CMF Question
Comments
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Mine was always put in the hand Mandy! You're probably right. Alot of these nurses are set in their ways and there's no changing them!
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Mine was always put in the hand Mandy! You're probably right. Alot of these nurses are set in their ways and there's no changing them!
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Well half way done as of this morning. Feeling good but my white counts were down so they want to give me a shot tomorrow morning. UG, I was hoping to avoid that.
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Hi everybody! Headed into my weekend of work and then Monday is #3. I'm getting 8 infusions, however, not 6...wonder why I get the pleasure of 2 extra? I verified that with my onc at my first followup, because he had said every 3 weeks for 6 months, so I wasn't sure if that meant just 6 or the actual 8 that would fall in that time frame and bummer...it's 8.
Cabmom: YIPPEEEEE!!!! All done with chemo...so happy for you!!!
Merilee: Sorry to hear about your white counts and the infusion. Are you talking about Neulasta? I'm hoping to avoid that, too. I hope that goes well for you...keep us posted on how you feel afterwards.
Well, did something to my pointer and middle fingers on my right hand, so have to go and rest my fingers for my 20 hour of typing this weekend! Not looking forward to work, but REALLY not looking forward to infusion #3 on Monday morning.
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Hi All,
Visting this thread after a short absence. Cabmom - congratulations! This went pretty fast, or so it seems to me after the fact... Today is my last radiation TX, of 33. Feeling great. After chemo this was a piece of cake, and although there may be some side effects for some, nothing adverse happened to me. I feel wucky... Hugs and good wishes to all! Elisheva.
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Lots of good news here:
Elisheva: great news on your rads. I also had minimal side effects from rads...you are definitely in the home stretch!!!
Merilee: sorry about the counts but you seem to be doing so well on the CMF. Hang in there!
Judy: I also had 8 doses, not 6. My onc said that the studies on CMF all used 8 doses and she was not comfortable using fewer than that. Of course, as I pointed out to her, in the UK, the usual CMF is from 4 to 6 doses. So for you gals getting 6, do not worry because my onc wanted 8.
JS: Hang in there and stand up for yourself. Tell them you want good patient care, not rigid following of a protocol. Maybe try to get your onc or your onc's nurse on your side. You can point out that they don't have problems finding a vein for the blood draws. Perhaps one of the phlebotimists could put an IV in when you get your bloods done if that is done the same day as your chemo. Phlebotomists are usually very good at starting IVs---better than some doctors. When I had the problem with the bad nurse, I had a public fit...went out into the hallway and told the nurses stand that my care was not all right.....my little tirade provided a reaction. My onc suddenly showed up in my chemo room to find out what the problem was. And I told her. And the bad nurse actually apologized to me and avoided me after that---which was fine with me, since she could not start IVs. I know that is about me and that your situation may be different, but there is no need for you to have incompetence when they put your iv in. Sending you a special hug.
Hugs to all.
Mandy
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Elisheva: congratulations to you! Great to hear you had no adverse effects from radiation. Did you have ANY fatigue or skin burning at all? I'm due to start rads on Wednesday if my bloodwork is OK.
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Mary, I found rads much easier than chemo. But my rads were during my chemo so I do not know if the chemo side effects were actually made greater because of the rads.And I was pretty fatigued during chemo. I know that the rads onc kept asking if I felt nausea because that is a side effect of rads....I did not feel nausea. I used the creams faithfully and kept the area dry with corn starch---not baby powder corn starch--I used pure corn starch that you can eat. I would use the creams morning and night and right after the rads. At the end I used emu oil which was suggested by a friend who'd had rads. It is very expensive but a little goes a long way. I had some nipple pain for the last 3 or 4 treatments but my "boost" was to my nipple. For that I used emu oil and the rads onc gave me aquafor to which he added benzocaine so it took the pain away. I did not have skin cracking or bleeding at all.
Best,
Mandy
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Mandy: thanks for all that info. I did not realize that nausea was a SE or rads. What creams did you use initially before you used emu oil and aquafor?
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Elisheva....yea! yea! yea! You did it!
I had no problem at all with the rads. I did get more tired after the third week but it never caused me to change my lifestyle and my skin handled it well. I had no nausea with the rads at all. They were just so much easier than the chemo!
Hugs to all of you still doing treatments or rads. You will get through them!
Rita
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Ritajean is right. Before you know it all of these treatments will be in your past and you will be going forward.
Mary, the cream I preferred was "my girl's cream". That plus the emu oil later on. And of course I used that corn starch as talcum powder.
One thing was that I was not supposed to use a deoderant with aluminum during the rads period. I tried a number of them and was not in love with any of them. The one I think worked the best for me was some kind of Tom's 12 hour deoderant.
:-) Mandy
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Well, I had my Neulasta shot at 10:30 this morning and so far I feel fine. I would never have known my counts were down as I feel just fine...weird!
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Merilee: some people take a Claritin to prevent SEs from the Neulasta. Not sure if it works or not but some people swear by it. Also if you start to feel pain, Tylenol will help. I had a Neulasta shot after each treatment except the last one. The pain usually started the first evening and continued for 24-48 hours. As they've probably warned you the pain is usually in the long bones (humerus, femur) and the sternum. I also had pain in the neck and shoulders and back of the head. It was easy to ignore it during the day, but worse at night.
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Thanks Rita and Mandy and Mary. To anyone who is going to start with radiation - it again differs from individual to individual, like the chemo SE's. I had no problems at all. Although I have fair skin, it only got a little pink, more like a rash than a suntan, and I had no pain and no fatigue to speak of. Others complain about skin pain and peeling and blistering and of fatigue, but I have not heard of nausea as a side effect. I am using calendula ointment and lotion, which is considered a homeopatic type of treatment. It worked for me, and I had no need to use anything else. I stopped using a bra, although that was not really necessay, and I find I'm enjoying it (well, the breasts are only a B size. It may be different fo a D size lady.) Mary - I hope you have an easy time of it too.
