Lonewolf

Sure seems that way doesnt it?  Tell them you are a "hard stick" and insist on a butterfly IV needle for this stuff. FYI - It took me about a month to get to the point where my chemo port was tolerable.

For the first week after my first chemo I was pretty germ phobic and then started going out a bit more. As for having people over no one who is sick is allowed in my house and I am not above wearing a mask when I sit in the waiting room for medical appointments.

In my case the first chemo lowered my white cell count and the shot of neulasta given afterwards raised it to three times what I was before starting chemo. So you might want to see how much your counts go down first before you start being more active socially.  Also tis the season for flu out there so better safe than sorry.

I keep having recurring dreams about treatments not working or not being eligable for treatments (I have had one of 4 chemo treatments so far), etc.

From what I understand the Pet scan will "light up" any rapidly dividing cells. It not only showed my breast cancer and its spread to my lympth nodes but also adenomas and polyps I had and both of those are supposedly non cancerous.

Happy Birthday and thanks for the words of hope. I had my first chemo on Oct 1st. Then surgery and then its anyone's guess.

My surgeon did a biopsy, ordered a pet scan and then sent me to an Oncologist who I was told would explain everything. The Oncologist told me I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma that its 2.7cm and that I was staged at 2a.  He also told me that he had someone just like me who he cured with a combo of taxotere and red devil (4 rounds) and then a lumpectomy. He told me I would be "busy" for 3 to 4 months and that my problem was fixable.

When I saw my surgeon yesterday so he could check the site of my chemo port installation he seemed to feel it was IBC and would require a radical mast plus rads...

Now there is quite a difference between the two in every respect but I was trying to read upside down when I was in with the Oncol and believe the biopsy report did say Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.

These two had better be on the same page by surgery time because I am not about to let someone cut me up and later find out I wouldnt have needed that invasive an approach. As it is I have already been hospitalized a week in the past for a condition that I didnt really have and which could have been treated at home.

I am officially at day four after my first chemo treatment and am experiencing some weird things and I wonder if anyone else has gone through.

1. Overall I feel like someone recovering from the stomach flu......okay but not ready to return to work yet.

2. A weird smell....like something rotten in the fridge...in my nostrils and all over the house.  I'm sweating too so I dont know if the smell is coming from me or what.

3. Odd pains in the affected breast......each lasting for a few seconds and in no particular order.....like being stabbed, then like being stabbed with a hot poker and then finally almost numbness.

4. Feet feel like I've been walking barefoot through desert sand but dont look any different.  I put 4 coats of nail strengthener on toe and fingernails so hopefully the taxotere (or red devil) wont make them fall off.

5. Restlessness and frustration yet feel weak as a kitten.

6. Odd body pains especially in spine where I was diagnosed with arthritis.

Other than those listed above and wanting to rip this chemo port out I'm doing pretty good.