Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
Comments
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Colleen: I read somewhere on here, that if your scalp is sore after having your hair buzzed, it is the hair follicles where the hair is "loose" but has not come out. The suggestion was to get one of those sticky lint rollers, and roll it across your head to remove those loose hairs. I have done that quite a bit when it feels sore, and it seems to help. I have one had one "red spot" on my scalp. Hope this helps......
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Thanks, Ginnie and Sue. Sue, I take great comfort that you still have eyebrows and eyelashes after all 6 rounds! The thought of losing them has freaked me out more than my hair. My nurse practitioner said she's she's a handful of women keep their eyebrows, so you're one of them. I'm hoping I am, too. I still have pubic hair and arm hair-- that nasty, wiry chin hair hasn't come back, and I haven't shaved my legs in three weeks (although there's a wee bit of growth there), so I'll take those as good signs.
I'll try the lint roller. My head has been sore, and now that the weather has gotten summery here in SoCal, it's hot and itchy with a hat, even my cotton baseball cap.
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Writer-I am interested in hearing the answer to your question too. I am a week behind you and I still have my hair. Although, I am losing a LOT every day. I had tons of hair to start with, which is why i think it still looks ok-not great, but alright. Anyway,I have held off on shaving it. Not sure how much longer i will be able to do that.... I have also wondered if the Avastin makes any difference. The only reason i wonder this is that there was a gal in the Look Good Feel Good class that was taking Avastin and she still had her hair. Granted, it was extremely thin, but she hadn't lost it all.
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Hi All, Read about you often and hope for the best for each of you. I have chemo, rad finished but still do Herceptin. Has anyone heard from Lisa?? Praying for us all. I started a non profit and would love thoughts. www.areasontoclean.org Love ya I am also dizzie or spacey a lot anyone else? NO i am not blonde LOL0
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Hey guys - Wow what a week. I got the bone scan on Tuesday, my doc called me personally Wednesday evening (that alone scared the beejeesy outta me). The scan showed abnormalities on the 5th and 6th ribs - the first xrays showed an issue with th 9th rib. WTH? So the GP consulted with the BC surgeon and they sent me for a PET Scan - had that yesterday. Since they did not go striaght for the biopsy (like they had said they would) I guess they are checking for any more little surprises my body may have.
So here is my life for the past 11 days: I have a horse in the hospital in Okeechobee (45 minutes away) with an abcess in her eye getting round the clock meds, my retreiver went in the hosipital here on Monday and had emergency surgery Wednesday night, multiple tests and biopsies have been sent out, but no results yet. I have been xrayed, scanned and rescanned with no answers. And Thursday, the rear brakes on my truck caught on fire! Tomorrow is my 46th birthday - Bet I don't forget this one!
To hell with all of it, I am gonna go take a pain pill and then ride my horse!!!
Lisa
(Gramma, my prayers are with yoiu for the punch biopsy on the 24th)
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Lisa -- wow ... what a week is right. Best of luck with your results and happy birthday!
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Lisa!!! [with big hugs for you]. Wow, you've really been through the mill the past couple weeks. I hope and pray that the PET scan will only show calcification or scar tissue and nothing more. Horse and dog both at the vet's at the same time has got to be dragging you down. My prayers are with them too. I know all to well how animals become part of the family. [[[[[more big hugs]]]]
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Lisa my thoughts are with you every day never meet you just kept up with all the notes and I am so sorry for your busy week but maybe that was gods way to keep your mind off of what was going on with you I jsut know in my gut feeling its going to be ok just some dumb thing maybe the bones have always been that way or maybe a fall when you were young. Please keep us posted and embrace your 46th things go south at 50 ..ha
Maura
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Wow, Lisa, hang in there. It could well be just the scars of being middle-aged and having an active life. I had a big scare as a teenager when I discovered a lump BELOW my breast-- scared my mom, too. Turned out to be a calcium deposit from the healing of a rib I didn't even know I'd broken. Once they figured that out, I remembered how it happened (a surfboard hitting me in ribs/chest). Lately there's been a lot of press about the "trauma" theory of cancer growth in people who don't carry genetic cancer risks-- which would be me. So I wonder if that same surfboard whacking that broke my rib led to calcification in my breast (which was there with my first mammogram a decade ago and could have been there for many many years) and eventually the DCIS and IDC I had in December.
