Chemo in Nov 07

Hi all.  I can vouch for the fact that your body rebounds pretty fast after chemo stops.  I was supposed to have my final treatment this past Wednesday, but my oncologist and surgeon decided to forego it so I could get into surgery sooner (this coming Wednesday).  Anyhow, it's only been a few days since I would have had chemo, but I feel a thousand times better already - way more energy, and I had a decent sleep last night without any kind of sleep aid.  I think our bodies are very good at purging themselves of the chemo once they are given half a chance.

Jay66, I echo Laura's comments about talking to your oncologist if you are finding the drugs too much.  My oncologist has also been very understanding about dosages and was willing to lower them from one treatment to the next when I found the drugs to be too much.  But our doctors won't know that we're struggling unless we tell them, so don't be afraid to speak up.

Sam :-)  

Sharon, my taxol tx's are every other week. The second one I had last Thurs wasn't as bad as the first. I take hydrocodone for the pain. I iced my feet for the nerve pain which helped a lot, that was only that bad on the 2nd night. I'm not sure if they adjusted my dose this time or I just am a little better at tolerating it. I haven't had any nausea with the taxol which has been great. I do have a lot of difficulty sleeping; it's almost good again right before the next treatment. I'm starting to think that there may be life at the end of this chemo tunnel. I hope the taxol will be better for you, the onc said it is for most people.

What a quiet board - is everyone okay? 

I'm a month out from my last chemo and am feeling so much better.  I don't think I realized what chemo took out of me until recently...  My next step is rads.  I go Thursday for my tattoos and CT then will start rads the following Tuesday for 5-1/2 weeks - oh boy!   I do hear its a walk in the park compared with chemo, but 5 days a week for 5-1/5 weeks??? 

Hope everyone is doing okay!

hugs all around,

Lisa (in CA)

I started my 4A/C on Nov 12th

started my weekly taxol/herceptin on jan 14th.  on 7 of 12 of t/h then herceptin every 3 weeks for 12 radiation after t/h.

side effects aren't too bad.  fatigue mostly.  Can't wait for my hair to grow back.  Shaved it on Nov 28 2 weeks after A/C.

Just thought I would share. 

Good morning ladies ... well, 5th chemo is now done ... only one more to go - YIPPEE !!! I am finding the side effects to be cumulative ... not that they are any worse than before, merely that my body has been coping with them over such a period of time that ... it's just plain tuckered out ... I am more tired, my resolve slips a tad easier.



A little rant from me ... while I know their hearts are in the right place, and, while I know in my mind it's true and the right thing ... to tell me, well - at least you only have one more left ... like it's simple. Yes, absolutely, even I am happy about that - means there is an end is sight. But, maybe it's because I'm tired. To think of having to struggle through the fatigue, the nausea, the headache, the thrush ... again ... it's not over once the chemo IV comes out - it's just starting !!! When I come home from the "last" one - it is hard to imagine I'll be jumping in the hallway ... I know the battle still to come in order to recover from the chemo - last one or not. And I don't want to hear how "good" I look either .... my insides feel like crap.



Sorry about the above ... maybe I'm feeling sorry for myself today. I'm tired of the journey ... tired of being the strong one for my friends ... tired of being positive and upbeat. Am I loosing my mind? Does anyone else have the struggle between what we know in our minds is true - eg., I only have one left - and the struggle to "get" to that point ??



Again, apologies for the downer note but ... I try to be as honest with you folks as feasible - I need somewhere to be "real".

Laura,

I feel the same way.  I thought that I was looking pretty bad through this but now I am really looking awful.  Eyelashes and eyebrows and the skin color and red eyes and just look bad.  I understand.  My body is battered.  I took my final taxol on Friday and I know that it is going to get a little worse before it gets better as far as some of this stuff goes.  My effects are cummulative also.  So just because this was our last treatment doesn't mean that the next day we are up and getting better immediately.  I am a little concerned of what the expectations that people around me will have.  I just feel like I need time now.  Time.  I think they think that I will get back to my old self.  Where is that person.  She has to be rebuilt sort of like the biontic woman.  Today I am having my emotional crash so I sit here just a crying.  God, I am so greatful that I don't have anymore treatments.  So very thankful this part is over. I pray that we find our way through the next weeks and months.  I have been so excited about getting healthy again and have researched what my new healthy lifestyle is going to look like.  Today though is just a rough one.  Time to change this subject and move on.  All I meant to say is that I know how you feel friend.  I seem to get off on these tangeants when I hit my lows.

