to me, including the guys in the delivery truck!

    Amera, I am no couch potato. Bike 7+ miles at least twice a week. Run over a mile 3 times per week. However, got VERY tired trying to do yardwork in the sun on Sunday, actually got quite shakey.

    Last week I couldn't sleep, now I can't get enough sleep. Got sleepy yesterday around 4 pm. Went to bed early and slept until about 10 am. Woke up with Bunky (my 18 yr old yellow male) staring me in the face, gently poking my cheek with his paw. Turn over, and he finds me over there.

    I don't have a lot of computer time these days, so I am missing a lot of what is being said. When I get my laptop back it will be easier to keep up.

    I have been in touch with Mena, my close friend from the BC boards here. She was dx'd about 4 years ago, and she had recurrence two years ago, and has tried a lot of chemos. Things were stable until about a month ago, and now it's spreading. She's on a new, experimental drug called Tykerb. which she takes with Zeloda, but it's making her so sick she can't keep it down. She's nauseous all the time and she's alone now except for her daughter. I don't mean to put a damper on things, but there are some ladies here who need a lot of help. Please pray for Mena. Maybe if we all pray for her it will help.

    Mizsissy
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Quote:


    Skye, you can get Aranesp in your IV????!!!! I was under the impression you could not. I had an IV in and they still shot it in my arm...it stung pretty badly. Like a bad bee sting, I recall someone likening it too.



    Hey TPPJ, yes the Aranesp is always given to me that way. In fact, the nurse and I were just discussing it yesterday and she said they do it because it stings too much in the arm. MUCH easier this way! - Skye
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Quote:

    I just wrote a long post and lost it!
    Condensed version:
    Joni, Shorti, Skye, feel better soon. Everyone must be close to being done -at least the chemo part. Women I know on Herceptin say it is not so bad - their hair even grew back!
    And what is causing this? Our food, environment, hormone/birth control use, falling birth rate, aging population? There is a reason - different for each of us I guess. Personally, I wonder about all the processed and fast food we eat.
    Have a good day all. Spring has FINALLY come to the prairies. I'm going to go for a massage and then wash windows today.



    Dar, massage sounds good! Thanks for the nice wishes...I don't expect to feel better REAL soon with Day 3 of Taxol looming but it will happen eventually. And no more Taxol or Neulasta!

    As for the environmental factor, think about this. I live on a lake area cul-de-sac with about 20 houses, acre lots, lots of woods, etc. and great neighbors but not that many of them. And yet on this little street, at least 6 men (including my husband) have gotten prostate cancer, the lady across the street has been stage 4 breast cancer for 3 years, another woman last year got ovarian cancer and died from it within the year, and now me. Previous next door neighbors moved to Florida after the husband got some kind of cancer. Some neighbors who moved here recently were told by area Culligan people that our street gets runoff from a gigantic dairy farm, and we all have private wells. Everyone including us has been installing reverse osmosis water filters as a result. Is it the water? Hard telling, but I do wish we had installed the filter sooner. Can't be too careful these days! - Skye
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007

    One more quick story, I stopped in my favorite store for scones today after my morning in the cardio unit (won't have results til tomorrow but they thought I did well on the treadmill and now I have my very own cardiologist). I was wearing a scarf with my sweatsuit and no makeup, had been getting some looks but I just looked back and smiled. As I was leaving, one of the deli workers, a lady about my size and age, stopped to compliment me on my scarf. It is a vintage one, from a pile one of my sisters bought me from a thrift shop along with one special one she bought on a trip to Israel that she said was like what the women on the kibbutz they visited all wore. Anyway, then she whipped off her deli hat to show me her short hairstyle, and said, "I was where you are last year." She had a double mastectomy and finished chemo in August, said she had enough hair to go scarfless by mid November so that was about 3 months. And that it came in thicker and curlier. She was SO nice and we felt an immediate emotional bond... so of course I told her about YOU guys (mush mush) and how much help you've been to me. But meeting her was really a lift to my day that wouldn't have happened had I been wearing Ol' Red. I'm sure we will talk again. Then I got home and my son said I look like a Borat character who wears a sweat suit and a headscarf, except my jacket doesn't have a big marijuana leaf on the back. Nothing like a kid (even a 26-year old one) to bring us back to reality. :-) - Skye

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  • Lynn12
    Lynn12 Member Posts: 1,008
    edited April 2007
    Hi Ladies,

    Mizsissy, so sorry about your friend Mena, extra prayers for her! Congrats on getting of the Ativan, glad you are sleeping better. I did take an Ativan last night and now feel very rested...whew!

