Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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Almost time...slept good last night and I am thankful for that. My snacks are packed and I am wondering how to keep popcycles frozen. I will bring my Nook. My boyfriend is taking me...I came home from my last day of work for awhile last night and he had homemade cabbage soup on the stove. He makes the best with chicken broth 99% FF so I am hoping that will be good. I noticed he bought a new ice cube tray...what a sweetie.
hope you all do well and feel well whatever you decide to do today.
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Ha ha we has some of my homemade sweet and sour cabbage soup last night. I make mine with beef broth… it's the best
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Morning Ladies...can you tell me "when" you started hormone therapy.....is it during or after RADS..had my last TCH yesterday...now just H for the next year and RADS starting end of this month...but I forgot to ask when I start the Tamoxifen?
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I didn't have rads but at my place they started them after rads. My onc wanted me to start month after chemo but my NP told me to wait 5 weeks so I could start at on the first of the month. She said same timing as those on rads.
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i also started after rads.
Lovewins - waiting to hear from you. Sending love to help YOU win. One down!!!
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Wow Amy I have been posting all over and either I forgot to post here or it disappeared...that has been happening today. And you all have been such great support.... I had some weird taste in my mouth during infusion...no big deal...lidocaine numbed my virgin port and I barely felt it.
Well I have to say so far I am doing really Great....I drank tons of water before & during and ate very little fat today lots of fruit...4 oz lean smoked turkey for uinch...big bowl of cabbage soup for dinner (no meat) and I think 5 popsicles!
I have a wee bit of headache and earlier thought maybe a little nausous so I took my pill. A little heartburn but I have malox!
I even took a walk around the block and I NEVER do that.
I decided if these chin hairs don't fall out I will feel cheated!
Thank you for thinking of me Amy...you made me smile...yes One down! Can I say relieved????
Hope you had a wonderful day!
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lovewins, so glad you made it through tx 1 so well. Aren't you glad that is behind you now? Keep us posted on your side effects, these ladies are a great help!
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lovewins, so glad you made it through tx 1 so well. Aren't you glad that is behind you now? Keep us posted on your side effects, these ladies are a great help!
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Thanks Bren...I know it helped me so much coming here. I am a nervous Nellie for sure. I want to do the best I can not to over or under medicate myself. I know I would not have had as easy of a time without your alls help...my promise is to pay it forward.
I don't want to take a chance on getting sick...how long before I can eat something with a little fat? I know no one knows but do you think like 3 days? A week?
Didn't sleep well but that is ok...I got some rest. I know this is the first one...I bought the book Kickin cancer in th kitchen.
Take care Bren...I wish you the best with whatever you are going thru...PS Chemo really does stink...I mean literally and figuatly!!! Yuck I hate that smell already.
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Love wins, I'm with you on the stink! I thought I was smelling cat pop. Nope, it was me! Chemo smelled like that too me, although no one else ever said they smelled it. LOL. Congrarts on getting through your first tx. As for fats, I just ate what looked good and put a taste.in my mouth, if it didn't taste good, didn't eat it. On the other hand, you have to keep up fluids and protien. Much love.
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lovewins - why the fat avoidance? Not that this is a bad thing, but I am curious. You also need some protein, so be careful not to skip that. Be forwarned that Zofran, if you were given that for anti-nausea at home, can cause a headache, and also, that many of us had a bad headache on tx#1, but did not get it again on subsequent tx. I did start to have a low grade headache toward the end of the Herceptin-only tx, but that is a ways off for you.
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hello Moonflower...actually I thought it smelled like a skunk. I sooo miss protein...guess I will have some today. Hope all is going well for you today...I am a tomato soup lover too...I like to mix the tomato bisque with regular tomato...Yum!
SpecialK...I read somewhere where they ate fat on the day after chemo and got real sick so I thought i needed to avoid, yesterday I ate almost all fruits and veggies except some lean turkey...I did good so I was concerned fat would make me sick. i did have a slight headache but all things considered i think i had a good result. Crossing my fingers today is my nuelesta shot. Hope you are doing well...glad your daughter is a tough cookie...cuz tough cookies don't crumble.
