Starting chemo July 2014
Comments
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I like the soda stream idea. That will be on my (to quote a 3 year old grand daughter) "I needs it list."
As it happens we have a small pomegranate orchard. This year's crop (October to November) will be huge and it is just Hubby and I dealing with it. Last year I dehydrated over 500 pounds of arils (seeds). We always give away a good portion of the harvest because we can't use them all. I just don't like them to go to waste. We are a bit concerned about this year, because harvest falls near the end of my chemo treatments and I'm thinking I probably won't be at 100%. Nothing is as good as late harvest pomegranate juice. We have a couple months before we have to worry about it too much. I am suppose to give a class at the farm extension office about dehydrating the arils. Oddly enough no one but me has done that around here, and this has been a big pomegranate growing area for a hundred years. Pomegranates were first brought into the area in the early 1900's.
Thanks for the good ideas about making water taste good.
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Elaine - I told my PA about my eye twitching and she acted like she had rarely if ever heard of it as a chemo s/e. Sometimes I think they just blow off the minor complaints.
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I think eye twitches are a sign of stress...my partner (who is not having chemo!) has been complaining of this ever since my diagnosis...I think there is much stress, although different, for all the caregivers out there who feel scared and helpless. Not to take away, of course, from the stress of going through chemo...
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I got all my grapes picked today, washed, steamed the juice out of them, and have 10 qts of juice frozen. Glad it's done, I'm pooped.
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Puffin -- small victories, we'll take 'em. This is sad, but I was pleased with myself for packing my sons' lunch boxes last night so I wouldn't have to this morning.
I'll be doing AC #3 this morning. Anyone else getting into the chair?
To all who are suffering from SEs -- hope you have better days today.
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pinkninja - I started using hydrocortisone cream on my face and my rash is almost gone....like in 2 days...went from red pimply blotchy marks to clear skin!!!!
You can buy it any drugstore...it's over the counter, not prescription.
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I was strictly told not to have any pomegranate, green tea, grapefruit and pomelo orange juice during my txs bcuz of their highly anti oxidant properties. everybody else's MO has not mentioned this?
Elaine, lunch boxes...I can relate! So felt the same way.
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Sitting in the hospital cafeteria waiting for my next appmt. Why do they always leave a huge time gap when scheduling? At least I can catch up reading these threads. Got in a fight with DH this am about groceries! How dumb but sometimes men are SO aggravating! I am the only female in a house of 4 so no wonder I get crabby. They expect me to do everything and have smiles all around. Sorry, I'm no saint. Feel like going shopping for something fun instead of going home.
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Hello Ladies,
I love all the hydration ideas
) I hate water and especially when my stomach feels off it is so difficult to drink anything, I have been eating sugar free jello, lemon italian ices and drinking gatorade and lemonade with a splash of ice tea in it.. On my feeling normal days which usually start around day 8-9 I can drink water with ice cubes but not too much lol... Anyway, I had my appointment with the MO today and they say I am doing fantastic, although I do have about 1-2 days down time each infusion just from being exhausted and having the big D my blood always bounces back and I have great levels buy my appointment on day 7. I have infusion #4 scheduled on 8/27 and then I begin Taxol on 9/10. I am scheduled for 12 weekly infusions of taxol, just curious what any of you ladies have experienced as side effects of taxol so far? I hear AC is much harder but want to know what Im up against with taxol. 0 -
Hi JoeysMommy!
I'm also scheduled for 12 weekly infusions of Taxol. I asked MO today about how most patients tolerate it. She said that most tolerate it better than AC. I also asked an oncology nurse and she said that Taxol can make some patients achy in their bones (?). Who knows.
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Dancingdiva, I was warned against grapefruit juice, but they didn't say anything about pomegranate. I'll ask next week when I go in.
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I'm interested in hearing about taxol SE too as after 2 more rnds of AC I will also be having 12 weeks of taxol.
