Jan 2008--Ain't it Great?

Good evening Jewls,

       I have a co worker I would guess he is in his early 30's. He has leukemia. I was talking to him during lunch. I as him about his experience with chemo. He said I don't to it anymore. I decided to let it take me. It was so sad I did not know what to say to him.The only thing I sid was I was sorry.

Kimberly that was GREAT you should make a book

Deb I think you and I are on the same day's for treament My next one should also be on the 25th. 

Julie K  I got both my wigs from the ACS on is a Raquel Welch  I looked on line a found it on clearance for $230.00.

I am on day 10 my hair is starting to feel like wire any my head is itching. I am happy that your better

I am going to go the the health store and look for the tea. I had to have hemmoriod surgery in October. Prior to this BC thing going on . So I still have some problems sometime with constipation

sista2- The chemo room I was in was small there were several along both sides of the wall just enough room for the  lovely lounge chair and a small sitting chair for your sidekick. There was a curtain and a small TV you could pull out and watch. If you pull the curtain then you would really fell squeezed in.

D1 Good luck on the shaving. I love your post. You always give me a smile.

A co worker told me when her mom had chemo(for lung  Cancer) her nails fell off. Has anyone had this problem ?

Take Care Sister Jewels

Ladies thanks for the advice.

Sista2- Can't wait to hear how your port procedure goes, come and post pretty please! Are you doing local or general, I must have all the details.

KathyL- Of course you also must tell how the first treatment goes, I will be living through you vicariously until next Wednesday. Good Luck! 

Jenny 

To All the January Jewels with treatment tomorrow, keep your chin up, your going into your treatment armed and dangerous with all the suggestions and ideas from this site. 

Had to go to my doc office for a med refill today, this would be the doc office that my whole journey started at in October.  While I was there I thought I'd see if my doc was available to see for just a minute.  Asked the receptionist, who went back to see if she was free.  I was invited to come on back, spent quite some time in her personal office, it felt so good to be able to thank her for that breast exam she had performed back in Oct, although that day scared the hell out of me, it was the beginning of a trip I'll never forget.  It was so nice to get a big genuine hug from her.  Anyway, it was my feel good moment of the day, and hopefully now I won't be back to see her until Oct 08 unless its to say thanks again!!!!

Probably should put out a last call for T-shirts, if anyone else is interested in a January Jewels shirt, send me a note.  I'm hoping to place the order after my next infusion on Thursday.

Sleep tight ... Carol

Good morning Jewels,

Welcome PALady to the gem world!  

Well, I got the port in Monday. I am sore, but I was able to work yesterday. I see the rad. onco. today and have my MUGA scan. I start chemo Friday (dose dense AC x 4 followed by Taxol x 4).

I am an RN but I haven't worked in the hospital for 12 years now (except for summers and holidays). I am blessed with the perfect job (with the best boss and coworkers in the universe). I teach a program called Health Occupations in the public school system. My students are juniors and seniors in high school who will be our future health care providers. I train them to enter the healthcare system at the entry level and help them prepare for entrance exams and get ready for college. On the down side, I was to start taking my nursing assistant students to the hospital for clinicals at the end of January. On the plus side, there are two of us RNs doing clinicals and we have other specialty areas that work with preceptors. So, I will take all the students who are training in the other specialties (dental, vet, radiology, p.t., etc) and the other nurse will take the nursing assistant students to the hospital and nursing home for training.

My coworkers came into my room at the end of the day yesterday and gave me a card with $250 that they collected for me to use for wigs, gas, whatever. What a boost that was!

Good Morning Jewels-

Good luck to all of you starting chemo today...once the first one is over...it really is a relief since you kind of know what to expect. I'm a week out as of yesterday, and the SE's were not too bad the first few days, days 3 and 4 were worse-with 4 being the worst, and then it's just been getting better each day.

Of course, not everyone will have the same experience, so all you can do is belly up to the bar...ask for a chemotini at Club Survival and then buy your ticket to The Side Effects Circus and anticipate what acts will featured.



OK, has anyone experience pain opening their mouth? There are no sores, but it feels like the soft pallet tissue is just being stretched all to heck...I could barely get my mouth around my sandwich yesterday. Also, my ears feel full...probably drainage...blowing my nose a lot... I don't think it's a cold- clear mucus- or anything as I don't feel sick like that.



I'm getting my labs done today. I'm hoping my numbers are good so I can go to school on Friday. My short term sub is leaving...and my long term sub takes over after the three day weekend...so I wanted to thank her for taking care of my kids...say hey to my kids...and pack up a few things in my classroom,so Nick can make it more his own since he'll be there the rest of the year.



Have a great day all,

Kimberly

Ladies!!! Boy did i miss this message board!

