Starting Chemo in September?? where are you ladies

Urbie,

I took all of those meds my first tx...except the emend. They make work out fine for you,  How many times are you scheduled to take the decadron? Also, they told me to take 1/2 an Ativan and I should have taken whole. I always take a whole one now. The emend made a bigger difference for me this time. I almost feel normal, except very tired. Call you onc nurse and see if they have any samples of the emend. It is so darn expensive! 

Janice, good to hear from you again! You sound great. Sorry about your picc line...I was having trouble with my port, but now it's fine. I thought I was allergic to it, there were red bumps around the area, but they finally went away. My shoulder was really bothering me since the procedure, but I was stretching and yawning and it made a giant crack sound, and it feels fantastic now!  

Karryl, glad your tests went well. Good luck to you over the next few days, I hope you're feeling well.

Hi to all the other regular gals!

Marietta 

Hi Marietta - I am supposed to take the Decadron 2 tabs in am & pm the day before and then I will get it in the IV day of and then 2 tabs in the pm.  Then 2 tabs in am & pm the day after.  I just called the hospital and they have one Emend 3-pak available that I could take for my first treatment, but that is all they have.   Maybe I can just take Zofran/Compazine/Ativan together and be OK.  I don't have much time to figure this out....  

 So, here I am bald ladies.  Thanx for the advice Marietta.  It takes some getting used to that's for sure. 

I had an ok day.  I called an old high school friend who recently moved to a town near me and went to visit her and her 5 kids.  I felt the fatigue and nausea more today than most of the week.  Tried to stay on top with the meds, but seems this is how I felt at this point last tx so maybe in a day or so I'll be better. 

Its lonesome with just me and the dog tonight.  It hasn't even been a whole day since my bf left.  I'm not usually this needy, but I suppose with everything going on its natural.  I just want my man around me when I don't feel good, that's all. 

Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings.  I'm gonna crawl under my electric blanket and fall asleep to some tv.  TC EB!!

Good early morning to everyone!  I got up at 4 a.m. to get the husband off to his bowhunt-- sure wish I was going too!  But in a couple of hours, I will be leaving for the festival with my daughter, so it's going to be a fun day!

Paxton, you are gorgeous!!!!!  I am not kidding-- I hope and pray that I look half as good as you when I am bald!  My head is just not shaped nicely, not like yours.  I know you're lonesome for your guy, but try to use the quiet time for doing stuff like reading, puttering about, or just pampering yourself with lots of rest and relaxation.  And just think how nice it will be when he does come home and he can soothe you and pet you.  It is very natural to be needy-- I have been clingy thru all this too.  My co-workers, who are all guys except one other lady in the office, are really pampering me, they've bought me t-shirts and matching hats, took me to lunch, etc.  I'm going to milk it too, while I can!  

MJ, I look forward to seeing your pic up here real soon!  If I can get a good one when the time comes, I'll put one up too-- you all have inspired me to get gutsy with this.

I hope everyone is still doing well and feeling good today for the weekend.  Make sure you get lots and lots of rest.  I will log on later this evening after I get back from the fest. Take care and hugs to all!

Mary Jo (MJ)

Hi Paxton,

I just want you to know that you inspire me ---- I think you look beautiful!  I am recovering from my most recent tx and feel a little yucky!  But the better days will soon be coming --

I hope to have the courage you do in displaying your bald head for us all to see.

Have a great day.

Laurie

Mary Jo: Have a great day at the festival.  I'm so happy you're going.  I'll be curious to see how it went.  What kind of festival is it?  I go camping at 2 bluegrass festivals each summer and meet up with a few of my college friends.  Its such fun. 

Mariettaj: I put my photos in my messages using a website called photobucket if that helps.  If you have any questions, lemme know.  I'm not an expert, I just mess around until I figure stuff out (or quit in disgust when I've had enough ). 

Janice: sorry to hear about your picc line.  Do you have a lot of tx's?  Did it become infected or how did you know something was wrong?  I remember someone else on here having an infection and needing it out.  What an ordeal to go through all that.  Hope you feel better.

Thanx everybody for the support.  I don't feel very brave.  I doubt I'll ever walk around in public with my bald head.  It'll be hard enough to be around the bf or other people I know.  I just figured I'd share with you cuz we're all in the same boat.  But yea, I do actually think I look better than I imagined.  Kind of funny to me.  And its kind of cool having an excuse to wear weird headwraps; sounds strange I know.

I had trouble sleeping last night.  I took half the dose of decadron and some ativan, but I felt jittery and kind of like I was going to panic.  So, I popped in a meditation CD on chemotherapy and had some relaxing tea.  It did seem to help enough to ease the anxiety.  Today, I'm going to stop the decardron and ativan and use my regular anxiety meds to see if I feel better. 

Well, I'm gonna figure out breakfast and think of what to do with myself today.  Prob pop in a few times unless I go somewhere.

TK

Well I had my first bout of chemo on THursday. So far so good except for some constipation that I believe I have a handle on now...I know the days are young yet, but at least I know so far, I am okay after the first two days... and so we go from here, one day at a time.!!!!