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I have another question, I have already had 3 rounds of AC with one to go before my 12 Taxol and I did not lose all my hair I do have peach fuzz all over as well as my eyebrows and eyelashes. Would my eyebrows and eyelashes have fallen out by now or will they fall out during taxol? I am hoping to hang on to them
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JoeysMommy -- great minds think alike; I am also hoping to save my eyebrows and eyelashes! But, I've heard that they sometimes fall out later.
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Re: Anti-oxidants and Chemo
"Many antioxidants including those in curcumin, green tea pomegranate and
broccoli extract can inhibit apoptosis induced by some chemotherapy drugs. There are cell line data to suggest
that anti-oxidants can possibly reduce the action of chemotherapy although this
has not been substantiated in humans [Somasundaram 2002].
In
view of this potential interaction taking regular Pomi-T during chemotherapy is
best avoided."0 -
Hi Elaine, doing mine today right now. I'm on my second tch, let's hope for a easy cruising this time around.
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Jennliza, what is "Pomi-T"?
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I was warned against grapefruit juice and orange juice and supplements that have antioxidant properties but I was not specifically told about pomegranate or green tea. I will need to check with my MO or Onc Nurse to make sure. As we don't want to do anything that will counter the chemo, right!
Jenniza thanks for the info on the antioxidants.
Joeysmommy and ElaineTherese are you on the 2 week cycle dose dense of AC? I am on the 3 week cycle and start my 12 week taxol in October. I was told that AC is much harder and to expect more bone pain with Taxol.
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Ladies who are starting Taxol might want to swing over to the June chemo thread as there is much discussion with those who are doing it now.
I also was not given any instruction about antioxidants with chemo, I would think the juice my cousin makes would be full of it, but she was told it was fine to continue with it. Also, I take lots of vitamins, and they said they were ok.
Finally got a bit of sleep last night, not much but hopefully enough to break the cycle.
All the best to the occupants of the chairs today.
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maidenired - My appt schedule always has big gaps. I asked about it and was told that they need 2 hours at least between appts so that the doctor can be sure to have your lab results before seeing you and then can have time to place the orders for your infusion so that the pharmacist can have all the meds ready by the time of your chemo appt.
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fallen -- hope you had an easy day! My chair time wasn't bad, but there was a crisis in the oncology waiting room. Pregnant Mom fainted and had to be taken to the ER.
ladyb -- yes, I'm on dense dose. Three ACs down, one to go!
Mags -- thanks for the tip! I'll check out the June board when I get a chance. Best wishes for some sleep tonight! I'm not sure why, but I'm sleeping better since Cycle 1.
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Gosh - All those anti-oxidants make up the major part of my diet - except grapefruit. I'd sure rather not go through all of this chemo stuff and find out that my diet negated it. Tomorrow is my apt #3, so I'll be checking it with my MO also. I did tell her that I drink a lot of green tea . She said I should consider decaffeinated because of dehydration issues.My appointment day so far goes like this: 10:00 am blood draw in the infusion room where I arrange my area for the day; 10:30 appointment with MO where I find out if my blood allows for treatment then at 11:00 back to infusion room for 3 hours or so. The potential problem with this plan is that if my blood levels don't allow for infusion, we made the 2 hour trip for nothing. I'm not sure about when or what happens then. If my blood is down some but good enough for the infusion, I will have to return on Friday afternoon for a Neulasta shot - just when se's are hitting. We did discuss a way to have the shot here, but she said no one locally is willing to be responsible for it - not even the local hospital. Too much financial risk.
My down time was 10 days the first time and 12 days the second - without as much nausea as infusion #1. I like the low nausea factor, but don't like the increasing down day trend. It was varying degrees of GI problems, extreme exhaustion, and fighting mouth problems. In the end, I beat them all!
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Ladyb1234 ~ Yes I am on the every two week dose dense AC treatment. Wondering if the claratin would help with the bone pain from Taxol as it does with the neulesta shot.. I did not really experience much bone pain with the shot, once or twice very mild pain in my chest bone but nothing that advil didn't cure.
