August 2010...anyone starting chemo besides me?!
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Omaz: They gave me some eye drops that they said I'll need once I start taxotere; so they are expecting me to have eye problems. It's an OTC drop, natural tears or something like that.
I had a horrible headache this morning and when we got home from church and I undressed, my DH pointed out that I had n indention in my head from my hat. So maybe our hats/wigs are the culprits! I've had a dry cough for several days, which I think is just fall allergies. And I've been real tired, slept 12 hours a night the last couple of nights. Other than that, this last round of FEC hasn't been bad.
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Ladyinbama - when do you have your first tax?
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Tues, Oct 12
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Good Evening CHEMOSABES!!!!
I had a busy day...felt like I was running a diner! I had 6 people for lunch and my boyfriend for dinner. I am tired!!!! However, I go back on LUSCIOUS STEROIDS tomorrow!!!!!! The sun will come out tomorrow, you gotta hang on til tomorrow for some steroid energy fun!!!!!
Calamtykel: I am so sorry you have a cold. I am wicked scared of this flu season but I never got the flu shot in the past and I certainly don't plan to get it while on chemo. I have my next tx this Tuesday and will ask that question. I sure hope they don't advocate chemo patients getting it. I am even going as far as being very cautious about who I allow to come over these next 3 months as I am worried about kids and colds/flu etc... . I was supposed to travel to TN for Thanksgiving and upstate NY for Christmas but I don't think I will be doing either. I sure hope you feel better and get over this. You are absolutely correct about the flu being very dangerous on chemo. It is scary. I got the flu 2 years ago in 2008 and was so sick for 2 weeks. It was awful! Feel better.
Lisaattheshore: did you ever get sick from the flu shot? I was just wondering as I know they did administer flu shots at my job and a number of people who received the shot did get sick albeit for a shorter period of time then they would normally if they had gotten the flu. OMG...I can't believe they were giving out flu shots to chemo patients! Holy smokes. That seems so antithetical. I think I will be skipping that if they offer.
Ladyinbama: That occurred to me the other day, the hat and scarf thing, because I also noticed and indentation from my Yankee hat! Good luck on your first tax!
Good luck to everyone getting txs this week. I have only JSW, Kimmie68 and Mmahle for October 8th and I am going on Oct 5th. Again, if I missed anyone, let me know.
I hope you all had a good weekend and have a lovely night!
Your FEARLESS Leader!
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The Weekly Poem
The Comfort of Wood
By Naomi Shihab NyeI come to this table tired
I come empty as a cup
a fruit bowl with no bananasI come with my various resources
dragging behind me
a cat's wet tailI come to this table with no song
no definite opinion like garlic or onion
flavoring the stewThe table is sitting where it always sits
braided placemats
in front of each chairI found the table at a store called
"The Hand and the Heart"
I was not looking for tablesThe table sat in the center of the room
leaves like wings folded at its sides
a single drawer with a runner that stuckNow I am learning the comfort of wood
as I place my head on the table
as I fold my hands over the scars0 -
I never have gotten sick from the flu shot, but have also heard of people/known people who did. I think it works out for me because all my exposure to people and germs in big quantities in Jan- Apr, so I have all through the fall to build immunity. If I miss the shot, by mid-Feb it is like being run over by a truck.
I think I am going to wait a few weeks and get mine from my primary dr when I see him. I am sure the dead virus explanation is why this is ok--but yikes!
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I receive treatment at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a large cancer care facility. They wil be administering flu shots there to all of the patients. I am told I will definitely be receiving a flu shot. This years includes the H1N1 right along iwth the rest of the types of flu viruses they expect to prevalent this year.
It is not a live virus and I am perplexed at all of the concern over getting the flu shot. It can save your life. I was in Illinois last year and the people the H1N1 virus killed had some preexisiting condition, like us.
