Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
Comments
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Yes my boobie prizes are nice. Not like the real thing because they are somewhat numb but a nice addition. I went bigger. When I'm at my heavier weight they hide my tummy :P
Wow lots of wierd stuff going on today with the site. It's going to take a bit for things to settle. I think I like it
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It will take a while to get used to the new site, I think.
Lago, I love that you call your reconstruction, 'boobie prizes'! The thought of this surgery petrifies me. How relieved are you not to ever have to worry about future mammograms?
Hope everyone in tx is having a SE free day!
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AMelie not more mammos for me. I just get felt up by more MDs instead.
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Hello all, I have been reading all of your posts, but have not ad the nerve to post until now. I started TCH on April 19 almost 3 weeks ago. I go for my second round this Thursday. Any idea how long before you stop thinking about bc 24/7 and actually begin to feel like you will be fine. Any input or insight will be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.
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RoulaG - I have no idea when you stop thinking of BC 24/7...hasn't happened for me yet. I can tell you that I am 6 1/2 weeks PFC and I feel better every day. I am on Herceptin and just started rads and Tamoxifen. I feel a little like my old self, although I don't think I will every feel completely like her again. And that's OK. I feel stronger now. You will get through this.....and you came to the right place for support cuz we have all been there!
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The thoughts don't slow down till your treatment is just hormonals. The herceptin, chemo, rads, recons surgeries all keep you going to the doctors so much you don't have a chance to not think about it. Also once your hair grows back and many of the SE go away help too. Right now there is too much stuff going on.
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Thank you Kelloggs, I have had a difficult time with this diagnosis. I have two children a boy 11 and a girl 8. It is very comforting to me to have all of you to help me get through this c. I love reading all the success stories and hope I have the same results. I finally feel like I have people who truly understand what I am dealing with! Thank you again.
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Thank you Lago - I love all your posts! Straight and to the point!
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You are welcome! I know what you mean, this site was a blessing when I was first dx'd. I have very supportive people in my life but no one really understood what I felt until I found this site. I hope I can give some of that back. Lago was one of the ladies who I felt connected with and whose comments and advice helped me in the beginning.
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Roula let me be the first to invite you over to the Illinois Ladies thread. These women are so supportive and all have some connection to Illinois. Not all of us live in Chicagoland. We are from all over the state: linky
I'm glad you enjoy my posts. Yes I am very direct. I'm from New England. North Easterners will never tell you that you suck. We will tell you why you suck in the fewest words possible
Seriously we are pretty direct in the northeast. 0 -
Roula - Welcome! To try to answer your question, for me the periods of not worrying get longer and longer but when new 'things' come up, like a new pain somewhere, i start worrying again. Someone on another thread described cancer as tangling with the mafia, once you do that you are always looking over your shoulder.0
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I'm more worried about getting LE in my other arm than I am of the cancer returning. I have no reason not to believe that I was cured. Until I have some symptom that lasts more than 2-4 weeks I'm sticking by that.
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Thank you Omaz, unfortunately I know what you mean about tangling with the mafia, not personally, but through other people of course. Lago every headache I have had in the past 2 months has me convinced that I have brain cancer! So I revisit the side effects site, calm my ass down and go back to doing whatever it was I was doing before I felt the pain lol. I will definitely visit the Illinois boards, thank you!
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Amelie Rose Hi! Great to hear from you
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http://www.gotstylenetwork.com/gandB/start.asp I think we should all enter the contest!!0
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Relda..my insurance would not pay for Emend either, and I had the worst time with TCH. After two treatments, my oncologist's office contacted the drug company and got them to give me the medicine for free. I still had a rough time, but it did make a big difference. They were able to get it covered for me rather quickly, maybe they could do the same for you before your last treatment?
Much love to everyone going through chemo right now!!
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I actually did do Emend for tx's 2 and 3 - still was queasy for 11 dats post tx. So we're going to try Aloxi for this last one, see how that goes.
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starella I don't need to win a trip to Chicago for 2 nights. I'm already here!
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Relda - my onc does Emend plus Aloxi in my premeds. They are not in the same class of meds - work differently. Just a thought.
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OK ladies, I am coming to you for your incredible collective wisdom once again. I am now 9 days post TCH #2. I've been slightly anemic (low hemoglobin) ever since a week or so after my first TCH. Well, now I've dropped to 9.1. My onc says that qualifies me for a prize...Procrit injection. However they are letting me look into it overnight as it is not without its risks. They said I could also do a transfusion, BUT, they usually wait until later on to do those b/c if you need repeat transfusions you can end up developing antibodies to someone elses' blood, which of course is problematic. If I do neither, my hemoglobin may not raise enough in time for my next chemo, and even then if it does, I'll end up in the same place again after my 3rd chemo b/c we'll be starting out low.
Thoughts/advise from the TCH gallery? Of course I will be reading/researching, but I know someone on here has had a transfusion, and I'm betting someone has already looked into Procrit.
Oh and I'm finally feeling much better as of today...except for high heart rate and feeling easily winded...now we know why...not getting enough oxygen to my muscles!
Oh...and I started Neupogen Tuesday when ANC dropped to grade IV neutropenia again (390). Even with 2 injections, my ANC only rose to 427 today. I know I'm in my nadir through day 10. So that means this chemo is so freakin' strong it killed off pretty much any WBC's the Neupogen created. That just seems crazy. I'm just whining. I know it has to be done. But if I can't whine here, where can I? Thanks guys!!!
