Class of 2009 - Sisters in the same time frame
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Ashlively- You are among friends who truely care about you and understand! We are here for you and will listen when you need to rant and give you a virtual shoulder when you need to cry!
Excuse any type-o's but this mornign I had to have my fingers wrapped, as the lymphedema has crept its way down my hand. Love it!!!! (NOT!!) I cried about 4 times during PT today. This week has been tough and I have at least 2 or 3 more to go. I am glad I have this site and you ladies to help pull me thru this.
Love and hugs to all of you!
Jen
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Jen... ((((HUGS)))))) soft ones so I don't hurt that darn arm.
Ashlively ~ Welcome ~ we are here for you. You will get through this. When you want to cry - cry. I believe it the tears are pushing they need to come out. This is not an easy journey but it is one we must do so we can get on with our lives.
There are great ladies here, this site is a blessing !
Alicia0 -
Hello everyone, I recognize a few names (Hi Michele, Alicia...:)), but I have never posted to this thread before. Just wanted to say hello and join the group!
Peace...
Shelby
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Hi Shelby -- welcome!
Jen -- HUGS!!!!! Sorry you're having such a crappy week. It will get better.
Lilah
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Hi Shelby !!!
Hope everyone is having a good day ~~
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Hi Shelby, good to see you here as well..Jen, take care of those hands...big soft hugs.
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Welcome Ashivley1, like all the other ladies I'm sorry that you had to come and join us and for the long hard journey you've had to endure up to this point and still have ahead of you. This board has many amazing women on it that are always willing to lend an ear and a virtual shoulder for you to cry on or rant at. Believe me, when I started my journey back in Oct. 2009, I thought I would be o.k. and was strong and could make it through the journey with not problems, but when I got to radiation I started to drown. I needed the ladies here for support. I can't tell you the days that I left radiation treatments crying. I believe like Alicia if the tears are there they need to come out, so let them. You will again find yourself. It may take a while, but it will happen, and having been through the cancer journey twice now with 2 different types of cancer I can truly say that with time (the first time I was diagnosed) I came to think of it on a less consuming basis. I found staying busy with work and family took my mind off of it a lot.
Jen I'm praying that your arm and hand improves soon. Sending you and big warm hug!
Juanelle, haven't heard from you much this week. Hope your radiation treatments are going well?
Shelby, Welcome to the group! Nice to meet you here :=)
Hugs to All
Renee
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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO A BUNCH OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
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Hi Girls,
Been having a tough time the last couple days as I've been having a lot of pain and not sure what's causing it (and of course you know where the mind goes). I thought it was the Taxol (had round 1 of that on Tuesday) but my onc's RN says it doesn't sound like a side effect of that. I have been having some bone pain which I know is normal with Taxol, but what concerns me more is the pelvic area pain I've had since Thursday. I get aching, stabbing pains throughout the internal areas down there, as well as some lower back pain. Motrin and Tramadol don't seem to help, and oxycodone cuts the edge but gives me a dull headache, then I feel depressed when it wears off. I only got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night until I took one Ativan and 2 oxycodones w/in an hour and a half of one another. Finally got some sleep, but then felt out of it all day. BLAH! Anyone else have trouble like this or is it just my crazy body????
Take care all,
Sharon
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Sharon ~ did you have Neulasta after your Taxol treatment? For me my first 2 Taxols - the pain was unbearable. Painkillers barely took the edge off. My pain started in my pelvic area and radiated down to my legs and feet. It was about as excruciating as labor pains to me ~ Everyone's pain level is different. My next 2 Taxols weren't to bad. But I don't know if I knew what to expect and just medicated in advance alternating Motrin/Tylenol/Painkiller. I also found when I had the Neulasta shot after chemo my pain was worse. If your pain doesn't subside I would tell the oncologist and have it checked out. Hoping you feel better.
Alicia
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Sharon I was like Alicia..I had Taxotere and neupogen shots...pain was worse than labor...percoset didn't do a thing...I only had it for that seven days and didn't have it with my other two cycles....it felt like my bones were broken..it started in my hips and moved down as well..
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Hi Ladies. I am so glad I found this discussion. I was diagnosed July 10 2009. I had lumpectomy, 4 treatments of Taxol and 33 rads. I somehow got tendonitis in my foot and had to go to PT during all of this. I finished up my treatments in January. I will have a hysterectomy March 2 and start on Arimidex. I am on Tamoxifen now with little SE. My two concerns right now are what do I do next? My whole life for 6 mos revolved around this ugly beast and now I am scared to death the cancer will spread. We did just get a support group in my area 2 weeks ago and hopefully that will help me deal with my fears. Any advice?
