Radiation recovery
Comments
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Just had my blood draw. Went and bought a big cup of coffee, and now I am waiting for my infusion. Could take an hour before they get the results back of my blood draw
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Good luck kate!
Josie, glad your DH is ok.
Just brought my DH home from his colonoscopy. Colon is fine, some polyps in stomach and some problems with esophagus, probably ok, but have to wait for results of biopsy. ....hard not to worry.
RMlulu, good for you, taking the first pill!
Everyone else, have a good day, think positive thoughts.0 -
Hi Suzannah, Glad your husband's colonoscopy is over with. He can start on the cake balls.
I am getting my infusion. First I have two hours of fluids. Than I will have 10 minutes of anti-nausea. Then 1 hour of cisplaitin chemo, and then 30 min of Gen zar chemo, and then I can go home and have Janis's delicious cake balls.
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Susannah, I know what you mean about worrying. I have been on the spouse side of that kind of worry, and those findings are also similar to my mother's results. Her results came back benign, but she had a bleeding ulcer. She followed a special diet for awhile and was maintaining just great on that. Her iron was getting low previous to that, and improved after watching her diet. Hopefully it will all be good. So many of us at this age are having digestive issues. I have read at a certain age, our digestive juices are just not as effective as they are when we are young. I have started taking probiotics, which have helped me tremendously. Hopefully all tests will come back benign and he can adjust things to feel better.
Kate, hopefully your day will go quickly, and you can be on your way back home and resting before too long.
Cindy and Bunkie, my hair thinned after rads or maybe it was the worry involved. I have alway had vey thick hair. It is not much thinner, and actually more manageable than it has ever been.
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Hi Gigil,
I have 23 minutes left of fluids. 10 minutes of anti nausea 1 hour of one cnemo drug, and 30 minutes of another left. chemo drug, so hopefully I will be finished in 2 hours.
Go home and rest ha ha not me, I will go to the donut shop. Resting is just not part of my make up kind of like Joan. Besides donuts I can't wait for lemon cake balls.
I am praying that this chemo and the next two weeks will take the swelling away.
Thanks so much for your support
xoxo,
Kate
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Oh good heavens, this thread is just too fast! I've only been gone for a couple of days and there are pages to read, parties, medical procedures, life changes, you name it! I am going to have to start right here and try to keep up as we go along. I do apologize!
Kate, you are such a trooper! I hope it goes easy this week.
DD and I had a great weekend with ocean kayaking (scary) and hiking (peaceful) and my first cheescake in over 2 years (sinful)! This week will be devoted to getting DDs summer and 12th grade in order.
I'll try to do a better job of popping in!
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Kate, am comfy in your pocket and can wait until later for the cake balls :-P
Thanks for recognizing that some of us by nature wil persist in resisting continuous activity. My downfall is that late at night, when I know I should be sleeping, I am enjoying the peace and quiet and control that I feel during that time of day.
Glad you are passing the mid point of your treatment today.0 -
Before I go to the lymphedema site, I want to ask around here...
Since my poison oak popped out in a big way, just about 2 weeks ago, my middle section is very puffy/swollen...not like I ate too much, but all over. I had gained weight while away, but now I've lost about 3 of those lbs. naturally, and the puff persists. This morning my rings were tight (unusual for morning).So, is there any relationhip between a generalized body stress such as this contact dermatitis and LE? (maybe truncal? I did have Mondors which affects the abdominal area only it is the veins that are affected)
I know I will be told to go to the doctor....I am trying to avoid adding any more meds to my system. I have topical remedies; it is intermittent and uncomfortable but not unbearable. The bad thing is it is still spreading after 2 weeks.
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Joan - after my gallbladder surgery and after my lumpectomies I got contact dermatitis from the cleaning solution they used on me to do surgery. I did swell. Just puffy looking all aver the mid section. When it got better the swelling went down. Took about a month. I could not tell you more than that. Sorry.
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Joan, If there is any question about it being lymphedema, you should see a lymphedema therapist, and right away. I know you only had two nodes removed, but even those little nodes mean your/our entire lymphatic system is now somewhat compromised (strong word, I know, but your lymphatics just ain't perfect no more!) THey do warn about bug bites and so forth, and I'd think your poison oak plus the life stress you're going through are not helping. My understanding is that lymphedema's swelling leaves you at increased risk of cellulitis and that can be a real downer. The therapists can help bring that swelling down and give you techniques to keep it away. There are gentle whole body exercises, for instance, designed to increase lymphatic flow. My hospital offers free classes in this Lebed exercise technique, and perhaps yours does as well.
I sure hope the swelling is just a reaction to the poison ivy, but better to be safe.
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Thanks so much Sab and Joan for your support. I should be out of here in 45 minutes and to the donut shop by 3:30 pst. Then I am going to eat donuts, Janis's delicious lemon cake balla, wine, and dance to disco
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Joan I know this is advice that you do not want, but you should see your doctor. You may be allergic to poison oak, and a short course of medicine and ointment could bring you relief. Nuff said, sorry to nag!
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Joan - yes, call your Dr in morning and schedule appointment. LE is not something to guess about...you are worth it! Call!
