Chemotherapy for Stage IV
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good luck tiangs.....
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Sandy: I had taxotere early on (stage II) and remember the watery eyes! How are your fingernails?
Had my 2nd Abraxane yesterday. I like the fact that there are not a lot of pre-meds and it is dripped fairly quick, so the appointment doesn't take too long. The Taxol and pre-meds seemed to take forever to drip. The Gemzar was a little quicker than Taxol but, so far, Abraxane takes less time. I have a little bit of hair that grew back when I stopped Taxol and went to Gemzar. I read that Abraxane is a "hair loss." Asked the nurse when to expect the hair falling out and she said after the third week. I know it's not the end of the world, but hate that part.
How is everyone doing this week?
Jean
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Jean my finger nails are ok, thanks for asking, I start round 3 tomorrow....my hair hasn't fallen out on taxotere, my chemo with the pre-meds take 4 hours. Agree Gemzar wasn't that long...
Yea, how is everybody?
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Hello! Is there anyone out there who is taking, or has taken Abraxane, that while during treatment your hair started to grow back? I am currently on my 3rd session, my hair fell out after the first one, but it is starting to grow back. The drug company states they have never had this reported before. Anyone else?
Lisa0 -
I think when I get back from vacation I'm going on Gemzar and Abraxane. I had WBR in November and lost my hair, it is just starting to come back. I'm guessing Abraxane will take it away again. I don't mind losing my hair except for the eyebrows and lashes. Maybe I'll get some tattooed...LOL!
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Hello does anyone have any info to share on liver enzyme's counts. My blood work just came back after 2nd Taxol , everything was pretty good except the ALT and AST which were up quite a bit from the the AC I was on. Won't see my onc for over a week and just curious if I should be concerned? Does Taxol raise the liver enzymes? My ALT is 123 and the AST is 69. Is there anything I can do to try to bring them down?
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Well got chemo yesterday they couldn't get blood from the port, i know a little vein in my hand that they took it from, was @ chemo until 530...you were all right...behedryl was the trick, didn't ask dr. he left but asked the nurses and they know more than he does, 3 of them said it was fine and actually gave me some 25mg...the steroids are still there, cleaning and doing stuff and talking away...you guys are the best!!
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My liver enzymes were slightly elevated after one of my Taxol treatments. The doc wasn't worried and things returned to normal before the next treatment. It seems like it's a short anomaly that takes care of itself. Avoid alcohol would be my only suggestion.
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My nails were a mess on Taxotere too. I'm 15 mos out and finally decided to have acrylics. The smell and lifting got lots better, but no matter how I tried...cud not get healthy nails to grow. Just like my eyelashes. Got hair hair everywhere but not my eyelashes. So now I do semi-permanent lashes. Really like them as I ALWAYS look like I am wearing a light coat of mascara...but I'm not. Threw away all my mascara etc. Great to jes wash and go.
Wanted to wish all you girls a wonderful HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! Don't kno where I be without you girls!!
Love, Prayers, Healing Positive Energy Always!
Sue
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MemaSue56 - What are the semi-permanent lashes and where do you get them? I lost my hair on Taxotere about 7 weeks after first treatment but not my eyelashes so I figured I would not lose them. Well I was wrong, my last treatment was on December 20 and I had my eyelashes up until about 2 weeks ago and I went to put mascara on and realized there were only 3 lashes
. I was going to get false ones but did not know if you could get them for the bottom also. I like the idea of semi-permanent. 0 -
jeanieb - some spas call them extensions, some call them permanent, other semi-permanent. But you have to have a little bit of eyelash for them as they are adhered to your lashes. They shed as your lashes naturally shed. Once you start you should go for fills, (just like fake acrylic nails) every 2 to 3 weeks. Just google semi-permanent lashes for your area and see what pops up. The link below is a Las Vegas one, I don't use them, but their FAQ section is very informative. Hope it helps. O and I have teeny tiny on lower lashes, they don't do semi's on lower lid...but do the permanent eyeliner. It is expensive too and painful. I am fine jes using a liner pencil for my lowers. Good Luck!
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Thanks MemaSue for the info and the website. I am going to see what they have around here. I will just use the liner on the bottom also, we have been through enough pain that we do not need to add this to the mix
. I think my eyelashes are starting to come back a little but it is hard to tell.0 -
Lisa: I'm having my 3rd Abraxane tomorrow. I have little hair from Taxol, so I'll wait and see if it grows or falls out.
LuvRving: Wanted to say hello to a fellow NH gal. I'm also in NH. Big HELLO! I know the liver enzyme blood test can fluctuate cuz of the chemo but should recover just like the CBC.
Are these semi-permanent eyelashes safe....as far as infection? Just wondering cuz of the whole blood count thing and chemo.
Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and have a good week. Jean
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Jean - ya always gotta be careful about da germs when u fighting low WBC. I wud not recommend anything that wud send u into a salon or any other public place until u done and your WBC goes normal. Mine took almost 1 year. Hate to bear bad news...but I was more afraid of da germs den looking like a ghost. If u git my drift. God Bless and Good Luck with the Abraxane.
I gotta say (diff subject, but important for me to say)....I refused to have my boobs removed as I was Mets outta the gate and researched the 'statistical survival rate'. I did not want to give up 'any' of my time stressing, low immune (from additional surgery), heal time (painful shit as I understand it) to this surgery, then to do or not to do reconstruction..more pain, heal time, low immune, etc. (I am a vain person and wud want reconstruction). So, I tip my hat to those who have gone with it. My Onco said people with my type would 'fair better'. Well...that wasn't good enuf. My surgeon...female, who specializes in BC was soooo ready, as was I, to take the what I called, 'mother ships' off me.
It was 1 year ago this month....that I finally...'let go'. OMG....I was paranoid, crying all the time...scared shitless. But after getting 2nd opion (after my chemo had ended and scans showed me NED) from Cancer Treatment Centers of America in AZ (this was Oct '11), and from my local Cardiologist...they both sed...'the horse has already left the barn, what's the sense in closing the barn doors now?'. Meaning....it's already spread to your bones...why put your body thru the BMX surgery? So...after a few more agonizing, fence sitting, months and tons of research as to what surgery does to your body...I made up my mind. Feb '12 I met with my breast surgeon and told her I changed my mind. Her jaw dropped...but only for a minute. Then she sat down and calmly said...'you have been crying for me to remove your boobs, tell me why you changed your mind'. After I explained...she said...."Sue...I wish I cud say I kno what you are going thru, but I don't, but I will say that I TOTALLY respect your decision NOT to have the BMX. In your case, MOST of the time the cancer will 'come back' in an organ, NOT in your breast. And, not only will you spend minimum 3 mos heal time, you will also have to have radiation to your chest wall...so add another couple months...then if you want reconstructive...more down time...etc"
Ladies.....I cannot tell you how that freed me....like the 'monkey' was off my shoulders. EVERY ONE OF US is different, so don't take what I just said 'as the only way to go'. I do not make any claims other than...this works for me...at least emotionally. NO ONE can say...'well you shud have done this or done that or not done this or not done that'. We'll NEVER kno if our decisions helped or hindered us. It's truly an emotional journey and only YOU can decide what YOU will or will not do. None of us will be able to 'come back' and try a different approach, chemo, no chemo, surgery, no surgery, diet, vitamins, exercise, etc, etc, etc.
I think this is the BEST contribution I have ever made on this thread...no pats on the back...jes that I have been wanting to 'share' for along time. Some of you will look me up and see that I post mostly on the 'drinking thread'. And you will 'wonder'. But as my Onco said to me....and these words changed what's left of my life....she sed 'I cannot offer you a cure...but I can give you some time'. That's the reality....so am I going to change EVERY LITTLE THING about me to gain...what...a week, a month, 6 months? NO!
NOW....I don't kno if my 'tude wud b dff if my kids were not already grown and thriving wonderfully or if I were 20 years younger. MAYB I wud change...I don't kno. So EVERY ONE of us 'decides' what's best for us. I will HONOR AND RESPECT your choices...no questions asked. NO judgements from me!
I have my bucket list...I am living each day to the best of my ability and accomplishing things that I 'thot' I had plenty of time for. Now...I have 2 choices....
#1 - feel sorry, be negative, be angry, be melancholy, etc etc.
#2 - bless myself EVERY DAY for life! And make EVERY DAY COUNT!
I choose #2 90% of the time...meaning...I have my 'pitypotty time' just like any normal person would. I have rambled on and on....my only hope is that somewhere someone is relating to this ugliness and can appreciate my 'thoughts' on this journey.
Love, Prayers, Positive Healing Energy to ALL!!
Sue
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Padiddle -How did the 3rd Abraxane tx go?
JeanieB - jes got my lashes filled today and thot of you...did you find anyone in your area that does the lashes?
Hoping everyone else doing well too!
Love, Prayers, Positive Healing Energy to all always!
Sue
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Sue, just love your post. I'm right there with you on the 90% of the time positive and I try like hell to keep the 10% to myself. Had chemo yesterday and spent the day with my son who needed some mom time, took a short nap, then out to dinner with friends. Have my grandson this weekend and plan to have a great time with him. I try to eat better and drink less but gosh, this was a chocolate and wine week with all the valentine candy I got! Haven't lost my hair yet on taxol but it is starting to thin. I did get the eyebrows and top eyeliner tattood and am glad I did, though, yes, it was painful but definitely worth it! Zoh had the most beautiful tattood eyebrows so call it Zoh envy .... When I'm bald I do like having eyebrows!!
