Starting Chemo in May 07

Hi all,
I have been reading your posts for awhile. I started Taxol in Feb. Took 12 doses in 12 weeks, then moved on to FAC starting in May; I am on the Feb.chemo cruisers thread, but they have all finished AC long ago, so have enjoyed hearing your experiences with the stronger chemo.
I had bil.mast. in Dec. for Lobular BC in right breast. I have tissue expanders and will have reconst. sometime. Right now I am 10 days out from 3rd FAC and tired, low white blood counts. I have gained weight and want to exercise, but just don't have the energy. And it is HOT here in South Texas.
My best to you all and thanks for sharing your experiences. I don't feel so alone. Hugs to all Sammie Kay

Hi girls,

I feel like crap today-to be expected. I'm not doing Marinol right now, just hitting the demand dose on my pump a little more often.

Amya, YES, I always look at my labs and try to compare them with the other ones. I think it's fun, and reassuring somehow.

Sammie, glad you came over! It would be great to have a fellow person going through a similar regimen--I'm doing FEC X6, (just had tx #4 on Thursday) but I think most of the others are moving on from AC to T now. So feel free to stay and commiserate with me.

Amy

Quote:

---

Liz, has either doctor been able to tell you pros and cons for each decions, and why they reommend the one they do? That might help you come to some clarity.
Amy

---

I've gotten some brief responses on this, but not satisfied that I really understand whether there is some clear benefit to either. My surgeon is now saying he would be ok with doing surgery now if my mri shows good improvement. I'm starting to think I would like to get the surgery out of the way--get the cancer out and all that--and also get a break from the chemo for a bit.

I'm glad to be done with the A/C but I'm experiencing a little more nausea this time than before. Good news is that I should be better in a day or two judging by past experience.

Hope you feel better soon!

Liz,
Hope you are feeling better. I can't wait to get my last chemo overwith. I would go this week if I could. It will be the following week. I feel like they poison me every time they give me the chemo. I guess essentially they are. But thank God for something to fight cancer. This is a good weekend for me. SE are subsiding. And next weekend will be the one before chemo, so it is usually good as well. Warm thoughts to you. Sammie Kay.

I had my first Taxol last Wednesday. I definitely am having bone aches! Makes it tough to sleep...so I'm using valium. Sure hope it doesn't continue...but it's still better than A/C.

Amy, what drug will you be getting for your next series...Taxol? Can't remember. Hope it'll treat you better.

Still haven't lost my eyebrows and eyelashes and hoping not to!

Lorain

HI all, had my first Taxol on Thursday with Neulasta on Friday. Friday I woke feeling great - no nausea! Saturday I woke feeling good too but by the end of the day I was experiencing serious aches in my lower back and down my legs. Didn't sleep very well last night, trying to take Ibuprofen today. I tried going for a walk but didn't get too far. Hopefully this won't last too long.
I haven't lost my eyebrows or lashes yet and was hoping that they will stay - the onc said I had a good chance that I won't lose them now that the A/C is done. We will see.
Have a great rest of the weekend.

Hi Lorain,

No drug changes for me--just 6 cycles of FEC. This last was my 4th, so 2 more to go. It can't be over soon enough, I'll tell ya! After that I have rads--not sure how much yet--and then 5 years of tamoxifen or something similar.

Amy

Hey LeeAnne, was thinking about you wondering how the taxol was going. I personally take dilaudid, but I have chronic pain problems plus 800 mg motrin plays havoc on my stomach. I'm surprised that it works....glad it does!

Re: the mild burning sensation, ice packs can help... but then I'm the one who developed hand-foot syndrome, the oncologist who has been practicing in the office for a long time said he's only seen it due to AC/T maybe 5 times in his whole career (20 years I think). However, the hydrocortisone IV shot helped me

Also, for taxol, my onc has me taking 30 grams of L glutamine a day.

Sammie - I met someone who has a gorgeous head of hair (short) 4.5 months after chemo.

Aimster - sorry you were too ill to make it to church today...(read your care page)...hope things look up soon!

Oh I forgot to ask. Did any of you have breast pain during TX. Both breast feel tender. MENOPAUSE?
Thanks KIM

Hi girls,

I'm on txday 5, and still feel like crap. I had big plans for working on my Ebay store today, but right now I think I'm just going to watch a DVD! Martin is at work, and kids are at a sitters, so the house is still and calm. Maybe later I can do a little "work". I don't think I've mentioned my store--It's called "Through the Wardrobe" and I sell children's clothing and shoes on EBay. It's closed right now, so you can only see my storefront, not my inventory. But after I'm done with chemo I'll have a grand re-opening! Hooray for spending money! Right now I'm just working slowly but surely on getting all my items listed. I sell stuff that is new with tags and also all my own kids outgrown stuff. I love doing it, and it makes their wardrobes free to boot.

