CMF Question
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Yes this is not a fun hobby!
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Well, I'm exhausted and I have to work for the next 7 hours until 2 a.m. I couldn't make it last night and had to sign off after 3 hours of work, so I really need to try and push thru tonight. I'm just having one of "those" couple of days, I guess, where the fatigue is grabbing on and not letting go. At least I work from home and I can sit here in comfy clothes with a warm cup of tea. The wind is whipping around like crazy up here in Warwick, NY. I hope my husband is keeping warm driving around in the police car!
I have a week off and then #3 on the 22nd, so I'm looking forward to work being done after tomorrow night!
Be well everyone!!
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Blood work today at 2:30
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Hang in there ladies .... this too shall pass and with the support you are giving one another you know for sure your not is this alone.
A pleasant day off for those on holiday today .... Carol
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PS
Have you tried benedryl for that itching? Works great for me. I use both oral and topical when that starts. I read in one of my books that when the skin itches it is because it is trying to do the job on another organ such as detox. They theorized that if you detox the other organ it will take on is job again and stop using the skin as a back up.
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Cabmom............are you all done now?
Rita
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Rita, thanks for asking but unfortunately no, not yet! Tomorrow is hopefully my last treatment but I've been sick since Sunday with a sinus infection so I'm just praying that I will be well enough to take the treatment........keep your fingers crossed!
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Fingers and toes crossed
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Thanks Merilee.....it would really be heart breaking to come this far to not be able to finish on time!
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Yes, it sure would. You have made it this far though, so no matter what,you know you will get through it just fine.
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What time is your appointment tomorrow? I will send positive light your way.
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Merilee, my appointment is at 8 am......thanks for the positive light!
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Hi ladies! I will be starting CMF on Monday. Will be doing the cycles, 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. The pill from days 1-14 and injection on days 1 and 8, then off 2 weeks.
Thanks to this thread, I presented CMF to my ONC today when he told me I'd be doing TCx4. He was amazed on the knowledge I had on CMF..thanks to you all!!
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Hi Janina
I think you will find this treatment very doable.
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Welcome Janina..............We will be here for you as you make this journey. If you have any questions, just ask. As we've all learned, there are no stupid questions when it comes to this. Like Merilee, I think you will find that CMF is quite doable. Come back often.
Rita
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Janina, an informed patient is a good thing..
glad we could help..Hi Rita..are you thinkng of warm sunny weather?
or are you there?
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Janina .... I did your same regimen almost two years ago now. It is definitely a very doable txt, albeit a bit more drawn out then some.
I'm sure if you've poked around this post you have read of a few helpful hints ... I"ll just remind you to drink your H2O ... I took my oral cytoxan after a small breakfast in the morning and chased it down the rest of the day with about 80oz of water. I also faithfully took a Zofran pill each morning of the 14 day cycle to ward off nausea. I think I can honestly say that I never had nausea issue throughout the entire 6mos.
On my first infusion day, I left the chemo center waiting for the "shoe to drop" ... thought I'd be feeling crummy and just waited. I'm happy to report that the shoe never did drop. Yes, I felt a bit out of sort about 36-48 hrs after infusion day, but nothing that kept me down. Taste buds we're a little off .... did have a few nights of Cream of Wheat for dinner as nothing sounded to good.
Personally I dealt with a bit of a constipation problem (not the case for many), shoot by about month 4 or 5 I finally seemed to figure out just when and how much Miralax to take ,,,, guess I'm a slow learner.
I used Biotene mouthwash the first couple of months (to ward off mouth sores), as well I chomped ice chips for the first couple of infusion (again to ward off mouth sores). As the txts went along and I had no problems with that I slacked off and still was okay.
Hair loss .... after infusion #2 I kind of freaked thinking that all of my hair was going to come out. Happy to report that it did thin quite a bit (maybe a 1/3), but I still had hair (in fact I was probably the only one who really noticed). The hair loss seemed to mellow out during the later txts.
I know this account was "all about my experience" ... I can only hope that you'll be able to write about the same in just a few "short" months. Take in all the experiences of these great ladies here on the CMF boards .... their awesome !!!!!
Best to you and all my CMF sisters .... Carol
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And how are you healing, Carol? Your info for Janina was super. There's nothing I can even add! I liked the "after pics" on FB. Aren't you glad you went for it?
Hope each day finds you a little better. Golf season will be arriving soon! LOL
Rita
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Janina, welcome to the CMF thread....I can't really add anything that other ladies haven't already said but I'm sure you'll do well. We're all here if you have any questions.....
