Starting chemo July 2014
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hi Joeysmom - my last chemo was December 30th. So I am starting 4 weeks and a couple of days after. I bet treatment is still just as effective for you. Your starting 8 weeks after chemo which I don't think is too long. Now if you told me you were waiting 4 months to start I would question that lol. Good luck tomorrow. I got my tattoos today. Next Wednesday they are doing more pictures(?) and then I start the actual radiation on Thursday the 29 th. How long do you have to do rads for. I have to do 33 because of the node involvement bleh. My RO walked in the room today and said "nancy I expected to see you here a lot sooner" (everyone thought I had no node involvement and that I wasn't going to have to do chemo humph)
Nancy
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Nancy and JoeysMom - After what you have gone through with chemo, rads will be a walk in the park.. You even get to lay down for a few minutes everyday. I took a power snooze almost every time. I've always been good with a 10 minute cat nap.
Little story: Back when I was a much younger woman, I always wore heels to work. You know the drill ...dress, hose and heels. I had a nice office with a big desk, a high back swivel office chair and two visitors' chairs. The space behind the desk was perfect for laying out an exercise mat and taking a quick nap at lunch. One day while I was zoned out, a woman came into my office (not knowing I was there), saw my feet sticking out from behind the desk - much like the witch under to house in Oz - and fainted dead away. I wasn't even wearing red shoes.
Yes, the head make-up works. Day two without a wig. I'm not sure how it would work for darker hair, but if you can get the right color, why not try it? I figure that my hair will fill in by the time the bottle runs out. More on the hair subject. I bought some Latisse when I went to the Plastic Surgeon yesterday. I have a half dozen stubby eyelashes on each eye and double that on my chin. That's just not right! We'll see how it goes.
Nancy - thank you for your comment on the necklace. I love the colors of dark copper and turquoise together. An interesting fact is that copper and turquoise are found together in nature and when copper corrodes, it gets spots of turquoise color. The color combinations of nature are always comfortable to look at.
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Well, little by little, it's coming back, and a lot darker than before, as you can see in my avatar, taken a year ago.
But I still cover up when I go out. Found a site with some scarf tying directions, Tznius.com.
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Okay Mags - Look up some photos of Amber Rose. Then run wild - run free. If she can do it, so can we! I'm having trouble transferring photos from my phone to the computer or I'd send one of my head.
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Yeh Mags! yes, it IS coming back. Now, just keep petting and patting your head, talk to your hair and tell it how beautiful and strong it's looking, and soon your scarves will be history.
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Mags- those colors of emerald and sapphire blue are just gorgeous on you!!
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YAY Mags looking good. I bet you hair comes in quickly now.
Puffin you crack me up!
Nancy
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Hello ladies!!! I had my last chemo on dec 19 and then took off for a few weeks down south. I just came back a couple of weeks ago and have been laying low. I have to say it was wonderful kinda ignoring the situation I am in and not looking at anything to do with cancer. I'm so glad poeple are still talking on this thread!
I met someone on the beach in Florida, who started chemo also in July. SHe started talking to me. Since we are on the July thread, and maybe this person is on the July thread, so I'm the one you started talking to while I was playing with my daughter. So PM if you want.
Well back to reality! Happy New Year to all you ladies. I know I'm a little late, it's Jan 29.
I have my BMX next week yikes!
I lost all my eyebrows and lashes while on vacation. I've been doing a good job of penciling them in and using powder. I thought they would look fake and wierd because my real ones are so dark and thick, but apparently people think they are real. I am missing them though. They are starting to come in now. I look like I smeared blue stuff all over my eye area too where they are coming in.
My hair is crappy. Thin and gray. But I have to admit, I kinda like the wigs. I bought a cheap $20 long one while on va-ca and it looks awesome. The wigs are so much easier than my real hair to style and you just walk out after showering. And i look so much younger and better with them! I will prob keep wearing them but I had hair issues anyways to begin with.
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Dancing - love that you met a 'sister' at the beach! It makes me smile.