    I use Splenda as well.

    Skye, wow, all that cancer on your street, scary stuff!

    I had my monthly meeting with my boss today. I told her my rads schedule and how I plan to be back full time in August. She is just so supportive of me, I am so lucky. I then told her about my reconstruction in December and of course she is supportive of that too.

    The Massachusetts contingent (Amera, Viddie and myself) are meeting for lunch next Monday. YAY, I can't wait! If anyone else happens to be in the Boston area next Monday, please let us know so you can join us!

    Boy oh boy, having a 15 year old daughter is sometimes really hard. I have 2 other children in their early 20's and sometimes I wish we could just skip all this crap and end up there. Oh well, trying to work through things with my 15 year old.

    Hot flashes: Is anyone from the Northern areas experiencing stronger or more frequent hot flashes now that it's warm? I went for a walk yesterday, it was about 85 degrees. I got home and took a shower, then came downstairs. I was absolutely dripping sweat, right after my shower. What's up with that? I was actually shaking a bit as well. Not liking it and am worried about when the real heat/humidity arrive.
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  • Robbin65
    Robbin65 Member Posts: 251
    edited April 2007
    Well, I got my port out Yesterday.

    Hurt like hell last night. Worse than my lumectomy surgery.

    My surgon had a hard time getting it out. It was like it was growing in there...

    Didn't take that long. Just lots of tugging. I asked to look at it after he took it out and the tube that goes into your vein is very long. Much longer than I expected it to be.

    Anyway, starting rads next week.

    Aaahhhhh....

    Going to the river this week. Spring fever is here. 80's and 90's all this week.

    I wonder how tanning will effect the port scar?
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  • jonimb
    jonimb Member Posts: 900
    edited April 2007
    Hello all:

    Well I actually made it out today, first time in 8 days. My sister & I went to Costco, and it was their GARDEN days. I bought 15 hanging plants, 10 flats of bedding plants (24 in each), about 10 perennials, and ran into a few friends at Costco. I had FUN...I felt normal. I didn't even have a hot flash.

    Between my sister and I my VAN was packed to the hilt with flowers...and if that wasn't bad enough we went to the North Side Costco in the afternoon.

    It was beautiful here today...19 C....so about 70 F. Between Costco runs we sat on my sister's deck, my lab was running in and out of the Lake, it was so wonderful...good to be alive today. We had bought a roasted chicken so we both had a scrumpous lunch, and geared up for our 2nd run.

    Can't put anything in yet...have a month to wait, but I have tables set up downstairs to hold all the flowers.

    Skye, I would talk to your County or State to do environmental tests in your neighbourhood, as that does sound odd, that so many people are facing cancer.

    Mel, hope your feeling well after your eye surgery.

    I will say an extra prayer for Mena tonite.

    Amera, Viddie & Lynn, I wish I were in Boston for the lunch, have a great time.

    Shorti I'll be getting a birthday card for that Shane tomorrow and sending it on. Thanks. Hope your feeling good.

    Does anyone else ever suffer from heartburn? I have just been getting it the last couple of days, but it is awful. What do you use to get rid of it?

    Hope all are well.

    Hugs.

    Joni
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  • mer1957
    mer1957 Member Posts: 534
    edited April 2007
    I will pray for her.

    My DH had lunch with his brother today. I guess tomorrow he and his wife are going to a funeral home to plan his arrangements. How gruesome. I don't think I could do that.

    I wish I could sleep more. I can't seem to go past 8 hours and that's interrupted by getting up once or twice to go to the bathroom. The hot flashes keep waking me up. I am hot at work. I am hot at home. I am just hot, hot hot! Then cold, cold, cold. This too will pass.
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  • mer1957
    mer1957 Member Posts: 534
    edited April 2007
    I just lost my post for the first time. As I was saying, I will pray for Mena.

    My DH had lunch with his brother today. He and his wife are going to the funeral home tomorrow to plan his arrangements for when the time comes. How gruesome. I don't think I could do that.