Well, I am happy to report that I have taken my final treatment today......#6 is done and I just can't seem to stop smiling. I know I still have radiation but it's such a relief to have this part behind me and it actually came much quicker than I thought it would. Thanks ladies for all your wonderful support.......still appreciating all of the advice and words of encouragement.
Hope everyone else is doing well.....prayers to all!
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Cabmom
I am smiling for you as well. What a relief eh? #3 for me tomorrow. I will be half done, I can hardly believe it.
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Cabmom .... time for celebration !!!! WhoooHooooo sister !!!!!! Shoot, it seems like you just got started (easy for me to say) !!!!
Rita ... thanks for the kind words. I'm doing pretty darn good for being 5 weeks out. I will say that the recovery process is a bit tougher than I had anticipated. Fatigue is the biggest issue, and of course the ol' tummy is still tender. All worth it though !!!! No golf for me this spring, doc said to give it atleast 3 months and then play it by ear.
So I went in this morning for my 3 mo onc checkup. Yes, I was kind of excited to show off my new righty to my onc. He was amazed at how symetrical it is to my left breast, as I tend to agree. I knew that I was due for my Zometa infusion and had planned on scheduling it for next month until my onc said "how bout getting the infusion today"? YIKES ..... I can't believe that I can go through the recon surgery I did and now I'm freaking out over an infusion. Anyhow, put on my big girl panties and banged out Zometa #4 of 6. In anticipation of the lovely aches that accompany this drug I'll be taking tomorrow off from work. The fun never ends !!!!!
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Cabmon: A big yippee!!! You are done with the CMF. Rads was a piece of cake compared to chemo so you are on the way. Hoorah!!!
Janina: You have come to a good place. The gals on this thread are so supportive and helpful. They made it possible for me to get through my chemo.
Carol: Glad your recup is going so well. Those photos of you on facebook are looking good.
Everyone else, have a good day.
Cyber hugs
Mandy
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Cabmom: congratulations. It feels so great to be finished chemo, doesn't it. I smiled for two or three days afterward, despite the SEs.
I went for radiation mapping today. I will be back next week for a dry run and hopefully I will be starting radiation proper on Wednesday.
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Carol, thanks so much and you're right it actually seem like I just started. It went by much faster than I anticipated that it would.....Happy that your recoup is going well!
Mandy, thanks.......I am so HAPPY and although I'm not looking forward to rad's, I'm certainly ready for them.......
Merilee, thanks! I will thinking of you tomorrow and saying a prayer that all goes well before, during and after
! Keep us updated. #6 really will be here before you know it!0 -
janina - i'm only 3 weeks in to mine, but i take the pill every single day & have the infusion weekly. i get a push of zofran & ativan (no steroid) and have absolutely no naseua. not from the infusion or from the daily pill. i have scripts at home of zofran, but i haven't had to take it once, so no issues with constipatio for me. i take my pill half way into breakfast & also have a prevacid script that i take daily because sometimes cytoxen can cause heartburn. 21 days of cytoxen & 3 m&f treatments and no hair thinning at all beyond my normal shedding amount (and i've been paying attention!) my blood & white cell counts are all high - honestly, i've basically had no side effects. today was a treatment day - and i feel slightly out of it, very tired, and sort of "eh, ick", but nothing terrible at all. if it goes the same as before, tomorrow will be the same. i've learned the more i try to push myself the day after the worse i feel, so thursdays have turned into my lazy sloth in pajama's day. but it's not bad at all.
speaking of treatment, the nurses irritated me to no end today. so i've elected not to have a port. i'm not changing my mind about that. end of story. so the nurses don't like doing iv's, they've made that very apparent. so today, my onco's nurse called up to them and said look, she's made her decision about no port, have a nurse who is comfortable with doing an iv do her treatment. granted, i do have small veins, but they are good veins, especially in my hands and along the side of my wrists. but you have to really pay attention to what you are doing. now the nurses, when they give an iv, only like to give them in the forearm, either up top or underneath. you can't see any veins up top, but that's where the first nurse tries to find one "by touch" she says. well, she couldn't find it "by touch". so after her poking around there, she gives up and has another come in, who decides to do the ones on the underside of my forearm, which you can really see very well, but i know my body, and even though you can see them, they are hard to get an iv started in. then she goes into this speel about how they don't like to give it in the hands or near the joints because of possible nerve damage if the poke a hole in the vein (which you would know right away if they poked a hole in the vein because it "blows" and you get a bruise - or it will sting like salt water into a wound once the saline solution hits it...i have doctor & nurse friends so i know) blah blah...but as i told her, she's not going to be able to get an iv into that area.
