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Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin

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Comments

  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 1,589
    edited September 2011

    Thanks NMoss...please keep me posted on your experience with this...and the exchange when it happens!!

    Right now exchange seems a long way away for me...so please allow me to live vicariously through you!

    t 

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    nmoss - Oh yay!  Please come and let us know how you are doing.  I am so excited for you!  It seems a long way off for me, but I am sure yours will turn out beautifully!  Thanks for the congrats - you are right, we have to celebrate it all!

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    tonlee - how the heck are you, where have you been hiding?  I missed you!

  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 1,589
    edited September 2011

    Hey SK,

    I've been around...traveling a lot....I keep up with you guys even when I don't comment :)

    I'm good.  3 more Herceptin to go....I have to go for Chest X-Ray tomorrow and MUGA next week...Herceptin is really damaging my heart....oh well, other than that....I'm golden :)

    Thanks for asking!

    When do you plan your exchange?  I'm looking toward the end of the year, spring of next year...I have to go to Texas (San Antonio) for TWO weeks minimum, and that is proving practically impossible with 2 kids in school and my husband constantly traveling.

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    tonlee - hey!  Glad you only have 3 H left, hopefully this muga will not show any worsening.  I am due for the third echo in a couple of weeks, but won't finish H until Jan/Feb of '12.  As far as exchange goes, I am pretty pathetic.  I had the left TE replaced in late July.  He only put about 175cc in at time of surgery, so as not to stress the skin.  I have had 2 fills so I am at 225cc now.  My right has had one fill on top of the original surgical fill last Nov., and it is at 300.  Everything came to an abrupt halt due to an antibiotic resistant UTI diagnosed a week ago.  After culturing I finally got a suitable antibiotic last night but it has a cross-reaction possibility (I am allergic to Penicillin and Levaquin) of 10%.  I was afraid to take it last night as DH was not home, so I waited until this morning.  So far, so good - and I am finally not in so much pain.  Can't have a fill until 5 days on the drugs - PS is out of town next week so won't get a fill (my first bi-lat fill!) until second week of Oct.  At this rate it will be next year before exchange! We should go together!!

  • musicalmom
    musicalmom Member Posts: 46
    edited September 2011

    Hi everyone...been struggling so I haven't written in a while. I am 7 days into chemo two and I have been suffering for days with major heartburn, struggling to find food that works. Starting taking prilosec but I am in so much discomfort. I hate to think what my insides look like. Anyone else had this issue?

  • Grimbol
    Grimbol Member Posts: 139
    edited September 2011

    Hi musicalmom, I have been looking for you daily wondering where you went, sooo nice to hear from you.

    Yes to the heartburn issue, try papaya enzyme it works well, TUMS are good too and get extra calcium into you if you need that, I do.

  • Grimbol
    Grimbol Member Posts: 139
    edited September 2011

    Super Papaya Enzyme Plus by American Health, I found it at Whole Foods, someone else ordered it from Amazon.  It was recommended on one of these threads and really helped me.

    Sos orry things have been so tough.  Hang in there, praying you daily.

  • Grimbol
    Grimbol Member Posts: 139
    edited September 2011

    oh yes and you are west coast too, soo many people on here seem to be east coast.  I tried reading a thread on Survivor, the TV show, but they'd all finished watching it and knew all the results when I was just beginning.

  • nmoss1000
    nmoss1000 Member Posts: 324
    edited September 2011

    Hi everyone! So far so good! When I woke up from the anesthesia I was totally loopy, I spent 3 hours in post up but felt well enough to go home. I took a percocet and went to bed. Best night of sleep I have had since Jan 26. I am a bit sore this am but totally manageable as long as I am laying down. I hoping I am really swollen, I took a peak under the surgical bra and the look rather large. I am hoping this is temporary and the will settle in over time. I am thrilled to have this milestone! Thanks ladies for being here!