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lovewins - I ate whatever sounded good - but I seemed to gravitate to more bland foods, particularly potatoes in any form. I almost always ate Broccoli Cheese (def not low fat, lol) or Tomato Basil soup in a breadbowl from Panera on the way home from treatment. It hit the spot! Are you doing the Claritin before Neulasta?
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I hope lovewins is trying the Claritin! Special K you gave me the directions durning my last treatment (chemo #4) and it really worked. Thanks again. I will be taking it again starting tomorrow when I get my second Neulasta shot. Last time I took it for four days bit I think I should have used it another day.
When I was in the hospital for four days I had two Neupogen shots and had really bad bone pain (no Claritin). So it really did work for me.
Sitting at chemo 5 right now and getting another new drug to try for my nausea. Last time the Aloxi didn't work so this time my Dr. is trying Ememd. Really hoping it works!0 -
I just ate what seemed the least bit appealing. Potatoes (which i very rarely eat normally), boiled/smashed with butter and salt/pepper. Or plain noodles cooked and with a little butter/parmesan. At least for the first day or so.
I ate pretty normally the rest of the time. The docs did caution about raw fruit/veg because of risk of neutropenia and infection. Also no digging in the dirt (gardening) with bare hands. So I cooked my veggies and stayed away from raw fruit that I couldn't scrub. But that was no big deal. Most important to not get sick.
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Question re Lumosity - does anybody do Lumosity brain training? I did not have chemo brain, but I was terrified of it, and I know many women who did.
I started Lumosity brain training (you play computer games online for about 15 min/day) in December and have been doing it all year daily.Wonder if anyone has been interested in trying it or using it, and if it helps for this specific need? I got a family plan (5 people) and got a sale coupon and it wan't too much money. Gave it to my (elderly) parents as a Christmas gift. (They like it.)
I haven't ever seen it mentioned, but I did see this study -
Not pushing it or representing them in any way, but just curious if anyone else on here uses it.
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amyisstrong - I considered Lumosity but didn't want to pay for it, lol! I don't feel that I had chemo brain either but no matter how bad I felt during treatment I did play solitaire every day until I won, and played several different mahjong games daily until I won.
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LOL Specialk, I did the same, although I played word games. I really had chemobrain though. I did not know of luminosity and probably have benefited. Amy, thanks for brim that up. Always good to know other ways to work out problems!
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Well I had chemo brain before chemo! Seriously. I feel more clear since my first chemo and not working! I read on a post today that it was because I was experiencing extreme anxiety...can I say again how much not working has taken the pressure off!
Yes SpecialK I took a clatitin this am and told my nurse about it, she is the first medical person I told who seemed aware of it. One thing I don't know is how many days to take it? Hope you had a great day!
Marisa...hello....do you mind if I ask you how your treatments are going? Do you feel about the same each time? Hope your new drug works excellent for you!
Hello Amy...that sounds like something my Mom and Dad would both love...the both play games online and do crosswords. I will ckeck it out now that I will have more tiime for that kind of thing.
I think I have found a very smart thread...no I take that back...I know I have
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lovewins - I would try this first time maybe five days, as a number of the SE from the chemo itself seem to kick in during days 3-5. If you do not experience bone/joint pain as a SE from chemo (I did not) you might be able to shorten the Claritin to 3-4 days. You have to experiement a bit, I usually took it for 3-4.
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Miss Love...yay on finishing your 1st tx!
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thank you chickaD!
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Congrats lovewins! The first is the worst with the fear of the unknown. I have not had any terrible side effects with the first four treatments. Today was #5. Nausea has always been my worst side effect but I don't want to complain too much since I really only have one or two terrible days (day 3/4). Other than a four day hospital stay for a neutropenia fever after chemo #3 and now being anemic, I have been okay. I'm a high school teacher so I actually went back to work last week and it's been going well. Pretty much the same side effects each time. I already know that tomorrow when I wake up I'll have a white coating on my tongue (thrush). It's not bad, I just use my magic mouthwash for a few days.
But I agree with Special K, try 5 days for the Claritin. I took it only 4 last time and figured out I needed it an extra day.
