August 2010...anyone starting chemo besides me?!
Comments
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Debbi - I don't know if you're on it, but Tamoxifen can cause visual changes (I don't know about Arimidex or Femera). I had a lot of blurry vision on the tamox and it's gone now. It's a good idea to see the eye doctor though. A friend on facebook who started tamox the same day as me wrote me yesterday and said she is having vision changes and is going to see her eye doctor. I did also have SOME blurred vision on the chemo, but it went away once it was done.
I over-exercised yesterday and boy am I sore today! But it's okay - two rainy days coming so I can't run anyway!
Hope everyone has a great day! 0 -
I am seeing an ophthalmologist today. I have "taxotears", worsened vision and a burst blood vessel in my eye that I didn't do anything to deserve. Last time I had one of those I was birthin' babies. (c:
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The rickety/creaky thing is so wide spread!! I really wonder what part of the treatment process causes it and what the mechanism is.
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Cal: Thanks for the tips on the Tamox..the eye doctor did mention that "the Tamoxifen is not helping things any". So basically chemo accelerated the aging process of my eyes, and exaggerated changes that were already occurring, and the Tamox is further blurring the lines. LOVELY! Anyway, I will go get my old lady reading glasses this weekend! It is just reading, otherwise my vision is fine, so just another inconvenience.
Rachel: I saw your message on FB, didn't get a chance to respond. What a game!! We were watching too. Glad we came out on the winning side of that one!
Texas: Did you find child care for your son for rads? How do you like all the drawing they do? I threw out all the sharpies in the house after rads. I don't think I will ever look at a sharpie marker the same again!
Mommi: It takes a while. I am five months out of chemo and still rickety and fatigued. The doctors keep telling me to be patient, but I can't get back to normal fast enough. And I have just begun to get to the point where I will go hours without thinking about cancer. But I still think about it every day. I have a friend who is a 7 year survivor...she says it gradually gets better. First you go hours without thinking about it, then days, then weeks, and then months. So, I choose to believe them. It will get better, we just have to give it time.
Adey: Love that birthin babies comment!!!! ROFLMAO!!!
Should be a great weekend weatherwise, I can't wait for Spring!! Hope everyone can get out and enjoy. And Lizzy. Keep that head warm....grow that hair!! Cal is right, for me once it started coming in, it came in fast. Not too long, but getting thicker and thicker every day. Hopefully I will be able to post a pic this weekend.
Have a great day everyone!
Debbi
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I'm with all y'all on feeling rickety. I'm nearly 4 months out and still can't get on the floor without feeling like an old woman. I do think the exercise has helped a LOT though. I've been working out at the YMCA - cardio, weights and stretching - 3 times a week for about 2 months, and I'm seeing a huge difference in how I feel.
Thanks for bringing up the vision changes. I was prescribed bi-focals over a year ago, but never got the new glasses because I didn't really think I needed them. All of a sudden, I REALLY need them. I got my bi-focals a couple of weeks ago, and it helps my reading a lot.
I guess I think the whole process: the diagnosis, the chemo, the steriods, the Tamox, etc. just takes a toll on our bodies. Between the mental stress of the diagnosis and the physical stress of the treatments, it's kind of no wonder our bodies have "aged" faster. My hope is not to get back to who I was, but to be as strong as I can be at this moment, with this body.
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Lizzie...not so sure about low taxes...I think Canada is one of the highest taxed countries!
The cancer support centre that I go to offers a personal trainer for a couple of months to help develop muscles and strength back...I am going to start soon...all free...so I get to do that and then go to the gym fr cardio. I am just hoping to get my old energy back and lose all these extra pounds!0 -
Lisa: I love your last comment, if you don't mind I am going to adopt that as my goal...to be as strong as I can be in this moment..That's perfect!
Lizzy: I am going to try that eye thing. I believe those Chinese know what they are doing when it comes to natural healthcare. You do 12 circles clockwise and 12 counter clockwise or six of each? And you are tapping the whole time, right?
I am having a lot of fun exercising. While I lead a very active lifestyle shuttling kids around, working, etc I did not exercise before BC. Since everyone has been pointing out (my doctors included) the multiple benefits of exercise, I have adopted that as my new way to fight cancer. I have been going to the gym 5 days a week. I take classes 3-4 days and the other days I walk on the treadmill. I am able to put the treadmill on an 8 incline and I am now up to 4.0 speed (so I walk 2 miles in 30 minutes). I hope to be jogging in a couple of months! Anyway, it makes me feel a lot better, both because I am having fun with it and also because I am doing something constructive to prevent a recurrence. I guess I still need to actively continue the fight in order for my mind to be at ease. I have not noticed a lot of weight loss in pounds (about 7 pounds in the month and a half I have been doing it), but I do notice a change in how my clothes fit so that feels good too.