I have my first Taxol tomorrow, Monday, and am far more nervous about that. I begin steroids in a few hours and take three doses before infusion. I also will be given benadryl to stop allergic reactions. I don't know much about Taxol and I sure hope it goes well.
I hope you all had a good weekend. Me I can't seem to shake this cold. I am at the getting chocked by it stage. I was told you can still get chemo with a cold, it has been 10 or more days now. Cold be gone!
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Michelle: Congratulations on finishing chemo!!!! I nominate you for the cape this week!
Calamty: I think you should get a cape too for shouldering this awful cold! I hope you feel better soon!
My last Tx is tomorrow, although I still plan to get my onc's opinion on two more Tx's. She has me on TC x 4, but said at the beginning that if her practice rules allowed it, she would give me six (they don't allow it because TC x 6 isn't yet in the NCCN Practice Guildelines). So I'm going to ask her if she thinks it's a good idea, should I go to another doc for the two extra Tx's? Problem is, I won't get to talk to her tomorrow, so it's have to wait. Too bad; I wish I could go into tomorrow knowing whether or not it's actually my last.
Good luck to everyone getting Tx's this week, and to everyone else, a se-free week!
Whitney
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Calamity- I also am coming down with something- i have a slight cough that i can hear rattling around in my lungs
JSW19- I do like the pink stuff. I am not a fan of pink, but i like that a majority of stuff you buy a little of the $ goes to cancer support/awareness and reasearch! So in the long run it should be a benefit to us all!
Flu shot/H1N1- this might be my own conspiracy, but last year when the president didnt get his kids the H1N1 shot i decided not to get it for my kids. I mean they go to school just the same (although its a private school and they have secret service bodyguards) they still should have falen into the risk groups that needed a shot. I just thought the vaccine came out too quickly from the first outbreak of H1N1- what about research and all that LOL.... Anyhow I wont be getting an h1n1, lets see what my dr says on thur about the reg flu shot...
Follow up on thursday with my oncologist. He had mentioned that after my 3rd tx i should get scans done to see if all my mets are responding to the chemo. I am hoping that either i can get them done thur or at least get them scheduled!
ENJOY THIS WONDERFUL WEEK LADIES- I KNOW I WILL!!!! (btw i am wearing a long sleeved shirt today cuz it was a bit chilly this am! i know it will warm up by the afternoon but it is beginning to feel like FALLhere!!!)
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Gingerbrew - I start taxol oct 15th so am interested to hear how your experience goes. I had a horrible cold too but it ended. My last AC was postponed a week because of it.
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I'm about to go for a walk and see if I can't get out of the doldrums. I've been sad and weepy all morning. I just want my life back to where it was. Thursday is my first wedding anniversary and all I can think about is what a cruel cosmic joke has been played on my husband. We were so happy and so grateful to have found each other, me after being widowed for 7 years and he after 2 failed marriages and being divorced for 5 years. And just as we were getting our new life started, along comes cancer. It has taken such a toll on me physically; besides being bald and scarred, I've gained 25 pounds from stress eating and not being able to work out like I used to. And our sex life has taken a beating too. It's just barely still alive and even though we are "older" (I'm 53 and he's 51), we were hot for each other and had it really going on before this. Ugh .. I hate to be a downer. It seems like my emotions get screwy about a week after chemo, just when I'm physically feeling ok, I get mentally out of whack.
I am going to walk, that'll make me feel better. We have a beautiful, cool morning today. As I walk, I say my prayers, so I'll be praying for us all and especially for those of you who have treatments this week.
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GOOD DAY CHEMOSABES!!! Pretty soon we will be RADicals!!!!!!
JSW: I am with you and Texas on the pink stuff... I like it. I think it is really nice that there is a lot of awareness about breast cancer. This is going to sound really odd as well but even breastcancer.org is an example of the support available to bc patients vs. other cancers. My friend had uterine cancer and there are no support sites or places she can go to talk to others who have that type of cancer.
Ginger: I guess I should not be nervous about getting the flu shot. I just have never gotten it. Thanks for the info.