    I wish I could sleep more. I can't get past 7-1/2 to 8 hrs and that's with getting up to go to the bathroom. The hot flashes wake me up and then I'm cold. I'm hot at work, fanning myself. I am hot after I eat, and at home. I sweat like a fool at the gym. This too will pass.
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  • mer1957
    mer1957 Member Posts: 534
    edited April 2007

    Sorry somehow this got in there twice!

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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Mizsissy, I'm already praying for Mena, sounds like she will have a lot of it from this board group.

    Amera, I would love to hop on a plane for Boston, it's so cool you guys get to meet now. Have a grand lunch and we will want a full report!!!! Could one of you tape it and put it on Youtube? At least take a pic for us.

    Joni, I had bad heartburn from the getgo on AC, and my onc immediately put me on Protonix and that has taken care of it ever since. It does make you a little gassy at first...ok, a LOT gassy... but that gets better after the first week.

    Mary, that is so heart-rending about your BIL. Continued prayers there too.

    I also wake up from hot flashes. That's why I asked earlier if anyone on Ativan had any luck stopping the hot-flash-wakeup syndrome. Sometimes it's every two hours. But that has been going on for years. Nothing I've tried has stopped it. (rubbing eyes, yawning)

    As for the cancer on my street, everyone is reluctant to call in any official investigation because there go the property values! The thing is we do have a high proportion of retirement-aged people who might be more likely to be coming into that demographic where cancer beings hitting harder. The youngest was the woman with ovarian cancer in her early 40s. So who knows if it really is the water, or just a predisposed population?

    Slowly succumbing to the Taxol dose here...I'm melting, I'm melting!...Skye
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  • skyedivine
    skyedivine Member Posts: 839
    edited April 2007
    Robbinjaye,
    Was interesting to hear about getting your port out. I have to leave mine in for a year to get the Herceptin so I imagine mine will be REALLY ingrown by the time I'm done. Sorry it was painful, I'll know what to expect now when it finally happens. I'm still glad to have it, especially after getting my arm and hand dug up again today as they mined for a vein for that cardiogram. Hope it heals quickly for you.

    And Lynn, I'm glad you have such an understanding boss. Must make things so much easier! - Skye
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  • NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING
    NOLONGERREADINGORPOSTING Member Posts: 778
    edited April 2007
    Mena called on Sunday and told me she had been ill for almost two weeks. The meds wouldn't stay down...she was miserable, and, worst of all, she wasn't getting the chemo she needed.

    We started praying for her that evening, and then later, dh and I both woke up in the middle of the night, and I suggested we pray for her then. We prayed again yesterday. And then I asked you girls to pray. Called her this afternoon...she was feeling fine!!! She was so hungry she was eating as we talked. All the meds are staying down and she feels great!!!

    Thank you Lynn, Skye, Joni, Mary, and everyone else....let's not quit while we're ahead!!!

    GO MENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Mizsissy

    P.S. Got my laptop back!!!! It was just a loose cable...!
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  • tlc60
    tlc60 Member Posts: 83
    edited April 2007
    My day sure didn't go as planned!I get home from work yeasterday with a meassage waiting from my onc's office, reminding me of my appoint with the FNP. I called to let them know I'm a wednesday girl, but she insisted my appointment was for tues with the FNP. So I show up, go to my appointment and afterwards am sent on over to the infusion room for my lasat chemo!! I tried to insist I was due in TOMORROW for chemo, but they could not sqeeze me in tomorrow, so there we went! I"M DONE!!!! Not exactly as planned, but I'm done 8-) Sad thing is my regular nurses visit another local cancer center on tues, so the back-ups were in today. They were nice, but it would have been nice to see my girls today.
    I asked about scans etc., and was told not now, maybe later. (she's not the most personble, my onc is so much cooler) She said my por could come out right away, but I'm choosing to wait until after rads.
    Despite the chaos of the day, I am thrilled ot be DONE!!!!8-)

    tlc
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  • meliaanne
    meliaanne Member Posts: 682
    edited April 2007
    I am adding my prayers for Mena, and for your family, Mary.

    Tomorrow is my second taxol. I am disappointed that it isn't easier, kept reading that taxol was easier than ac. Maybe it's the cumulative effect of 3 plus months of chemo, but I am dragging. Not sick, which is good, but zero energy. I just finished a shopping list and chore list for my husband; up to now I haven't asked for any help, but those days are history! I need help now and he has a nice attitude about it, thankfully. His pt all along has been that he has offered and I haven't taken him up on it, so I think the "fault" goes both ways. Sure, he could have done more, but he isn't a mind reader, and if I don't ask, it isn't really fair to blame him.

