February 2012 Chemo
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OMG too funny. One of the dollar stores I was at had cotton bandanas for like $1.50 each, I figured I'd pick up a couple to where around the house when the hair does make its exit. I bought a red one and a blue one. Turns out these are GANG colours LMAO! Bloods and crips I've been informed. I won't be leaving the house with those on fur sure!
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MLB thats what I have too.. take them 12 hrs a part so I do 8 and 8, and I take Tylenol PM at night to help me sleep.
I have the steriods, the anti nausea pills and the cream to put on my port but thats all my meds. I see a lot that are getting a shot but I dont know much about that. Is that standard? Should I ask my dr about that too?
Really sleepy today after the Herceptin but other than that went well! Hope everyone is doing well!
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JenH13
The shot is to raise your white blood cell count after receving the chemo drugs which lower them. There's also another one which I think is called Neupigen (again spelling?). The Neulasta is a one time shot the day after TX and the other is a series of shots, 5 I beleive. Neither is covered though my OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan). My MO had to enquire of my private benefits though DH's employer to see if they would cover it upfront. The cost is $2,700 and the neupegin $1,400. Apparently 30% will end up being hospitalized for an infection due to the immune system being depressed, so our healthcare system rather deal with it on an Ad Hoc basis. Believe me I would rather no take it as it can give you major bone pain. The bone marrow I think is working overtime to produce the white blood cells, hence the need for pain meds.
I would definatley ask you MO about it and of course find out if your private health insurance will cover it.
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My friend came to lunch today and gave me a big hug and nearly knocked my wig off. I'm trying it out before I go public I can't get use to it I keep fiddling with it. My hair is ok but I think I'm going to have to wear it soon.
I told my mother in-law about how well I was doing. She was pleased and I said maybe I won't need another 6 chemo only 4 more. She had a right go at me saying "don't you be telling them you don't want it" "do you want the cancer to come back" omg like I'm not old enough or wise enough. I then said it may come back after all my treatment anyway. She then went on to tell me about some woman who had a hip replacement. WTF do I care about that.0 -
jap62: did they suggest an orifice from which you are to pull that kinda money??? goodness sakes...having the tx isn't bad enough! sorry...
FLDREAMER: i can imagine that gal had to be mortified losing her hair that way. i stand by my decision that i got it cut very short-i don't think i'm up to buzzing-when it goes i'll see right now the top is about 1.5 inches long but the sides are much shorter.
ok so i went to my daughter's -did the apt sitting duty- left to go to the craft store and walmart-tractor supply for some plastic shoulder length OB gloves-i'll wear one over my PICC line arm to shower! anyhow- at the craft store i made the mistake of not pushing a cart-thought my legs were going rubber on me! walmart was better with the cart- but nothing looked good- bought milk, bananas and yogurt, some more claritin and wanted to buy a lipstick-dunno if i am stuck in a time warp or not brave enuff to try a new shade so i didn't get anything!thought about lunch-quickie fromthe frozen dept-again-nothing looked good....did manage to get two loads of laundry done at daughter's apt. her new couch looks nice.
came home had two slices of dry toast and 2 tylenol and i think i slept for about an hour- feeling better but not good...whiny....flu-y but so much better than i guess i COULD be!
bored but don't feel like doing anything..one more steroid pill tonite. i think if i could focus i would be ok-so much still not done since we moved and it becomes overwhelming.
i bought some cool ribbon to glam up my bulletin board tho- i thought i needed a place to put cards and etc ...maybe i can get that done tonite- or not.i really hate this apartment.
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Hello all,
Got thru my first TX and feeling fine right now. It went well - just a slight headache when the cytoxin started but they gave me two tylenols and it went away.
I have awful hiccups right now - any suggestions for that?? Little sleepy now so plan on bad time about 9ish.
MLB - I take my steroids at 0700 and again at 4pm. then I had no probem sleeping at night. we wil see how it goes tonight. Wishing you a smoth start tomorrow.
Moonflower - okay one down and only a few more to go.
