Starting Chemo May 2008

rock: will be calling them tomorrow morning...what a pain...literally...lol

all this talk about bread, I have 4 really ripe bananas...time for some chocolate b bread....

randie

Women, we are all out of hand. We need to get back to whining. My ears started ringing this morning...just one ear. It's par for my chemo cycle. It's okay. Am starting Glutamine dietary supplement tomorrow to prepare for taxol/herceptin #1 July 17. That is all the whining I can do today as I am having a quiet weekend with my dh. I love my sons and I NEVER have the house to myself like this. My dh is out working on our garden a lot (crops much later here...we only have snap peas and strawberries so far plus we got things in later plus, as Adrienne knows, it has been a late and coolish summer here in the Northwest).

I hope all bottoms or bums (for those of you in Canada) or butts or asses or tushies or bum bums or backsides heal immediately. Seems like you are trying too many remedies but I know how much it must hurt.

I hope all feet get everyone to their farmer's markets today. I, too, will be heading to mine here in West Seattle. We will, likely, make banana bread before our zukes hit.

I am thinking of all of you and going after peaches since your posts have given me the jones for them. Kristy Ann, welcome home to your kidlets...

Cheers! 

(?)

Sue, do we have to dig for them?

otter 

Ladies on their horses, shovels in hand.  Men on the ground for the elusive boob hunt.  OY!

Oh, my  - "lions and tigers and bears" or "pustules and peeling and blech - oh, my!"

I hardly have anything to complain about today (although I reserve that right for later).  Any difficulties I might be having are the unseen/unfelt kind (i.e., counts).  So I am sending all my thinking/healing energy to all corners of North America today (gotta include our northern girls).  "Ooommm, feel better, feel better, feel better, ooommm..."

Randie - Thrilled that the chemo is doing it's job for you, but yuck anyway.  Do you think it's at all possible your owies are related to a yeast infection gone wild?  I seem to get one 4-5 days after tx and apparently it's not that unusual.  Just wanted to throw that in there for someone to consider.

Rock - So glad the feetsies are a little better.

Otter - Glad to see, er, hear you!

Sue - We have plums ready - I'll trade you.

Adrienne - "Men on the ground for the elusive boob hunt"?!  BWAHAHAHAHA!  Isn't that what they are always doing?!

O.K., I gotta share a moment with you all.  Last night, my oldest dd and I found ourselves watching "Steel Magnolias" (partly because I told her I was in the play when I was pregnant with her - I play Ouizer [Shirley Maclaine's role], by the way).  Anyway, I was bawling at the end (I told her it would be sad) but not because of the movie.  I've seen it half a dozen times (not to mention the 5 or 6 we did on stage).  I was bawling because of YOU WOMEN (Can I borrow that, Eddie? Thanks.)  It made me think of of you all and that if we lived closer, that would be us.  There are so many moments in that movie that apply to us and what we are going through.  What a classic.  So, if anybody needs a good cry, I heartily recommend it. 

Yes, hounds work.  As do some species of bird, i.e., blue-footed boobies.  In the process of looking for an image, I ran across a group of Scottish women with breast cancer who jump out of planes (with parachutes, I think) called the Booby Birds.  Hmmm. All at once, we seem, well, normal. http://www.boobybirds.co.uk/

I love it...Booby Birds!

will ask about the yeast infection....I have a scrip, maybe I will use it...

they already ruled out shingles, over the phone, no idea, but they did.

the nurses all tell me that this is a SE for juveniles, so, guess that part of me isn't as old as the rest of me????

booby birds, love you guys!!!

you ever notice that whenever we whine, food is always part of the thread????lol...

daughter update: they won their am game, so dh now has to wait until 5 for the next one (which was scheduled for 2:30, but somehow they are runnign way late) and if they win that, he has to drive her back tomorrow...I hate to pray for a loss, but dh souns so pitiful.  The visibilty from the smoke is less then a mile and the temp hit 100, and the tourney officials are not willing to cancel it even tho thre is a air quality unhealthly level.  BTW, he texted me that she got a double and stole home....who hoooooooooo...I want to be there so bad!!!

eddie, i have that same whiny soundin my ear, but I notice it more at night, nver thought of it as a SE.

I have been keeping my mind sharp by watching quality tv shows on my DVR.  RIght now I am in the middle of a 3 hour Bridezilla marathon...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...my mind is now officially mush...seriously, where do they findthese people and how much do they pay to have us watch them???? Can we all get our own reality show?  Each of us could have our own episode of the unique SEs we have, and then at the end of treatment, they could show us all jumping out of a plane, boobless, foobly and one boob to the wind......

randie 

Speaking of boobies of the blue nature........Check out this vid if you need a good laugh

http://www.madblast.com/funny/12010_boobie-toon.html

Otter - You're right, it would be on that list and I was sucked in last night like a moth to a flame.  I knew exactly where it was going to go and went there anyway (it does have an uplifting ending scene as well, sorry if I spoiled it for anyone).  Sometimes it's just time for that kind of cry.  But I totally understand not choosing to go there.  I was really using it as a reference point for our little group and the bond they all had.  I love the line, "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me."  I think that belongs on Rock's thread!

