Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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I didn't have thrush so I can't say but if it's just sores stay away from acid stuff like tomatoes, eat soft foods and no spicy foods so you don't irritate it. If it is sores next chemo try sucking on ice during taxotere. It worked for me.
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Sunflower, You need to get the nurse to check and see if it is thrush. Had it twice and everything I ate was scratchy like it was covered in sand. They gave me cipro. Mine did not look really white like the pics but it was getting there. If it is get dollar store toothbrushes and throw them away after use. It was such a relief when it finally went away. ibraylil0
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sunflower71 - I got the mouth sores several days into round#1. My onc office gave me Caphosol which is a ready to mix 2 part solution. You pop one of each of the ampules, mix it together, swish and spit twice. They very nicely gave me a case of samples. It only took 2 days to fix the problem and I had about 8 separate sores. My tongue still feels slightly burnt, I can't taste anything, had zero appetite and lost 4 lbs. which I have gained back in the last two weeks. I go Thurs. for the next round.
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sunflower- I ended up w/ thrush first then mouthsores. my md gave me meds for both- helped clear it up fast- I wish i had not waited a few days to call them- i could not eat until it improved.
hope you feel better soon.
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Hi has anyone heard of microRNA? Can our tumors be tested for it? I found an article about it but don't know how to post it I will continue to try...only for her2.
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Starella - Interesting article. This looks like the list of genes analyzed by oncotype DX and I don't see PTEN in there.
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Omaz, I see my bs tomorrow, i will ask her.0
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It's interesting, please post what she has to say!
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I'm hoping/praying we get tested for that....
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Sunflower...
My mouth hurt more with this current round (5) as well. Just a heavy sore feeling. I am constantly asking my husband to try my food because it just doesnt taste right to me.
I am curious with the weight part for all of you. How has your weight been since you started TCH. Gain or loss? I am holding steady myself but I am working at it too.
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I put on about 3 lb at my 4th tx. After the 4th tx my exercise slowed to nothing. I put on a total of 8lbs. I was pretty thin to start so not too bad but now working to take it off.
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I tend to lose about 7 pounds from day 1 of my chemo to day 5. Just no appetite at all. Then I slowly start gaining weight after that point. By the point I am now (last chemo this Friday yeahh) I am at my starting point and struggling to not gain any more. I am worried about after this last chemo if I will struggle even more so when I don't have any more chemo to drop it initially.
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I keep track of my weight/caloric intake for free on fitday.com. (It has awesome graphic so I can just look at the plot line and see if I am gaining over the course of treatment or losing.)
So far this is how it goes for me.
The day of treatment I weigh between 117-120 pounds. For 3-5 days after, I go up to 125. I spend two nights not sleeping and running to the bathroom to pee every other hour, and I drop down to @ 121-122. I then fluctuate between 123-120 until about 3 days before my next treatment when I will hit a solid # between 117-120 and stay there.
I could say I haven't gained any weight since I drop to my original 117 almost every cycle, even if it's just for 3 days or so.....but I probably have gained a few pounds because I KNOW I've lost some muscle mass...which technically (since muscle weighs more than fat) should have brought me even lower than my original 117. I'm hoping I only lost about 3 pounds of muscle...which technically means I should have went from 117 to 114.....but since my baseline continues to be 117, I probably gained 3 pounds. It could be fluid retention, I have some of that....but I'm not banking on it.
Does that make sense? lol
I exercise every single day for 60 minutes, but will took 3 days off after last treatment, my heart really hurts when I work out and can't take the intensity it did before.
I'm 5'4" and have a healthy BMI, but I swear my butt feels saggy, and I've never had thighs before, but now they're tight in my jeans...I just feel saggy and "water logged" all over.....can't wait for it to go away.
Please God, let it go away.
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My jeans feel tight in my thighs and abdomen as well despite being the same weight as before. I was wondering about the muscle loss too. My calves feel very weak compared to what they were like before surgery and chemo.