  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 11,653
    edited September 2011

    MusicalMom I had horrible heartburn starting with chemo #1 and I was on prilosuc from the start. (Prilosuc never worked for me). Protonixed did help but eventually it even got worse on Protonix so I also was taking Carafate after tx 5 & 6. My new inurance wouldn't pa for Protonix so I did switch to Nexium for the last TX. Pasta or rice (no tomato sauce of course) probably won't bother you but you can't live on starches. I also found high fat foods an issue. Fish worked pretty well too.

    nmoss I thought mine looked huge after exchange too. Part of it is you are swollen. Also they need to settle. They will change in the first 3-6 months. I'm 3+ months out and very happy with mine.

  • nmoss1000
    nmoss1000 Member Posts: 324
    edited September 2011

    Thanks Lago, good to know!

  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited September 2011
    musicalmom - I had some hearburn after tx 1.  My onc PA said that some people cannot tell the difference between heartburn and nausea.  She suggested that I take my anti-nausea meds more regularly (she also suggested prilosec).  I started taking my nausea meds more regularly and I also had acupuncture treatment for heartburn.  Between the two of those it went away and didn't come back.  Good luck!  The acupuncture was offered through the oncology office for a reduced rate.
  • zumbagirl
    zumbagirl Member Posts: 250
    edited September 2011
    Wow, yesterday I met with the Radiologist to set an apt for mapping the breast, and to set a date to start Radiation, and he was reading my diagnosis out loud, and I had it wrong. I guess my tumor was 2.1cm (not 1cm, as I thought) and I am stage lla (not stage l) and I am positive in all three ER, PR, and Her2. I told him, in the beginning when I was getting all the info from the oncologist, I was having a melt down, and obviously heard wrong. Any way it was an informative visit, then I went to my herceptin apt, and while there they gave me a flu shot, and dang, those really hurt. Frown
  • omaz
    omaz Member Posts: 4,218
    edited September 2011
    zumbagirl - Sorry if I repeat myself, when you go to your rads planning and if they draw all over you with magic markers take pictures when you get home so you know where to put the lotions and things.  Glad you got your path report sorted out I guess it's good to know all the details!
  • zumbagirl
    zumbagirl Member Posts: 250
    edited September 2011

    thanks omaz, I was a little freaked out when he said they will put two small tattoo dots, on each side, so they will know exactly where to zap each time, but then I guess, it won't be much different then getting stuck with a needle each week , for blood draws. I am still after all these months of being poked with needles all the time, scared of needles. I am such a baby, that I have numbing cream to put on my port before it gets accessed each week.

  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 11,653
    edited September 2011

    BTW my was heartburn. I never had nausea. Still have every pill in the bottle.

  • AmyIsStrong
    AmyIsStrong Member Posts: 426
    edited September 2011

    I had terrible heartburn too, never any nausea.  Never had heartburn before - had no clue how awful it can feel. I would take a pill (prilosec? protonix? I swear I can't remember, but it was OTC for sure) the night BEFORE chemo and then daily for the first week and it really helped stay ahead of it.

    Never had it since chemo was over and I'm glad. When I see the tv commercials for it, I wince, remembering how much it hurt. I had NO IDEA! 

  • LindaKR
    LindaKR Member Posts: 1,304
    edited September 2011

    I only had a little nausea, but lots of heartburn. 

    Zumbagirl - the tattoos were easy, I actually only felt two of them, it was a lot less then a needle stick.  Good luck.

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    zumba - how are your white counts?  A flu shot this soon after chemo would have made me nervous.  I never get them because I am allergic to the albumin base of the vaccine.  Just call me bubble girl - allergic to tape, vaccines, antibiotics, the detergent hospitals wash their sheets in......  the list goes on.

