Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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Thanks Weety! I haven't had a period since right after my first chemo, which was March 20, 2009. I have read on these boards that it ranges anywhere from a year or longer for our periods to return, and some don't return at all.
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ccbaby, I notice that you are not hormone positive, so you might not know. But maybe somenone else does. . . if your periods don't come back after chemo, do you still have to do tamoxifen or other estrogen suppressing med right away, or can you wait till your estrogen levels start going back up?
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I had my last period on the first day of chemo and never had another one. (That was in April.) I went straight to Tamoxifen after radiation. Didn't matter at all that my period hadn't come back. I have been told that while usually you are considered menopausal after no periods for a year, that after chemo they want it to be a whole EXTRA year to be totally sure. Then I guess they might change me to an AI from Tamoxifen. Haven't gotten that far yet.
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weety~ My hot flashes stopped about 2 months before my period came back. I am back to being cold all the time. My period started back 7 months after I finished chemo.
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Weety... I am 46, my periods stopped after my first chemo, at the end of March 2009, I finished chemo in July, and I was having hot flashes up until about December sometime. Then I started to feel the cramping for one day like I used to get at ovulation time, and later, a very very slight period. I noticed my hot flashes were not happening anymore, and then in January I had what was a normal period. No more hot flashes. I was a little worried because I know that means my hormones were back to normal, and I didn't think that was good, so I told the doctor. He said that its different for everyone and that he had warned me that my period may or may not return. He will be starting me on Tamoxifen soon, but he is not in a hurry to do it since I am still on Herceptin. The original reason I had not started Tamoxifen yet was because I was on coumadin and those 2 don't mix. But then I had the surgery last month too , so he is just waiting for things to settle down I guess.
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ccbaby: Love your pictures, you look great! Must have been exciting to style a celebrity!
Weety911: Oh my, I can sooo relate to what you have said about the hot flashes but more importantly the aches and feeling as if I am 90 years old. This is how I try to describe it to friends but seeing you post this makes me think maybe I am not nuts and this is really real. If I sit for even a short time and then try to get up...wow, it's like I haven't moved in years! My body just aches and just as you said I feel as if I am 90 years old. I finished chemo in October and on Herceptin until July and have been wondering if this is caused from the Herceptin. I was never like this before chemo and can't believe it's just aging, I am not that old (50).
I have not gotten my period back and my onc told me this would probably throw me into menopause due to being close in age to that time but wonder if that means I will never get it again or just start to become irregular. I was suppose to start Tamoxifen 6 weeks ago but have not due to my fear of more se's of hot flashes and other se's associated with Tamox and not sure if I want to deal with more se's that change the way I feel every day! Go to the oncologist next week and not sure what a will tell him about not starting the Tamox...I am sure he will downplay the se's of it all!
For those of you on Tamoxifen have you had any noticeable se's?
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HI SISTAHS:
Just back to this hip and back pain for a moment. I spoke to my onc and he said it is common and can last for a long time. Yippie!!! Also If you all have not had your vitamin D levels check I would strongly suggest it The reason being that It can cause bone and joint pain as well as not allowing your calcium to absorb. Just sayin..........
Great pic CC.
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We got about 4 to 5 inches. My hubby went to work, but I chose to work from home. Still not feeling well after last weeks treatment. Overall muscle soreness seems to be the worst this time!
All the schools closed around here. It was the "Major" news story all morning. I have to laugh as it didn't seem that bad.
Congrats on getting your second to last one! That is awesome!
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pouring here!! I am less than one mile from the mudslide area. The news is pretty much non stop here too. A little over the top.!!
Srlcardsfan: Hang in there. I used a heating pad and television to help through the achy uggs.
Hope everyone is weathering the weather
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Ladies not sure if anyone is where I am but I have ended chemo and then herceptain last April of 09 now I jsut go for the blood work every 4 months but i hate it so much I guess I really feel for the new ones on chemo in there and it brings it all back and of course there is a fear of having a bad test but I have been feeling so much better than before they found my BC any one going through this maybe I should create a thread we will all be there and you might feel this way too.
Maura
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hello ladies
havent posted in a while but have read everything and you are all so informative so I figured i would throw this at you, hoping I can get some feedback....
Here goes...
Will have my 5th tch tc next wk, been handling it OK, fatigue being the worse.
