Starting chemo July 2014
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Dancingdiva :
I had the MRI done so my surgeon can see the changes in the tumor I have, as it was at 8x9 cm in the beginning and it was 3 cm or 6 cm when she last measured it.
I have surgery Dec. 17th, so she will have the updated info on my breast and go from there I guess.
Today I had my thyroid biopsy done. OUCH.
I will get the results when I see my Onco who ordered it, the first week of Dec. and I hope it all comes back OK and benign !! I have a small nodule in there that's sketchy from my ultrasound. It has not changed since the PET scan months back, and showed up as a hot spot as well as my one lymph node....so another week I get to wait for a result.
I pray for NO MORE CHEMO for many of us as well in 2015 and we have a WONDERFUL start for the New Year and it carries on!
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving Day!!! If a few of you do not celebrate it, celebrate your life girlfriends!!! You GO Girls !!!!!!!
HUGS to each of you !!!
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Had my last taxol yesterday... I was able to tolerate 100% of my dense dose chemo treatment plan, now on to radiation. I am thankful beyond words to have the support of this amazing group of courageously beautiful women and I pray for you allways ♡
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Yay for you JoeysMommy!!
Something to give thanks for tomorrow for sure !!!
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Ladies - my MIL's church secretary has uterine cancer, which went to the ovary, hence complete hysterectomy, including ovaries and Fallopian tubes, started chemo in July and will start radiation in January. So... do any of you know about a support board, like this, for uterine cancer? She tells my MIL she just needs 'real' people to ask questions of and to discuss symptoms with (like all of us have had, with each of us), yet she can't find anything.
Thanks!!!!!!!!
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knmtwins so very sorry for your mother in law. I bet if you post a new thread you will find somebody who knows something. I hope you can help her find a support group as this one has been a life savor for me.
Joeysmom - congratulations on being finished. Hoorah - nice pic too. I had taxol # 7 yesterday so I am 5 weeks behind you - can't wait. Hope my bloodwork holds up. It's getting awfully low.
Dancingdiva - ack more waiting no fun. I hope your breast tumor has shrunk even more and that your thyroid nodule is nothing but benign.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. My kids are coming home from college and I am so happy to get to see them.
Hugs
Nancy
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Congrats on finishing chemo, JoeysMommy! I'll be done in a week or so.
AJ62 -- Ugh, about the thyroid biopsy -- that sounds like no fun. But, good news about your tumor shrinking!
Nancy -- my WBCs are down from 5.9 to 4.0, and and my absolute neutrophils are down to 3.61. But, still good enough for chemo! I'm sitting in the chair as I type. Hope your numbers go up, and that you can finish your chemo as planned.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! The week after turkey day is going to be crazy. I've got a PET scan, MRI, and heart scan scheduled, plus it's the last week of classes and I have to write my final exams. But, I may get my surgery scheduled in the next two weeks -- something to look forward to!
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Wow Elaine your bloodwork is definitely holding up better than mine. My WBC was at 2.9 and my absolute neutrophils were at 1.59. I see neupogen shots in my future lol
You definitely have a lot going on after Thansgiving - hope it all goes smoothly for you.
Nancy
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Congrats to coming to the end of chemo JoeysMom. It really feels good to have it in the rear view mirror. My rads doctor told me that this would be far and away easier than chemo and I am happy to report that so far he is right.
Love and hugs to all my chemo sisters. I am thankful for each of you in my life.
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Coyote - I'm am thankful for my July Chemo buddies too. A wonderful group of women who have helped me SO MUCH, to get through this horrible time!!!
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congrats JoeysMom on finishing chemo, hope you do well with rads. My skin did well with rads, I used Vanicream twice a day. I still have a little tenderness but don't feel rads really slowed me down a bit, no problems with fatigue.
We're visiting Lew's family for Thanksgiving, grateful the roads were good today and that the storm didn't come this far east. Grateful I'm done with my chemo and rads, grateful I had all you wonderful women with me during chemo. Monday I have my 3 hour appointment with the cancer team for my Survivorship Meeting. What in the world can they talk to me about for 3 hours?
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coyote, love the pic! Shows ur kick a$$ attitude.
AJ, hope all is well now. I have a ct scan in January. Hope to go to Florida during the holidays after chemo is done. Need sun!!!
Happy thanksgiving and good shopping to my US friends!!!
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Joeysmom - are you an artist? That is wonderful, you are quite talented.