JustmeAlicia I also had the Nuelasta shot and I thought I had been hit by a truck. The one thing I told my friends is that my pelvic area hurt so bad I thought the bones were breaking. I also learned to pump up the meds before the third day when pain was the worst. Glad that is over with. : )
Jewels
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Sharon -- after my first Taxol I woke up 2 days later and felt like I had been hit by a truck, including the most god awful cramps (even though they were not cramps) I have ever had. I think that nurse is wrong about the pelvic pain. Best thing for you to do is talk to your Oncologist (not the nurse). When I asked my Onc specifically about that pelvic area pain she said it WAS an SE of the Taxol. I only had it the first time... it went away after (I want to say) a few days, though it might have been a week. Fortunately one's memory for such pain details does wane
Lilah
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Jewels -- YES just saw your post -- I did find that if I took 600 milligrams of advil the night before that third day the SEs were much better with the subsequent Taxol's (the 600 milligrams was recommended by my onc). I had Neulasta all through AC and never had that SE until I started the Taxol, so I thought it WAS the Taxol that caused it.
Lilah
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HI ALL
Happy valentines day hope your all having a very loving day .
Finally back to feeling good again after my last chemo , which was a real doozy seemed to have gone on and on and on ,but now its over, 5 weeks of rest now before Rads starts up should be a lot easier then chemo .
Sharon hope your pain is nothing to worry about and its just SEs from chemo .I'm sure it weakens the bone and if your having Neulasta well thats a big pain in the bones lol
HEY JEWLES
Start the happy dance don't let the cancer demons rip you of any more. don't let it impart its fear ,live and love your life, get back into your routine were you left of before Cancer ,be strong you'll be FINE .
TXSTARDUST
HI there ,its a good group lots of funny ladies here youll love it.
Keep well everyone and don't forget to wish your selves a happy Valentines day ,and give the mirror a big smooch as well ,but don't forget to clean it up after your finished doing that though lololo
PRINCESS JOJO.
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Happy Valentines Day Lovely Strong Ladies...big hugs
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Happy Valentine's Day Ladies! Hopefully you'll all get spoiled today.
I'm beginning to feel somewhat normal again after my final chemo treatment on Feb. 8th. It was a weird week. The first couple of days are always okay but this time I had a lot of hot flashes for the first time. Then the normal aches from either the Taxotere or the Neulasta (never quite figured out which caused the aches!) and the fatigue. Other than constant eye twitching I'm feeling better and am so glad to be done chemo.
Jojo - I also have five weeks now before rads start. Looks like we'll be going through at the same time.
My husband gave me a juicer for Valentine's Day. He's making orange juice right now and the dog is going crazy with the noise. I better sign off.
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Sugar (it's Sherri right?) -- what a sweet Valentine's Day gift! Especially the part where he makes ya the juice
Happy Day everyone!
Cheers,
Lilah
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Lilah - Yes, it's Sherri (my screen name is a tribute to my dad, who was called "Sugar" all his life and died at 77). It was sweet of my husband to make juice. However, he's learning and didn't peel the oranges and it resulted in a very bitter taste, which I'm sure was heightened by the yucky chemo taste in my mouth. It was a nice gesture on his part, though. I hope he keeps making the juice...and cleaning the machine!! lol
Sherri
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OMG Sherri -- orange peels IN the juice?
Tell him part of the gift is that he always makes the juice and cleans the machine
Lilah
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Sherri, I agree with Lilah, the making of the juice is the best part of the gift!
My DH hid chocolates all over the house for me to find this morning. Isn't that sweet? I LOVE CHOCOLATE! I'll probably gain 15 pounds just today!
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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY LADIES!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful and loving day with their DH or significant other. My wonderful hubby gave me a digital picture frame and later we are going out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (my daughter work's there). The reason it's dinner is because we have to watch the Daytona 500 and it doesn't go off till around 4 p.m.
Renee
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For those of you having trouble with Neulasta, I would really encourage you to discuss it with your onc. It was given routinely me to me when I was doing dose dense AC (and the only SE I had was tight teeth, which I know sounds weird), but I know of many women who did/do triweekly treatments, whose blood counts recover just fine without it. Sometimes, I think the availability of a drug just results in docs over-medicating a problem that may not exist. I am now on weekly taxol - no neupogen - and my onc says my counts should be fine. I am fine to wait and see. Thankfully I don't seem to have any SEs yet from the taxol (day 4)... some soreness in my back but I think it's from weight training and skiing, not the chemo.