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Ladies - no one has posted in over a week. I miss you guys. Hey, for those on Herceptin, do your joints bother you? My hands are bad as are my knees and hips. Also, are you having constipation issues? See - back to our normal topics-
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I'm still here lurking. In 2 weeks I see my MO for my followup appointment. Having some SE from my Arimidex (some achy joints and sleep disturbance) but nothing that would make me want to switch to something else. Surprised that my breast still hurts, radiologist said I could have a sertoma, a collection of lymph fluid. He's going to check it again in 3 months.
Have been going to the twice a week LiveStrong classes at the Y, and going to the Y on my own every day - lost 6 pounds and 3 inches in January and feel much stronger again.
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kmntwins -- I will be resuming Herceptin soon, but MO gave me some time off due to my lumpectomy and ALND. I should also be starting rads soon.
Puffin -- good for you with your exercise! I've been doing my little arm exercises to recover my range of motion after my surgery. Let's just say they are easier to do after I've had a glass of wine.....
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Still in rads. Not seeing any SEs from the rads, but arthritic shoulders are still giving me a daily dose of misery. 17 out of 28+5 boosts done.
Oh I take it back. One side effect, trouble swallowing, from the rads on my throat.
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I just had my BMX with TEs. Getting slightly mobile now.
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mags, so glad to hear you're able to do rads with your shoulders, the last I remember rads were on hold
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Mags - I'm with Puffin, so glad they found a way, but I'm sorry it hurts... Dancing, when was the BMx...
Dancing - I pulled your post history... your surgery was 2 days ago, slightly mobile, you go girl. I was still in a drug induced haze.
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so nice to hear from everyone. Sounds like you are all doing pretty well. Yippee!!! I started rads on jan 29th and tamoxifen on jan 27th. So far so good for both. I am also doing 33 rads like mags(28 whole breast and auxiliary nodes and 5 boosts to tumor area).
Hubby and I went to see Birdman. Okay, that's a weird movie - not even sure what to say about it lol
Hope everyone continues to do well.
Nancy
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Hello everyone !
Been laying low here. I just finished the 4th radiation. My RO says to expect some redness and some skin peeling like a sunburn soon. Bad thing is I have had a headache now for 3 weeks! Yes! 3 weeks and I am to have a MRI now on my brain/head to see what is going on in there. I have tried OTC meds and Benadryl thinking its my allergies or something but its just horrible. Every time I cough or sneeze the pain can get excruciating and while that throbbing subsides, the damn pain is still there!!!!!
I thought it was the Tamoxifen, but my Onco says its not that if I had stopped it and the headache did not go away, so I restarted the Tamoxifen last week. Just waiting for the MRI. I am a bit nervous and want to say... WHAT NEXT !! Sheesh!
I am thinking of each of you as you continue this journey we have all ended up on.....just so you know.
My niece got me an awesome shirt, its gray with a breast cancer pink ribbon and the word SURVIVOR on it. Mine is similar to this but darker lettering. She totally shocked me by giving it to me and it quite touched me, I cried.
Hugs to each of you ladies ! STAY STRONG !! And I will pop in and keep you posted. Good thing is the weather has been nice here in NE Florida, so I have enjoyed the cooler temps lately as I drive myself to rads.
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A gal at the local breast cancer support group meeting came in with shirts that said, 'Under Re-Construction' I thought it was a hoot.
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Have you seen the tshirt that says "Of course they're fake, my other ones tried to kill me" LOL! I've been looking for that one!
Lurking too. I am on a version of armidex and have had a tough time with joint pain. My onc moved me to a different drug still in the arimidex family and it's a little better. Not a lot but better.
Love to all! I feel like we're close friends here...not so much on other boards I'm following. We've got something good after all this...
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Hello Everyone~ I've not got too much going on of great excitement. I've pretty much decided that the physical aftermath of all the bc treatments will be permanently apparent - things like, neuropathy in my fingers, pain on one side and numbness on the other in my upper arm, restricted movement on my bc side. Of course, there's the visual aftermath of a BMX. Oddly and thankfully, those things become part of the background of life. "Life" being the operative word here.
