Starting Chemo in May 07

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the DCIS is why I had to have a mastectomy as well...star burst/scattershot, wrapped around the IDC tumor... with a lumpectomy they wouldn't have been comfortable on the margins...if only chemo treated DCIS...I was just re-reading my pathology report, and the IDC + the DCIS on the outside was a 3.5 cm tumor, while the IDC part was only 1.9 cm...ah well, so it goes. So sorry you have to have surgery though.

I'm SO glad that neoadjuvant therapy was able to shrink the tumors away from your chest wall!!

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That is something I've never heard before--DCIS wrapped around the IDC? I never did understand the DCIS. I always thought it was a precursor to IDC. I need to do more reading. I still haven't finished with Dr. Love's Breast book.

And thanks for the good thoughts. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure I get rid of this. Look on the bright side--I will have nice perky little breasts when I get through this. It will be much easier to train for my half-marathon next year with B cups than DD cups.

Yeah Liz! This is awesome. And we'll all still be here - I have a feeling none of us are migrating to other boards after we finish chemo! I know I have rads to get through, and I'm not the only one.

I'm up for Taxol #2 today, and totally and completely have a case of the "I don't wanna go"s happening. I can see where every 3 weeks would at least give a person more good-feeling days. I JUST, I mean JUST in the last 2 days started to feel better and here I go again. Blech. So not looking forward to this...

Some potential positives though:

1) After today only 2 more!
2) If I feel good tomorrow (my biggest steroid day, and usually my best out of any day at all) and the traffic isn't crazy, my parents and I will brave the maddening crowds and visit Portland's brand new IKEA. Yeah for new, cheap house accessories!
3) My mom informed me that because we are going to drive MY car to the beach on Saturday, that *I* get to sit in the front seat and my dad (who has Parkinsons and sleeps in the car all the time anyway) will sit in the back seat. Woohoo! Usually I sit in the back when my parents chauffeur me around which makes me feel like I'm about 12 years old. It's scary enough that SHE'S driving us to the beach so I'm psyched that I get the front seat. I can even mess with the radio! Simple pleasures girls!
4) Going to a friend's loaned beach house for a couple of nights and staring at some walls that aren't my own! I don't know if I'll be strong enough to get out and walk ON the beach but the air and surf sounds will be lovely.

Off to tidy house/car/life in anticipation of chemo...
Hugs to all,
LeeAnne

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My oncologist just called and said that they can not find any cancer in my breast or lymph node.

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Yippee, Liz!!

Pat

Hi, friends. Sorry for three posts in a row. But wanted to say that I am in my second week after my first Taxol treatment and I feel good. I had the last pain on Tuesday, so it lasted about 4.5 days. I'm more tired than my normal self, but good for chemo.

I belong to a Mah Jongg group and we are having a pot luck tonight. I'm happy that it looks like I will be able to go. My husband is out of town, so I have to drive myself.

I took my daughter out to breakfast this morning to make sure that I can still drive. LOL. The food even tasted pretty much like it should.

Life is good.

Pat

Liz, one thing that's kind of nice about a double mastectomy with implants is that I don't think I'll ever have to wear a bra again! And after all the industrial-strength bras I've had to wear as an overweight DDD, that's really nice!!

My onc told me that your hair may start to grow slowly on Taxol. Has anyone noticed more hair growth?

LIZ!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's SO AWESOME!!! Gives us all hope that this darned chemo is actually DOING something, too!! VERY cool about the downsizing, too. I'm a C myself, so not in the same boat, but it's so nice when we get these little perks (no pun intended). Right now I'm enjoying not taking any showers--I just take baths at night when I feel like it. Let us know how the PS meeting goes.

LeeAnne, I was almost LOL picturing you riding in the FRONT SEAT with Mommy and Daddy in the car! You crack me up!

Virginia, I hope your echo comes out well. Did you have one before you started chemo? I did, and it was really interesting. The guy doing it was showing a student at the same time, and he kept saying what a beautiful heart I had, because I'm not a smoker and relatively young. I guess they see a lot of hearts that don't look so good. I felt almost like blushing, he kept complimenting me so much!

Well, my 2-year-old is sick today. Keeps throwing up every 20 minutes. Well, now he's just dry heaving, but he can't seem to stop. DH is going to take him to the Dr. for. I'm so worn out from running into his room every 20 minutes to stick a bowl under his mouth, I need to rest up. Poor little guy, though. I hope I don't catch it--not a good idea when I probably don't have a great WBC.

OK, I'm off to rest. Yay again Liz!!

Amy

Liz, I know several people whose hair started regrowing when they started Taxol after AC. My experience was the opposite in 2005. I had stubble until my first Taxol, then no hair whatsoever! Anywhere!

I'll have my 8th of 12 weekly Taxol/Carboplatins tomorrow and I still have some head stubble. I also have retained about half the density of hair on my arms and face. So I'm not sure there's a hard-and-fast rule re hair and Taxol. I had peach fuzz two weeks after my last Taxol. It was so soft! Kind of like the fuzz on a baby chick!

My implants came out to be a C-cup. It's funny, but cup size dramatically varies with bra size. A C on me (the tall, hefty farm girl) could be a DD on some petite little Size 2. LOL

My first PS was no help at all in helping me determine my first implant size. (One reason why he's no longer my PS.) As we were gradually filling up the expander, I kept saying I wanted C cups. And he was like, "Well, just tell me when to stop expanding." I actually had to go to the store and try on bras (half-way, anyway) to see if the expander was at a C. I think my implant's either a 700ml or a 750ml.