Think about all you chemo buddies! Have a great weekend!!0 -
Hi Padiddle (where are you in NH?) and all my other stage iv chemo friends! Just got back from Kauai on Tuesday night, had treatment on Wednesday morning and had a CAT scan yesterday. Judging from my tumor markers, the carboplatin wasn't working at all, so we switched to gemzar on Wednesday. The CAT report shows major progression including spread to my liver. It seems nothing will stop this beast. I talked to my MO and we are going to send my tumor cells off to a chemo sensitivity testing lab after we give gemzar a try. Two days after treatment, I am feeling OK...nausea seems to not be as bad as with carboplatin. I am concerned about my RBC because I was already in the low range. So hopefully they won't tank too much more.
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Hi there Glenna - Good for you for getting the brows and lid tats. I LOVE time with my gk's. My stepson broke his ankle and tibia last week, so we went to see all OK...dh took him to drug store while I got alone time with gd (soon to b 4) She is such a cutiepatootie and so full of energy. Saw my gs the week before...he will b 7 in May. They grow so fast...but they are a HUGE highlight in my life and can't imagine where I'd be without them. Hoping for low to NO se's with your latest chemo...(((GLENNA)))
Michelle - Big...HUGE...hugs to you too!! How long will the tests take to see if gemzar is working? I didn't kno there was such a thing as a 'chemo sensitivity lab'...very good. I took a peek at your blog....you sound so familiar. Am sorry about your mom...guess I felt that 'familiar' tug cuz of Mt Charleston and that my dh and I used to do a lot of rving. My RV now sits in lot right across street. Oh Well! Lost my mom day of my dx...she had just turned 80 and had been living with me. Still miss her. Will keep praying that the Gemzar kicks da RB to the curb. You are an inspiration...love how you jes grabbing life by the horns...love ur 'tude!! (((RV)))
Love, Prayers, Positive Healing energy to all always!
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MemaSue56 - I did find quite a few places that do this but have not had the chance to go in to Omaha and check them out. I do see that my lashes are starting to grow back in, so we shall see how they are if they ever get the chance to get back to normal.
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TDM-1 just approved!! yeah
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Sue: Thanks for asking about the Abraxane which went well. Too soon to tell if this one will help, but my skin mets seem to be a little darker in color. I read your post about your decisions for treatment. I think it's important to make decisions we are comfortable with and you seem to be doing that.
Michelle: I live in a small town called Bennington in the Monadnock Region. It's quiet. Been here over 25 years after meeting my husband. The chemo sensitivity lab is something my husband has asked me about. He doesn't understand why cancer cells are not sent to a lab to see which chemo it reacts to. It frustrates him to see them try one after another. Since I have skin mets, it wouldn't be hard to cut one out and send it somewhere. I just came off the Gemzar. It is a hair thinner (not hair loss), so my hair was actually growing back on it. Had been on Taxol before Gemzar so I was bald, bald, bald. Still waiting to see how Abraxane will effect the hair. Hair loss is listed as a side effect.
I'm so sorry you had progression and have to go onto another treatment. It's been my story too and I'd like to have some good news and would like to read you get good news.
Glenna: Just read a list of foods (anti angiogenesis foods) and dark chocolate was on this list. There's a thread about these types of foods and a link. My husband was was reading an article about healthy foods to help fight cancer and at the end of the article, it mentions "babies are good medicine." Sounds good to me: Candy bar and a visit from our little grandson!"
We are getting yet another snowstorm this weekend. Bunker down and wait out the storm.
Be safe all and enjoy the weekend.
Jean
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Jean - I think I have an idea of where Bennington is. We camped at Greenfield State Park for years and I'm sure we saw signs for Bennington. You need to pop over to the What's For Dinner? thread as there are several of us NH gals over there. We get together a couple times a year at Pickity Place.
For the first time in a couple of months, I seem to have an appetite. Carbo really did me in, looks like my system is going to like Gemzar a little better. Now if it will just kill a few cells...
Abraxane is the same as Taxol - rough on hair...sorry to have to tell you that. It actually is the same as Taxol, just mixed with a different agent that is easier on the system than castor oil (Taxol's mixer).
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Hi,
Just thought I would share I finished my last Taxol yesterday. I wasn't sure if I would receive it because of liver enzymes but my MO just lowered it by 25%. Had to watch a women get shocked during an infusion yesterday because of severe reaction. They were able to stabilize her and brought her to hospital. My nurses checked on her awhile later and she was doing much better. Very scary! Not really sure where I am headed from here. Possibly a surgery to remove a rib, followed by radiation and hormone treatment. Really hoping some of the side effects wear off soon. I'm sure I'll be back on this thread someday but I really hope not for a long while. Thanks for always being so supportive. My wish that your chemo goes as well as can be and that it is effective!!! You'll be in my thoughts.