Texas: I wish you the very best on your scans and I hope your mets are responding. I know it is grueling to wait to get the scans (been there!) but focus on receiving positive results. I wish you the best.
Wherria: get the 2 additional if you can. My feeling is the more the better in this one shot in hopes there will be NO MORE trips to the chemo factory! Be sure to let us know what happens but if you finish tomorrow, good times, sister!!!! I will update the list with your tx for tomorrow also. I will be reporting live from chemo and perhaps you should do the same! Wherria-I go to Yale and we are both a llb so I wonder why I am able *eligible* for 6 and you would not be. I am only pretty sure Yale is following guidelines also. Let me know what happens.
Ladyinbama: I will agree the timing was not great and I completely understand your frustration. It is certainly warranted. On the plus side, he is still by your side and you can lose the weight and your body will come back and be yours and just think about all that making up to him for being the greatest husband ever that lies ahead (WINK WINK!!). Be good to yourself today and focus on how good you will be to him in the future. Just relax and take it one day at a time. I hope you enjoyed your walk and thanks for the prayers because god knows we need em!
I am on self-induced, steroid-caused house arrest today! Something weird happened last night. I got out of bed to go to the bathroom and I sort of stumbled and almost fell. I was able to get to my bureau for some stability and it came and went quick but that never happened to me before. It was like I was super weak for 30 seconds. It was weird. I know, it is probably chemo-related but I only had 1 tx and as Tuesday is my next, it is weird that the first would still be affecting me. Weird, weird, weird!
I hope you all have a lovely day and be good to yourselves!
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lady in bama,
its happening to me too my sex drive just isnt there- sometimes i have to fake the funk... I am 27 so this def cant even be concidered normal or age approriate... I read somewhere that womens sexdrive peak is in their late 40's so you're supposed to be at the top of your game girl!
(explains all the cougars out there!)
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Hi all,
just wanted to share. I have a miserable cold too. I've had it for almost 2 weeks but didn't take zithromax b/c no fever. Anyway the onc wanted me to take the zithromax anyway. saturday I got my neulasta and thave been taking claritin in the am and evening. My cold/cough is much better , I'd been going through boxes of tissues (very unlike me, never have allergies)until yesterday. I feel much better. Just wanted to mention if it helps someone else.
Carolyn
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Wherria: good call on the capes, btw! I gave them to Michelle and Sptmm for finishing. Meant to thank you for that!
Texas and Lady: I concur on the "drive" business! I won't fake either...I just don't bother! I am going to sing Michael Jackson's "you are not alone, I am here with you!"
Sniffles and dry, lung-rattling cough: I don't think I have a cold but I do feel, with this cough, just as I do before I get bronchitis. I don't like it. Also, during and after I workout I get the wicked sniffles to the point where I have to keep tissue around also. Just like ckptry, this is not my norm. I never have allergies and all this running nose/sniffles. December 28, my last tx, cannot come soon enough!
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Gingerbrew You are totally right that the flu shot helps save lives. My concern was that for some reason I thought it was a live virus. Since it is not, I will definitely be getting one this fall. I will ask if they have them at my onc's office when I go in this Friday.
LadyinBama I think the loss of sex drive is totally normal, I'm feeling it too. My second wedding anniversary is next week and like you I feel like my husband and I should not be dealing with this right now, instead we should be starting a family (we're both 32). But we deal with it the best we can and I'm sure your husband is still feeling lucky to have found you! I hope you can enjoy your anniversary and maybe you can plan for something special next year.
Oh and on the topic of colds/sniffles, I have been having a runny nose for about 3 weeks now! It doesn't feel like a cold and I don't have any other symptoms so I think it is just a chemo side effect. But it is annoying, I need to have tissues around all the time! And I have also changed travel plans for the holidays. My husband and I usually go to see his family at Thanksgiving and my family at Christmas. Both are far away so we have to fly and I decided it was just too much risk of getting sick plus I won't even be done with my chemo until January. So our families are coming to visit us this year. I'm looking forward to not having to travel over the holidays this year!