My reduction side ended up being a D-cup, and I could have had a revision, but I was sick of surgery. There were a couple of weeks where I kept ogling other women and finally came to the conclusion that lots of people's breast sizes don't match exactly.

Hi all,

Taxol #3 was uneventful! Woohoo - no feet turning red, no shortness of breath, no bronchospasm. Hydrocortisone works!

So far, so good.....and also, I have STUBBLE! Yes, hair is growing on my head. Hope it stays. I also still have eyebrows and a few eyelashes, knock on wood.

Hope all your treatments went well.

How do you find a plastic surgeon that you like? The first one I just didn't have much rapport with...

hi all,
Had my 2nd taxol today, port would not give blood again this time so we had to draw from my arm.
Had a MUGA last week and it came out OK so we started Herceptin today too. Long day got there at 10:30am and didn't leave until 5:45PM.
The onc prescribed Perceset (sp?) this time so hopefully the pain will be bearable when it starts later this weekend. Looking forward to a good day tomorrow and may go shopping with my daugher,
My bf and I took our kids to Wisconsin Dells for three days this week and we all had a blast. I was worried about what I was going to wear on my head to the amusement parks. my dbf sewed strings to tie on one of my baseball hats and it worked great for the rollercoasters and go carts. Wore my buff to the water park and it almost came off twice but I survived and had a great time. My son said it was the best vacation he has ever had. This was the first time we have had all of our kids together and everyone got along fine. My kids are 20,22,26 and one fiance 29. His kids are 18, 20 and a boyfriend 18.

Liz congratulations on your good news.
Off to bed

Hey girls,

Well, our little guy is STILL throwing up. His Dr. said just a virus, and he's not too dehydrated yet so we just keep feeding him pedialyte popsicles and hope some of it stays in and goes through his little system. Dh theorizes that I already had this virus in the form of my cold--that would be GREAT, since I really don't want to get it! So far I show no signs of it, so I'm hoping I can escape.

Otherwise I'm doing OK. My cold is still lingering (it's been 16 days so far) but on its way out. I'm definitely more tired than after last tx, but feeling decent enough. Just 2 more to get through. I'm sure I keep saying that--I'm just trying to psych myself up, I guess. I took a nap today and had a dream that I was having my next tx and woke up nauseated. The power of the mind!

I'm SO looking forward to the time when I can exercise. Right now the best I can manage is just the running around inherent with watching my kids and trying to keep up with the house. That much wipes me out!

Oh yeah, I meant to say before that I'm definitely sticking around here after chemo--I need you guys to help me through rads, and I want to help you too! Plus we have to "see" each other's hair grow back, right?

Amy

as someone with fibromyalgia, I know that deep sleep is all important, and that lack of deep sleep can bring on fibromyalgia symptoms....and that's a road you don't want to go down. So if your oncs won't deal with it call your PCP, who can prescribe sleep meds him/herself or refer you to a psychatrist who will prescribe sleep meds, or to a sleep insomnia specialist. Oncs can't be experts on everything. But do get it addressed - this is where your medial team comes in. just my two cents.

also, read a recent ASCO abstract where hypnotism can reduce hot flashes by over 50%, and I know that hot flashes and night sweats are what are waking me up these days...even with sleep meds

also steroids keep me up too, but that's temporary

My onc encouraged me to take my Ambien CR if it helped. Unfortunately, I am an insomniac and don't sleep anyway, so not sleeping during chemo was just like before...

Kim, I had my first Herceptin on 7/13 --- got a wicked headache, but then felt ok... Nothing like the AC chemo which was brutal. Now I am suffering from a stuffy/runny nose and an annoying dry cough. I see my onc on Tuesday, so I'm going to ask her if these are side effects (or am I actually suffering from a summer cold).

Had my echo this am --- this after ANOTHER flat tire...had one on Monday as well. The tire Gods are not on my side!

Amy-- hoping your little one is better... Oh, and I didn't get any compliments on my heart :O That's ok. It least it was beating.

LOL LeeAnne RE your positives... My sister and I marked every chemo and said 25%, 50%, 75% done...whoo hoo. It was hard to do the "nomochemo" dance at the end b/c I felt so crummy, but boy, was it nice to know...

Anyhow, I don't want to count down the 1 year of Herceptin...to depressing...5% done? UGH.

Have a great weekend all...

Virginia

My onc said sleep meds all work the same way, by making you pass out, and that they don't give you deep sleep anyway. He'll do it if I really press the point though. I don't know...

I did sleep well last night after treatment - yeah! I guess its just one night at a time.

LeeAnne

Hey girls,

DS is better today--he hadn't thrown up since last night and ate crackers and pedialyte popsicles today. He's SO cute when he's sick, though--all big eyes looking at you and so sweet and pathetic. Not that I wish it on him, though!

My onc was very interested in helping me sleep! Mine was more anxiety-related, though, and he ended up increasing my Zoloft dosage. That did the trick! It was really awful for a while.

Judy, I feel your pain! A lot of the anti-nausea meds give me a headache too. The things that work for me now are the pump dripping in Ativan and Decadron, and then Marinol orally for the first 2 days. I HATE all of it, because it makes me SO incredibly loopy and I still feel like crud, I'm just not throwing up. BUT, it keeps me out of the ER so I guess it's the best we can do. How much do you throw up? Or do you mostly just feel sick?

DD is learning violin, did I say that before? SO cute, and so far she's enjoying it. I have to have her toy giraffe do all the teaching (she has her own voice)--Lillie won't listen to "me"!

Amy