Sue - I am so there!!  Right after Disneyland (we leave on Tuesday - YAY!), as I will probably need a vacation from my vacation.  Yay aside, 5 days with dh, mom and 2 kids will drive anyone to Texas!  (If you're not already there...)

Randie - They must be good to do that over the phone...lol.  Another question - could it be foot and hand syndrome?  I know where it is, but what you described sounds like that.  I was just browsing the literature of my possible future on Taxotere and reading some of the symptoms, etc. They don't say it is exclusive to the feet or hands, just more likely.  Rock?  Otter?  Our two, unfortunately, well-versed victims of this se, could that be possible?  And woo hoo for your dd!!

Met a very nice lady raising money to do Walk for the Cure.  She was sitting outside Wal-Mart (we were picking up last-minute items for the trip) and my older dd pointed her out.  She (my older dd) is very aware of the pink ribbon thing now.  We chatted for a bit and mom and I both gave her a donation and then we all signed her shirt  - dd's liked that part! 

Sue, save a couch for me!  You had me at those white peaches, never  mind the zucchini bread and the beach. There used to be a tree in my ex-husband's yard that produced really wonderful white peaches - I never did anything with them but eat them out of hand - but, alas, it got old and rotten and finally was uprooted in a storm.  (No connection, except possibly a metaphorical one, to my susequent divorce.)  Anyhow, I haven't had freshly picked white peaches since.  The California ones I see occasionally at the market don't compare.

Randie, are you feeling any better today? Please say yes!

Eddie, it's interesting that you get a quick, pre-chemo check-in with your onc.  I don't, as a general rule (this week's appointment is an exception - all my other appointments have been on my "off" weeks).  It sounds like a good idea.

My daughter is heading off to camp tomorrow (Wednesday, actually, but we'll leave tomorrow in order to drop her off Wednesday morning); afterwards, my bf and I will steal a night at a b&b by Lake Michigan before heading back here for Taxotere #2 on Friday.  Can't wait (for the minivacation, not the Taxotere) . . . I just hope I can shake this annoying and ill-timed cold by then.

Cristine, have a great time at Disneyland.  Say hello to Minnie for all of us!  (Oh, and Otter, I'm just going to have to bake biscuits this morning and top them with the last of the local strawberries.)

You are all the greatest,

Linda

Eddie - I too get to visit with my Onc prior to each tx.  We review the blood work and any issues that may have come up from last tx.   It allows me to ask questions, talk to him about things I've read on the boards, etc.  He always seems so fascinated at our networking here.  He did get a chuckle out of the lint roller on the head to remove loose hair.  The majority of his patients are much older than I, so I think he gets a different perspective from me.

I also read, I think the last page, that you are concerned going into Taxol.  I can so relate!  I just wanted to share that, so far, it has been so much easier for me.  I didn't get the exhaustion which I so hated with AC.  I have had some bone pain, started Saturday and had some yesterday and last night.  I didn't get the bone pain with Neulasta so I was kind of surprised that I did with Taxol.  Honestly, I'll take it over the exhaustion.  I think Rock is getting Neulasta with her Taxol...I'm not.  Interesting, the different strategies.  I also take Decadron 12 and 6 hours before treatment, as well as getting it infused with the chemo.

I know everyone is different but I just wanted to ease your fears as much as possible.

Randie and Rock - I hope you are both doing better today.  I'm anxious to hear what the dear doctors say about your current situations!

~Adrienne
Dx 4/3/2008, IDC, 2cm, Stage IIb, Grade 3, 1/8 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

Trying not to type. Feet are feeling much better, and healing.  Fingertips showing some edema.

But! other than that! I feel GREAT.  Honest.  A bit of the bone/joint pain, but easily dealt with w/ the occasional Ibuprofen.  A few hives. But preferring this LOADS over A/C ...except for my worries over feet and hands.

I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing but I had several boil-like places 'front-side' after my first chemo. My oncologist said it wasn't a side affect of the chemo (and he had never heard of it before) but to go to my gynocologist. It turned out to be enlarged glands.....my thought was from peeing toxic waste but that is only my own opinion. She said to soak in a tub two times a day until it went down but to watch it for infection. Not to pop it or squeeze it! I did put antibiotic on them just in case and they went away. 

Angels, it's common to have dry/itchy or weepy/oozy eyes with chemo.  Mine have been very dry since midway through AC, and lately they've been crusted over when I wake up in the morning (yuck, I know).  There are a variety of lubricating eye drops out there that may help - look for something formulated for dry eyes as opposed to the regular "get the red out" kind.

Linda