Debbi
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Lisa - "My hope is not to get back to who I was, but to be as strong as I can be at this moment, with this body." Well said!!0
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Debbi That is great that you are excercising it gives me hope b/c I've always watched my weight through diet (and stress), not excercise and use the Y membership for the kids' classes but not myself.I need to change that. 7 pounds is great btw, I once heard at weight watchers the longer it takes to come off the longer you keep it off and I've found that to be so true. It's why those crash diets never work long, people gain the weight back and then some because you can't sustain it.
Lisa I agree, well said!
carolyn
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Rachel: In the US, if you make any kind of decent money, your taxes are in the 40% (with FICA, spica etc..!) range and if you are making really good money, it can go as high as 48%. Relative to taxation, we are on the precipice of socialism but we don't get any socialist benefits. The Ontario ad basically said your taxes will be a little bit higher but you get A LOT more for your money. I have dual citizenship and am a citizen of Ireland as well as the US. I have been seriously considering going just so I have socialized medicine and don't have it connected to my job. In addition, I learned recently, in a very surreptitious manner, citizens of the US with "big" sickness are being profiled by being placed in a database for big business to peruse. They are looking, of course, to avoid hiring those with the "big sicknesses" which is illegal in this country blah blah....right! So is firing people with bc etc... For this reason, 52% taxation seems like a bargain compared to 43% and getting nothing but profiled now. I think this is what the Ontario ad was imparting.
Sptmm: GOOD FOR YOU! 4.0 w/an 8 incline is a great workout on the tread. Don't be afraid to try the Arc trainers...now you get a lot of bang for your time buck on that thing as it is a hybrid of the stair stepper and ellipitical. I usually do that at 10 and 100% resistance with handweights....we are talking 750 calories burned in a 45 min session...good stuff! 5 times a week to the gym is also great and shows good commitment. Don't be one of those women afraid of weights...go lift, woman! Don't forget, muscles are a jacket for your bones so build them up! I was always in the muscle pit and there were always ladies we called "cardio queens" who were skinny-fats! They had drooping butts, back of arms that were soft, no muscle definition etc.. and that is all because they did not want to get "big" through weight lifting!!!!! That is such a hysterical myth! First of all our center of gravity is higher than that of a man so we can't develop that level of strength and, second, and lifting makes your muscles "smaller" by squeezing the water and junk that is sitting in them thereby making your muscles tighter, you get better tone and a better infrastructure so don't be afraid of the machines! Also, go into the free weights area and work your traps on the smith and do some garden pickers also!!!
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Debbi...you are doing great with exercising...I will use you as my inspiration to get to the gym!
Lizzie..,makes sense...for some reason I thought US residents paid lower taxes. Granted...we have income tax, 13% sales tax, crazy property taxes and house values. I guess it is everywhere. However, you are correct....no one will go bankrupt paying medical bills. I do wonder sometimes that if you had to find new job and they knew you had cancer....that they would find excuse not to hire you. I have a feeling that companies would do that....sad but true.0 -
Rachel: It is great that you have such support even after treatment is finished. I don't have that and I wish I did. I was just kind of let go....and I am floundering to find my way. I was talking to the head of the Breast Health Center at the hospital where I was treated the other day and I told her that is what they were missing. There needs to be someplace to go after treatment is finished with nutritionists, physical therapists, counselors, etc to help you start again, and find a way to live with and thrive through all the changes you have experienced, both mental and physical. Thats what I wish I had. Its great that you have the resource of your cancer center.
Lizzy: Wow...I would try those things if I knew what they were! I am starting out slowly, remember I NEVER exercised before, so I am easing in, LOL. But I definitely will use you as my personal training advisor because you certainly seem to know your stuff. Seriously though, I do want to branch out in a couple of weeks to the weight section....just getting comfortable and building up my endurance a little more.
Debbi
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Lisa - that's awesome! I love that quote!
Carolyn - me too. I wasn't much for exercise until last January 1 -when I resolved to start! Unfortunately, my BC diagnosis came in May, so it slowed me down but didn't stop me! I ran through chemo and after surgery as much as possible. I'm trying to do five days a week to. Rain today - too much to go out, but hopefully maybe tomorrow! Meanwhile I'm recovering - did some new stretches and strength training and I'm sore today!