But I digress... here's hoping the abnormalities are just harmless evidence of a life actively lived on your part, Lisa. Take care and keep us posted.
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Happy Cancerversary to Me!!!
One year ago today, at 5:15pm, I got the call that changed my life forever. With 9 simple words, compassionately uttered, ..."Ms. Jenkins, I don't have good news for you..."
...I became a survivor. Because that is also the precise moment my will to live kicked in.
I'm sure the doctor who called also at some point said, "You have breast cancer" or something along those lines, but honestly, I don't remember much beyond that first conversation and those 1st nine words.
I vaguely remember asking him if I was going to die and him saying "not today, and probably not tomorrow" and then he proceeded to talk about the importance of starting treatment right away and how that would make a huge difference in my prognosis.
Yesterday, I got to re-live many of those anxious moments from a year ago, because I had another mammogram (for my remaining right breast) and MRI (whole upper torso). I felt as if I were literally re-tracing my steps, and I had a flood of mixed emotions.
At this point, I have the same feeling today that I had a year ago. Overwhelming Gratitude.
I'm grateful my cancer was caught when it was (per my oncologist, "not soon enough but right on time!").
I'm grateful for the amazing medical team assembled for my care at Mercy Hospital. They are truly the BEST in every possible way, and this has made SUCH a huge difference.
I'm grateful this year has flown by so fast!!! We have been through SO MUCH and I'm still just amazed at how fast it has seemed to go by!
I'm grateful to be cancer-free, to be "dancing with NED" (No Evidence of Disease). Every day is a chance to make the choices and changes to keep it that way!
I'm grateful for the love and support and prayers of so many friends and family! My circle of love and friendship has just grown tremendously and this has truly made a significant difference in my overall quality of life!
What do I love about life today? That I'm ALIVE!!!
So talk to me...What do YOU love about life?
Happy Spring! Alaina
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Happy Anv. Alaina what a pretty name you have you much be a beautiful person I love every day that the sun shines and I can feel loved and the thoughts of anohter spring coming in. My date was Feb 21st of 08 but I was told my anv. date is day of surgery that was April 7th of 08 and so far so good so good luck to you and smell those spring flowers. My doctor at that time I switched told me you are a lovely lady but you have bc I would of rather been a b and not have it ha
Maura enjoylife
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Wow, Alaina, thank you for sharing such an expression of joy and gratitude, after all you've been through!
I love that I could devote yesterday to my baby's 17th birthday, and be energetic and feel good and not be self-conscious about being bald (if hatted) at her high school Mother-Daughter Luncheon (which happened to fall on her birthday). I loved being with her and her 20-year-old sister and my husband and two of her lifelong friends last night (we took them all to dinner and to a great sketch-improv comedy club). I love that the fear that gripped my girls and husband when I started this journey has abated as they see that I'm doing just fine, and even when I'm coping with side effects, I'm getting through them.
I'm so grateful from what I've learned from all of you, and to know that I'm not alone in this journey.
And it's another beautiful day in LA, and my dog and I are headed for a nice long walk, so life is good!
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Lisa, I'm sorry your week has been filled with so much turmoil. Hopefully, the weekend will be much better. I'm still praying for benign results for you. It seems that many things can show up on a bone scan that are harmless. Please keep us posted.
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Lisa, you poor thing! You have been through the ringer!! I hope everything comes out ok. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Today is my anniversary of my first TCH. It is hard to believe that it has been a year now.
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Lisa, I hope everything comes out okay for you and your animals.
Alaina.. you are a magnificent lady!!!! I remember my phone call too... not so much all of the words but the fact that I had just pulled into my driveway with a car load of groceries, and no one else was home. I made the doctor tell me ..........and then I carried in my groceries while crying.. it was horrible.
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Alaina, Happy Cancerversary!! I actually have two cancerversaries - 8/24 (2001) and 9/10 (2009). I love simply being alive! Enjoying my grandbabies, seeing what a wonderful lady and mother my daughter has become, being able to talk to so many amazing women here. My motto has always been "I have to grow older, but I don't have to grow up". Well, now I know I don't HAVE to grow older, but due to God's grace, wonderful doctors, and caring friends and family, I am. Best wishes and prayers for all of us facing this "beast". I know I am in excellent company!
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Thanks for all the kind thoughts!
For all the anniversary folks YIPPEE!!!!
Headed to church!
Lisa
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Thanks Maura!
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Thanks Writer! We've finally had beautiful weather here too!
