August 2015 Chemo Group
Comments
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musosgirl, I feel the same way. Sending good vibes to you today.
molliefish, thanks for the pep talk! I needed it. I'm still hoping that I won't need rads, but you're right: I can do it if I do.
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Musogirl: Good luck to you! Hope it won't be too hard on your husband & mom. Before surgery, the surgeon was like, "for you it's pretty fast, you fall asleep, you wake up & it's done" & that's true! whereas for those waiting outside, that's a long 2 hrs!
I have a half-year Follow-up with the surgeon tomorrow. I actually don't know what to expect. Are there particular questions I should be asking?
About Turkey Tail: I'm still waiting for my MO's answer, but I also emailed my "people" (3 cancer researchers & someone in Radiology)
So far, the answer is NO -- From a Dosimetrist, who asked the MO & Ocno nurse she works with. Also from a Researcher (drug developer): "traditionally do not recommend taking herbal supplements while on active treatment with another anticancer therapy, especially if the label already has a caution. I think the potential for detrimental (and unknown) drug interactions outweighs any benefit you may experience." She particular pointed out an enzyme in Tomoxifen that might have interaction.
Personally I am hesitant with it, mainly because these are extract/ pill. instead of something to drink/ eat as nutrition, food, which people been doing for hundreds of years.
I asked my MO about more "normal" supplements like vitamins & tea & stuff. We'll see.
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Good luck Musogirl. Nearly there.
Good to hear two more of us are through chemo: high five Gooseberry and RavenSally. And what a b*mmer SoCalGirl, none of us need that kind of crap.
I'm now 7 weeks post chemo and life is returning, slowly.
Today I will inject myself with Herceptin #7. Dose #6 flattened me so I've had steroids for breakfast. Ho hum. I will report in to tell you if it worked or if I just get insomnia.
My boy (26) comes home from his travels today after 7 months. He hasn't seen me since my diagnosis. I think I won't tell him much about the journey :-).
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DONE with chemo!!!!
On to Herceptin-only infusions, the first one of which will be on...New Year's Eve.
What a way to celebrate, right? 
I'll meet with my MO in a few weeks to decide on the dates of radiation. I believe I'll be starting late January.
I've got a decent amount of fuzz on my head, which I'm hoping will stay. It started growing a couple of weeks ago, even though I was in the midst of receiving Taxotere (and I received my last Taxotere dose two days ago).
Only concern on my part right now is this stupid cough, which I'm convinced is lung mets, just because I'm paranoid. It's crazy how quickly the brain goes there...but I'm going to focus on being done with chemo & start getting excited for Christmas!
Hugs to all!
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YEAY JenPam, another of us through the chemo jungle. Herceptin-only is fine.
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hi ladies,
I had my final chemo on Thursday...I almost pulled out but my young children encouraged me to get the last one....they said "just in case" 😢 From the mouths of babes we learn so much. I am glad I listened to them because I met a lady with stage IV and she had a mastectomy with no treatment in 2003 and it returned. I am glad I'm giving it my best shot now! Now just Herceptin for the rest of the year and tamoxifen...for 5 to 10. I don't post often but I read always best luck to all of us...wondering if I should do rad too? They say I don't need do to clear margins and neg lympnodes.
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And Hi 5 to you, Motherofmany!
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So wonderful to see more of us finishing up chemo. Congrats Motherofmany, JenPam, Gooseberry and Ravensally! I have five more treatments to go. Hoping to finish up on Jan 12 unless I have more delays. I think we finally found the magic number (4) for Neupogen shots to keep my counts up.
I have a little hair growing in but it is very fine and white and still quite sparse. Brows almost totally gone. Still have a decent amount of upper lashes, but they are steadily decreasing. Neuropathy was getting scary, but I added B6 this week and I think it is getting better. My fingernails are some kind of ugly, but this still beats AC, so I'll take it.
I hope everyone is doing well. Stay strong!!!
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yes.. Ours is similar. My onco did not recommend rads... I wonder why so recommend and some do not.
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So I heard back from my MO. Surprise, surprise, she'd never heard of Turkey Tail. But she also said NO. (so that's 4 out of 4 people in the field of oncology). She's ok with vitamins & such. & nothing with plant estrogen, etc.