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Dance: You're not whining!.....I can't wrap my head around all you've gone through and still have so much to give to others here! I wish I could reciprocate, but all I can say is how much I admire your courage and strength! I like what Steven Tyler said last night on American Idol,
"courage is fear that has said its prayers.". Hugs!0 -
Dance I vaguely remember my onc saying they would not use procrit if my anemia worsened during chemo but would do a transfusion. I can't remember the rationale but I found the following as part of the "safety information" on the procrit website www.procrit.com:
ESA's (erythropoiesis-stimulating agents) shortened overall survival and/or increased the risk of tumor progression or recurrence in clinical studies of patients with breast, non-small cell lung, head and neck, lymphoid and cervical cancers.
If you read further under the safety information it reads "ESAs resulted in decreased locoregional control/progression-free survival and/or overall survival. These findings were observed in studies of patients...receiving chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer..."
I know you don't have metastatic CA but it makes me nervous reading the warnings because it implies to me that it can stimulate tumor growth (if anything is present). Maybe it's only contraindicated in stage IV BC but I would ask more questions.
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Dance, as you see, I am scheduled for a transfusion tomorrow. My onc will not do the shot for the very reason dragonfly showed. I also got it right after my 2 tx. This is now after my 4tx. None of them are great choices, but I like the odds of the SEs for the transfusion seem to be less. Good luck, much love.
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chachamom - thank you for the very kind words!!!
dragonfly - Thank you for sharing that - I went and looked at the Procrit website between my first post and now and saw the same. I also saw: Procrit should not be used for anemia if you have a cancer that has a high chance of being cured. Since I am stage one with a very tiny tumor, and the chemo is for prevention of recurrence only, yeah...think I'll pass on the Procrit!!!! Goodness! Mind you, I did not actually meet with my onc today, this was the nurse talking to me about what she expected would be suggested tomorrow. So, I highly doubt after reading this that my onc would suggest Procrit in my case! Yikes! Note that the nurse did say one of the risks was that it could increase cancer growth, this is why she advised me to look over information about it tonight. So she did know about that. And, she knows I like to know all the pro's/con's before making a decision. She's a fantastic nurse, but I doubt she recalls all the nitty gritty details of my diagnosis.
moonflower - thank you for sharing your onc's recommendation as well. How low was your hemoglobin before they decided to do the transfusions? How fast did it come up after your first transfusion? I am concerned about the risks of a transfusion, but haven't read enough to make an informed decision yet. My choices are to 1) do the transfusion and stay on schedule with chemo (2) delay chemo until my hemoglobin comes up on it's own (3) stop chemo after 2 TCH's and just go straight to Herceptin (getting real tired of this crap). Contemplating all options...
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DT, my first hgb that triggered tx was 8, went up to 14 by my next tx a week later. My hgb is 7.8 today. I must say I felt pretty good after the last transfusion, maybe this weekend will be a good one after tomorrow. Much love , you will make the right decision.
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I forget what my hgb was, but my hematocrit was 24 at the lowest, they transfuse anything below 27. It took 6 weeks for mine to come up to 32.
I started feeling better 1/2 way through my transfusion. After 3 weeks, it had only come up to 26, but we chose not to.do a transfusion since I was finished with the TC part.0 -
Dance, I am so sorry to hear about all your troubles. I followed your earlier posts on the Her2 thread and was very interested in all the research you did regarding treatment protocols for t1a versus t1b patients. I am a t1b at 8 mm and found it fascinating that chemo would be recommended for the first group and left optional for the second.
This said, I wanted to reply to your question about blood transfusion. I had a blood transfusion between TCH tx's #4 and #5. I was mildly anemic when I started chemo and my RBC kept dropping with each infusion. I posted on this board and got a lot of support from the wonderful ladies here. SpecialK knows a lot about blood transfusion and was a wonderful help to me. I went ahead with the transfusion and it made such a difference. I felt so much better afterwards. That was the right choice for me. I was lucky that I didn't need another transfusion after that. I also want to say that I agree with Dragonfly about the Procrit. I had researched it and had come across studies staying the same thing. Thankfully, it was never offered to me as an option so I was never in the position you are now.
One last thing I want to say to you and to everyone else having a hard time with TCH right now, it's that this is truly temporary. I feel so much better now. I am now 6 months PFC and if not for my hair which is not growing as fast as I'd like, you'd never know I had chemo. All those SE's you are now dealing with will go away and you'll be yourself again. Hang in there.
Amelie
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Thank you so much for that information, moonflwr! It helps me to see how quickly the transfusion works, and how much it increases the the hgb.
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dougieswife, my hematocrit is 28.1 as of today. I suspect these numbers will likely continue to decrease further next week, as red blood cell stuff (lowest counts) happen about a week after your nadir on TCH, according to my reading. Wow, 6 weeks to come up after your transfusion. Perhaps hematocrit responds slower than hgb.? Still have lots to learn about this. Thank you!
amelie, thank you so much for your post as well! I will try PM'ing SpecialK to see if I can get her input, too. Thank you so much for your sharing your story and also for the support. It's so hard when you feel so beaten down to keep pushing forward. You start questioning if the treatment risks are starting to get higher than the cancer recurrence risk. Ugggh. I know I will make the right decision for me, but I really appreciate everyone's support as I am struggling right now.
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dance - I PM'ed you back! Sorry I have been AWOL - I was in California for 9 days and then my son was here for a week with his GF, I have not been online much!
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