My radiation treatments ended just before Christmas, so I enjoyed the Holidays greatly - other than the fact that we went through a series of home mishaps starting Christmas day, such as, a big chuck of the family room ceiling requiring replacement due to a shower leak from the second floor. That is still ongoing with everything from the family room piled into the living room and dining room. The repair crew is from St George where I had all my bc treatments, so a long drive for them for a little work everyday until the repair is installed, taped, dried, and painted. Other little things like: the garage door opener broke and that company suggested we self-repair rather than replace - sure. The water heater quit heating. An upstairs toilet fitting cracked (more water and I discovered that when I thought it was me that got the hem of my pj's wet. I didn't do it! Again upstairs, the furnace dehumidifier drain got plugged and dripped water down the heat vent into the office. The pool filter pump broke and had to be replaced. Cars? Oh yes that too.
I've been hiding out and getting more active in my studio bit by bit since the first of the year. The weather here has been beyond beautiful. 75 to 80 degrees. I know we will pay the price in July. Meanwhile, I will enjoy the moment. Aw yes, my hair has finally determined to grow. 1/2 inch everywhere - it's been really slow this time. That's fine.
I keep an eye on this topic.... just waiting for one of you to say, "I'm coming to Las Vegas." When you do, I hope we will get together for a good "Chemo-sabe" hug!
AJ62 - Aside from the pain of a permanent headache, there is the worry. I'm hoping that both can be dealt with quickly. My DH gets headaches from a neck misalignment that requires a chiropractic adjustment. It just will not subside until he sees the chiropractor. Any thoughts there? The worry - not to make light of it, because it is very real and appropriate.... that will be with all of us for everything and rightly so. My MO says vigilance is an important part of our self-care from this time on. When is the MRI? Please keep us in the loop. Hugs and Prayers to you.
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Hi all! Just had exchange surgery on Friday the 13th...bad omen. DH drove me home, 45 min from hospital that did surgery. When I got in the house and took off my coat I was covered in blood. It had soaked through 2 abdominal pads, surgical bra and my shirt. I freaked out! Called PS and he told me to take everything off clean it and find where the bleeding was coming from and then put pressure on it for 15 min. Well, when I took it all off it was a gusher and the whole side of my boob was gaping open 3-4 inches. I started crying and hyperventilating. My DH called PS back to advise of open wound. He wanted us to drive back 45 min to ambulatory surgery. No way! We went to urgent care here in town and PA stitched me up 16 + stitches. PA also prescribed antibiotic since I had open wound for 6 hours. These are not dissolvable stitches so will have to have them taken out. Had my port taken out the same as exchange and it burns! Now I'm scared I will have terrible scars and cording from trauma. I'm so upset with my PS. Not only did he do s crappy job sewing me shut but I was supposed to have surgery on Feb 12th but his staff never checked they had the right size implants for me so while I was on operating table under partial sedation I was advised they had to abort procedure and reschedule. Which is how I ended up having surgery on Friday the 13th. What a nightmare. I now have ace bandages around my chest as our ER has no surgical bras. I'm worried about the outcome now. Any advice?
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I'm so sorry that you have had to go through this. This should have been a simple procedure that left you feeling a bit post surgical, but wonderful. Call your PS today. Does he know the current situation? Keep him in the loop. I imagine he will want to see you immediately. Assume the best and move forward with that approach. Ask the PS what to do now. If that doesn't go the way you want it to, find another PS. I have a scar from when my regular surgeon removed my first port, and my PS said he'll clean that up when he takes out the current one. Both doctors are wonderful, but the PS has a lighter hand. Point being, scars can be dealt with.
Hugs.
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Oh Maiden! That is awful. So scary. :-( please keep us updated on how it goes. Your PS sounds a little chaotic. I do know that surgical bras are not strictly necessary - many PS (including mine) don't use them. May be one less worry? But you may want someone else to look at that incision as it heals - will you go back to your ps or find a second opinion?
Coyote - happy to hear life is going back to 'normal' whatever that is lol. Sometimes I feel like Humpty Dumpty. :-)
So sorry about all your house repairs - hope it's all put back together now?