Kate - you are amazing...yeah chemo done and on to donut shop:)). We're all happy in your pockets (((squeeze)))...
SAB - you get the last cakeball...you still have cheesecake crumbs on your chin:)
Josie - sounds like a fun grad party Ooo whoo!
Susannah - yeah hubby home...done for several years...fiber one cereal is a good thing:)
Hey Bunkie and Brookside share those lemon cakeballs...Sew pop the cork...Janis yummy cakeballs. Now everyone act medium ... Yippee toasting Kate:)))0 -
OK the party is started now. I am having Janis's lemon cake balls, wine, and a bagel sandwich. I am at the donut shop, and I am disco dancing.I took a cab straight from the hospital to here. You don't feel side effects on the day of chemo. Those will start Wednesday, but I am loaded down with anti-nausea meds
xoxo,
Kate
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Kate - toasting your amazing warrior spirit! Yippee disco dancing...the leg is gonna shrink down to normal soon:). Go girls:)))
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Kate glad everything went good today.Your so brave!!
Joan hope it's only poison oak and not something else.Please go to the doc there are so many different thing it could be.
I didn't sleep well last night.It was like 1:15am before I could fall asleep and had to be up at 6:30am.I had an overactive mind and bladder last night.Too much fun for 1 day I guess.I've been a little nervous lately.I don't like that feeling.
Don't have the funds for therapy so it better go away on its own.0 -
Kate - Goodie!!! We are eating goodies now!!
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Tried to check in earlier, but my Internet carrier is not letting me log in. I had to use my personal hotspot? Anyone want some of my homemade minestrone soup? I made it vegan and it turned out great. My carnivorous husband loved it. We did shake a little Parmesan on top. I had a ton of veggies to chop so I used my food processor. I was worried about doing that, but it really allowed the favors to marry. I left part of the veggies a little chunkier, and part were finely chopped. Lots left. Mi am ready for dessert. Can someone pass the chocolate coconut cake balls please?
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Gigil sounds yummy I'm pretty much carnivore myself but it still sounds good.
BUNKIE you look way younger than 60.I showed my youngest daughter your avatars this morning and asked her how old you looked like .She said 29.
I just took the dog for a walk tonight it was a beautiful cool evening.We enjoyed it so much.Everyone is still out of electric except our side of the street.We are so lucky I remember a few years back when we lost electric for like 2weeks.That got expensive too run that generator like $30 a day in gasoline.0 -
Joan, hope you're still up as I have to add my vote to SAB's, I think you need to see the doc. Poison oak from out here does not continue to spread for 2 weeks. Unless you're re-contaminating yourself from clothing that still has the poison oak oils on it...a jacket or sweater? Or, you're just really allergic and you need to get meds. I'd suggested calamine lotion days ago, I'd guess that isn't helping much. The poison oak will look a bit puffy, where you've got an outbreak, and after 2 weeks of this, you might not see the actual blisters/bumps but just a general swelling. I do think all of this can lead to a LE outbreak, but if you can get this allergic reaction under control, you can probably then get any LE flare up under control without too much trouble. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this still. Perhaps next year you'll forgo camping in Monterey? Good luck.
Yummmm....I love pocket parties. Or any party. Bring on summer......
Nite all0 -
Cindy, Josie, and Bunkie thank you so much for your support. My 5 hour chemo is really a 6 hour chemo. OMG they give me 4 hours of fluids. In 6 hours I must have gone to the restroom a minimum of 25 pounds. the chemo itself was only 30 minutes of genzar and 60 mibnutes of Cisplaitin. Cisplaitin is the one with the most side effects, and I only get it 60 minutes once a month.They also gave me 30 minutes of anti-nausea. I took an emend pill before the transfusions. Emend is a miracle drug. This is the start of my second session and thanks to Emend and two other anti-nausea meds I have not had any nausea to speak of-YEAH. Today and tonight I've had no se's at all. Although if se's kick in they start on Wednesday.
I want to let you know that my original plan of coming into chemo sitting straight up in a chair without reclining, and no blankets is working out the best for me. Also I do not discuss my case with the nurses at all. They are very sweet I talk about their children, fashion etc etc. and everything in the world except my health. I am incredibly blessed, most of the patients are in a reclining position cold with blankets over them, sleeping and I look like I am the secretary of the unit lol. There is absolutely no need for me to discuss my case with a nurse when my MO is so brilliant and available.
Janis a special thanks to you. You are always here for me, and your lemon cake balls are incredible
Cindy a special thanks to you too. Your magic princess coat has smothered me in all the support I need to kick this cancer in the butt
A special thanks to all my breast cancer sisters. Your support is giving me the strength to stay positive and beat this
xoxo,
Kate
Kate
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Typo in my last post. I said gone to the restroom a minimum of 25 POUNDS lol. I meant 25 times, but maybe I lost 25 pounds of water.
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GiGil and RMlulu, thanks for thinking of my husband. I think we will try probiotics.
Joan, sounds like a great day, kayaking (on the ocean??) and hiking. Hoping for your skin issues to resolve.
