Starting Chemo in September?? where are you ladies

The learning curve for becoming a breast cancer patient is just jaw-dropping awesome. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm doing good to know about ER & PR & HER2 stuff. After that part people get all fancy about staging, and the fact that I'm doing neoadjuvant instead of adjuvant treatment and don't know (likely will never know) what stage I am, blows some people's minds. There's this whole body of knowledge that I haven't absorbed yet, and in some ways I'm scared to become sophisticated about. I want to be smart, but...it's all so scary. I feel like no matter what I do, I'll be explaining or defending my decisions to someone. Do any of you feel like this??

Hi, Ladies -

I just wanted to mention that yesterday was the first anniversary of my first chemotherapy last year.  I'm done with surgery, done with reconstruction, done with everything except tamoxifen, and I feel great.  It feels like forever while you're going through it, but in the end, it'll just be a blip, though a very unpleasant one.  I hope you're all posting notes like this in a year.  You will get through it.

All the best,

Mindy 

Sorry Ladies no idea why my comment is up here so much. Still kind of new at this!

Hi again...I got my port put in Wednesday.  IV's and giving blood never bothered me too much before all this, but now I feel a bit faint.  Well, they couldn't get an IV in my right hand (thing swelled up all over from all the spots they tried).  Brought in the IV expert and finally got that going in the other hand.  I was awake during the surgery and he didn't numb me up enough so I screamed when he sprayed something that felt like fire.  My whole shoulder hurts and I can't lift.  I didn't use anything for pain except ibuprofen during my lumpectomy and node dissection, but I tried a pain pill after this port surgery.  Didn't seem to help so back to the tried and true ibuprofen.  Its still tolerable though.

 I start AC chemo monday (10th).  My boyfriend and I went to meet the nurse and do education.  Seems like every health care person I've dealt with asks me something like, "so, what is it about this that's bothering you?"  I always say, "you mean, besides everything??" 

 I asked about the ELMA numbing cream, but my nurse said she has better results with giving a shot of lidocaine (like they often do when they give you an IV).  She said the cream can be tricky for timing.  I don't really know what that means but it sounded like maybe it wears off if you're having a 2 hour treatment like I will.  Not sure though. 

 I've read everything I can about everything so I feel like I know what to expect.  I've had panic disorder for 10 years so I'm a bit afraid of panicing from some of the drugs they'll give me.  But I'm doing my best.

Marietta: lemme know if u still need a cancer buddy.  We don't have a running support group in my area so I feel kind of alone sometimes.

 Well, take care everybody.  It feels good to check in here. 

Hi Paxton, I would love to be your buddy. I had my first chemo on Thursday (taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin). It was such a long day. My shoulder was still bothering me from the port so my surgeon wanted me to have an MRI, so that put my chemo off by a few hours and I was wreck. Oddly enough, once the meds went through the port it felt so much better and I have very little pin in my shoulder now. So thats good.

Thursday night was really rough for me, I will spare the details. The anti-nauseua meds had to be changed and things are better now. I survived my first chemo. I will be thinking of you on Monday and sending you postive thoughts. I took all of this great stuff to keep me occupied at chemo but was so tired (from not sleeping the night before) that I just wanted to close my eyes and relax. Let me know how things go. You can always send a private message as well, ok?

Good luck!!

Marietta 

Marietta 

Hi Ladies,

 I'm going to be a September Chemo lady as well.  Got my port 9/5 and will get first chemo 9/10.  It's been so long since my surgery (6/14) that I've forgotten some of the details of my cancer.  I had a bad infection in my lumpectomy incision and had to wait for it to heal from the inside out.  The waiting for chemo has been very difficult for me, but thankfully it's finally starting.

This is my first visit to this site and I must say it's been very informative.  I've written down lots of notes for my chemo doc.

Thanks to all of you and I look forward to sharing the journey.

marietta: glad to hear things went good overall.  I had my 1st tx at noon today.  I was so nervous but it wasn't so bad.  My port hurt before, too, so I was nervous about that but once she took the bandanging off and put the iv in, it wasn't so bad.  I've been home awhile and feel kind of shaky (prob the decadron) but its not too bad so far.  I was worried about that too because I have panic disorder already.  My oncologist gave me two perscriptions to get filled right before chemo which was a bad idea.  I had trouble getting them filled and ended up late for chemo.  My insurance won't cover the emena so they're trying to figure out what to do since its like $370 for the 3 pills you take each tx.  Keep me posted marietta. 

 Dela: I'll be thinking of you and hope you're ok. 

This site has been so helpful with the tips (especially since the docs and nurses don't tell you a lot of this stuff). 

 Take care everybody. 

Hi Paxton,

thinking about you today. I hope the treatment went well and you are doing ok this evening. I'm slowly feeling better. I found a great anti-nausea supplement that is also helping me with my low blood sugar...It's a mushroom capsule called Maitake D-fraction.  I have also had massive indigestion, so I called the nurse and she said I could take zantac...wow, what a difference. I felt like I was burping up gasoline So intense!

Ok let me know how things are going.

Delachaum, are you there? How was your first treament?

Marietta 

The maitake D fraction is a supplement made from Maitake mushrooms. I've been reading a lot about it, not only does it help with nausea and low blood sugar, it helps the immune system and supposedly helps the chemo work better.

So sorry about your migraine...that sucks. I love Excedrin tension headache. I can't tolerate aspirin well, and that one is aspirin free. It gets rid of the worst pain.  I've had a little post nasal drip since chemo. My sense of smell is so heightened right now as well. Lots of food smells make me queasy. 

Hang in there!!

Marietta