Puffin - 3 hours - can't wait for your summary of what they did!
I keep singing 'Let it Go' as I ask for help, and give directions which are ignored. I'm sure my entire kitchen is now contaminated with Turkey germs. REALLY must you dry your hands, after holding a raw turkey, with the dish towel and then dry the counter with it. I snuck around and replaced it before it was used to dry the pots and pans with. How oh how will life go on after my surgery? "Let it go, Let it go"
My nails are all still there, but feel super weird, starting from where they attach at the tips and going down into the beds. My cuticles do not look like they are attached the same so I'm trying to only get my hands wet, for showers and hand washing. Also, the oven mits feel strange. are they getting ready to lift, or is it because I stopped the L-Glutamine for surgery. Not because I had to, but because I forgot to ask if I could take it, so I stopped.
As always, I am so thankful I did not go down this path alone, but had my surgery sisters with me. You guys are the best!!!
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AJ62,
Yeah, the neuropathy is bad for me too. I can't even get out of bed in the morning until a painkiller has kicked in because my feet and hands hurt so much. My nails have been fine, I'm keeping them painted with a shellac manicure to help hold them together. I hate wearing shoes around the house to make sure I don't hurt myself, though!
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Just popping in to wish all my July sisters a happy Thanksgiving, and to let you all know how tremendously grateful I am for each of you...we've had a crappy year, for sure. Not walking it alone has made it do-able for me.
Thank you!!
Big love,
Rain
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Mags...so glad to hear it's benign. Good luck with the PETScan!
Well, I had my reconstruction surgery on Tues. I traded in the tissue expanders for silicone gummy implants...I got Foobs!!! What a difference!!! The implants look and feel some much better than those awful Te's. My doc was going to do some fat grafting too but couldn't because my infected port wounds haven't completely healed yet. So doubt I'll get fat grafting in the future, but they still look good.
Someone asked about anatomical implants...I'm not sure what you were asking...but I got the tear drop implants (and tissue expanders) which look more like a women's breast. I kept mine pretty small as my boobs were nearly non-existent before (barely an A cup)...I think I'm @B cup now. I get a nipple in about a month...trying to finish before yr end when my insurance changes.
Anyway, happy thanksgiving to you all! I've had a seriously sucky year, yet I am still soooo thankful for finding my cancer early and having amazing friends and family to support me through these hard times! Oh btw, my brother finally called....just called like nothing happened. Instead of holding a grudge I let it pass and picked up how we were before the whole hospitalization mess.
Enjoy!!! Ugh my Foobs are sooo itchy!!!
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Happy Thanksgiving, July chemo sisters. What a long strange trip it's been! For the past five months we've shared some of the most personal information, cried together, laughed together, prayed for each other, rejoiced together as each has passed her own milestones. As we get on with our lives, this thread may fade into oblivion – that's not necessarily a bad thing! It's said that we have friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for life. We have been friends for a reason, and for a season. I want you to know that I'll always be there if you need me, whether in this thread or not. If you want my email address, send me a pm. Since this is a public forum, I'm reluctant to post it here. But you're welcome to have it, to stay in touch.
I had the most excruciating experience with my rads simulation yesterday. I have really bad arthritis in my left shoulder (tumor side) and keeping it immobilized above my head is extremely painful. For one thing, it has a really limited range of motion, and after 2 surgeries, a lot of adhesions, so it can't be put where they need it to be. To get it even close, it stuck out too far to fit into the ct tube. We fine tuned the position for nearly an hour! Then came the sim. By then I was in tears. I don't know how I'm going to do this even if it's only 15 minutes every day. I came home and iced my shoulder and took a pain pill. Pain woke me up in the night, took another. Had to take another today just to get through helping with the cooking. Good thing I didn't need to do very much, thanks to my cousin and DH, for whom I am truly thankful
As I am for all of you, who have helped me get through the past 5 months.
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oh mags...I loved what u said....reasons, seasons, life. I'm still here so we can chat!
Can u take some painkillers before u do this procedure
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Dancingdiva, the RO said that she would prescribe them if I needed. But having stopped them in May, after surgery, after having been on them for over 8 years, I don't want to become dependent again. I have a really low pain threshold (that is, it doesn't take much for me to feel pain) but a really high pain tolerance (I can take a lot of it). But I was pretty much in tears yesterday.