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I take Claritin every morning for the heck of it and hoping it somehow helps with the Neulasta pain and/or the killer sniffles... I think the dripping is due to lack of nose hair. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (c: I have a strange cough sometimes, kinda like an old man hack. Lots of new and exciting things for the body to do. Sex drive... this is my "sunshine week"... I think I can, I think I can. Hey! Since I am shaving this week I just bought 4 wigs for a total of $230.00, hah! One pink (had to), one blond (like me), one red and one dark brown, let the fun begin. Cheers. The pink one is like the ones in my avatar.
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Also agree with the capes! now they're done they better stick around!!!! Dont leave our thread!
Never thought about it being the lack of nose hair tho, but i do have a cough too!
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I'm happy to know that those of you who got sick are recovering from your colds. I'm disgusted that I came down with this. haven't had so much as a sneeze in over a year. ACK! I hope I recover before the Taxol starts Monday.
My mom came and got my three younger kids. I miss them - I miss my life.........my oldest daughter's 14th birthday is tomorrow and I can't even plan anything. I have to just give her some $ because I haven't even been able to shop or get her anything.
My nose is dripping like crazy - never thought about the nose hair thing -that is interesting!
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Hi All,Today I was scheduled for my second round of TC chemo (I am supposed to have 4 rounds) but my liver enzymes (ALT or ASL -not totally sure of which one) were 180 so they want to delay treatment for at least a week. I wondered if anyone else had this problem and what course of action was taken to try to figure out/resolve it?As of now, I am off all Tylenol products, which I had been taking in small doses. I also know that Taxotere can stress the liver, so if they don't come down, I am wondering if they will switch me to another regimen like AC.I appreciate any information folks might have on their experience with this. Best, Beau0
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BEAU: I had liver enzyme levels problems with my first TC treatment. The Onco [and I] think it was the result of taking the antibiotic Cipro for insurance against infection because of a very low WBC. This hiccup will result in a 3 week delay in the overall completion of my chemo. If you had to take Cipro it may be your villain and not the taxotere. Good luck to you.
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Hi Onemonga,
Thanks for your reply! I haven't taken cipro but it might be the tylenol that I was taking for bone pain. I am hoping to be on track by next week, but this is such a roller coaster ride that I will just have to wait and see. I hope that you are doing well now! Good luck with everything. I will let you know how it goes with me. best, Beau
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Hello all---checking in from my STEROIDS HIGH!!!!! Man, I got more done today thean I normally get done in 2 days!
Beau: is there any reason why you are taking Tylenol instead of Claritin or Zyrtec? I think there is a reason they loosely advocate Claritin or Zyrtec over Tylenol. Just wondering but in reference to your question, no, I have not had any liver issues and I do take Claritin daily and am going for #2 tomorrow. My bloodwork from Thursday was excellent so I am a go for #2. I hope they get to the bottom of why your liver numbers are off. Good luck-
Adey: A pink wig!!!!! Good for you. No nose hair... I never had any? Sniffles, runny nose...good times, chickie! Are you shaving down to your scalp or buzzing? If shaving to the scalp are you going to a salon or doing it at home? I am considering a razor and an ex's shaving cream he left here! TOnight in the shower all the little buzzed hair was falling out! Soon I will have spots of hair and spots of scalp....sort of like a globe...perhaps I will do greens and blues!!!!
Anyone else want to weigh in on the shaving the head issue?! Did you all shave to the scalp, just buzz it and, if you did go to the scalp was it at home, electric or straight and what was your experience? I think I am goign to have to go to the scalp later this week and personally am a little nervous after this guy at my job walked around with a band aid on his HEAD from shaving, as he did the bald thing (really hot but dumb as rocks!!!) and I don't want cuts on my head complicating my life!