Merilee - I had a total of 2 neulasta shots, the first one only after the 5th TX, and then again after #6. Then the blood work looked better than normal, and I refused another shot. But it did not give me any pain at all, and as for the nausea - I was used to it after every TX anyway and could handle that. Anyway, like others said before, once this is over it seems like it went so fast!
Have a great weekend everyone. Elisheva.
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Elisheva, congrats on the rad's being behind you and so happy to hear that you had no ill effects from them. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I went for my visit today with the radiologist onc and I think he's the greatest. He is really kind and thinks that it will not be hard at all. They did suggest the emu oil to start after the first week but didn't know how my skin would react because each of us are different....just hoping for the best. I will have to have 30 instead of 27. Oh well......thought simulation would be today, as they had it set up that way, but decided to wait a couple more weeks. I will go back for SIM on the 5th and start on the 9th or 10th. Just ready........
Merilee, sorry to hear that you had to have the shot....I hope you don't have any pain from it. I was very lucky and didn't have to have the shot but was close one time....hope all goes well. Will keep you in my prayers......
Hope everyone else is doing well.....
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I think the deciding factor for me to get the shot was that I work with little kids.
My white count was 3.5 and the range is 4.5+ Oh well, at least they have a shot to help is how I look at it.
3 more to go and I will be done. Whoo hoo! Only 9 weeks left
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Thanks for all the wonderful information. This board is the reason I mentioned CMF to my ONC. He raised his eyebrows as in "how the heck did you know about CMF" (he has offered my TCx4). I was so worried about hair loss that I heard of CMF and then got on here to read.
He went for it. It raised my risks of reoccurance by 4% (TC was 92% and CMF is 88%), but that was fine with me for milder SE's!
I am not getting a port. ONC said he doesn't feel I need one for this. I get 2 injections per 28 day cycle.
I play on an over 30, co-ed soccer team, so went ahead and paid my registration fee for this Spring season in hopes to play every Sunday. We shall see
I am definitely going to ask about NOT getting the steriods. I have a 19 and 17 yr old and started over now having a 2 yr old. It took me the entire 2 yrs to loss all the baby weight, plus some extra...which was nice. I am back down to 122 lbs and do not want to gain it back due to chemo!! I do work out routinely, so I know that will help. And I drink water daily!
Alrighty, Monday will be here soon...I will stay in touch to let everyone know how it goes.
Thanks again SURVIVORS!!!
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You are welcome Janina but I call my self a cancer warrior rather than survivor LOL
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Congratulations to everyone who finished!!! I have #6 of 8 on Tuesday and starting to dread it already. While it is not as bad as I had thought it would be, I just feel very tired lately and can't wait for it to be over.
Merilee - I've been having Neulasta shots since round 2 and although I was against it, I seem to feel better than I did before the shot. I take one claritin tablet the day of the injection and for the two days following. I only had bone pain after the 1st shot when I didn't take the claritin.
Be well everyone!~
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No bone pain yet but I decided to take a children's dose of clariton just in case. So far I have only taken one zofran yesterday morning and nothing else and no nausea at all.
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I was so worried about the bone pain with the neulasta shots and was pleasantly surprised when I had to have the shot and experienced no major side effects. I kept waiting for the pain to start! Everyone is different, I guess, and I was one of the lucky ones, so if you haven't had to face the shots yet and are dreading it, there is hope that you'll have no problems with it.
Everyone have a great weekend.
Rita
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Still no problems from the chemo or the shot
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Merilee....happy to hear that you're doing well. Wish I could say the same. Last night was tough. Nausea and aching all over. The pains in my neck and back were so bad but thankfully that has eased off today. Hoping that tomorrow will be even better.
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Merilee: so glad that you are doing so well.
Cabmom: sorry you are feeling poorly but since it is your last CMF, you can look forward to feeling better each day.
Hugs.
Mandy
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Merilee, glad you have no repercussions from the Neulasta.
Cabmon, is the pain from the Neulasta or from the chemo? Hoping it will be gone by tomorrow.
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Well, went to take a nap at 4pm yesterday and did not wake up until this morning. Very out of character for me.
Cabmom, hang in there, it will get easier from now on. Here is positive light coming your way.
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Cabmom..........once these last side effects fade away, you'll be "dancin'!" Hang in there a few more days!
Rita
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Hi all and thanks for the words of encouragement. Scared last night badly.....major pain in chest between breasts, pain in middle of shoulder blades, and in my neck, also indigestion like crazy. Called onc hoping that he would tell me that it was from chemo and that it would improve.....he sent me straight to the emergency room just as a precaution where I spent most of last night. They did a battery of tests to ensure no damage had been done to my heart and after many, many hours of tests and meds and more iv's, they released me after my bp returned to semi-normal and all was running more smoothly. Thankfully my heart is fine but still having the pains so I'm on more med's for 2 more weeks to try to get my system back in sync. Have to be honest, I was a little scared when the pain continue to intensify with each hour. I would think it was subsiding, then I'd have MAJOR pains. I know it's going to get better.....just hoping it will be soon. Thanks again for all the encouragement.....couldn't do this without any of you
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Cabmom:
Sorry to hear of your difficulties. But the good news is that soon this will be in your past. My last chemo gave me the worst of my side effects and it took me a bit to get over them. You are doing exactly the right things and frightening as it must have been, at least you were in the right place to be cared for. I am sending a prayer and a hug for you. .
Cyber hugs.
Mand
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I get my 1st CMF tomorrow. Could you all tell me how your hair held up so far (loss/thinning)?
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