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Hi all - I had some difference in opinion regarding radiation. i believe if you had 1-4 positive nodes, radiation is strongly recommended. I had 3. My MO didn't think I needed it and my BS couldn't understand it since it is standard policy for people with positive nodes. So in the end, I went with radiation since I didn't want to look back and say I should have. If you are questioning the recommendation, get a 2nd and 3rd opinion. I went to several doctors and made my decision from there.
Congrats to all who are finished! I am almost done with radiation - two more to go. Much easier than chemo for those who have that ahead of them!
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Me and my friend in the pub today,
celebrating the end of chemo and surgery for both of us. I'm on the left (used a cold cap hence more hair!).
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Yay motherofmany!
MsBrompton, looking awesome!
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Yeah JenPam and Motherofmany....congrats on being done. It is a great feeling.
How many of us are still in the midst of treatments?
Well I had a very long weekend of driving...paid my respects to my Step-Dad and had a great visit with my family. It is too bad that the only time we all seem to get together is for funerals. It is quite pathetic actually. The mountains were beautiful, highways were glare ice at times and drove through lots of fog. I am glad to have made the 18 hour round trip safely. There is no place like home.
My hair is really growing now. I have had to pluck my chin hair twice now. That's how I know my body means business. My hair should all be filled in soon, probably within the next few weeks.
Accupuncture-I went for my first session on Thursday. I have noticed a reduction in my hot flashes. I don't know if it is just in my head but it seems I am having way fewer. She said it may take a few treatments for me to notice any improvement and it does not work for everyone. I have two sessions booked this week so I am very hopeful.
I hope those of you finishing treatments are hanging in there. Those of us who have finished, I hope your strength is slowly returning. That life is getting back to normal!
MsBrompton-love the pic, and I have hair envy!0 -
Congrats to everyone who is done with chemo. Yay!
I've got four Taxol treatments left. January 7 should be my end date. My hair is slowly filling in. At first it was all white fuzz, but now there is definitely some dark on the back and sides. I still have male pattern baldness going on. I will be really happy when the top/front fills in.
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I have two more treatments with Taxotere left (for a total of 8), before I transition to just Herceptin and Perjeta which I will be on indefinitely (until poor cardiac function or disease progression). I feel pretty run down and have a bad cold, but don't have another treatment until after Christmas, so should be able to give my kids a nice holiday. I hope everyone is able to savor the season after all we have been through this year.
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I only had 4 rounds of TC but I am happy to report I kept my eyelashes and brows. The hair on my head however is slow to start growing again. I have some sparse sprouts but it's still pretty smooth. I am 9 plus weeks post last chemo.
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I'm done with hard chemo, but have Herceptin through next August. Probably doing rads after I heal from my prophylactic MX, which is scheduled for 12/30--though I'm not sure if that'll work, 'cause I'm feeling HIT.
When does the heavy leg thing go away? I'm only 3 weeks PFC, so my guess is that I have about 3 to go before I can sustain any kind of moderately-intense activity.
My hair is coming back. . . just as my eyebrows decide to have some kind of crazy party without me.
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Kate-when I started back at the gym I could hardly handle 10 mins on the bike. It felt like my heart was going to explode it would beat so hard. That was at 5 weeks PFC. Give yourself a few more weeks. I am almost 8 weeks and am feeling somewhat better. I still am struggling with fatigue. I don't know if it because my sleep is so broken due to hot flashes or in part due to the Tamoxifen. To be honest I don't feel much different since I have started taking the Tamoxifen. I am going for Accupunture #2 today. I do think there was an improvement with my "power surges" after the first one am hoping that they continue to decrease. I hope you start feeling better and that HIT feeling starts to subside.
Molliefish-I have kept most of my lashes. My bottom ones are very sparse but the top ones seem to be hanging in there. My brows are very thin. I can see a difference in my hair daily. It is slowly filling in. I still have a bit of mLe pattern baldness as well. I had 4 rounds of TC as well. I started taking Biotin for hair growth.
Blue frog- I hope you start feeling better. This is a Christmas to sit back and be thankful for so many things and enjoy our families.