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Luah -- I do think drinking plenty of water and MOVING helps a lot with the Taxol SEs (aside from a healthy dose of Ibuprofen). So that may be the reason you're not suffering too badly.
As for Neulasta -- I never had an SE from that... and I DID end up getting hospitalized for low WBC/fever about 3 weeks into chemo (in spite of receiving Neulasta every two weeks with the chemo... at the point I was hospitalized, which IMO was overkill, I had only had two shots). So for me it was necessary. I always got the Neulasta shot the day after chemo (and chemo was every two weeks).
Lilah
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JoJo. You are absolutely right about doing the happy dance. I did do that the day I was done with Chemo and my kids thought I was crazy! ha.
I took Clariten the day of my chemo because I heard it helped with the bone and joint pains. I took it with my 2nd-4th taxol treatements and I think it helped some. Ask your Onc about it before you take it. Mine had not heard of this but said it wouldn't hurt me either. Just a thought. I also found that moving around helped even if I looked like I was 80. Good luck Ladies with the chemo and those of you starting your rads. Relax and have some fun before you start in a few weeks. You deserve it.
Jewels
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Jewels -- maybe it helps for people who are not already on Claritin. I take it every day (10 mg) and have for years (for allergies) and still experienced a lot of pain from the Taxol, especially the first one (after which I proactively took ibuprofen BEFORE the pain started, drank a LOT more water... had slacked a bit while on the AC because I had no SEs really except the hair loss... and made a point of moving around).
Lilah
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Lilah. Now that is interesting. I really don't know if the Clariten worked for me. To tell you the truth I was wishing for a miracle when I took it and didn't really see that. I too made sure i took the advil and drank plenty of water. In fact, I think I have drank more water in the last 6 months than I have my whole life. I believe chemo can affect so many people differently and that is mind boggling to me. I know there are many studies out there but I think the best bet is for all us chemo women to get together and write a book on all the SE. But then again that might scare alot of people and I don't want to do that. I truly believe that the chemo helped kick my cancer's butt.
Jewels
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Hello, Ladies... I read on this site every day and am so amazed at how strong all of you are and how each of you are getting through all of this. I will be meeting with the oncologist in the next week or so to hear about what is head for me with the chemo, what kind, how long, etc. It appears that the SE's are all over the place and you never know what to expect from one treatment to the next. How in the world do people continue working and have chemo????? I am 61 and although "retired" still lead a very busy life. I fear that I will just be plopped on the couch from now until my chemo is finished! Tell me it isn't so! I need to be with my grandchildren to keep my spirits up and they can really keep me busy. Will I be able to continue enjoying that? ALSO, weight gain. Has that happened to all of you no matter what you try to do? I had weight loss surgery two years ago and lost nearly 100#'s. I'm still overweght, but quite comfortable with my size now. What's ahead for me with that? These are petty concerns, I realize, but things that are out there floating around in my mind. Karen
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Jewels -- I believe the chemo worked too! I had my MX after I finished chemo and there was no cancer detected ... had had two lumpectomies prior so either the lumpectomies did it, margins were clear on 3 sides and close on 1, or the chemo did ... I don't care! Was just glad to have no more cancer.
Thereishope -- My ONC told me to drink a lot of water and I did (far more than I ever had in my life and certainly more than I now drink, now that chemo is over)... I think the water helps wash the chemicals out of your body so that they kind of do their job and go, instead of hanging around and causing trouble. The ONE time I got lax was when I started Taxol; drank far less water those first few days and it hurt BAD. Other than that one week though I did OK. If you time the chemo to be followed by a few easy days (like to it on a Friday, for example) you should do ok. The first day of chemo I was always pumped up on steroids and went shopping after
I was always more tired on days two and three. You have to see how you do but I found doing my best to keep my normal routine helped me to DO it. I did get more tired as time went on, so that the final few weeks of chemo were the hardest fatigue-wise, but that is due to the cumulative nature of the drugs.Lilah
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Thereishope - not everyone gains weight on chemo. I lost about 20 pounds. But food tasted like cardboard so it was hard to make myself eat. Some manage to work, some don't. We all react differently to chemo so it's anyone's guess. I suggest you join a thread - starting chemo in whatever month. Going through it with a bunch of ladies together provides a wealth of info and support. Good luck. May your SEs be few and mild.
Regarding taxol - I had the neulasta shot the day after taxol each time and did not have one single SE from the shot. Plenty from taxol, but nothing from neulasta.
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