Good luck! It really did seem to go by quickly for me. This was the first time in my life that I wanted summer to be over
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Glad you are able to return to work...amazing. I am day 2 and feel really sleepy now. Maybe I can sleep for a full 8 hours. I really don't think I can work thru this. I wish you continued success. How many treatments do you have left? Thank you for responding to my question....sleep well.
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Question...i have never been on short term disability before...i usually play bingo on friday nite now i think i w ill be too tired to play anyway...but does this mean i can't do anything like shop, go out to eat with friends play bingo...etc? am i suppose to just stay home all the time?
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lovewins - Here is what I wish someone would have told me when I started... The crappy/sickish time will last only a few days and then you will feel more normal. You just have to wait and see what your pattern is. Do as much as you feel like. I went and did whatever I felt like. I just washed my hands alot so I wouldn't catch a virus or something. With each treatment your sickish time will likely last a little longer each time as the damage it does is cumulative. The fatigue is also cumulative and by the last treament I literally shuffled and staggered when I walked. Here's how my chemo went: I had treatment on Thursdays and I felt more or less ok (just tired) while I took the steroids. I worked on Friday (the day after chemo) and then took off the next week. I took the last steroid dose on Sunday afternoon and by Monday afternoon the real side effects would kick in and would last for several days. Take the nausea medicine proactively. I would start taking it Monday morning. The nausea is easy to control if you nip it in the bud - don't wait until it starts, prevent it. You will learn your own pattern and know when to start and stop taking it. The chemo can cause significant bone pain in addition to the neulasta shot. Take the claritin as previously suggested and ask for pain meds if you need it. Be prepared for diarrhea and constipation - both are very common and I would start the week on Immodium and be on Senekot the next week. Eat whatever tastes okay. For me, the taste issues were the most psychologically demoralizing. The steroids make you VERY hungry but everything tastes like crap and made me gag. I would get SO hungry. Milk was the only thing that always tasted like it was supposed to. I ate a LOT of cereal. Drink a lot of protein drinks. You will start to lose muscle mass quickly. Move as much as you can. I would get on the treadmill on days I was upright (some days you may not be upright and that's okay just sleep when you need to) and just walk slowly as long as I could. It helps psychologically and with the fatigue. I don't think I could have worked had I not been able to take that week off. I was just too sick the week after. Also the chemo & the steroids can mess with your mind and depression is common during treatment. So if you find yourself having really negative and/or scary thoughts don't be afraid to ask your MO for help - it's not you, it's the treatment. The good news is that it is DOABLE and it will go by faster than you think it will. Once it's over you WILL start to feel better. I began to feel significantly better about two weeks after the last chemo and my taste came back around the same time. FYI: I finished chemo on May 30th, had double mastectomy on June 24th and just finished radiation today. Just take it one day at a time and before you know it, you will be finishing up too! In addition, there are people who have few, if any, side effects. You might be one of them!
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Lovewins, Heidi has very good info.
My worse days were 5-10 taste changes started about day 2. They were done before the diarrhea finished around day 10. I had fatigue on the day after tx and pretty much the same days the big D hits. When I say it takes a lot out of you, its NOT punny.... LOL
That was my pattern, everyone is different. My tx had to be adjusted though as my first tx was really hard on me. I was in the Hospital after my 2 nd tx. With renal failure, due to severe D, dehydration, bad combo of BP meds, and anti-inflamatory mix. Not good. So remember drink your fluids. Much love.0 -
Hi again love wins. My onc told me to live my life as normally as possible. This is not always easy and doable so I would say just do the best you can! The days after chemo you probably won't feel like doing much of anything, so don't
Rest, curl up on your couch with a good book or catch up on some tv. But when there are days when you're feeling ok (and there will be) get out on a short walk of do some errands.
Although I still have to deal with the effects of chemo #5, I can officially say that I only have one more chemo to go. Yay! Oh and I agree with Heidi and moon- fluids!!! I get sick of water so I always add a splash of lemonade to mine.
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thanks everybody rough day today, i am just going to take it very easy....hope you all are doing well.
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lovewins - just do what you can, eat what sounds good, stay up on your meds, and rest. Try to move around if you can, exercise or walking is helpful. I found the first week or so to be bleh, then felt good for the next two until treatment again. I did everything I normally during that time - errands, grocery shopping, going to lunch with friends, etc. You will get through this!
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