Starting chemo August 2014
Comments
-
Woo hoo StrongEnough! Look at you GO!!
My onc's office worked out some kind of copay for the Neulasta for me, I think. I, too, haven't received any bills. But there's a program of some sort to help cover those costs. I didn't ask much about it at the time but now I'm curious!
0 -
Strongenough - last one ! So awesome for you. Hope you take care of yourself through this last treatment and manage ur SEs. So happy for you......
0 -
Wow StrongEnough looking good! I been following right behind you and have been keeping up with you most of your journey. My last one is on Halloween! Can't wait. We are going to survive this and come out stronger for it.
Hope this last one goes well with fewer SEs than you've been having.
Good luck with your journey!
0 -
You go StrongEnough, you look GREAT!!!! I am there next week and can hardly wait to be done!!!!!!
0 -
Huge congrats to strongenough! Excellent screen name and so appropriate! I bet you are flying high right now!!
0 -
congrats strongenough!!!!!!! Way to go!
0 -
Congrats Strongenough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 3 more rounds to go if I can make it. I think it may kill me.
Justamy. There is some group. I think american cancer that pays for neulasta. I have not had to pay for any of that. I have medical coming out of my ears. I have an individual plan and you get killed with those. Deductibles and copays.UGH!!
The told me radiation is between 50,000 to 60,000 dollars.CRAZY!!
0 -
Way to go strongenough!
0 -
Strongenough, Congrats! I just had TH #10 of 12 today so am heading into the home stretch, too.
CJT and Kelly, I posted earlier about using Sally Henson 4-in-1 Nail Moisturizer and Strengthener. It comes in kind of a square-ish pink bottle in a package in the nail treatment section. It has worked well for me while on Taxol.
Randomchance, part of me wishes I could take the rest of the year off from work. It is good having the distraction from thinking about BC all the time, and hey a paycheck is a wonderful thing! But the fatigue is growing and now I have to figure out a work schedule when I am going in for 33 radiation treatments from Monday thru Friday starting in late November. Good luck with your decision.
Bippy, what a wonderful story you shared about the woman you met. I don't think there are coincidences, I believe we find the people we need to find at the right time. What a gift. As a sales rep I call on businesses that are mostly women owned. It is staggering how many customers have told me that they, too, have gone through treatment for breast cancer. I met with a new customer last week who had been diagnosed seven years ago with stage 4 BC. They were basically writing her off, but did some chemo. Her tumors responded so well that they then decided to do surgery and said "now they would try to save her." (What, NOW you're trying to save me, was her reaction!) So here she is, seven years later, continuing on with Herceptin, doing great, just opened a business. So when I think about not working I realize that I would miss the amazing support and hope I get from the women I meet.
Cathie and Cassie, I'm trying to push through some emotional lows and tears today, too. I tend not to let myself vent very much but sometimes the tears just have to come. It just stinks that we are all going through so much. But we WILL get through it and kick cancer to the curb! So grateful for all of you!!!
Sandy
0 -
Way to go Strongenough!! My last one is this Thursday and then 7 weeks radiation. I have been very very down this week. Trying hard to be positive but more tears have come the past few days than in a long tine. Not sure what's wrong with me. Worn out physically and mentally.
Hope your last one is easiest yet.
You guys have been wonderful. Someone on here always makes you feel like your not alone because it seems someone else is or has felt like I'm feeling at various times.
I'm a single mom and sometimes I feel so alone and sure don't want to burden my kids. They are in their 20's now. I sure admire those of you with young ones. Wish I could do something to ease your load. I know it must be so hard.
I guess we all at times have had a little bit of a pity party for ourselves. I know it will get better, just a rough bump on this crappy road!
Sleep well my friends. Here's to a new day tomorrow!!
0 -
Thanks, everyone for the much-needed moral support! I feel better today, mentally, but more tired than usual for day-of-tx. No matter, it's all out of my hands now, just along for the ride and got to get through it the best I can. Hope, Sandy, Nomatterwhat, and everyone else heading for the home stretch, I'm thinking of you, and it feels pretty good so far! (Eileen, you will make it! It won't kill you, only make you stronger - and kill the cancer!) I'm in a much better place today; maybe it was the margarita at dinner! We had a little celebration at our favorite Mexican restaurant on the way home, had the special, and forgot that the special always comes with a margarita. We weren't planning to drink, but then we had to!
