Canadians in British Columbia
Comments
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cndchick and unicorn welcome to the group you never wanted to belong to.. We are here to help you along the way, we have all been there, done that... someone will be able to answer whatever questions you have, we will laugh cry,vent,listen wait and celebrate with you.. We will be in your pocket for appointments, but most of all we will be here for you..
Also check out the Canadian connection...calling all Canadian women.. wonderful group of ladies as well
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Welcome Chick and Unicorn. This is the place to be because we have been thru what the docs haven't so you'll get first hand experiences and helpful tips.
Ossa, How is the sleeve going? How many hours have you built up to? March 6 is coming soon. Yeah!0 -
Any recommendations for a medical oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency's Vancouver Centre? Thanks!
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mine is Tamara Shenkier ... she has a good sense of humour and explains things well.
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CdnChick - thanks, those are important qualities!
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Lou 10 - my oncologist is Dr Christine Simmons - she came from Toronto back in September so is relatively new to British Columbia. She is very compassionate - I like her.
Unicorn - I am having my 3rd taxol tomorrow and I am scared because at my last taxol I had an allergic reaction which was quite scary. I have to take extra steroids tonight to help counter another reaction. I also have some difficulty with them getting a vein and that can be pretty tough. Fear is a very natural response to all this cancer stuff - it is so hard to deal with sometimes. Do you get a lot of nausea from the AC - mine wasn't too bad. Hope you have minimal side effects over the weekend.
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Adagio-AC nausea is minimal. Mainly just a queaziness really and doesn't really stop me from eating although my appetite is diminished for a few days. I also get some acid reflux and burping but i 've been taking acta for my stomach so that has reduced that to a manageable level. I also get a sore throat for few days. Biggest problem is the diareaha which AC is not supposed to cause. MO can't figure that one out.
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Unicorn - hope your weekend will be better for you. When I was on AC I got minor neuropathy in my feet which is also very unusual for AC - plus I got a huge rash all over my arms, back and legs - also unusual according to my MO. I had my dosage reduced to 75% to help minimize the side effects. Likewise with the Taxol - I am on a reduced dose - I get 80%. Just setting off for the taxol infusion now - somewhat anxious - but hoping for the best in terms of another allergic reaction.
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Thanks adagio! Hope your next taxol tx goes a lot better than the last one.
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Adagio- good luck then today. Where do you get your treatments? I'm at surrey memorial.
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adagio.. good luck with your infusion today wishing minimal side effects
Have a great weekend everyone..
She hope your travels are going well..
Gumshoe.. hope you are well too. have not seen you on here for awhile hope it is because your life is back to "normal" and you are just to busy to come here
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Ladies - good news - the infusion went smoothly - no allergic reaction - thank God. I was there for over 6 hours because they ran it in very slowly for the first 45 minutes, so it was a long day. Now time to rest awhile and then wait to see what S/E come my way this time.
unicorn - I get my treatments at the Cancer Agency it is the next block to Vancouver General Hospital. The nurses there are fantastic!!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIANELIZABETH
Wishing you many more with good health and happiness0 -
well getting my port put in on tuesday had to reschedule first taxol and herceptin treatment from tues/wed to wed/thurs ....just waiting to hear back from clinic tomorrow...
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Lou10, mine is also Tamara Shenkier and I agree with Cndchick. When BCCA called with the appt. with her I was still wanting to have Karen Gelmon who I think is head of breast cancer and very well known. But it would have taken 10 more days and we did not feel that waiting more time was a good idea. Dr. Shenkier I think, does half BC and half prostate. I have a friend who worked at BCCA as a nurse for many years and she said Dr. Shenkier was excellent. She figured out fast that I need to know as much as possible and for me this has made our relationship really workable.
Thanks Ossa, for the Happy Birthday~~it is sunny too! One more year to OAS!
Pands, getting that port was one of the best things I have done~~PS plans to take it out when I have my surgery in March but it is has been great.
We spent the last week on Vancouver Island and did not have much sun though we had a great time with old friends.
Adagio, sorry to hear that Taxol was not so good first rounds but crossing my fingers that you get to the end with no more allergic reactions.
Unicorn, I still have loose bowels and am done Taxol~~am thinking that my system is still working through the effects of A/C then Taxol and hope in coming weeks it gets more like normal, especially with surgery coming up when I imagine it will revert to constipation!
I got an email from Dr. Susan Love's foundation yesterday and am attaching the link to an article/intervew from it~~she was diagnosed with leukemia in June and what she has to say now post tx/chemo is interesting as it relates to BC, which she has devoted decades to.
Marian0 -
Marian - nice to see you back. Sounds like you had a nice time on the island - and Spring is surely just around the corner - my forsythia is in bloom, my clematis has big buds ready to burst any day and my garlic has sprouted up in my vegetable garden - all we need is more sunshine and a bit more heat.