and low & behold, she couldn't get an iv in after 3 tries. hello, i've lived in my body for 37 years, i know how it works. so finally they ask which nurse got it in the last time, i tell them, she comes in, puts a hot towel on my hand, gives me some lidocaine, smacks it a few times, and viola - i.v. in the hand...
seriously. it was ridiculous. i don't care about their "protocol". it was unnecessary & wasted literally hours of my time. and my onco nurse told me that she found it ridiculous as well, because the dose of m&f i'm getting is so incredibly minuscule that it wouldn't be enough to cause harm. and that when she was a chemo nurse, she would give it in the veins of the hands & on the side of the wrist (where i have great ones on both sides) ALL the time. she says if it continues to be an issue then she can arrange to have an i.v. nurse from the main hospital come over & start my line.
ugh, long rant i know, but it irritates me when they don't listen to me, then use that as a reason as to why i should get a port. they actually called down to my onco nurse to tell her that it took all these extra pricks and they think i really need to be told to get the port. i don't need a port. if they'd just do it where i tell them to, there wouldn't be an issue. i'm sorry, but come on, i don't care how good of a nurse you are, i highly doubt you can "feel by touch" where to get an i.v. in without seeing the actual vein. maybe if you were a trauma nurse.
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Good grief talk about incompetence, I would be annoyed too.
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js: sorry that you had such incompetence. I did CMF, every 3 weeks x8. Originally my onc suggested a port and I vetoed it. I went throught the treatment without problems but there was one absolutely incompetent nurse who could not do an IV. I had her the first time and she tried to get the IV in 4 or 5 times and could not. I did not say a word to her because I figured if I complained I'd end up with a port. She, of course, like yours, thought I should have a port. I only had this nurse twice and the second time I lost my temper with her and told her to get a nurse who could do an IV. Every other nurse on the team was able to get the IV in on the first try.
In addiditon to keeping your arm warm, I was told to get hydrated. So I would sip water for the 2 hours before the IV and my veins would pop right up. Just a suggestion.
Take care.
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js37, sorry that you had to go through all that because I have really bad veins as well....it stinks sometimes. Little confused why they are not using the wrist veins or the veins on the sides of the wrist or the ones on top of your hand.......they used those on me the whole time and I did fine. The one below the thumb couldn't be seen but they hit it every time they used it. It was amazing.....five minutes under a warming blanket and it was right there wide open and easy for them to hit. As a matter of fact they stayed clear of the ones in the upper part of my arm. Anyway, just wondering. I know all oncs are different and have their different beliefs on how things are to be down......Again, sorry that you're going through all the extra drama. Hope the next one goes much smoother.
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YEA Cabmom.............NO MO' CHEMO! You did it! Remember how anxious you were at first and look at you now. DONE!!!!! I found the rads to be MUCH easier. Just be sure to use the cream that they give you faithfully while doing the rads. Another hint! If you are a morning person and your schedule is flexible, take an early time slot. There is never any waiting and you're undressed, zapped, and home pronto. I've heard some complain that it takes much longer to get in and out as the day progresses.
Carol, we've used those big girl panties so much that we're going to have to throw them out and get a new pair as a "spare." At least #4 is now done and behind you and you're not going to stew about coming back in for it! As for the fatigue, you've been through a lot, gal. I know it's hard to take it easy but that's just what you need to do. I had hoped that you'd be able to golf in the spring but a few more months of taking it easy won't be so bad. I bet you'll still be able to practice your putting for short periods and we all know that the short game is what really counts. What's that old expression? Drive for show and putt for dough! Hang in there!
I did all 6 of my CMF treatments without a port. There was only one nurse that couldn't get in the IV and everybody just prayed that they wouldn't get her. She certainly needed a refresher course and I did notice the last time I was in the cancer center with a friend that she is still there, probably tormenting new patients with her inefficiency. GADS, this is their job! You think they'd have to be accountable for their skills, wouldn't you?
Well enough ranting for me today. I have a free day at home to regroup and that's just what I'm going to do.
Hugs to all of you who are going through treatment or about to begin. You can do this!
Rita
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mandy1313 - it's ridiculous, they keep sighitng their "protocol" of only doing it in the area of the top or bottom forearm. those are the worst places on me. it was super frustrating. there was one vein on the side of my hand by my wrist that was all popped up but 3 nurses ignored it and instead tried to poke an iv in my arm, again because of "nerve damage". i know it can be done in the hands the whole time - that's the only way they give mf at fred hutchinson, and they do the same weekly x24 regime as i'm on. i really think it's a matter of that most of these nurses have worked on this floor for years, have their way of doing things, i am the only patient who doesn't have a port or who isn't about to get a port, and they don't have to do iv's on a regular basis.
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