Also, my booster t-shirts arrived while we were out, and the money raised hit my paypal account on Friday, so that was a great success! Now I have to get busy writing thank you notes and delivering t-shirts before I crash! Hoping to get them in the mail by Friday or delivered in person by Saturday. Wish me luck!
Warm fuzzies to you all, I have been keeping up with everyone, even if I forget to mention you personally. Oh, and Bippy, I agree with Sandy about your beautiful angel story!
0 -
way to go strongenough!!!!
Great pics thinkpink.
Kellya and cjt The bottom of my thumb bed nails are darkened since treatment 2. Thank you for the nail tips Sandy!
Eileen, round 3 just wiped off my appetite for 11 days!!! I couldn't taste anything for 11 days!!!!! As soon as I could taste the food, I double my plate!!
I loose 2-4 pounds each time I weigh in before my chemo.
They cancelled the LGFB class due to the tornado and thunderstorm warning. It's getting cold !!! Hubby just smiled and said I must be feel better coz I bitch to the weather already. Lol.
Halloween will be day 10 post chemo 4. I hope to feel better at that time so I could bring my daughter trick or treating.
Oh Amy the bills!!! I haven't got any of my chemo's yet. My Herceptin will be thousands after deductibles may be. Lol.
Love the road trips, leaves are changing colors now. Pretty!!! Deers and the hunters are everywhere in the early mornings. Lol.
Stay strong ladies!!!!
Hugs to you all
Shirley
0 -
well done Strongenough. Hey you earned that margarita! I miss my organic red wine.....no taste for it now. I am jealous, but happy for ya!
I think that this chit has a huge creep factor. It really has begun to creep up on me emotionally, just lately. I am sure it is a delayed normal healthy response to the rush of dx and tx horrors. I barely had time to cry, i was in chemo within 7 days. I am sure alot of you had a similar experience and it is reassuring to me to read here that I am not alone. there is a great song by Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride called Trip around the Sun, and it is all about just hangin on while this old world keeps spinning...and about giving up illusions of control. It is quite poignant for such a catchy tune! Anyway, it captures this experience of change and is hopeful and inspiring.
So...... my tx center does not ring a gong at conclusion....but they assure me they do something. Dayam! I want to BANG that thing in November.
Hang in there, we can do it!!!! Only a few more to go for the rest of us. we will be a blessing to each other during our surgeries and rads. I am so grateful for all of you!
0 -
Hope50, your post was beautiful. I agree - having you all to come to is so helpful. You just know that someone here will get it, whatever you're feeling or going through. My daughter is 14 - old enough to understand what's going on and want to just look the other way a lot of the time, and busy enough with school and ballet that she's got her own host of teenage issues to deal with. Sometimes I feel guilty that she had to start high school with this hanging over her. It isn't my fault, but I'm sure you all know what I mean. They're reading Catcher in the Rye, and she said last night it's hard to read about a depressed teenager because she can see some of those qualities in herself sometimes.
Who else is looking at a final chemo in the next few weeks? Nomatterwhat, SueBe, Hope50, who else?
StrongEnough, great timing on the shirts and PayPal deposit. That is so cool that you did that.
Shirley, we joke in our house to that when someone is bitching about the weather or something similar, they must be feeling better.
Bippy, I was getting my first chemo 9 days after diagnosis. I know what you mean about some of this catching up with us. I was (am!) so scared, and the doctors all wanted to move fast. I don't regret my choices, but I do think there has been some delayed processing on the emotional side of things. It's good to be able to come here and share the highs and lows. I don't know what my center does on a last infusion. I don't think they do anything, unless I've never been there for anyone's last one. I'LL do something, regardless!!!
Today is day 6 post infusion #3, and I am feeling better than I was yesterday. I got some decent sleep (thank you Ativan) and am taking Prilosec each morning to help with the burning feeling throughout my throat and stomach. It will be nice to get an appetite back and have some foods really sound good. Right now I'm just trying to eat. Maybe I'll get some chocolate pudding or a chocolate milkshake today. I have a appt. this morning and I'm sure I'll hear about my weight dropping this week. So be it. I've done the best I can.