GI Jane: when all is said and done, this entire experience might have made a GI Jane out of me! Now if only I could get my traps cut again!!!!
Good night girls and good luck to ME, Wherria and Omaz as we are all getting treated to some luscious chemo tomorrow!!!!! WOE IS US!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Man, steroids just give me an upset stomach and a red face - how come you get all the fun Lizzy?0
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I just don't know, Omaz!!!!! Not sure it is fun but I definitely have an excess of energy to get stuff done!
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The cold, the cough, the sneezing.......Chemo cancelled!
I went for chemo today and was immediately waylaid at the blood draw. They had a special protocol in place asking if I had any cold symptoms, they had a list. I was given a mask and instantly taken off to an isolation room where I was not allowed to remove my mask. I had my blood draw by a masked nurse. I was sent with my mask directly up to where I see my doc and was given a sheet to fill out and they wisked me off to another room where my masked and gloved doc came in. She decided I needed to wait another week to have chemo.
They were amazingly strict about my symptoms and I am glad for that. As I waited,maked up to get my port access removed back at the blood draw lab I realized I was in line with a child who had hair that looked just like mine. We need to all protect her from my cold. So I am glad they were so strict. I didn't think I was still that sick, I got this about 11 or more days ago.
I am scheduied for next monday the 11th, So now all I need to do is go off ot the Steroids I took last night to prepare for the Taxol. I had 8 mg at 3 am and then 8 mg at 9 am and then came to a screetching halt with the cancellation of the chemo that was to be at 3 PM.
The doc said I do not need antibiotics because I have had no fever or mucus that was anything but clear. She did say that I need to call if there is any change of any kind that there is a low threshold for me needing antibiotics. Whatever that means.
I will be sire to write on the 11th how it goes. My DD with the new baby will need to bring me beause my husband can't manage aother day off.
I did get some cough syrup with codeine so maybe I will sleep through a night. Maybe my husband will too.
PS to whoever was falling. They ask me at every exam if I have fallen in the last two weeks, first question everytime. I have not but I wonder what it has to do with chemo.
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ginger-wow! I'm an icky mess too - I go for my blood draw today and am interested to hear what they say. First it was only in my nose, but when I woke up this morning I started coughing yucky stuff suddenly and my bronchials feel irritated. So we'll see if I need a z-pak when I go in today. I'm wondering - did they tell you if it's a big deal that they hold chemo for a week? I'm supposed to go on Monday and if I'm not better I'm wondering what they will do.
At least I slept last night. My nutritionist feels my thyroid is overactive right now and put me on some new things and I think it did finally help me sleep. When two benadryl and an Ativan aren't touching it, you know something's wrong!
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SHaving- I first buzzed it, but everytime i'd shower it looked like i had bathed a dog so roughly about a week later i used a razor and shaved to the scalp, i have cute peach fuzz in pots and am thinking of shaving once again, but some of it started falling out after my last tx so am ot sure if i should shave or wait a bit...
Calamty- DId you see a nutritionist before you were dx with bc?
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Lizzy: I will PM you with some pics that show you what I did with my head. DH shaved it down to a "GI" cut and the nubs have continued to fall out, but I haven't lost my hair everywhere. It's no big deal to wash away what falls out, so I haven't shaved it as sort of an experiment to see if it all falls out or not. Got to amuse ourselves somehow, right?
I'm feeling better this morning. Thank you all for understanding. I'm wondering where some of our folks are? Our Canadian ladies, Sweeney and Rachel, have you abandoned us? SoHard, you never came back from your second treatment. LibraryLil, EnglishTeacher and others, where have you all gone? Hope everyone is doing well and living life and just haven't had time to check in.
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I wanna see! If you feel comfortable. I'm shaving tonight. Dunno if I should use the clippers I borrowed or shave it? Anyhoo, it's really coming out now. It's so strange even though I expected it. I'm scared and excited. My head feels funny.
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