Back to work today..coughing a lung or two up every once in a while...i need to spend more time reading the posts tonight to catch up. I am at work and it has been crazy. One of my bosses called and wantd to know if i had a laptop. I said no, you gonna buy me one? i have access at home for work, BUT, i didn't log on to check anything. I said i was in bed for a week..gimme a break! I am trying to get better for chemo next week and he is worried about our sales....I was gone for a week and i still have thehighest showroom sales!!the other people where actually working and i still beat them.......LOL! Ladies, i have to go back to work...

hugs to the jewels.......xxxoo

KathyL! Great news! I'm actually sitting here getting my infusion right now with my laptop. It's Taxotere instead of the Taxol which I was initially prescribed. That's all I'm getting here and then go home to take 14 days of oral Xeloda - 1 week off and then back for my 2nd Taxotere.

You're right - it's not so bad. Maz, hope it's going well for you as well.

Will write more later.

congratulations to everyone who has their first tx under their belts. great to hear it seemed to all go well.  wishing you a side effects free or at least minimal, next few days.

jkiss75 - my port placement went fine.  never been in an operating room awake, that was kind of wierd.  they kept me very comfortable for the whole thing.  i just felt a lot of pushing and tugging but nothing to complain about.  i'm sore now and taking it easy (as easy as you can with three kids!).  it's sticking out WAY more than i thought it would be but maybe it will sink in as time passes? they used glue to seal up the incisions so i don't have to worry about bandages and such. still knowing it's for the best but still not happy about it. i'm sure i will get used to it.  don't sweat the procedure.  it wasn't bad at all.

CarolC - i asked my onc if i'd be able to plug in my laptop in the chemo room.  he said sure, bring your laptop, get some work done if you'd like.  ha!  told him my husband and i just want to get caught up on the Lost episodes....won't be thinking about work AT ALL.  gotta love the laptop!

best to all this evening! 

Hey Jenn51. I'm almost finished with my first tx.

Wanted to tell you that I'll be sending positive energy your way tomorrow. Your grandson is a cutie!!

And I really love your signature line!

Kathy, Congrats on the 1st txt.  Hope mine goes as smoothly tomorrow.  It really helps to hear what yours was like.  I didn't expect there to be so many steps, just thought it would all go in at once.  Glad to learn that in advance.

I get my treatments at a Cancer Center.  The treatment room has lots of windows looking onto the parking lot & recliners and some private rooms.  We get a pr tomorrow so we can watch the 'movie' and get nursing instructions.  Everyone out in the main room seemed to be chatting or reading, a friendly atmosphere.  Now where my aunt goes in Fla. each chair is partitioned off but they look out the window to a wildlife preserve.  Bird feeders & flowers etc.  Much nicer view than a parking lot.

Vettegal, I can't believe your boss.  I am so blessed to work where I do.  No pressure, just come in when you feel like it - work all day 1/2 day whatever.  I can also work from home if I feel like that too.  And throughout all of this I will still get paid!

Paula, you have some great co-workers.

I best get busy.  Want to pm Carol about the shirt.  Have to change clothes to go out to eat.  I have cocker spaniel paw prints on my white shirt.  They were so glad to see me!  I didn't realize how wet the back yard was.  But I wouldn't trade them for anything.  Jake, my oldest one, has known something was wrong since before my biopsy.  And when I came home from the lumpectomy, he was so gentle getting up on my lap and completely stayed away from my right side.  These animals are a lot smater than we give them credit for.  Now my goofy Shaun, the young one, is a wild man.  Doesn't have a clue.  Oh well, they are a big comfort.

Good luck to everyone having something done tomorrow.

KathyL--Thanks for your report.  I start a similar treatment on Monday except its carboplatin instead of cytoxan.  The center I am using has a treatment room with recliners that overlook a small lake.  I'm planning on taking lots of books to read.

LJ13--if you are also ER- and PR-, it's actually a good thing to be HER2/neu+.  The statistics on Herceptin are incredibly positive.  My onc and surgeon were both thrilled when the final testing on the HER2 came back positive and I "moved up" from triple neg.

Jennifer, I'll be sending you positive vibes from my recliner to yours tomorrow.  Remember those ice chips, and "bottoms up"!!!!

Carol

i watched the robin roberts thing and she looks good with no hair!  i know my head will not look that good bald.

can all of you ladies with ports please tell me if the area was initially swollen? did it level out after a few days because mine is REALLY poking out.  yikes! 

My port sticks out a bit.  I still need to wear a band over the straps of my bra when I exercise to pull the straps away from the port or it gets rubbed sore.  Also, by the end of the day, I change into a soft exercise bra that has wider straps, which helps some, too.  I've had mine in for two weeks today and most of the time I don't even realize it's there.  On Monday I had put EMLA on it in anticipation of having it used for the PET and CT scans.  Turned out that they couldn't use it because the injections are higher volume than intended for the slow drip of a port.  However, I noticed that I didn't notice it at all that day, so maybe a bit of EMLA for the first few weeks would help.

ok, been reading the material sent home and my port is a "new kind" called a PowerPort for power-injected CECT scans that "may not be familiar to all clinicians involved your care".  great. do i need things "delivered at a high rate into my bloodstream"?  maybe it's thicker than the usual port.  great.  sorry, i'm getting grouchy.