Karyll

Hi Karyll,

Glad to hear that you are okay!!  And I hope the constipation thing gets easier for you-- I had that too, in fact that was my main complaint, so I doubled up on the stool softener/laxative pills and I was fine 2-3 days after tx.  We do just have to take this a day at a time.  I can hardly believe my second tx will be Monday-- seems like I was just there and it's been two whole weeks.  Two down, two to go for the A/C, then onto Taxol and Herceptin.

Take care of yourself and keep feeling good!

Mary Jo

Today started off pretty good, but its been a rough, rough day.  I don't know if cutting down on the decadron is causing some withdrawl but its been a challenging day.  I've tried to stay on top with all the meds but a few very tough hours.  I ended up with a wash cloth on my head listening to a book on tape trying to stave off a panic attack.  Now I'm back on the couch watching tv and trying to drink and eat a little here and there.  Sure hope this gets better tomorrow. 

Send me your positive energy cuz I really need it.  This too shall pass and just keep breathing are my mantras for the day.  I will get through this.

Hello everyone-- POST UPDATE: I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT!  Sorry that first photo was so huge and in your face-- that was bad and I apologize...    Hope everyone is doing well-- will post more later!  (Obviously this is my BEFORE hair loss photo-- will probably have an after one either later tonight or tomorrow night-- it's coming out quite rapidly now...)

Mary Jo

Urbie,



Saw your post about hiking, and fear of bone pain on chemotherapy and Tamoxifen.



Just wanted to reassure you that Tamoxifen typically doesn't cause joint pain. It's the aromatase inhibitor hormones for post menopausal women that has a noticeable impact on the joints. This is most likely because they inhibit estrogen synthesis by the body, drop it way down and joints seem to somehow to interface with estrogen. It may be that estrogen helps to maintain our body's quiescence, non-rejecting, non stimulation of proteins etc foreign to our joints. Like in pregnancy, when our high estrogen plays a hugh role in allowing a developing part foreigner (with Dad's genes) in our bodies.



Tamoxifen has two effects in differing places around the body: it attaches to any potential cancer cells, modifies the estrogen receptor complex of them a little and thereby prohibits their duplication. So on them it acts antagonistically. But to our bones, and our joints (and unfortunately our uterine lining) it is not antagonistic, so our bones don't get thinned and our joints don't typically hurt. The uterine lining just has to be watched, but there again, it's peri or post menopausal women who mainly are at the increased risk of uterine cancer (about 4 fold increase in women taking Tamoxifen longer than 5 years, which is no longer recommended, and a more modest risk for 2 to 5 years use) more so than premenopausal women on Tamoxifen.



So, you should be able to keep on hiking when you're on it! Hope this helps allay some worry.



Tender

 Hi guys! I finally figured out how to upload this, I did it through my snapfish account. It's a great website that I make photo calenders with every Christmas for the grandparents.

Thankfully I have more energy today, I'll probably take a nap though. My girlfriends have tickets to see Tony Bennett tonight, and they really want to take me to the concert. I'll have to play that by ear....I slept 11 hours last night, that never happens for me, ever!!

I hope everyone is having a good day.

Marietta 

Not a stupid question at all.

It was the first day of my period when I got my bilateral mastectomy !

and

It was the 1st day of my period again ! last thursday when I started chemo.

It  actually is a bit heavier than usual but I was not aware that chemo had an affect on it, is there such a side effect ?

Hello everyone!   I hope everyone is doing well tonight.

Paxton, I hope you are feeling better and able to eat more.  When is your bf coming home?  Do you have someone helping you?  I sure hope so.  Take care of yourself and get lots of rest and think about that hunting trip that's coming up soon.

Janice, thanks for checking on us.  I hope you are doing better after your picc line ordeal.  And hopefully the antibiotics are working well for you.

Marietta, you are beautiful!!!!!  I hope you're still feeling better and oh I do hope you went to the Tony Bennett concert!!! He is wonderful!!!

Urbie, I wish you the best of luck with everything tomorrow and hope you feel ok afterwards.

Well, everyone, it's off to bed for me.  I've taken my ativan but it's not kicked in yet.  I will post tomorrow afternoon and let you all know how the second tx goes.  Best of luck and everyone have a great night!

Mary Jo

I'm hanging in there.  I'm trying to manage diarrhea again.  My onc thought it might have been the zofran last time so she perscribed Kytril this tx session, but they only give you a 2 days supply of Kytril at a time (jerks).  I live a ways and couldn't get more so I took some zofran to get by and now have diarrhea.  I'm at that point where I shouldn't need to take anymore so I'm trying to get the diarrhea under control. 

My bf is already on the hunt up north just waiting for me to get well enough to join him so I've been on the farm alone.  But I've been able to keep drinking so its getting better.  Its frustrating not being able to get up and do what I want and waiting to leave for the trip, but I have to be patient and be safe. 

 Good luck to all the ladies having tx.