Starting chemo July 2014
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coyote - bracelet arrived yesterday - it is BEAUTIFUL. Thank you so much. I wore it to work today and got a lot of complaints and used to tell my / our story about the support of the group and paying it forward. Loved the card! I thought of the group and how we have really become apart go each other's lives and how much I really care about each of you and your journey. And yes I shed tears as I realized how thankful and privileged I am to be part of such an awesome group of women in these threads.
Thinking of each of you with SEs and hoping you get better soon. I am on the up swing and have my 2nd infusion of AC on Wednesday and attempting to prepare for it mentally. Any advice for 2nd round of AC? I plan to drink, drink, drink and take my nausea meds. I still have a full head of hair. When did it start shedding for most of you? I don' see a lot of shedding just strains here and there.
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Hello ladies
sorry to hear about all the side effects and exhaustion, I am there with all of you... Going from being non stop all day long to slow and stop is hard to deal with when you have so much on your plate on a daily basis.. Between trying to go to work every day and taking care of a diabetic child as a single parent it takes its toll. Chaos, sorry to read about your blood counts but congratulations on completing the dose dense AC treatment, I know how hard it really is having treatment every other week.. My #4 is Wednesday and I am not looking forward to the once again 3-5 days of bloating, gas, adgeda, diarreah and exhaustion but it will be over after labor day
then I begin taxol Sept 10th.. I am sorry I didnt see who made the black cap but I LOVE it and would love to purchase one If I could ...it is beautiful
I hope you are all sleeping peacefully, I am up checking my sons blood sugar which I do every night between 2 and 3am... tonight it happened to be a little high so I gave him insulin and im waiting for it to start coming down before I go back to sleep, only to get up i a few hours and go to work
Thank God Its Friday !!!!!0 -
I had a pretty great sleep last night (and that was with 3 pee trips during the night -- does the dex do that to everyone?!) All those drugs...
Mags, I do hope you can get some rest soon...sleep is truly restorative.
Raindew...I'm now through 3/4 and feel like I can do this...1 more to go (and hopefully it's on schedule on 9/11...will we ever see anything beyond the obvious when that date is mentioned??)
My agenda today includes cleaning up for the cleaning lady's visit next week, picking up some yummy treats at the fun organic food shop (Watermelon, apples and stuff), and trying to read through the dreaded draft wills that have been sitting around awaiting our go-ahead. What a task...as much as it's necessary, it seems kinda morbid when one is going through chemo...too much like 'getting affairs in order'. Blech!
Have a great Friday, everyone...good food, good rest, good mindset...x
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I appreciated all the sleep suggestions. We actually have melatonin in the house because Hubby took it for awhile. I sat it by my bedside but decided to not take it because the two anti-nausea pills I had taken have drowsiness as side effects. I slept pretty solid until 5:30 this morning. 6 hours is pretty normal for me, so I think I too had a real night sleep. Hooray.
I'm thinking I need to add Gas-X to my list of meds. I noticed during my last down session I had very nasty burps. It started again so it is clearly another se. GI issues seem to be my most consistent miserable issues. I'm going to try to get better control of them. They are unpleasant for sure, but I don't think the are dangerous like the blood issues. Treatment #2 brought on problems all the way through my body. Intake to exit. The "Big D" turned into the "Big C" and back to the "Big D" which turned into the "Big H", which I had never experienced and didn't know what it was or what to do about. That is a rather embarrassing issue to discuss with anyone. I'll discuss the unpleasant situation here if we need to.
I'm so pleased the bracelets are working out.
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Mumford -- I also have been tidying up for the cleaning lady. She's supposed to come today, and the house sure could use a good cleaning. Too bad it's Day #3 for me, one of the rockier days of my AC cycle. I'm ready to pick up and go to the law library (which has comfy chairs) when she arrives. Maybe I can nap there. And all your talk of hot flashes and periods stopping got me hopeful that my monthly friend was on her way out. NOT!
Chemo-brain moments of the day: 1) driving through a red light (Ugh -- fortunately no cross traffic) and 2) the missing bananas. I went to the store after dropping off my sons at school, and put a small bunch of bananas in my cart. Now, I have no idea where they are. Maybe, the clerk didn't ring them up? Maybe, I forgot to take the bag that included them? They are not in my car. I have looked for them twice.