Night all -
(((Hugs)))
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mthrdee--hugs back!!!!
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on another note- my son's family has been gracioulsy playing pass the flu bug at their house- tonite son calls to invite hubby and me out to dinner tomorrow nite with him and his two kiddos-his wife is sick today- i begged off! he means well and wants to spend time with his mommy but c'mon.....i find myself not even getting close to ppl in the stores and i have never washed my hands so much in my life....my DIL (above son's wife)brought me a wonderful gift bag today and handed it thru the door since she knew she was sick..she looked horrible and i just wanted to hug her but stayed away!
sorry-had to get that out!
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Anyone thinking about a safe food that will go down well the first couple days after treatment - I love diners choice simply mashed potatoes. They are great, easy and soothing for me. My stomach isn't upset at all, but my appetite is suppressed.
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I have already started chemo. Tomorrow is my 3 session. The first chemo session was hell! The second was bad, this time I hope it gets better. Only have 3 more to go after tomorrow.
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faithhopenluv - I dont know what will sit best for you, but rice is the easiest food to digest. Boiled or steamed, not fried. Potatoes are pretty easy to digest as well. Nooldes usually do well. Popsicles are good, especially the ones with jokes on the stick.
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Hi girls,
I just found this forum.
I will start my chemo on 22 feb. very scared too. My drug is Fec-D.
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ali68
Ah yes MIL's. I get on great with mine (but she does live far far away LOL) When I announced I was going through with chemo after all, she got on the phone and was all upset. Sounds lovely right. Well it was more about her darling son really. How is HE coping? What about money (I'm the breadwinner) My sister's had BC and didn't have to go all through that! I met her sister, she did.
lumpynme
So the taste buds are off already. That didn't take long did it? Well the apartment isnt your forever home right? You know my favorite home when I was single was a little tiny bachelor. Dirt cheap, clean and alot of cops lived in the building too which was good because it wasn't the best part of town. It was a bit tired but I felt like I was in my glory.
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Ali68, I don't think you are using Penguin cold caps, but the protocol is probably similar. PCC tells you not to wear a wig if at all possible, as this will make your head pretty warm, defeating the purpose of the cold caps.
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MLB- take a benedryl- makes you sleepy - works great and you probably have one at home. I got my umbella at the bar where I had dinner last nite! LOL - (and no, I didn't drink) LOL Got our of chemo at 5:30 pm. that was a long day. but no problems! Yay. Went out with my daughter and had some salmon with brown rice and miso sauce. YUM. Be thinking about you tomorrow. PS- the Drs and the Nurses really like the umbrella for the chemo coctail! (note my new avatar!)
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And moonflwr, glad things went well today! Moonflwr, I was happy to see your description about the port placement - I just got mine today and it's more painful than I thought it would be. I've been taking Tylenol all day and plan to take Tylenol PM tonight. Hoping the pain will subside in the same timeframe as yours!
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Ok, somehow mthrdee got deleted from my last post - it should have started with, "mthrdee and moonflwr ..."
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Ymac- thank you! I had a pacemaker installed last year and it was very much the same operation, except ione was a pacemaker and one a port- LOL. By the second day much less pain. So if you have strong stuff take it today. Also be careful how you sleep- I am in my recliner for now.
Mthdee, ((((hugs)))) to you too, glad you made it. Was it Christina starting today too? I hope she is ok too.
To everyone - Much Love.
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Sweet. DC area folks, we.should do coffee some weekend. I would love to meet people face to face.
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Moonflwer912
Love the avitar! I won't have time to hunt any down for tomorrow (wah) but I may print off a pic of one from the web so I'll have one in spirit. Wow that was a long day but really glad you it was uneventful for you. Not that I have any tatoos but was thinking I might get something meaningful to me when this is behind me somewhat but haven't found anything. I think I just get myself a little umbrella tatoo! I'll know what the meaning is and no-one else will have a clue! Love it.