Did a bit of housework on sat, scrub my floors on my knees, not bery smart I know!
woke up say morn @ 2am with hip pain and just aches na dpains throughout and so I took tylenol. Sunday just rested and finally called my onc at 10pm and at that point was running a 100.8 fever so off to the hospital I went. Long story short after runnig BW the dr concluded that I have cellulitis on my R/breast (cancer breast, had BM and have expanders now) it was slightly red and hot to the touch. My tx...iv antibiotics of vanco for 1 wk possibly 2. I saw my PS yest and
recomm me for a sono which I had today in which they found a thinf strip of fluid...UGGGGGHHHH!!!!! Haved to go back in 2 days because we are about to get hit with 2 ft of snow starting tonight. they want to make sure its cellulitis and not some underline problem!
SOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating...Just wondering if anyone experienced this or heard of this????
Both PS and Onc said, this may typically happen after surgery, but not 4 months done the road! Its all soo confusing.
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I am right behind you Christy! I just finished my 17th of 18 rounds of Herceptin. Just three more weeks to go!
I am so excited to be this close to the end. I remember how I longed to post that I had finished chemo; I remember how I felt when I finally made that post. However, I feel that making it through the post-chemo months was a much bigger accomplishment than chemo itself. During chemo, I was fighting for survival; after chemo, I was struggling for physical and emotional healing--for rejuvenation of my self. Little by little, the steps forward have begun to out number the steps back and I am truly feeling and seeing changes in my body, mind, and spirit that tell me my life beyond cancer treatment is fast approaching. It may take me years to complete my healing, but it is my intention to heal by living each day with joy and gratitude.
I wish us all the best.
Cheers!
Cloud
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Read this article, weety911 - it miht help answer your question about Tamoxifen if you've stopped having periods. It is the protocol my oncologist is following for me. No Tamoxifen if your periods stopped after chemo.0
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Koryn, Thanks for the link. I am assuming then that your periods still have not come back after the chemo induced menopause? What I think worries my onc is that my induced menopause will eventually wear off, and then obviously, if there is nothing to block that estrogen, it could start fueling the cancer. I was pregnant just 6 months before diagnosis, so there is a pretty darn good chance that I will get my periods back. Did your onc put you on an AI to block the rest of your body's estrogen or did he/she feel it was enough protection with just your ovaries shut down? Did he/she say what your next steps would be if your periods came back?
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Koryn, thanks for the link. I'm not thrilled at the idea of Tamoxifen after my 6 rounds of TC and 1 year of Herceptin and Avastin. I'm 51, was in the menopause process when this hit but don't have a clear picture of it because I was still on the pill (stayed on a low-dose to keep fibroids at bay and have an easier time of things), and the pill can cause some false periods. Two of my younger sisters are already done with menopause, and of course whatever part of it I wasn't in last week I'm in now since I just started chemo.
Anyway, that study is encouraging but applies to pre-menopausal women. If anyone has input for perimenopausal or in-process menopausal, I'd love to hear it. I can't imagine I'll return to periods when I end chemo around my 52nd birthday. But they made a huge deal about me being in the BETH trial-- I had to sign an agreement to use birth control because of the fear of pregnancy. 52, breast cancer and a baby! Not gonna happen!!
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Cloud - CHEERS TO YOU! I have to say what an uplifting post...love your attitude.
Nanadada - How frustrating for you! There always seem to be so many bumps on the road through this cancer journey. My prayers are with you.
Cakelady - I forget to mention I live near Chino Hills High School...we should meet for lunch sometime, we live very close to each other.
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weety911 -
my doctor feels as i do that the 13 years on "the pill" contributed to my cancer. that plus a non BRCA identified mutation since I have 2 great aunts (who died at 40 and 42 of bc) and two great aunts who were diagnosed in the 60s but not BRCA 1 or 2. He says there are others (BRCA genes) we don't know about yet. He feels that since I am no longer being assaulted by daily hormones on the pill and that my ovaries are not functioning I am in the clear and my greater risk is being her2neu+++ (that is three times over expressed her2 neu which comes in a one plus two plus or three plus sign) NOT the three + er/pr. Her2 cancers that are +++ are very aggressive.
The closer you are to real menopause age the more likely your periods are gone for good. Of course we will never know for sure until time tells.
I use Progesterone cream to balance any excess estrogen. You really have to read teh Book What Your Doctor may Not tell You About Breast cancer (you can read just about the entire book at this link just by clicking on the arrows to turn each page!) to understand how this works. Sadly, most onco docs know nothing about women's health. You are better off talking to an endocrinologist. I no longer believe estrogen to be the big bad wolf. It is low progesterone but reading the book put this all into perspective for me.