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Big news for you neoadvjuvant chemo ladies. MO said yesterday that the conference she just attended reports this treatment is proving to be highly effective in shrinking cancers before surgery. She sees it as show the positive side of chemo. She said it is very effective for TN's also. Her take on it is that if the chemo works so visibly before surgery it is working after surgery too. So really, it is good news for all of us. Thanks all you neo gals for giving us hope!
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Thanks, Coyote. Yes, my tumor has been shrinking -- after two ACs, my tumor shrunk by ~ 2 cm according to MO. I can barely feel it in there.
Best wishes to all you TNs and everyone else who is relying on chemo to get as close as we can to being cancer-free.
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Good morning July sisters! Good news! I slept last night! I had to finally resort to pain meds, as much as I hate them, it actually worked, though I had a hangover headache this morning. Better now.
Coyote, with the gas are you also having abdominal cramping? That's what I got the Bentyl for.
LadyB, it was my 18th day of round 1 when I ran my hand through my hair and a big hunk stayed in my fingers, so the next day I had the shave. But I know the day varies by person.
Mumford, have you seen the video on preparing fruit? Easy ways to cut or peel, and a great way to cut a watermelon into chunks. I need to remember how to peel a peach. I think it's a hot water bath that loosens the skin so it just slides off. Used to do it when I canned, a few lifetimes ago. I can't remember how long to leave the peach in the hot water though.
Hope everyone's day is wonderful and SEs minimal.
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Joey'smom, I made the black hat and I can make you one. What color? No charge.
Shirley
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mags: have your ice water bath all ready, bring the water to a boil,working in batches of 3 or 4, add peaches to boiling water for 2 to 3
minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice-water bath to
stop the cooking. Remove skin with a paring knife. (these are Martha Stewarts' directions!)0 -
Puffin, thanks! I was just going to eat one.
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Mmmm...I just bought a bunch of Niagara peaches. Thanks for the tips.
Coyote...thank you, thank you. I just received a beautiful bracelet in the mail today. I love it...it's 'me'.
Glad we're all getting a little sleep....N
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LadyB - My hair started shedding on day 14 after my first infusion and by day 21, I had to shave my head due to the mess.
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Ladies Help!! I don't have chemo brain, I have breast cancer brain! (my DH calls it squirrel brain).
I'm feeling better after my latest surgery (hysterectomy) and I'm trying to update my hats list.
If I have promised you a hat and you haven't received it yet, please let me know. (except fallen22; yours is ready to mail). I've been trying to keep a list of requests, but I think I've lost track of one or two ladies that I have promised hats to.
I also received several skeins of yarn today from Caro, MI, and I'm not sure who sent them. Thanks!! And remind me who you are and what hat I sent to you please!
Shirley
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Mumford, your mention of Niagara peaches has me seriously salivating! I'm heading up to Ontario next week for a family vacation and I cannot wait to stop at a road-side stand and get my fill of peaches and corn and all the other goodies that I've been missing. Life here in sunny California is great, but boy do I miss my Ontario produce! ...and poutine... The first stop after the airport will definitely be for poutine. :-)
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Kebab, what is poutine?
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Tired maiden - I wondered the same thing so I looked it up. This description is rather humorous. http://www.members.shaw.ca/kcic1/poutine.html . What do you think Mumford and Kebab? Does it sound like the real deal?N- So glad that it's "you"!
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Oooh yes, that's a great explanation! Mmmmm... dark brown gravy you can stand a spoon in and squeaky cheese curds. Heaven on earth!
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Love the poutine description. "Smoke's Poutinerie" makes a fine version here in Ontario. Basic poutine is always best, but lots of flavour combos to sample, too. I recently had a Yorkshire pudding poutine. If you want to sound 'sophisticated' and French Canadian, the pronunciation sounds more like puhtzin.
Kebab, are you from Canada originally?
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Mumford, u just made me crack up with puhtzin!! I didn't realize there was so much poutine in Ontario. Getting a craving....
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Hmm, I think I need to make a trip to Canada. My passport is expired but I think it would be a fun trip!
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Mumford -- I was born and lived most of my 40-some years in Cambridge, just an hour west down the 401 from Toronto. I moved here to the Bay area in 2012 to get married. My husband is from here.