I have some Advil PM (can't get Tylenol PM in Canada yet) the only other thing is some Benalyn PM for colds. The last time I bought Benadryl was for a severe case of black fly bites when were were cottaging acouple of years ago. Don't have allergies so I never have it on hand but I do remember now it made me sleepy.
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Moonflwer912
Found a great pic, see my new avatar. The first thing that stuck me as I never even thought about it bofore is that they kind of look like breasts!
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MLB - you just gave me the best laugh of the day - who knew that my umbrella idea would take off like this - that tattoo idea is great. All the nurses loved the umbrella and iced cocktail when I told them about it. It was so nice to have a reason to laugh while going thru such a tough experience.
Thank you to all for the good wishes. I am off to bed now - I am completely waterloggeed - I swear that I cannot drink one more drop. Frankly I feel like my mother with all this peeing action, though I shouldn't complain as I know it is flushing out all the toxins. I'm on top of the constipation with every thing I can throw at it and so far seems to be working. '
Will be thinking of all that are starting tomorrow or moving onto another TX. Never thought I would be so glad to say 1 down - 3 to go!!!!!
((HUGS)))
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MLB; i found the umbrellas-and i see you did too! i was on pinterest tonite and saw these for you!just dunno how to put it here! i'm on mozilla right now and you can't copy/paste iguess! well anyhow you found some!!!!
i think if i lived alone this apt wouldn't be so bad-it's just crowded with two of us here...probly just my moods lately!!!!
actually the taste buds aren't really OFF--just nothing sounded good at the time..i feel better now tho--not really sure what that was about this afternoon.....
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Edited for name ..
Sorry mthrdee this was meant to be directed at you!
You may have just started a new symbol for BC LOL! I don't use mozilla but I saved the pic in my pics (right clicked and saved image as a pic), went to My Home here and it allowed me to upload it as my avatar.
Now that I think about it the DH moved in for 2 months until a larger apartment came up in the building so yeah, it's all coming back to me now, especially the snore factor.
My guy's is a good one but I hear ya. I'm lucky that he works the graveyard shift, he leaves at 10:30, home at 7:15 and goes to bed around noonish so I get some alone time which I like.
I've logged at least 2 litres today for sure and will have a couple more before bed. Thankfully waters is my drink of choice. Well red wine is actually but...
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Oh you all have been on my heart today but I was going going all day and offline. So glad for those of you who are weathering the storm. You are heroes in my book and your words, and your authenticity is helping me to prepare for this next week.
Firstcall. Looks like we are going to be chemo running buds! You just get to go first by 5 days. So you kick my butt about getting out there and I will kick yours. LOL. In the meantime - you rock! I can only imagine how it must be to navigate these waters with an over abundance of testosterone floating around. And you have to do it with all of us gals and our female ways and wiles. Hugs to ya kid!0 -
mtherdee
I'm happy to hear it went well. I wonder if the TX gave you the hiccups, how annoying is that though!
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MLB: i was able to save the pic on my documents-but i can't-with Mozilla--bring it here-it's so cute! a wreath made of the lil umbrellas! i'll try it with internet explorer!
well-poop! i can't do it that way either!!! have no clue why not--i am just not that technically savvy!!!! i quit! it's cute- pm me your email addy or something if you want maybe i can do it that way!
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Ali, who would care about news of someone's hip replacement when you don't really know them.
Mlb, love the graphic
Tomorrow is.chemo 3. Got hair cut.tonight and it started falling out 2 hours later. Perfect timing.
My internist called in script for acne med, god bless her. Sleep well everyone
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susan....you need extra hugs tonite!
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It looks like Chemo it is. I hope I'm ready.... Planning to start tomorrow. I am plenty nervous about the whole thing. I struggled a lot with the decision, but now I need to embrace it. I appreciate everyones input.
dltnhm - yes we're on a pretty close schedule. Lets plan a run soon! I hope to stay as active as possible. And I try not to take it personal when people address our group as ladies. With 4 sisters and 3 daughters, I have some familiarity with female ways. That doesn't mean I understand them, but I am familiar with them.
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