  • AmyIsStrong
    AmyIsStrong Member Posts: 426
    edited September 2011

    Zumbagirl - I hate needles too and was very nervous about the tattoos. But the way I would describe it is...they gently scratch the surface of your skin with a pin (NOT stick you with a needle) and then wipe some ink over the spot and then wipe it off and the ink stays in the scratched spot. it felt like NOTHING and my little blue dots are so tiny I never ever notice them. it felt practically like nothing.

    But I do tell my kids I have ink and am cool. 

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    amy - you were probably cool before the ink!

  • zumbagirl
    zumbagirl Member Posts: 250
    edited September 2011

    amyisstrong,

    thank you so much for describing it that way, I feel so much better now.

    Special k,

    My white counts were fine, but my reds were low. We have so many people in our area with the flu, that my onc didn't want to wait , on the shot, so hopefully I won't react to it. My arm was still a little sore this morning.

    Linda,

    thank you. I go in for the mapping on Oct 17, and radiation starts around Oct 25. I feel alot better about it now.

  • Grimbol
    Grimbol Member Posts: 139
    edited September 2011

    Oooh, I wanna be cool!!  I will remember that to tell my kids, Mom got tattoos!! yay, of course, I never let any of them when they were younger and none of them ever did either. Piercings but no tattoos.  We have to find some humor and comfort in this.

    Did any of you take Ativan, AND Antacids?  I finally asked for a script to Ativan and it says on it not to take with Antacids!!!  I need those things to survive the heartburn yuck.  Any answers?

  • paulamati
    paulamati Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2011

    I had a little bit of nausea with my 4th chemo, so far has been the worse hope the 5th one that  I had yesterday will be nice with me.My blood counts have been awesome and my heart is working as the first day I started with Herceptin.So so far not so  bad, the only issue that im having is my optimism as i cant stop thinking of this coming back, it really scares me.

  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 11,653
    edited September 2011
    paulamatiit does get better with time for most of us. I find the more I feel like normal and away from treatment the less I think about it coming back. Passing the 1 year NED was bigger than I thought for me. (That was this past Aug 31st).
  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,262
    edited September 2011

    zumba - my concern with your white counts is the introduction of live flu virus in the vaccine, but if they are OK you should be fine.  Your red cells and Hgb will come up on their own the further out from chemo you get.  It is interesting, I was just reading on the Genentech website that Herceptin can depress counts, that would possibly explain why some people have lowered counts for a longer period after active chemo.  I was prevously unaware of that.  I learn something new every day!

  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 11,653
    edited September 2011

    So that's why when my PC said my white counts were a little low due to treatment in August he indicated that was quite normal. 

  • olgah34
    olgah34 Member Posts: 300
    edited September 2011

    Hello everyone...I had my blood check today...The nurse sais HB is low 9,9 and Leykocytes are low , but not bad, so they won't do anything about it.I did not have nausea or vomiting, but I have terrible pain in my aesophagus and throat, also gas and feeling like a lot of water in my guts.I have had IBS and don't have a gall bladder, so this is probably what affected first. They are gonna give me flu shot on October 6, when I see my oncologist.

    I am so confused with the food. The book I got in CANCER CENTER SAYS to eat everything boiled, no raw fruit or veggie with low blood cells. However, I need some vitamins too, like juice.Vegetables are not good for stomach problems.We need protein, but what else to eat besides eggs and chicken breast? Is roast gonna kill me? I want apiece of cake, actually.

    In my country we drink home made juice of beets, carrots and apples, it is really helping to raise your HB, I did it after my Caesarian, my Hb was 6, and I made it without transfusion. I was 24, of course..

    Also chemo makes me very depressed.I even cannot look at my so called 'breast" , I have to massage TE, it makes me sick...Also port makes me sick too, I feel it, no matter what.I guess, I AM JUST TOO SENSITIVE.

    Sleep with Ativan...

  • olgah34
    olgah34 Member Posts: 300
    edited September 2011

    I am taking 40 mg Omeprazole, it does not help...Somebody told me anti- nausea would help ?

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