TCh vs. ACTh

Cathy,

Thanks so much for your help on fiber. I will look for some of the Fiber One cereals and bars. You know now that I am paying attention I'm looking at my colonoscopy report from 4 years ago and since I have hemorhoids the doctor made some really good recommendations of which I have so far down the road followed none of. One of the things it said I need to do for the rest of my life is to start taking daily fiber supplements. I have been looking at the alternatives and decided to try Fibercon. Two tablets twice a day. I'm going to start this and see if it makes a difference in addition to adding my fiber to my diet. I will report back.



Sue,

My hair after round 1 is still here but I did get a short hair cut. This week I'm going out with a friend to look at wigs/hats. I like that--worry about your hair instead of the boob....you will do fine. Sometimes it is surprising how easy the surgeries are when I think about how hard round 1 of TCH was for me. I'm hoping it gets easier. I think if I can get my bathroom habits fixed that will be a major part of the problem.



Hang in there ladies...



E

I eat Fiber 1 cereal each morning for the first four or five days after chemo.  If needed, I also use the Stool Softener (easily found at the drugstore).  About Day 5 or 6, I stop the Fiber 1 because things are swinging over to the "loose side" and then I need Immodium for the next week or so.  Finally, things get back to normal the last week before chemo ... just in time to start the cycle all over again!  Oh well, only two more left for me.

Hi Erica - glad the Fiber 1 worked out for you.  I like it too ... actually it was a staple in our cupboard even before bc.  My hubby eats it every morning.  Re: cumulative effects of chemo ... for me, cycles 1 and 2 were pretty much the same.  Cycle 3 was worse ... meaning that I felt kind of lousy for two weeks after and not just one.  I did number 4 last week and I feel good!  With one exception, I am walking around in a daze most of the time.  Very hard to concentrate and efficiency is out the window.  This must be chemo fog!  It is frustrating because I have things I want to accomplish and the day just slips by without much happening.  Hard to explain to someone ... it's just very hard to focus on something and get it done.

Hi,

Just wanted to add my two cents.  Spouse went through TCH, finished around Christmas.  WBC was helped immensely by two supplements:  Astragalus and Reishi/Maitake mushroom.  SHe never had to have Neulasta even once!  I'm sure there are several good brands, but she took Gaia liquid caps of AstragalusSupreme and Maitake Defense.  It was amazing to see the WBC counts go UP after she started these and the nurse had predicted boosters needed for sure.   Her chemo was pre-surgery and she had a great response to the TCH to the point that the large tumors were shrunk to only microscopic cells and onc. thought these were "dying" also..

Also, daily Prilosec and probiotics (yogurt and/or supplements) were a must.  Best of luck

TRS

TRS,

My oncol does daily shots to boost WBC as a preventative. So he doesn't wait until the count is low but just has me do it for 7 days after chemo. I'm not thinking he would be supportive of this but it doesn't hurt for me to ask. I think too little is known about a lot of these herbs and they'd rather not take the chance.



Thanks for sharing what worked for your spouse.



Erica

Erica ... here's how it went for me.  All of a sudden, my head started to hurt like crazy all over.  Could hardly touch it without screaming!  I cut all the hair really short (1/2 inch) and the next morning most of the soreness was gone.  I have read that it is the weight of the hair pulling on the follicle that causes the pain.  So probably time to cut very short or shave!

Erica and MaryAnn,

I had taxotere, three tx then a three month break because of a second surgery and three more tx all with Carboplatin and herceptin too,so I got to lose my hair twice. The first time my head was really sensitive and cutting it short helped.  But I couldn't stand the small hairs falling everywhere so I got it shaved.  Not all of my hair did fall out that time so when I noticed it was beginning again to fall out I cut it short and wore a hair net when eating or fixing food and to sleep. Six months after the last chemos tx I had my first hair style/cut appointment.  By that time my hair was very thick, curly (previously straight as a rod), and full.  Some of my friends say that while the first time it grew back the color was a beautiful white/gray and the second time it is a darker color with some gray (for sure!)

That is about the same amount of time it took for the horizonal chemo lines to grow out of my fingernails.

I felt that hair loss kept the 'cancer' sign on my forehead for people. I'm very glad that sign has been removed. Even though I'm still in tx with herceptin, it is nice to not always be treated like I'm sick.

Thanks Cindbo for letting me in on a positive word for ACTH as I start Adriamyacin Tuesday! My onc initially started preparing me for TCH but then after he ran a few more tests and read a recent article from the New England Journal - he highly recommended I change to ACTH with 3 week echocardios done to monitor. Also stated that the heart damage was mostly found with high doses of Adriamyacin - 480mg...where as my does total will be half.

Chemo tx are SCARY enough - I am SCARED TO NO END to have my first tx Tuesday! I really needed to find someone with a positive outcome like yours.

Thanks for your input!

I will be happy to post my results with ACTH for future concerns. Of course EVERYONE is different I know.

tpinsky,

You will do fine on the treatments. Remember that each one will get you a step closer to being done and getting healed. I kept telling myself to bring it on-let's fight this cancer and get rid of it.



I felt great after the first A/C-no doubt the steroids working. 2 days after tx I bought a couple flats of flowers to plant in my yard and then crashed and slept for 2 days. When I woke, my daughter had done all the planting. After that i didn't make big plans for the days after tx-just went with the flow and tried to treat myself nicely

I had tx on Thursdays and was back at work on Mondays.

As Mary Ann said-keep us posted and let us know how you are doing. Believe it that this too will be behind you soon



Henny

Kimbly,

I did my second chemo today. I'm thinking about trying 1/2 of an ativan tablet this time and see how i do on that. What is the Xanax? Does that get you through the night? I have an anti-anxiety med but it only is supposed to last for 4 or 5 hours. Let you know how i do with a lower dose of ativan. When i was younger I used to be able to benefit with ativan at an extremely low dose.



Very tired today. The decadron is not fun. One more day of it.



Erica

xanax is more for anxiety.  It helps me relax to fall asleep but no it doesn't always get me completely through the night.  I haven't slept completely through in ages, part of that is because my bladder wakes me up though. I hate the decadron too.  I start it tomorrow and am dreading it.  Good thing is this is my last time yay!!!

Erica - I read somewhere (maybe on this board) that the FDA says that Procrit (and other similar drugs) should not be used in adjuvant breast cancer treatment.  This is very recent and I don't remember the details about it but I would check it out and ask your onc (maybe google FDA+Procrit?).  Maybe someone else here has more detail about this.  Eat lots of spinach, dried apricots, ... how about a steak!  Don't know about the fiber ...

MaryAnn,

I think they are waffling on this. It looks like the greatest problems were for those who were getting repeated injections even when they were at a adaquete level. My oncol says they don't do this. Nevertheless I would like to avoid a procrit if I can. One of my books says the best way to boost rbc is raw liver extract. I am waiting for some from wholefoods.



Jenn, welcome to our group. Don't know if any of you are up on some of the history. But one of the first women who was involved in the clinical trials with herceptin is still fine today. At the time she started the clinical trial she was given 2 weeks to live. She was a super responder. What an inspiring story. Jenn, you sound like you are a super responder too! Take heart but I know it is a worry. A worry we all have to cope with...



Thanks for being here...



Erica