Just for fun, here is a picture of me and my daughter on the first day of school. To think I thought my hair was short then... ha ha...
0 -
I'm another whose emotions started creeping up lately. I am better this week, but last week, it was like reality truly started to hit. My mx was in June, but only last week did I feel this little bubble of rage that my breast is GONE. My hair. My eyebrows are going. I am not happy.
Some doctors feel that women in our situation probably have some PTSD going on, and I believe it. We muscle through when we must, but we have some big trauma to deal with. Who could blame us for feeling sad or angry sometimes?
The fatigue has really been wearing on me. I haven't posted much because I don't always have the energy after getting through the day, even though I read all the posts daily and am keeping up with everyone's stories.
And then I feel a bit guilty and ungrateful. I was dx early, and I am tolerating the Taxol well. I am right behind Sandy on the downhill slope. But lord, I am sick of it all. This is my 3rd dx and I am tired.
Thank you all for being here. I know we are getting through this somehow. Having each other helps!
PS: CassieCat, our posts crossed. You and your daughter are beautiful! Wonderful picture. Your concerns about her touch my heart. It sounds like she talks easily to you about the big stuff. Hang in there!
0 -
Wow! To all of you that are finished or nearing the chemo finish line...fantastic job! It must've seemed so far away and now you're coming up on it. Love the pic cassiecat...your daughter looks so much like you! Beautiful! It must be hard for her at 14. You can't really hide everything, and she's already primed for teenage stuff, it's not her fault, her brain is changing. And the hormones! Oh, how I will miss hormones.
I've been doing some reading of studies on best endocrine drugs for premenopausal women to reduce distant mets from recurring and there looks like the best combo is a drug called exemestane (Aromasin) when used in conjunction with ovarian suppression. I am not sure what is used for suppression, but I suspect it may be Lupron, an injectable in the stomach (tiny insulin needle). I took it for IVF and hated its effect on me. Cranky, raging appetite, just awful. I was so happy to get off of it. I'm half wondering about an oophrectomy (ovarian removal) during my c-section. I see my BS today (after 3 rounds of AC) to see how things are going. I'll ask her. I imagine the hormone shift after a twin pregnancy may be severe. Maybe it would be better to give my body a bit of time to adjust slowly before crossing that bridge.
I've got a long haul left. Last AC next week, but then rolling into weekly Taxols for 12 with a break for a c-section. I'll be closing up our house in Nevada in early November for the fall and winter, my favorite seasons up there, and hope to return in spring with two healthy babies, and NED. Seems so far away. Good luck all. Hugs.
0 -
4 of 6 is tomorrow. I really don't want to go. I feel like I just started feeling good and now I am going in. At least I can say that I am 2/3 done and only 6 more weeks. I too have had my morale lowered with this round, but then I think I say that I am quitting chemo every round........but then I see my sons and say "ok, 1 more".
0 -
I guess I'm 1/4 of the way in, two months down, three months to go...or 4 treatments down, 12 to go. Ugh!
0 -
Kellya, how often do you go in?
purrrrana, I'm sure I'm going to be feeling the same way in two weeks...
gatomal, I haven't even begun researching tamoxifen, etc., other than to read that fibroids can grow on tamox. Since I already have one that's decent in size, that news does not excite me. I'm probably looking at surgery at some point to have it removed. Might just do my remaining ovary while I'm at it. I had a HUGE fibroid grow while I was pregnant and lost one ovary as a result. Damn hormones. Gave me a beautiful daughter, at least.
0 -
I will be going every Monday for the next 12 weeks. If I stay healthy to continue in this way, Jan. 5 is my last one!
0 -
Feeling a little stronger today. Went for a walk with hubby. He had to put his hand on my back to get up the hill. Blah! Later I developed D, so just took it easy this afternoon. Just walked out to garden and was surprised to still have some veggies growing. Cleared away the dead and hoping to still get a few more meals from it. Beautiful here today! I totally recommend sucking on ice during treatment. Can't believe how less irritated my mouth is since I did that. I suffered terribly first 3 treatments with mouth sores and taste. Never too late to discover another remedy to these SEs.