Kate, by now you are either sleeping or up and about....hope for less swelling and mild side effects.0 -
Good morning everyone hope everybody has a great day.
Kate so glad everything went well yesterday.
My Rads breast is swollen and hurts again??
Why??Isn't that weird? I can't sleep on that side anymore.If course my MO is out of town this week so they had to reschedule my 6 week appt .Originally it was supposed to be for this Wednesday June 5.You know me not wanting to take time off work so ..since I wanted a 8:00am appt it will be July 3 before I can see him again.0 -
Josie, I just posted in a different forum that my rads breast is tender again too, and quite itchy. I finished rads on May 3, so what gives? I'm finally meeting my new MO on Thursday and will certainly ask her, but all advice is welcome. I'm only using 1% hydrocortisone for the itching. The skin looks perfectly normal. Well, the areola looks a little like it's been through something, but most of the itching is on the regular skin. The itching bugs me more than the tenderness--unless the tenderness means something.
Kate, you are really so impressive in the way you handle chemo. I'm rooting for you 1000%! Also, I asked my PT what someone should do who has LE but insurance won't cover special LE therapy. She said to find out (maybe online) where the key LE therapy center is in your area, call them, and ask if they have any care for people in your situation. They might have people undergoing training who could treat you cheaply or free, or a free care fund, or some agreement with another hospital. It might be worth a try if your LE flares up again after this chemo, which of course I'm hoping it won't!
Susannah, great news about your husband's colon, and I hope you can stay peaceful and then get good news about the biopsy. Meditation skills would probably help. I wish I'd started that years ago so I'd be good at it by now, but I'm not.
Joan, how did your meeting go yesterday? Also, I hope you can get some answers quickly about the swelling and weird reaction to the poison oak. Maybe you just need something topical that's a little stronger.
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Good Morning Josie & RunFree -
We all finished rads about the same time. I'm still babying the girl. AM& PM I still apply a little neosporin with 2.5 hydrocortisone and then a few drops of emu oil. She looks good, but is still to tender to sleep on tummy or side really. My SND incision still drives me crazy with clothes....rubs:(. Yeah, I still free boob...camis are gr8!
Are you still mosituring? Are you sleeping on her? Have you over done physical activity...don't know how you have big grad party and not overdo with your arm! Bug bite?
Do you wear compression sleeve when doing repetitive arm movements? Just thinking out loud.
Josie - hate nurse c, but can't you sneak in at lunch time to look at swelling? July is a long time to wait.
RunFree - hope you luv your new MO and get answers Thursday.
Sending calm girl thoughts...no itch, no swelling, no tenderness!
(((Hugs)))
Cindy
Today I meet with trainer at gym...going to revise workout so I don't overdo...my old workout is too much weight so got to ease back into my routine...wearing a dragoon tatto compression sleeve lol!0 -
(((((KATE)))))
Sending healing no SEs thoughts your way! The disco ball is still spinning, but boy the cakeball crumbs are all over your pockets...lets recycle the bottles:)
Have a great day...fingers&toes crossed Wednesday is a non eventful day...and leg swelling goes down...25# down! Yum donut time:)))
XO
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Susannah I recently had an endoscopy and stomach biopsy. Everything was good. He said the lining of my stomach was irritated but he didn't think it was anything serious. It wasn't. No bad news for me other than finding the hiatal hernia.
Kate I am always pulling for you. We go back a long way don't we? I hope this round of chemo leaves you with no unpleasant side effcts. You have been such a trooper through all of this. I am more than happy to supply you with lemon cake balls whenever you want!
RunFree and Josie, the breast tenderness is very normal for quite some time. Of course if you have a lot of swelling make sure to get checked and voice your concerns about LE. It is not all that uncommon. I have truncal LE and the therapy was wonderful.
Joan how are you holding up? I am on the "go to the doctor" team I am afraid. I hope you can get some relief and soon. I hate seeing you so miserable Sweetie. Lots of love your way.
Gigil I couldn't log in here for several hours yesterday. I think there was a problem with the site. I just got error messages. Seems to be up and running fine now. Send me some of that soup, it sounds absolutely delicious!
Love and hugs ladies.
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Cindy, is 2.5% hydrocort available OTC or only as a prescription? I'm not really moisturizing except my 1% hydrocort has some moistuizer in it, and I use that 1 --> now 2 or 3 times a day. What puzzles me is my breast was better, then got worse again. Not terrible, just noticeable. I sleep on it sometimes. Good question about overexertion. I haven't done much that's different unless the PT is a shade too aggressive, but there's no difference between the day of and the day after, day after that, etc. so I don't think that's it. I don't think it's swollen, no visible culprits on skin for itching. Weird. Keep any theories and suggestions coming if you've got 'em!
I had a problem logging in last night too. GiGi, does your soup have a recipe or is it one of those know-by-heart things?
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Josie - You made my day for sure. Wow..29. I wish. Up close I say I look about 45. But I miss my looking like I was in my 30s. Now my body looks much worst. Steroids did that. Bony with no muscle.
Joan - You might need a shot of steroids for that poison oak. Steroids are not fun when you have to take them every day but a shot or a quick pack is not an issue.
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