I am 24 BMI and was very active before surgery and chemo. Top end for normal BMI.
I do some walking and such but with this hernia I have now (from the DIEP) fast walking aggravates it.
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I was a runner until round 3 (ran a 1/2 marathon right before that round), after that it hurt to run. I got out of breath quickly. That is when the weight gain came in. I am up about 10lbs heavier since chemo began. My once muscular legs are now mushy and I have a "muffin top". It is definitely the chemo that has contributed to the muscle loss, not my lack of running. I have had to take breaks before due to injuries and never lost this much muscle. I ran an average of 30 miles per week until January 15th.
I am ok with losing my body to gain my life. When it is all over I will have the rest of my life to work out and get into my skinny jeans.
Thanks for the tips on the mouth sores, I am going to have the nurse check to see if its thrush.
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Nora,
I'm fairly ignorant of DIEP...isn't that where they don't take any muscle? How did you get a hernia from it?
Sunflower, I ran for 20 years, got my husband into it...he was a marathoner for years, Boston, Alaska, etc...I had to stop running though because of runner's knee...I couldn't run 1/2 mile now without fracturing my knee....but I do non-impact cardio (cross trainer, bike, etc) and more importantly weight training ... I logged an easy 75 miles a week running and couldn't believe I dropped two sizes when I stopped running and started weight training...lifting heavy and until muscle exhaustion (not the wimpy 5-10 pounders).
The fastest way to lose weight is to increase muscle mass (which I am sure you already know). Weight training (Especially in chemopause) is more important for staying/getting slim than cardio (not to mention bone health).
Once we're in chemopause cardio really isn't an effective calorie burner, and it isn't a significant source of muscle building either (we start to lose 2 lbs of muscle mass a year at 35, more of course in chemopause, unless you directly interevene to stop it by weight training muscles to exhaustion (tearing down, building back up...)....cardio is good for cardiovascular health though...but not for perm. weight loss. Only muscle can make you lose weight and keep it off. And it is MUCH more forgiving when you over eat
If you have to choose between the two because you're budgeting energy...go for the weights. It will give you the most bang for your time and burn more calories in the long run.
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TonLee
Yes, hernias with DIEP is not a regular occurrence and yes the muscle is spared. This is some sort of incisional hernia I'm thinking. I don't even know yet. My onc told me I had a hernia when she felt around in that area after I was complaining of pain and a slight bulge. She told me to wear a binding garment and a month after we are done with the chemo I can go back to the PS to get it corrected. As she said "We are not stopping chemo for hernia repairs or anything that can wait"
I just figure I hit the jackpot again. 1 in 100 get hernias after DEIP just like when I told the radiologist before I was diagnosed with BC, "I'm not too worried, only 10% of lumps found in breasts are cancerous" Her reply, "I think you are the 10 percent"
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I know what you mean Nora.
Why can't our luck play out like that with the lottery? Or something POSITIVE....lol...
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Funny but I've been thinking I should play the lottery since my diagnosis. My odds of getting breast cancer at my age, with my family history and mostly healthy living was like less than 2%. I figured if I've won the cancer lottery maybe my time to win other things is now.
Maybe I'll buy a ticket tomorrow.
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Hey Nora~
Put me in that small hernia percentage. I had DIEP and got a hernia at the incision. They went back in and put mesh in but I am sort of lumpy and if I press on that side I can feel the mesh!
PS told me I had "thin skin" and "not much area to work in." Oh well...
Good thoughts heading your way.
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Hi Ang
Did they use the DIEP incision to do the repair? How far out from DIEP was it till you realized you had a hernia? For me it was about 3 months out.
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TonLee, you are so right about weightlifting vs. cardio for weight loss. I never do cardio, can't stand it, but I am/was a weightlifter and I had great definition. Muscle mass burns calories even at rest. After reading up on the steriods we have been taking, I learned that this class of steroids eat away at muscle, not build it up like the steroids body builders use.