Wishing you all manageable SEs. For those going into another treatment, thinking of you at this time. I have 2 more, which I am not looking forward to. I try to focus on the future and hope to see the light at end of this tunnel soon. Getting harder and harder, but so appreciate the support here with this group and the helpful advice. We can do this! We are doing it! Suppose to walk on Sunday, but will have to see how I feel. Couldn't even make a hill w/o help today, who knows if a 5k walk is realistic right now.
Cathie
0 -
Starting Oct 21st, I will be going for weekly Taxol for 12 weeks. I sure hope it doesn't carry the same fatigue I have felt with A/C-Neulasta. I don't think I could have taken another round of that!!! Thank God I'm done with that!!!
0 -
Well, surgery looks like it will be after delivery and taxol, which is late Feb! I've never been in such a hurry to get cut open. But my node has gotten smaller...good news. My BS said I'll probably never get ovarian function back, and will be in chemopause afterwards, so I probably won't need ovarian suppression. This is about 8-9 years before I expected to be in menopause. What a bummer. This whole thing sucks.
0 -
I start taxol Friday. I am not sure if it will be every two weeks or weekly, my doctor will decide Friday when he sees my labs because of my elevated liver functions. I'm nervous, anxious and ready to be done.
It takes a lot to keep up with people checking in and if I don answer they text more thinking something's wrong. We've had to lean on a lot of friends and my parents to help take care of my son when my appointments are late or I'm not feeling well. My husband hates inconveniencing people and I feel like we owe them all. This is all just hard and I think it's catching up with me. But then I look at my now two year old and think I have to do this for him, I can't not be here for him.
Thanks for letting vent. It's nice to know there are people out the going through he same thing as me.
0 -
Kellogg - you are fortunate to have good friends willing to help out when they can. Just remember who was there for you, because life is full of surprises as you know.
Gatamol - you are getting answers now, which is a good thing. You are strong and will get thru this. Chemo is shrinking your node, really great news.
Taxol people - hoping that SEs are much less to deal with and it goes by quickly for you.
0 -
kellogg, this is cyclical and you will surely be able to reciprocate later, when you are well and finished with this chit. I am thinking this is what makes life good---having people to help us when we need it is a gift! I am sure they are happy to do it, as you will be some day for them.
Gatomal, it is good to have answers but i hate the chemopause, and it is comin straight to me as well soon. It does suck.
Taxol, I am not getting but hope all who must stay well.
Having another GREAT day with no SE! 7 days After round 4, how, how, how???? I care not how, just happy!
0 -
Catie I will remember who is there for me because they truly have been amazing. I've learned a lot about myself and people. Friends who I thought would be there no matter what have disappeared and people who I didn't expect have been an amazing support.
Getting nervous about tomorrow but ready to get the next step underway and closer to the end! Spending this very rainy day cleaning the house and enjoying food because who knows what taxol will bring!
Happy Thursday all!
0 -
Sitting in the chemo chair with last infusion!! Woohoo it took 4 attempts to find a vein test would work. My arm/hand is beat up. Eating ice through chemo bags. Thank goodness for warm blankets.
Meet with radiation following infusion today. Fluids and shot tomorrow. Monday and Tuesday.
Happy Thursday pink warriors!!
0 -
Hope50: Lucky you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 6 rounds of your same cocktail. I may try the ice.
Congrats to all who had their last chemo. I will catch up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can do this!!!! I can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0 -
So I'm Day#8 post last A/C-Neulasta TX and I'm still dragging my butt around. My appetite has improved slightly but I still have no energy. Can I have some hints on how to improve my functionality? I'm trying my best to stay hydrated. Today it's very stormy in RI so I can't go out for a walk. Maybe I'll attempt to ride my stationary bike to see if I can drag myself out of this funk. I don't like feeling like this!!!!! Any suggestions? I start 12 weeks of Taxol on Tuesday. Not looking forward to a whole 'nother series of SEs.
0