Elaine Therese ~ Every morning after my shower when I put my makeup on for work I pray the eyelashes don't stay on the mascara brush lol.. Eyebrows are easier than gluing on eyelashes
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Coyote, see if you can give yourself the shot...it's just like an insulin shot but usually comes pre-loaded. I did the first one myself in the hospital so that they could watch me do it, then did the next one at home...easy...nothing to it.
On antioxidants...my instructions were to avoid Vitamin C and green tea (and this is true during radiation, also). I was told a multi-vitamin was fine and the antioxidants from food were not at a level to interfere with the action of chemo or radiation. Free radicals bugger up cancer cells, so we want lots of free radicals floating around, as I understand.
On the up side, it's good to know that the oncology community believes that antioxidants have a positive effect in our bodies, so I'm looking forward to bringing on the antioxidants after treatment is over.
Pounding headaches are waking me up...feels like a caffeine withdrawal headache. Do you guys think it might be hormonal? I managed to travel a number of climate zones last night...arctic, tropics, and everything in between. The hot flashes are starting....
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Mumford - That is a good idea, we discussed the self shot Neulasta, but she said my insurance won't cover it. My insurance is medicare, a federal medical program in which over 65 citizens are required to participate because no other insurance will cover you. If the feds say "no", any secondary insurances also say no.BTW: Bracelets should start showing up in a day or so. I sent them out regular mail so that will slow them a bit, but the price was right.
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Mumford, are you taking odansetron for nausea? The nurse told me that was giving me the headaches. Hope you feel better!
Thanks Blownaway, that makes sense. It gets boring hanging around the waiting room. I can't seem to focus on reading, which stinks as I love to read. I started knitting a Mario cap for my 7 year old so hopefully, that will keep me busy. I hope it turns out ok.
Coyote, the bracelet came today and its lovely! Thank you so much, it really cheered me up!
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Hi Ladies, Finish with number 2, 4 TCH's to go and then herceptin for the year.
Elaine, poor pregnant lady..was she doing treatment? That is so sad
I've been really lucky. My appointment is 10:45, I go in for a fingerprint, chat w/the doctor, and then right to the chair and they draw blood then and I get my meds. I come back the next day for the neulasta shot and then in 10 days come back for another joyful fingerprick to check my white blood count. Not much wait time. I just want to nap....
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fallen22 -- The pregnant woman was a new patient; she was just going into the office to get some bloodwork done and to meet with the doctor. What's worse is that she had her young son with her (might have been 8 years old). I'm sure he was frightened when Mom passed out.
I am also blessed to have a semi-quick process. I get my bloodwork, then meet with MO, and then go into the chair. There's some waiting (mostly for MO to show up), but it's not more than 20 minutes usually. If I go in around 9:00 am, I'm usually out by lunchtime (12:30 pm or thereabouts).
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Coyote, I think you did tell us about the Neulasta coverage. I apologize (chemo brain). You'd think there would be system savings by having patients give their own shots...sometimes I wonder who is making these decisions. Maybe they had chemo brain when the policy was written...
Maiden...I only take that ondansteron an hour before the infusion. I have prochlorperazine (compazine, stematil) for nausea. It works well and doesn't make me dopey.
Went for blood today (in advance of chemo tomorrow). They told me I only needed CBC. I said it was my liver enzymes that were off, so needed liver panel. They managed to fiddle with something in the computer and drew blood for both. I got home to check labs and what do I find? CBC only...so back in early tomorrow with the crowds to find out whether I'm good to go. Grrrr. It will be a long day (but thankful I don't have a 2 hour drive...).
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Maiden: same here, I'd planned to do all this reading, and haven't even been able to make it through a Readers Digest.
Coyote: my bracelet arrived today, I love it! thank you again.
Called my onc today about the itchy red spots all over my head. She said to try cold packs, Aquaphor, and said aloe was OK. So I'm trying an experiment, aloe jelly on the left side of my head and Aquaphor on the right.
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