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Question for all: has anyone had arm,chest, neck pain since starting TCH? I have been having short, somewhat sharp, and random pain for the past few days. Was sent to ER last night, EKG,chest x-ray and all bloodwork came back okay. My port has not worked since it was put in 1/12 and I have a port study scheduled for Monday. The ER dr said they tested to see if there was any evidence of a blood clot(no). the pain is on my left side which is also where my port is, and of course my heart. ER dr. and onc both said they were comfortable sending me home and following up with port study but i'm still feeling anxious about the whole thing and have no idea why i am having this pain. anyone had any experience like this???
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Cin Can..sure we can do that sometime. You can email me if you want to, or if you're on Facebook we can connect there. Let me know which is easier and I will give you the info.
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Youngmomof3 - I have had general muscle achiness after each TCH treatment. Have had only 2 so far, and it seems to be gone by day 8 or 9. No sharp pain that I can recall, althought I did start to suffer from heartburn about a week ago. Dr gave me ok to take the 14 day course of Priolesec.
Let us know what you find out.
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I haven't been on this thread in awhile, but Cakelady, I remember your old pic. I love the new one and your hair looks so darn cute!0
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Oh my gosh, Bold, Jamieh, CCBaby and California Cloud all have beautiful pics too!!! The hair is growing... Hope you are all feeling well!
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Cloud...Woo hooo, the end is so near and SO WELL SAID!!! I am going to copy that off and print it off because that is exactly how I feel too!
Thank you kjbell!
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Tammy - Short random pain on the left side of chest seems vaguely familiar, I know I never asked the doc to look at it. I do remember sharp pains around my port, but that seemed to correspond to dehydration. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are feeling.
Koryn - I suppose this is a little late in the game for me to be asking this, but how do you figure out your level over-expressing? I was first diagnosed with IHC and then FISH. FISH was 8.1 amplified. I know that 8.1 is a true HER2 positive, but no one ever spoke of a + rating.
Follow up on question of Ports - When the question of ports came up a while back I didn't know the name of the port I have, but I just found it: Vaxcel Port made of titanium with a PASV valve that remains closed when not in use--so it never has to be flushed. I got the child size and it has worked very well for me.
kjbell - I agree with you about cakelady/Wendy's photo; it is lovely. Wendy, I have been admiring it since you posted it!
Kitchen beauty treatment - It seems that bc.org is sporting an ad for skin care and I thought I would share my latest skin care find: Miracle Whip, the sandwich spread! My skin needed more care than my pocket book could handle so I went on line looking for kitchen beauty treatments. I know it sounds crazy, but I put the Miracle Whip on, leave it for about five minutes, then rinse it off. I am 53 years old and my husband is amazed by my diminished lines and wrinkles on my face. I have been using it for about a month. This morning I asked my husband how I looked and he said radiant. Radiant! from a $2 jar of sandwich spread! Oh man, have I been wasting big bucks at the cosmetic counter. Just thought I would share. . .
Cheers!
Cloud
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Cloud, when someone says they are HER2+, it usually means that they are HER2+++. Mine was labeled HER2: 3+ on my path report. This was from the IHC method. Herceptin only works on tumors that over express the HER2 receptors at a 3+ level (although I think they sometimes use it on the borderline 2+ tumors as well) If a tumor is HER2 1+, herceptin does not work because the HER2 receptors are not overexpressed. It's confusing because everyone just shortens HER2+++ to HER2+, but it means the same thing. Usually if you are HER2 1+, it is said that you are HER2 negative.
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Kjbell and Cloud... Thank you sooo much for the compliments on my hair,,, I was not really liking it there for a while, but it finally got to the point that I could fix it in a way that looked normal. I have never even trimmed it since I was bald, this is how it grew back on its own. I still want to get it back to my normal shoulder length, but I at least I can see now how I look with short hair. What a way to learn huh..... we do things the hard way don't we? But thanks everyone for liking my hair. I think everyone's is looking real cute!!!
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I'm going to try to add a picture here.... it is me looking at my wedding pic, this is how we looked 19 yrs ago. I just took this picture of myself... ha ha.
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Christy I don't know why , but it kept putting 2 pictures up and I couldnt get rid of the 2nd one..... I only copy and pasted it once!! sorry you have to look at me twice!
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What an adorable picture Wendy!!! I love it! Your hair is longer than mine, looks great!! The same thing happened to me when I uploaded pics and I hit 'preview' first and then backspaced the second pic.
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Anyone on this thread with HER2+, ER-/PR- that did Chemo first - was lumpectomy an option when Chemo was done?
It seems that most if not all on here, from what I can see had surgery first before Chemo or after Chemo went the mastectomy route.
I have no clue what to do, and several of you have pm'ed me with info which I appreciate. My doctors haven't tried to sway me either way, and with Chemo until the end of April, I still have some time to figure this out.
Any info would be appreciated - feel free to pm me as well.
Thanks
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