Susan,

I have 2 trips planned.  My oldest daughter will be on a bandtrip in Orlando for springbreak so my youngest daughter and one of her friends and I are flying down to Daytona to visit family.  I will be bald still (or mostly) and still boobless but I still can't wait to just lay in the sun on the beach and rest and rejuvinate.  Then the girls and I are going down to Fort Myers Florida in July for a 5 day weekend.  I got airline tickets throught Skybus for all three of us roundtrip for $96.  Great price.  That airline is especially good for people on the east coast or just live in the east.  I can't wait for Spring Break though.  How about you?

For those of us finishing up the chemo, have you made plans for any type of things to do to detox?  I have this kit I bought at the health food store to cleanse my system.  I researched as best as I could and it all seems ok.  I also plan to take the biotin like some others have mentioned for the hair regrowth.  The the healthy eating and walking.  Don't think I can do alot of actual exercise for a couple weeks.  Still need to research what to do to try to get the feeling back in my fingers though?  Anyone have any ideas about that?

Well,

I have stopped sobbing for now.  Maybe I will break down and take a little nap with Prince Valium.  Hate doing that but I have no control once I get started.  Someone called that a chemosobby.  Thats funny.

Love you all,

Lisa

Hi ladies,

Just checking in.  I'm feeling really good - it's amazing how fast you rebound once treatment is over.

I had my port removed last Wednesday.  Hurt for a couple of days, but even that's over.

Started rads yesterday - had all the prep work done last week.  So far, so good.  I have 5-1/2 weeks of rads, so will be done by the end of March.  I hear the main complain is fatigue, but I plan to fight through it.

My disability runs out mid-March, so it will back to work for me as I finish up rads.  I'll ease into work part time - my rads are at 10:40am, so figure I'll go in after treatment and work 'til around 3pm every day then go back full time come April.

Hang in there, the worst part is almost over. 

love to all,

Lisa (in CA)

Hi everyone,

We are all making it through this journey, definitely not the one we would pick like the vacations some are taking. I think of all of you often and pray for as few ses as possible and many good days.



Sharon-They told me the taxol would be easier to tolerate than the AC. It is in some respects-I don't have the nausea with it, but I have had some problems with neuropathy starting the next day, nerve tingling in my feet mostly. Then days 3&4 I have body aches like the flu, then the bone pain sets in from the Neulasta shot for a few days. They said that I am more sensitive than most to the chemo meds, so hopefully you won't have these ses. The treatments do take 5 or more hours at the clinic; it's a long day. You definitely need to spend time with your dh, especially since he'll be deployed.



Lisa- I get very weepy also that first week after treatment. I think everything we've been through is just so overwhelming physically and emotionally. I find that if I have too much time by myself it is way worse. I've been trying to work a few days each cycle then my mind is on something else, buy it does really wear me out. I'm glad to hear the reports from the ones done that the body rebounds more quickly than they expected. I think spring will help also. It seems like its been winter forever.



Best wishes to everyone.

Susan

Wow, what a quiet board. I miss the responses.



I finished chemo today. It wasn't fun, but it was the last. The nurses came in and same and play tambourines and bells to celebrate. They even brought me a little cake. My husband and a friend took me out to dinner and desert to celebrate. So far no se's, not even the neuropathy, which is unusual. I'm sure I'll feel the full effects tomorrow. The next 3-5 days are usually not fun, but they will be the last of this type.



Lisa in CA--They told me I might have my port for up to two years. Yikes. I'm going to ask the other onc I see and go with whoever will take it out the soonest.



Crystal-- I don't know how much you've been able to work, but I've been going 3-5 days our of each two week cycle. That's the best I can do and I am absolutely beat when I get home. How much is it for you? I'd really rather not be working and just spend time with family and friends, but that isn't really an option for me.



Hope everyone is doing okay; let us know. Best wishes to all.

Susan

Hello all! March 10th will be my last tx. I'll still have to get the herceptin, but chemo will be done! I can not tell you how grateful I will be to get there!

Susan-I usually miss 2-3 days each tx, but otherwise, have been able to work pretty steady. On workdays, that's pretty much all I do. I come home from work & hit the recliner. Not working isn't really an option for me, either! The third week, just before my next tx, I'm usually feeling better & able to do a bit more around the house.

This time my fingertips are really sensitive & my nails are starting to hurt. I think this is from the taxotere..? Does anyone else have eye twitching? Mine twitch so much, and it's about to drive me crazy! Which of the lovely drugs causes that, does anyone know? And please tell me it will go away once I'm done with txs!

Otherwise, I'm hanging in there! Hope everyone else is doing the same.