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well that explains it! Why u want it. Well if anybody ever orders one in QC, make sure you pronounce that n and e at the end (puhtzin), cuz if you don't and you say poutin(poohtaih ), you will be asking for a slut. Which I have done in my youth and my horrible French!! Talk about digressing fromBC, but I thought it was funny and we need to laugh darn it.
SLappy, I have not received the hats yet.
Have a good wk-end everyone,DD
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Puffin - how is your head? Which side worked, or did you have to do something else. Anxiety starting about Cycle 3, next Wed. Oh well, almost halfway there. BTW when ladies talk about blood numbers under
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Coyote - you are welcome, and although I don't like the idea of having the cancer in me for the neo chemo, I was thinking how horrible it must be to go through the big D while recovering from any surgery. Sure the port was 10 days post surgery, but that is a tiny incision. What about you ladies who do mastectomies first. How long do they let you heal before cycle 1? Also, Cycle 3 is Wed, I'm going to ask, if they are going to re-image to see if it is smaller and if the TCH-P is working.
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knmtwins, my MO wanted 6 weeks post mastectomy before chemo.
Sleep well, July warriors.
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Well, I'm in the hospital...I got admitted lastnight. My port is infected.
On Wednesday, I had a routine follow up with my surgeon. She noticed my skin was red where the port was placed. I said yeah...it's been red for a bit should I be concerned...she said no. But I followed my intuition and walked over to my Oncologist's office. She was on vacation but her nurse practitioner saw me and prescribed Levofloxin. I had taken that for 2 days and yesterday I noticed the area around the port was burning, swollen and the redness seemed darker and over a larger area so called the nurse practitioner. She said for me to come to the hospital.
I arrived at amount Sinai @ 3:15...had blood work done at the Dubin Breast center...a clear yellow liquid drained from the port when accessed...not good. A doc came down and said I need IV antibiotics and have to be admitted to the hospital probably for 48-72 hrs. She also said if the antibiotics doesn't clear up the infection then the port has to come out. So had to go to the emergency room...didn't get called till 7:30 and didn't get as room till after 11pm.
The bad part is my fiancé had planned a special day today for my birthday since next weekend (my bday is 8/31) will be the weekend after chemo...and will lay low and rest.
Thankfully, I don't feel sick...just annoyed that I have to spend the weekend in the hospital and it ruined all my fiancé's plans
I'm praying the antibiotics work...I have 4 more treatments and a yr of Herceptin and want to use a port!Hope the rest of you ladies are having a nicer weekend than me.
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I was supposed to start chemo week 5 after my BLM...but postponed it by 3 weeks to do a round of IVF. So I started week 8. The MO said week 8 and before are the standard care guidelines to starting chemo.
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Jennliza, I hope you have a very speedy recovery and that they are able to save the port. What a bummer (to say the very least). It sucks that BC doesn't acknowledge birthdays, special weekends, etc. I'm scheduled for round 4 (final) on Sept. 11, but there's a very good chance it will be delayed until the 18th, my partner's birthday. I think we have to chalk all this up to a year of 'new normal' and do our best.
Does anyone besides me find themselves apologizing quite a bit to their significant others?
Anyway, Jennliza, it sounds like you're in good hands and I hope the time passes quickly during your hospital stay. The good news is that you're actually feeling okay, I suppose. Take care.
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Knmtwins: both sides of my head are improving equally with the aloe jelly and the aquaphor. The spots are fading and hardly any itching. I ice pack wrapped in a towel a couple times a day has also been very soothing to my scalp. I've also been creating my own makeshift "lint remover" using a strip of wide masking tape wrapped in a circle around my fingers and then dabbing in on my nubbins until the tape is covered with hair. Once the hair is gone the red spots in that area fade quicker.
Round #3 for me this week too, on Thursday. I cleaned house yesterday, doing laundry today (we do laundry every 2 weeks so this will carry us past round 3), and tomorrow will start cooking up some meals for the freezer for the next 10 days.
Jennliza: praying for success with the IV antibiotics and that you can save your port, watch everyone that comes into your room with an Eagle Eye and make sure they foam their hands when they come in, don't accept the excuse that they foamed when they left the last room, you want to see them foam yourself and don't let them touch you until they've foamed
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