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I am disappointed to hear about the cardio not being as effective while we are in chemopause and switching more to strength training.
I have always loathed strength training and have been more of a cardio girl. Jogging on the treadmill, doing the elliptical and also rebound classes have been my main focus.
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Nora, it isn't just with chemopause or menopause. Weightlifting in any form will produce better overall results than cardio. I have read that some cardio activities are actually counter productive.
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I have never been able to lose more than a couple pounds with aerobic exercises. When I do strength training the weight comes off. If out of shape it takes me about 3 months to start seeing the weight drop.
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*Researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. This is because muscle is 'metabolically active ' and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you're not moving.
Think about this...by the time we're 39-40, we've lost roughly 10 lbs of muscle mass.
10lbs of muscle burns roughly 350-500 calories a day.
That means by 40 you have to be burning an extra 350-500 calories a day, or cutting that out of your caloric intake, just to stay the same weight.
So let's break that down.
A solid one hour HARD cardio every day burns about 200-400 calories (on equipment like stationary bikes, cross trainers etc..Hard running is higher and addressed below. (of course weight and fitness level varies it a bit, but surprisingly, not by too much...and it doesn't matter what the calorie burner on the cardio equip says...WHY?
We mislead ourselves when we talk about the total calorie burn (TCB) of exercise rather than the net calorie burn (NCB). To figure the NCB of any activity, you must subtract the resting metabolic calories your body would have burned, during the time of the workout, even if you had never gotten off the sofa. That wonderful cardio equipment doesn't usually do that...though some machines now have "fat calories" which is about 1/3 the number of the calorie counter...that one is closest to accurate).
Intensity is important as well. For example, running hard, means your breathing hard, can't talk in more than a few words, and have lots of sweat. It means on a scale of 1-10, you're pretty sure even if your life depended on it, you couldn't go up by more than 2 points before hitting 10.)
So let's look at running, as one of the highest calorie burners, HARD running...not jogging along, but serious intensity.
To get how many NET calories you burn working at a hard intensity (like the running described above) multiply .63 x your weight for each mile. So if you weigh 130 pounds and run a 10 minute mile (working hard but not at maximum exertion) you burn about 200 calories a mile. Sounds great right? Until you factor in the muscle loss and realize you have to run for 20-30 minutes just to break even...meaning, to burn the calories you're missing muscles are no longer around to burn, that pesky 350-500 calories a day.
How many people do you know who run that hard every single day? Or can get that kind of result on cardio equip, in zoomba, whatever.
3500 calories is a pound. If you don't exercise at all, and continue eating exactly the same, by 40 you can expect to be putting on about 1 pound a week! Some call it middle age spread....but it is SO avoidable.
And if you don't do something to stop muscle loss, by the time you're 50...well good luck trying to do hours and hours of hard cardio...just to break even.
Truth is, cardio is good for cardiovascular health, but not for weight loss and long term maint. There is a way to lift weights in such a way (with minimal rests between sets) that can be as effective as cardio for vascular training. That's right, I'm saying it...you can lose weight, and stay thin and NOT do cardio. (Though I'd personally rather rest between sets and do cardio for vascular health).
*Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.
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I gained 20 pounds during chemo. I just started dieting 2 weeks ago and have taken 7 off so far, much more than the 20 I gained to go! I hate that I just sat on the couch and ate what I wanted, but at the time I gave myself permission. My next step is to get my strength back. My muscles are so weak. A nurse told me today that swimming or water aerobics works best for people coming out of chemo. Less stress on the body.
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Mich,
Chemo is hard. Don't beat yourself up. Congrats on the 7!
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Hi Michon
That is inspiring news to me. 7 lbs is awesome. Thank you for sharing and keep of the good work. I am really afraid of this treatment taking so many parts of me. So it;s nice to hear you are working hard at taking them back. I start in 2 weeks and I really am counting the days..
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