Taxol has not been nice to me at all - but I only have one more to go and I can't wait to get it over with!! Did you have to take the Neupogen shots after your last Taxol? My MO wants me to take the neulasta after the last chemo because I will pretty much be going straight into rads and she said it would no be good to start them with a low white count - I was hoping I could miss the Neulasta! I will research a bit more on this and then discuss it further with her on my next visit. I have been so blessed to have had no infections throughout my chemo other than the pesky side effects.
Thanks for the article on Susan Love's journey - very interesting indeed.
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adagio - so glad to hear that it went well for you yesterday, yay only 1 more to go. I was in there too getting herceptin in the morning. I had to take the neupogen shots after my last taxol. My MO wanted to make sure my WBC didn't get too low or risk getting an infection. At the time I was quite disappointed that I had to do that as I HATED those injections but in hindsight it's better to be safe.
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Happy Birthday Marian... raising a glass to many more !
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Yes I did 5 Neupogens after the last Taxol but I am one of the lucky ones with no S/E from it. I was in the normal range for Neutrophils all through Taxol so happy I did it. I am hoping to get blood work Thursday just to see as I am at BCCA getting my port flushed. I think my Hg is coming back up as my son persuaded me to bike with him today which was an excuse to get me to a sushi restaurant for a surprise lunch. I biked to yoga after and home and though I was so slow my son almost had to peddle backwards on the hills, I was happy with the effort.
Tazzy I am enjoing my first wine after chemo~~Okanagan too! Had to celebrate turning 64.
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Lou, for Vancouver oncs, I hear Karen Gilmon is great, I think if you are interested in complimentary med she is supportive. A lot of oncs are not.
Mine was Stephen Chia who is brilliant....but knows it,grrrrrr. He usually does advanced cancer. He is not in favour of complimentary medicine so we were not a good team. still I am alive and thankful.
All the best to you going thru treatment! Keep pushing forward, you'll be done soon!0 -
marian: 64 ?? You look fabulous.
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Marian and hugz4u ... many thanks for the oncologist suggestions and comments!
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Tazzy - I think it's all that exercise Marian does that keeps her looking so young!
Lou - I'm with Karen Gelmon and I'm really happy with her. She's quite knowledgable on the latest research, is well connected with doctors in other disciplines so can refer me to the right people when I need it, provides me with numbers (or the original article) when I ask for it, and also spends a lot of time reviewing my mental well being. I can imagine she'd probably be supportive of patients who also want to incorporate complementary medicine... I was technically supposed to have a blood transfusion after my last round of AC, but she thought I'd do better recovering on my own at a ski/yoga retreat instead. "There'll be no cancer in the sky there," she said, "it'll do wonders for your soul." And she was right. I came back after that weekend full of life and so grateful that she broke protocol and gave me the green light to go away. I'm sure all the docs at the BCCA are fully capable of the job, but hopefully you can team up with one who you can establish a good relationship with. I feel very lucky to have been teamed up with Karen.
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Marian - good job going for two bike rides in one day - and belated Happy Birthday, and I agree with the others you look great!!
I was so hyper after all the steroids I had to take to prevent another allergic reaction from taxol, that I only had 2 hours sleep in 48 hours, but last night, I slept for almost 12 hours and feel I could go right back to bed and sleep more!! But fortunately I have no aches or pains yet.
I ice my hands and feet during taxol to help prevent neuropathy and so far so good. I also take L-glutamine, B6, B12 and Bcomplex. I go for acupuncture once a week. I want to do whatever it takes to prevent neuropathy.
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Sneaky - thanks for the comments about your oncologist. The feedback I'm getting reinforces that I haven't had an optimal connection with my MO ... Glad you have!
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Lou, who do you have?
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Marian, thanks for asking but I'm hesitant to say who he is ... he's been very helpful sometimes ... it's been a roller coaster though (a couple of things really upset me) and may be just a bad fit.
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For anyone with taxotere nerve pain. I took Gabapeniten, not sure of spelling but what a world of difference. Before the drug it killed my fingers to gently pull up my jeans zipper. Hurt so bad. Next infusion the onc gave me Gabapeniten and I was ever so grateful. My feet felt much better too.
See... there is a fine example why I kept the brilliant know it all onc. Still, reading that Karen would suggest a yoga retreat as restorative makes me think she is my kind of a girl. I know she is very capable. I have heard over and over. I also heard she is hard to get into. Maybe that has changed.
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hug4u, I would have had to wait longer to see Gelmon and that was not really an option at the time as my BC was so aggressive.
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Marion, yes sometimes we can't wait to get what we want. You would have made a good descision to proceed right away because of your cancer monster being so aggressive.You did the right thing by stomping on it ASAP.
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