Crystal

Sharon--I was prescribed steroids for the time period before starting Taxol. They also gave them IV during the treatment. It helps prevent some type of reaction to the taxol. I had a reaction to the steroids and the benedryl, but not the taxol. The taxol ses got less for me with each treatment. Now after the 4th ones I'm just to the point where I'm having bone pain from the Neulasta. I plan to go back to teaching on Thursday. I am worried about having the stamina for a full week of school, but evenings will be time for recovery.



Sharon -- I will you well with the taxol, let us know how it goes for you. So happy you get to go to Hawaii for some R&R before your husbanc gets deployed. I'm thinking of you and you are in my prayers.



Ladies-- we are to the end here. Is everyone doing radiation? I really have some hard thinking about it. Once the onc said it would only improve my outlook by 4%. We'll see what they say in the next two weeks. Best wishes to all at the finish line of this phase of treatment.

Keep us posted.

Blessings,

Susan

Hello ladies, hope everyone is doing well. I made it through my first tx of taxol today. No bad. I did have some nausea during infusion but I took a zofran and did ok. The benedryl made me sleepy. I slept an hour and a half after my infusion was done. The nurse didn't want to wake me bacause he didn't want my driving home sleepy.

I saw the cardiologist tuesday and you know he had the nerve to ask me if I went to church! It was his third question to me and it was the way he asked me. What does me going or not going to church have to do with my visit concerning my heart. This was the first time meeting this man...he doesn't know me from eve and he thought it was his right to ask me something like that. I've known my onc for five months now and he has never asked me that and we talk about everything! I was so stunned that I couldn't focus on anything that he said after that. I told my dh and he was furious! At first I thought, omg! something must really be wrong with my heart and that my onc didn't come clean with me about the muga scan. After he(the cardiologist) left the room for a few mins I thought that maybe he was judging me, that because I don't go to church was the reason I got the cancer and is now having this probem with my heart which really pissed me off! I have never been asked that question before by a physician. Why did he think that my faith was any of his  business in the first place. Who gave him the authority to ask me something like that! Let me stop I'm getting myself worked up again. Have any of you ladies had this happen to you? If so, did you think anything of it. Am I making too much of this? I mean, to come out the blue and ask me that and not have a reason for it just doesn't seem professional to me. I can see if I asked for his help but I didn't. I have faith in God and I believe in prayer. Even that is none of his business!

Ladies let me go. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hi everyone. I hope everyone is doing well and is out and about(if you are not snowed in)!

Susan-It's day 3 and I am having really bad headaches and neck pain. I've had a little cramping also. It may just be time for my period though. The muga scan is when they inject you with radiation and put you in a scanner to measure heart functions . At least, that is how I remember it being told to me.  As far as the cardiologist, first impressions are everything to me and I just don't think I feel comfortable with him. I've decided to see someone else. Otherwise, I think I'm doing ok.

I hope everyone has a blessed week/end!

It is day 11 post the FINAL infusion of my doxetaxol chemotherapy. My friends were all yippee and yahoo about it ... I was not and I think they were wondering what is wrong with me. Well ... as you know, it's not over for us once the IV comes out. In fact, it has only just begun. With each treatment of the doxetaxol, the side effects have been stronger - or at least harder for my body to deal with. Again, I got the mouth thrush, my bones ache, I am fatigued, my fingers feel like someone hit them with a hammer and I think I'll probably loose at least 2 of the nails. I fainted after day 3 because of dehydration and lack of nutrition and landed in the ER. Gee ... yeh, I am so happy it is the last one !!! All sarcasim aside, I am thankful and I do know in my head that it is the last time that I have to go through the side effects.



So, here on day 11 I am now beginning to feel semi-human again and think that there might be light at the end of the tunnel. We have indeed come a long way on this journey and have been through more than we likely can identify this close to the journey.



I will be having 6 weeks of radiation to follow at the end of March. From what I am told, compared to chemo, radiation is relatively "easy" ... whatever that might mean. I guess the benefit is that there is not poison being injected into your body. Just cream up and rest ... that's the advice.



Gee ... my note doesn't sound too good or too happy does it .... well, that's the reality for me as I write this today. I'm tired of saying "everything is fine" and being all positive. This sucks and I'm tired of fighting side effects, taking pills and feeling like crap. Hopefully, this will pass too ...



Anyone got a punching bag I could borrow for a few days? Ha !!! Do take care, we've done really well and together we'll be dancing with NED before we know it.



Laura in Victoria.

Hi all, I too haven't posted for awhile. Have had a bad time but one left to go yeah. Had my first blood transfusion last week as my bloods just wont behave. So wishing everyone the best and keep hanging in there we are nearly through.