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Chemo 5th round getting more tired....taxotere is not as bad as I thought....better shut up.....last one of 3 weeks on 1 off on Wednesday and looking forward to a week off....How come people don't understand how hard it can be and how much of a toll it takes on you? Rhetorical
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Yeah, I can eat dark chocolate! I've never been big on the dark chocolate, more a milk chocolate kind of gal, but DH got me a box of Dove dark chocolates and they were yummy. If it helps fight cancer, all the better! Teacher911, congratulations on completing taxol. What is your next step? My onc never tells me how many treatments of any given chemo I'll be given. It's usually side effects or the fact that it isn't working that dictate when I stop a particular chemo. I'm hoping for a long run on taxol! Blondie, oh, I know what you mean. I don't think anyone in my "immediate" family thinks I should be tired from chemo. Part of that is probably my fault .... I try to keep on going even when I'm exhausted. Sometimes, though, I just want someone to lead me to my bed and force me to lie down!
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hi everyone......
i am beauty...i hope u people remember me.....i have lung and brain mets both....for brain mets i had 10 cycles of WBRT therapy in august 2012.then after few months i started Gemzar chemotherapy for lung mets....but had plural effusion and drained the fluid once....that time my doctor says gemzar was not working for me.....
Now i am on Navelbine(Vinorelbine) for my lung mets instead of Gemzar cause it was not working for me.Dr in my country told me for single agent medicine thats why i am on a single medicine not a combination that is vinorolbine.during this treatment i am so sick that i can't move from my bed for a second.....all the time lying on my bed.Sometimes i feel that i will not see the next day morning...severe pain in the body part.....then Dr suggests me for the patch....that relief the pain for 2 or 3 days......so much pain that pain killers did't work for me....Dr says this is the side effect of this medicine.....i am on 5th round of Chemo....so much tired.......totally lost my appetite.....
Few days ago i had a ultrasound of my whole abdomen.....there shows some solid leision on my liver.....dr is not sure that is it mets on Liver or not?
i am crossing my fingers for a better result.....i don't know anything.....how could i know that this chemo is working for me?my doctor did not say anything...........plz share some thing with me...on this situation....
i am so sick that even can't sit for a while.....writting this topic through my daughter......she is beside me all the time even my son also.......
praying a lot for everyone......lots of hugs for everyone...
Beauty
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Hi Ladies!
Padiddle - thank you...think I was jes needing some 'release' when I made that post
. Praying the abraxane continues to work and hope the storm wasn't too bad. I was never a dark chocolate person, but dh read same about it so now we always have the miniture hersheys. Love the Dove choc too. Yep...grandbabies and choco...I'll 2nd that!!LuvRV - good to hear your appetite returning. I remember the carbo...learned the hard way se's were cumulative. My family thot I was very strange as all I cud tolerate was a bean/cheese burrito. Yuk...I kno..but I cud get it down w/out puking...LOL.
Blondie - I gave up trying to get those around me to understand my ups/downs with fatigue and moods etc! I ran out of energy...heehee. Now I'm working on getting over the guilt when I cancel something I'd agreed to go/do.
Teacher911 - congrats!!
Beauty - UGH....sooo sorry to hear this. I will keep you in my prayers in that you respond to Navelbine and start feeling a little better (((Beauty)))
Sorry if I missed anyone...but to all....as always...you're in my prayers!!
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Michelle: I am about 10 minutes from the State Park. It's good to hear your appetite is returning. I had very little nausea on Gemzar. I'll check out thread you mentioned. I read your blog...nice job. You write well.
Teacher: Hip, hip hooray for your last taxol. Let us know what's next for you. I was getting chemo when a woman had a reaction too. It was like she had a seizure. The nurses were very quick to shut down the IV drip. Onc came running over. I haven't seen her again, but I'll assume they had to change the chemo drug.
Blondie: This is my week off and I am so happy for that. I don't know why people don't understand. I know it was harder for me when my son was diagnosed with cancer, then when I was diagnosed. I know it's not the same.....just something I've experienced.
Lutfun: I do hope the carboplatin helps you and I hope the lesions on the liver are not cancer. Your daughter is kind to help you post. Maybe you'll feel better soon. I've not had carboplatin.....maybe someone here has and will have some good help for you.
Jean
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beauty, I have plural effusion and gemzar didn't work for me either, am on taxotere now.....have a nice night all.....
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This is the first time i posted here. I have been to other chemo boards but not same being stage 4. I was just diagnosed in Dec 2012 stage 4 from get go. I just started TAC in Jan every 3 weeks..will have 3rd infusion this coming wed. Curious if anyone else is on same course and any SE's you may be having. Just started having aches in knees and weakness in legs. Maybe...i need to try walking more...lol with alll the excess energy chemo brings.
Anyway wishing you all well.
Jena0