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Mags, I know just what you mean. My rotator cuff repair was on the same side as my tumor and knew I'd never be able to hold my arm above my head for the sim or the rads. I didn't need to have anything in my armpit radiated, and I finally reached a compromise with the gals arranging me so that I put my hand under my head and had my elbow pointing out and somewhat up out of the way of my boob, and they had a mold that my arm rested into to support it. Even so, I found that shoulder really stiffened up from rads and I had to resume my home therapy exercises.
It won't be so bad when it's not that extended sim.
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so even the shoulder stiffens up after rads? Will it get better after rads? Ugh.....I already have a stiff crappy shoulder despite doing all kinds of exercises.
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I don't know what effect rads will have on the shoulder. My shoulder problem started in 2005; in 2006 I had surgery, as the bone spurs had sliced through the rotator cuff. The PT that followed was too aggressive and the tendon didn't heal. Later in the year I went to another surgeon and had a second surgery. But even after a couple of years of PT, it still was in pain and had limited range of motion. I had another orthopedic doctor (not a surgeon) who x-rayed it and found that not only was the whole shoulder full of bone spurs (again) but the ball of the shoulder was half worn away. Steroid shots don't help. The only answer is a complete shoulder replacement, which I'm not willing to go through at this point.
Getting old is not for sissies.
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dancingdiva: My shoulder got worse after rads, imagine it was more from the required positioning than from actual radiation to that area. I've gone back to doing my home physical therapy exercises and it's better but not back to pre-rad status.
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I am also so grateful for all of you. It will be sad to move on from here, but joyful at the same time.
Here's hoping 2015 will be our year
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Last chemo was Sep 18, today's hair progress:
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oh beautiful Puffin. Your hair is coming in nicely. I am still hanging with peach fuzz . Five more taxols to go
Nancy
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For drains, I have added a 'pouch' to the front of a camisole. I'm thinking I want it on the outside, so I can check on them, and so they won't rub 'as much'. I have 2 giant vitamin bottlesa, 2 small water bottles, and 2 6 oz plastic child's cups. That should be roomy enough, don't you think? Also, I will need to cut a hole in the cami, to get the drains there. Can I do a large button hole one, and detatch bulb from tubing and do it that way, or will that be too stressful for my husband and should I do a large hole to get the bulb through? He had a drain 2 years ago, so isn't squeemish. BTW, I don't have them yet, so how big would the hole need to be to get the bulb through?
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kmtwins, I had a pouch for my drains and ultimately it was just easier to safety pin them to my surgical bra up near my boobs. They're way less in the way of everything up there.I think it's wicked clever, though. Just don't be surprised if you really want that stuff out of the way after a day or two
Anyway, you'll want to be able to remove the whole drain while it's attached to the tubes for him to empty. Detaching the bulb from the tubing while the bulb is in the pouch is a recipe for disaster
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ok, so how's everyone's fatigue? Today I woke up at 9am after almost 12 hours of (crappy) sleep, went to the farmers market at 11, came home after an hour and a half and passed out for 3 hours, then went to yoga at 5 and got home at 6:45 and I've been in bed ever since. It's as bad as when I was doing chemo!
My doctor has me on aromasin and lupron shots because my antidepressants interact with the tamoxifen, and I've been taking that for a week. I wonder if that could be having an effect? I'll talk to him this week.
I am so incredibly frustrated. I have so much on hold and have for the past 6 months. My whole life was hiking and outdoors activity and exercise. I just want to be myself again and the thought of feeling like sh** for the next five years is just killing me.
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Puffin -- what awesome hair growth! I'm so jealous....
JenKay -- It could very well be the aromasin. I'm not looking forward to hormonal therapy myself. There are threads devoted to them as well; I just haven't had the energy to go through them yet.
I feel really wiped out myself right now, primarily because my family has just gone through a really nasty stomach virus. First the boys, then my daughter, then my husband, then me. Happy Thanksgiving, ha ha ha! I'm supposed to get a heart scan today; I wonder if they'll let me do it if I'm not 100%. I also just want to be done with Taxol already; I'm sure my WBCs took a beating this weekend, and who knows what my numbers will look like.
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Elaine so sorry about the stomach virus. Yuck. Hope you are feeling better. You only have 1 taxol left right? Ugh I have 5 and so want to be done. Tomorrow is #8 but who knows what my bloodwork will show. It's anyone's guess lol.
Jenkay sorry you're still feeling tired. I will be put on tamoxifen probably at the end of January. I am already tired so I don't need to be tired on top of tired sheesh. Hope it gets easier for you.
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