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Thanks Wendy!
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Thanks Ginnie!
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Alaina, happy Cancerversary. So happy that you are dancing with NED. I want to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your post. I had been feeling a little down and reading about gratitude always lifts my spirits. So happy that you are in such a state of gratitude and that you being in that state helped me get there too!
Lisa, you are due for a good week! Wishing you the best!!
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend,
Verene
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AmyisStrong - it is totally understandable that you would be that upset! It's not like canceling magazine subscription, for crying out loud (although you get plenty of warning from them
) , even the water company here will call you if you are even close to being late. You would think on something this important they would want to talk to you about it first. It's definitely and imperfect system. 0 -
Lisa;
What a week, Its gotta get better, hang in there! Your diagnose is similar to mine, had BM as well just finished TCH on the 10th and starting to feel pretty good, except that I have been feeling this pain on the left side middle back. I dont even know how to describe it, its not excrutiating, its just THERE! I read your post and got me thinking....Of course, having this BC diag, one always questions every ache and pain. Just wondering if your pain was in the same area as im describing. its been a few days now, and its not constant. Will call my onc tomm. Best of luck to you, in my prayers. Rose
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Happy birthday, Lisa! Hope you get all good news from here on out!
And Alaina, happy cancerversary! Mine's coming up next month and I've been thinking about it a lot lately--how this time last year I was clueless about what was in store for me.
Hang in there everyone who is just beginning to go through treatment. You'll get through it and soon be looking back!
Becky
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Hello Ladies,
Some are celebrating and some have little cause for celebration. My heart goes out to those waiting for results right now. The scariest time is waiting. I finished my last Herceptin this week too, but it feels a little strange to be cast adrift with nothing but Arimidex to keep the cancer away.
I was glad to hear just now that the health care bill passed. I know it is not perfect, but we were long overdue for some kind of health overhaul. For those of us with breast cancer histories it is important because it should eliminate the risk of being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
Today the sun shone, a bird sang in a tree showing spring green, and our country tried to help its neediest (instead of greedy bankers).
Linda
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I'm with you, Linda. Not a perfect health care bill, of course, but needed and historic. My husband sticks with a flawed and fading career and isn't making the career change he'd like only because of health insurance. It used to be half of my family of 4 was uninsurable-- daughter #1 has juvenile diabetes, and will be off our plan in two years when she graduates from college, and my husband has type 2 diabetes and a couple of other inherited issues. I was the perfect-health person who would never have insurance issues-- ha ha, but I trumped them all!
Anyway, I am grateful for our good insurance and for not being denied in this time of need and for my family's general good fortune, and this plan will help more people through times of health crisis.
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I am happy for the Health Care bill so far too. My husband and I have become some of those who could not get health care because of what we have been through the last 2 years. I am wondering what our insurance will do to us now in the few months they have before the change. I have been told I ran up a huge bill because I had cancer by our insurance administrators and it made me feel like I did this to get money from them. I told her I did not gain anything from this and I paid a lot of my retirement for some of the health care too. I also told her I had hoped I would be cancer free after all this treatment and she didn't say anything for a while and I guess she was thinking how she sounded. she did apologize to me. she after all had just had a baby and used insurance for that! she told me she hoped I would beat cancer too.
Lisa I am hoping for the best for you and I am a little scared of the punch biopsy but the onc told me he thought it would be okay. I hope he is right.
I am happy for those of you finishing chemo and I am thinking of you that are still going through this. I know once you finish chemo you feel weird like they have just forgot about me and what if it comes back. this is not an unusual feeling in fact I think most of us felt that. You spend 2 years of your life fighting this stuff and now you are finished. You will get used to the not going to chemo but you never get used to checking for lumps or aches and pains. I have so many aches and pains form other illnesses and so I am not sure what to think when I get a lump or a pain I never felt before.Most will be okay and some will cause a scare. I pray you will all beat this thing. A lot of women have, more now than used to. I am so thankful for those that did the trial for Herceptin because without it a lot lives would be lost. We are Lucky Women.
Carolyn
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Today is the day that I would have went in for my Herceptin treatment. It actually seems so weird not to have to go. I think I have gotten used to going over to the hospital for something for the last year and my car can probably drive itself there, lol.
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congrats ccbaby, that must be awesome. I can't wait to be there. I have a ways to go, but great to see people who have gone through and made it to the other side!
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