Vickirides-it is hard to be patient with this hair thing. I just want to have it all filled in so I can just rock the short hair. It is too patchy now to do that. It is also needs to be dyed. I am not ready to rock grey hair yet. It looks so light because of the white chemo fuzz in with my darker hair.
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Kate - re heavy legs: lifts at about 6 weeks if you follow my trajectory.
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DeeRatz - I know how you feel. At this point I don't care what color or how short my hair is; I just want it to cover my scalp!
The irony is that before I was diagnosed I was experimenting with letting my "platinum highlights" show. I'd gone through two rounds of trying to lift the color and adding highlights to blend the new growth. I cut my hair into a pixie before I started chemo, so I got a preview of what my natural color is. Now who knows what color my hair will be and whether I'll go back to coloring? My hairdresser said she has had four clients who have gone through chemo: two grew in more gray, one grey in darker, and one grew in red!
What progress that we are at least thinking about growing hair instead of losing it!
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I would agree with Ms Brompton, my legs have felt so much better the past two weeks.
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yup. 6 weeks.
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I'm over 9 weeks past chemo and while the heavy leg feeling has gotten a lot better, for some reason my calf muscles feel like they're perpetually pulled. I've tried stretches and take calcium/magnesium (and a whole other slew of supplements) to no avail.
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So today (yesterday?) I was driving & got stopped by the police.
"Do you know why you were stopped?" No...
so a light in the back was out. the white one he said. (isn't the white one lights up when you back up?) & how am I suppose to know a light AT THE BACK went out?
"where are you going?" ... errrrr... to the store?
This is where the chemo brain got in the way... I wonder now, if I used the cancer card & & said I was going to my Oncologist, he might let me go w/o the ticket. Now I need to fix the light & bring the ticket to the traffic court. wonder there's $ to be paid, too, too? oh well... there's always a first time I suppose...
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I am 4 weeks out and I will confess I had a lot of fatigue and just really feeling blue for the last month. It seems like now at five weeks I am feeling more like myself. I have surgery at six weeks out and I am a bit concerned about my Hematocrit (27)and RBC(8.2) they are still very low. I may need a transfusion during surgery. My WBC are coming up though and they are not as concerning. As for the heavy leg feeling... Its still there and still dropping things. I haven't gone to yoga or been walking just too weak.
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superius, you got a ticket for that?! I'd have totally pulled the cancer card, there.
exercise_guru, I'm so sorry that you've been feeling so bad; I completely understand. I don't know why I expected some kind of miraculous, healing transformation after chemo was done, but it's been sort of a letdown. Right now I'm concentrating on eating enough protein, staying hydrated (always), and not being completely sedentary.
I've had a hard time in yoga these past couple of weeks (holding up my arms in the warrior postures is a major challenge), but I keep going because I love the people in the group. I asked my yogi if I could continue to come even right after surgery--I won't be able to do anything much, but I like the camaraderie--and she said yes, so there's something to look forward to. I hear you on the dubious pre-surgery feelings; I'm asking my surgeon when I see him this week what the cutoffs are for RBCs. I can't imagine they'll let me donate my own blood at this point, but it's worth knowing for sure.
SoCalGirl, I guess it's just par for the course. It's too bad that we're all experiencing this, to varying extents, but I suppose there's strength in numbers.
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End of the year quota?
Seriously from now on, I am going to pull the Cancer Card WHENEVER.... until I'm done with Tamoxifen! HA! 
"sorry, my MO said that's too much stress for me to help you with .... "
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Well, I just got an unexpected early Christmas gift....I'm joining the "done with hard chemo" ranks. My MO said that my tumor markers are so good that she doesn't see any reason to give me more Taxotere. So #6 two weeks ago was my last one! I start Tamoxifen tomorrow and will continue with Herceptin and Perjeta 12/28. I'm a little apprehensive that the aggressive approach is over, but of course happy that my tumor markers match my scans. My breast tumors are non-existent and one of my tumor markers is in the normal range for someone with NO CANCER. Not too shabby for a stage IV patient like myself who still has both breasts intact. I have come to terms with the reality that the bottom could fall out at any time, but I am going to let this good news carry me into the new year.
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Yay, Bluefog! What wonderful news!
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