    I went thru menopause in my mid forties so can't relate to all the chemo induced hot flashes, though I sure remember the ones I had! I imagine the chemo ones are tougher if only because of everything else we are all dealing with in addition.

    I hope everyone has a good night tonight. Stay strong!
    Melia
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  • Caya
    Caya Member Posts: 971
    edited April 2007
    Mary -
    I hear ya" - hot, hot, hot. I am also lucky to get 8 hours of sleep - and talk about "girl interrupted"- it's cap on/cap off - sweating, up to the bathroom, up for a drink (because i'm thirsty because I'm sweaty) - oh the constant cycle - yeah, I guess this too shall pass, but I think I'm going to have to buy some more 100% pima cotton sheet sets with a higher thread count, because of the sweats.
    Lynn, I am there with you - now that it's warmer here, I have noticed more hot flashing/flushing - I have a fan in my bedroom that I put on low at night, this helps..., but then it isn't exactly hot and humid out yet.
    Boston ladies - take some pix for sure - have a nice lunch.
    I had a pretty good day, like Joni, almost normal. Picked up some groceries, had the energy to cook a bit, so I made a nice ratatouille with onions, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes - only thing is I can't taste anything so I had go keep asking DH to test it as I couldn't tell if I put too much garlic and oregano in - also used Mrs. Dash - But now I think it's all hitting me, will go to bed soon...
    skye - hope you are feeling better, and that your stress test results are good.
    It just hit me that I am 6 months out from diagnosis - I guess that's a mini-milestone - kind of surreal, but then all I have to do is look at my hairless head, one-boobed chest, greenish white complexion, fading eyebrow and lashes, and then it all becomes too real.
    good night girls
    caya (hot flash)
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  • Ovrtrainbo
    Ovrtrainbo Member Posts: 19
    edited April 2007

    Hello All, Well I have one more Taxol and then I'm done with Taxol (had 4 total) had Adrimyicin first (4 total) and then I go to Cytoxin next. Have any of you had experience with Cytoxin yet? I have had a lot of side effects with Taxol, lost toenials, tearing eyes, numbness of fingertips and toes, and alot of problems with my legs....

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  • robertin
    robertin Member Posts: 78
    edited April 2007
    Hello All, I had my third Taxol today. I try to squeeze all my appointments into the Tuesday of Chemo. So at 8:30 I was in the hospital for my bloodtest and the nurse asked in passing if I had any pain. Well I had pain in my right arm, and it started with an area in the top part of my arm that was sore to the touch, but when I now extend my arm the muscle is sore and you can see some swelling. Wow, an immediate reaction, and I was rushed to radiology to check for a bloodclot. An hour of sonograms showed that was not the case, so the doctor felt I was probably overusing my right arm, which I agree with, because I have a heavy case with wheels for my laptop and on top I have quite a few notebooks in the case, so I can work at home too. It is heavy to carry from the car to the house and down stairs. So, I will split it over two cases. The doctor says that when you are on Taxol, you have to be alert for bloodclots. They happen more often and when I go on a business trip in May, I will have to stop each hour to walk around. Just thought I'd mention it to you Taxol ladies.
    So, todays Taxol #3 went smooth. I slept through most of it. Tomorrow I'll start my Aleve, and I am also taking vitamin B6 now. The onc says that a number of papers state that it helps with neuropathy. Well, I'm off to my Ativan induced sleep. I must admit that with all the drinking I wake up around 2:30 AM to go to the bathroom. Oh well.
    Oh, by the way, with my diabetes diet I am still losing weight. I gained about 3 pounds in the middle of the second round. My ankles were swollen, but later on that went away, and so did the 3 pounds and another 3. I like keeping track of everything I eat, and then recording my bloodsugar. I told the doctor that I finally had control over some part of my body, and I'm doing well, because I am naturally bringing down my bloodsugar. Have lost 16.5 pounds ever since I started chemo. But cakes, cookies and chocolate are out - too many starches - even though I think I can eat them, becuase the nasty taste in my mouth is going away.
    Well, got to go to bed. Good night y'all.
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