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Well, well, well.....Deb and Kel- you both LOOK like you have been working out your whole lives! Nice job!
Deb- I purposely wrote those 2 exercises in gym vernacular so you would have to ask around and do some research....preferably at the gym!!!!! Ask one of those "gorilla juice heads (Jersey Shore jargon!)" at the gym for help! Tell them someone told you to work your traps, light with dimes on the Smith and you have no idea what they are talking about! That will strike up a conversation. Good luck in your research
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LOL...Okay Lizzy. I will find the gorilla juice head with light brown hair and blue eyes, ask him, and then report back on my findings!
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Sptmm: that is what I like to hear!!!
It is official - my hair has gone from porcupine rough to nice and soft...so glad!
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Hi all,
I thought I posted this earler, guess I still have chemo brain. I went 'topless' today for the first time at my daughter's preschool fashion show -no hat:-). It's thicker on top then it looks in the avatar b/c it's got alot of silver there and for some reason the front has been coming in last (I was worried I'd look like a monk!). It felt good to be out in the fresh air. If it doesn't come in darker I'm going to help it along:-)
Deb I love Lizzy's idea - good luck at the gym;-)
Carolyn
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Carolyn: On warm days the past week when I went walking, I went topless too. It felt good to have the air/wind/sun on my head. And I figure that the people in the cars passing by don't know who I am anyway. I imagine I look like a man, bald head and baggy clothes!
Lizzy: My fuzz is soft too. I wish it would hurry up and grow some length! I rub my head a lot and DH rubs it everytime he walks by. Maybe I should quit, maybe I'm rubbing it off
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Crap! I hope I'm not rubbing off my fuzzles!
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Congrats Carolyn...It is very liberating isn't it!
Don't worry about rubbing it off, my DD could not resist "petting" my head every time she walked by because my hair was so soft. She didn't rub it off. Did manage to annoy me somewhat, but didn't rub off my hair, LOL!
Debbi
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Hello girls-
Just stopping in to say hi!
Sptmm: hope you enjoyed the weather! I have another gym treasure hunt for you! Ask about doing "skull crushers" with the ez bar! They are really good for your triceps! Don't use any weight on the bar the first time to gauge your comfort level. The bar itself weighs 35 lbs.
I am going to go warm up my head with a knit cap in an attempt to induce hair growth!
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I massage my head to get more circulation going. I imagine that will help with hair growth. We used to tell our son that wearing a baseball cap all the time is what made his hair fall out. I have no idea if that is true or not, but his hair did fall out. Family genes is the more likely cause.
I wonder what we would all have done if they had told us about all the maladies that would befall us during treatment. I kind of think I wouldn't have believed them, I would have thought it was like the list of side effects in a drug package. I am sure I wouldn't have believed that chemo would make my feet so numb that I would walk around with a freakin book light in my slipper and not know it was there. Nopey nope.
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Ginger - I'll never forget that booklight thing! Last week of rads this week??
LE/cording - Well I have both now. So sucks.
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I have 6 boosts left! M to F then the next Monday and fini!
I am looking forward to beng done with radiation. I had an appointment with a nurse practitioner on Friday to see about using her for my antidepressants and find the right sleep medicine. She is nice and fun. I don't want to be in therapy, I have done that over many years at various times. I don't feel like I have any big issues just now, my goal is to get well and rejoin life in the most regular average way possible. She gave me the number of an acupuncturist for neuropathy treatment. I would like full use of my hands and feet back. I walk a bit flat just now, I am afraid of falling over and sure don't want to break anything. When I first come on the BCO boards I thought many were being awfully pessimistic when they would say, "BC the gift that keeps on giving." Oh, how little did I know!!!
Hugs GInger
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Ginger - Are you taking or going to take any anti-estrogens? Tam or AI?
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Arimidex, I think or maybe Aromisin. I think I recall Arimidex but I don't actually know yet. I am glad there is treatment available but I just am tired of all these side effects. Blaaaahhh
Ginger
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Hi ladies, I got DH to take my pic this morning. My new avatar is my hair 3 months pfc. It's has no length, but at last it has covered my whole head; no more male pattern baldness.
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You look nice Lady!0
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week 13 getting thicker
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Lady: Your surgery is this week, right? What day? Good luck!! I will be praying for you.
Debbi
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