Mandy, I'm with you, I want my hair back now. I feel like Uncle Fester when I look in the mirror. Ugh.

Does anybody else feel like their skin is more yellow than usual? Just wondering if that's another SE, or if I'm imagining it.

Kim, I had the sore boobs thing too, and was thinking it was menopause, and then all of a sudden my period came about 3 weeks late. It was kind of a wierd period, but it was definitely there. I thought I was done with those for now, but I guess they can still crop up.

All for now, girls, need to get completely horizontal for a bit.

Amy

Amy, what's the address of your carepage? I'll read it if I can find it!

Have any of you been told how much time you have between your last chemo and starting radiation? I'm thinking about booking a spa weekend somewhere... don't know if my immune system will be up for flying that soon though.

The bone/joint pain continues and this is day 5. The big Motrins just cut it enough to get by. I'm verrrrrrry slowly getting it together to go into work today for a couple of hours. Fatigue and all that seem to not be quite so bad but I don't want to get over-hopeful...

Hugs,
LeeAnne

Hey guys,

Forgot to mention that I had the optioncare people come both on Saturday AND Sunday to give me fluids at home, and I really do think it helped. So if anybody's ever debating that option (Sue/Susan, are you still lurking?) it's definitely worth looking into. No miracle cure, but it picked me up a little last night.

Amy

Heh !!
I don't post a lot here but read constantly. It has been such a tremendous help to me thru all of this. I had my last (yipee) A/C a week ago today. It was really rough for me each tx, getting worse as it went along. I can't stand the site of my crystal lite raspberry ice anymore as the color reminds me of the "red devil" and I can just hurl thinking about it. I get my first taxol the 30th of this month, every 3 weeks. I hope this next half is a little easier than the A/C but I know there's a new set of possible SE's to look forward to. But I'll press on and like my father told me (lost him to lung cancer 2 years ago April) you always do what you have to do. And this is something I have to do...and will. We all will. We're stronger than we think.
Marilyn

Welcome Marilyn - I'm sorry about your father. I hope Taxol treats you better than the AC. A lot of the ladies in this group are getting into the Taxols now too - so you're in good company!

Amy - I never even get to see my lab reports! (I think that is a difference here in Canada...we are less in the loop with our physicians - I don't possess a copy of my pathology report or anything - maybe it's just me? ) I hope you get it all figured out and the numbers settled into where they are supposed to be!

I saw my radiologist yesterday - a nice man. I will go for 30 rounds (25 with 5 boosts) So, it looks like I will begin rads in mid October and be all done by the end of November. I don't like the sounds of the SE's - I will have a permanent scar on the top corner of my left lung (yikes) and of course he told me about the increased risk of cancer in that area (isn't that what rads are trying to PREVENT??? ) but he means in 15 or more years. He says it's usually not a problem because the women they treat are usually older but since I'm (only!) 42, he said my "life expectancy is decades" (I LOVED the sound of that!! ) he thought I should be aware of it! I wonder if when all this is behind me if I will be able to really put it past me and not be paranoid for the rest of my (hopefully long) life? I wonder if any of us will? Oh well, there I go getting ahead of myself again! If there is one thing I've learned from this journey - it's to stay in the present!

Right now it's another hot day here in Alberta, I feel good, I go on vacation in a week, I'm going to the FIFA world cup semi final soccer match tomorrow night and life is good!

The only little thing I need to whine about is the construction that has begun DIRECTLY OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE! They are putting in a huge sewer overflow holding tank (or something like that?) A few years ago we had some flash flooding in our neighbourhood and there were LOTS of insurance claims for cars submerged, basements damaged, etc. so the city's solution is to build this thing. Unfortunately we have no say in the matter! I woke up to some really wretched sounds at 7am this morning - the grader/cat thing was being scraped along the pavement (imagine nails on a blackboard only 10X worse!) and when it was slamming down onto the concrete - even my bed shook! (It's been awhile since MY bed's been shaking!! ha ha) We can't park in our garage or even use our back gate for at least 2 MONTHS!!! I can't even say that we'll benefit from this if we ever get another terrible storm because our house is built up on a bit of a hill and we had absolutley no water in our house whatsoever...oh well, our neighbours will be happy! I was at least hoping for some construction male eye candy...hmmm - maybe I'll have to go check this out!!

Anyways, that's it for me (this was a long one!!)

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Mandy

amya- my ALT bounces around from normal to up to 110 with the chemo. I wouldn't worry too much about it. that is definately from the chemo. When you say ALP do you mean the alk phos? That can be from 1 of 2 sources, the liver or the bone. I would just watch the trend and as long as it is not steadily increasing and rapidly, I wouldn't worry too much. Is your bilirubin normal?
These drugs do all kinds of things to our liver. I was freaked out when I first got my LFTs prior to starting chemo and my alt was 44(just barely above normal) but when they drew it again 2 weeks later it was normal.