As for me - I have exchange scheduled next week. Am excited and a little terrified. Terrified cos, well, more surgery. Excited cos my TEs look and feel horrible. Other than that, in some ways last summer feels a little surreal - like it somehow happened, but somehow didn't. Or maybe happened to someone else. I am back at work and back in the swing of normal life I guess. Emotionally still a little mess - every time I pull some thing at the gym I get neurotic about whether it's Cancer in my bones. Ugh. Does that ever go away?
Only other update is that my MO is switching me from tamoxifen to OS+AI after soft trial results. I have mixed feeling about this - I have had no SEs on tami and was ok with this for next 10yrs. OS scares me. But ok, again, Cancer scares me more!
Big virtual chemo-save hug to you all!!
Rai
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Maiden - yikes!
Rain - as I have Her2+++, I'm still on Herceptin and MO and I keep going back and forth about whether to do tamoxifen before I'm done with Herceptin. (going back and forth, as in, on the same page but neither of us is really sure which choice) So, right now, I'm waiting until Herceptin is done in July, then will do tamoxifen. For you, you know you can deal with its side effects, so if you do OS and AI and you don't like the side effects, you can go back to tamoxifen. I watched a close co-worker die from ovarian cancer, so if I had those puppies removed, it would be a weight lifted, but as my pals on the ER+PR+Her2+ (triple pos) page say, advantage of doing OS shots, is you can see if you tolerate it well, before making a permanent decision, if you even decide to do that. As the HER2 antibodies (Herceptin and Perjetta, etc) meds are newer, we don't fall onto any reoccurrence or survivor calculators (that I know of), so all of this is a crap shoot. So odd, 9 months ago, I just wanted to be cancer free, which I am, now I want to know my stats.
Coyote - I was thinking about you and all your crafts the other day, when I broke the needle in my sewing machine and had to re-thread it. Neuropothy and small objects... not good.
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knm - yes exactly, will try to OS, see how it goes then make a call. I do feel good about knowing the tami is ok for me (have been on it since November now), so can always go back there. If OS is ok I would def consider an ooph, esp since MO tells me we still need contraception during OS (boo, I had thought that should have been one bonus!)
I know what you mean about stats. I don't know mine either - not because of awesome new treatments, but because I had totally discordant genomic tumor maps. And surgery before chemo, so who knows if it did any good?
I think you just have to live every day assuming it's gone. And if it comes back, deal with it then. At least that's what I have to do to maintain some semblance of sanity
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omg Maiden!!! I freaked out when I read ur post. I hope things r ok. I would either go to the same place and have everything checked out or go someplace new. Contact ur surgeon and tell him why/how this happened. Please keep us in the loop.
Raindew...I shoulf know this but what is Os and AI? What is he putting u on now?
As for me, I'm recovering from BMX. Veeeerry sloooooowly
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Dancing - you haven't updated your signature line with the date of your BMx. Mine was 12/2/14 and it was a slow start, but one day, you are 80%. Not sure when it happened, I'd say around 6 weeks. I'm 11 weeks now and thinking 90%. Some things are still issues, leaning into the washing machine, sleeping on my sides, opening child proof tops.
As to what is Os and AI and Ooph. Rain, as you are hormone positive, yep, these are things you will learn. Os is ovarian suppression, AI is Armotase Inhibitor, Ooph is ovarian removal. SOFT is the new trail data on drugs used to help those of us that are hormone positive, what drugs are best and for how long to take them. Here are some links, and there are more if you feel like searching. http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/ovary-su...
Rain - Unfortunately, due to being Her2, therefore requiring chemo, I was never offered anything like oncotype tests, etc. As to living every day - yep - to me it is gone, but the whole ovary and not getting them checked bothers me. My MO said once on Tamoxifen, he'd order vaginal ultrasound of ovaries once a year, so at least someone will be looking at them, not just palpitating them.
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dancing - knm pretty much covered it above. Since I am under 40 and had chemo, it looks like a statistically significant improvement to switch to OS+AI from tami. So we'll try it and see if the menopausal symptoms suck too much. (I was in chemopause for a while, but my ovaries refused to be defeated by taxotere and cytoxan it would seem...)
Knm - are you BRCA? I'm curious if there is a reason you are worried about ovarian specifically. My mom died of ovarian, but I tested negative for all known genetic mutations. Argh.
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