August 2015 Chemo Group
Comments
-
Ruska, good to hear from you! (Are you still on AC?)
Kate, "jingle, merry, and all that jazz!". My new favorite Christmas greeting!
Mrs. Brompton, hope you enjoyed the walk. (I have missed my daily walks so much, but surgery recovery is kicking my butt.). Glad your boys can help you!
Superius, love the Downton Abbey hat! So appropriate! My denomination does not do Christmas Eve services, but I longed for a good candlelight service today. I missed too much of my church in the past five months and my soul feels it. If that makes sense.
Mollie, we deserve special status this year! Live it up Christmas Elf!0 -
Musosgirl, I finished AC, now on weekly Taxol ( 10 out of 12). So I'm almost there. After that radiation..... We will get there
I wish you a fast recovery after surgery. Hang in there
0 -
Merry Christmas to everyone! It's been nice getting to wear a Santa hat all month.
0 -
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! So good to see many of us are finishing up the chemo and moving on to rads and surgery. Keep hanging in there!!!
0 -
A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!
I received Taxol #10 on Christmas Eve. There is a volunteer who comes in with his piano keyboard on Thursdays and visits each patient and plays a few songs for them, so on Christmas Eve they were all Christmas songs. One patient sang (she had a beautiful voice), and some of the nurses and other patients would sing too. It was amazing and wonderful!
May we all have happy and HEALTHY New Years!
0 -
Hey Everyone!
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Wanted to put it out there, Im 2 weeks post Chemo and still battling with pain in my neck, upper back, shoulders, hips, lower back and legs? is this normal? fatigue is really bad too, Im not able to do very much still. I'm taking nurofen and panadol osteo every 6hrs still and not getting much relief. I'm not able to take any other pain killers.
0 -
Mel, I felt really off for up to 6 weeks PFC. Today I am 10.5 weeks post and finally feeling pretty good. And that's after having completed radiation. Give your self some time. I thought my hair should be at least one inch by now, and I've got maybe 3mm (read not too much). I was certain I would never be able to walk up a flight of stairs again, or carry a laundry basket full. Today I tossed a full basket up to the first landing 6 steps up. It will happen. I believe in you!
0 -
Molliefish that's comforting to know! Honestly I feel like I'll never walk up stairs again, I can barely walk through a supermarket. I didn't have radiation as I had it 4yrs ago and can't have again. As long as I improve a little each day. Oh I was wondering about my hair too! No movement in 2 weeks but am looking forward to it, my eyebrows are itchy though? Lol
Thanks, so hard when you're in it, everyone thinks you finish chemo and are immediately back to normal, get sick of explaining to people. So glad I have here to talk, I have no Mum or sisters, so this has been great. Friends are wonderful but don't quite understand.
I'm already changing my diet, and I'm super determined, I've put on 5kg so am happy to look after me and slowly get back to a better me In the new year.
0 -
Just to give you a little encouragement even though our I had TCH chemo. For me I was just exhausted tired for 4 weeks then week 5 started to get a little better and then now at 6 weeks the light just switched on and I felt much more like myself.
I would just encourage you to realize how much your body has been through and be kind and patient to yourself.
0 -
Hi exercise_guru
Thank you! It helps knowing how others have coped post chemo, I sure am realizing to not expect too much, I do just a little at a time and keep nurturing me, gosh something I have never done..but I have learnt to do through this. So so important, I think as Ive always been a 'push through it' kinda gal! this is the first time in my life I actually stopped doing that, and I have honored me through this. Certainly been tough to do being a single parent and was unable to work the last 6 weeks of chemo. You are so right though!!! the body has been through an enormous amount, knowing it gets better makes me feel a whole lot better.
0 -
Mel, I'm also 2 weeks PFC, and I'm still very sore. My bones and joints feel achy. I keep making an effort to walk for 30 minutes each day, but I end up feeling so sore afterward that I wonder if I should rest instead of walking. I've taken solace in the posts of others here who report increased energy at 5-6 weeks out. We'll get there!
0 -
Agree with this thread. Chemo effects are cumulative. We all expected (I think) to feel better when we stopped, but some of us actually felt worse for a few weeks and I for one didn't feel any better for a month. But now 8 weeks PFC I'm finally getting my mojo back. Hang in there ladies and happy new year!
0 -
Hey ladies!
I've been quiet for a while because I was traveling and doing Christmasy things. . . but I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.
Re: feeling oneself again. . . I'm five weeks PFC as of tomorrow, and starting to feel better; I have good days and bad days (mainly with fatigue and muscle pain), but the good days are starting to outnumber the bad.
Molliefiesh, how were rads, overall? I'm going to start rads at the beginning of February. I just can't imagine wondering "what if," so I'm just gonna do it.
I have to be at the hospital at buttcrack o'clock tomorrow for what I hope will be my final surgery. So I'm checking in to thank each and every one of you, again, for your support. It means the world.
xo
0 -
JenPam and Ms Brompton - So glad to hear from you, I totally agree I think I expected and everyone around me that once chemo stopped so did all the SE and we'd be 'normal' again! Its just so reassuring to hear others experiences post chemo. Ive felt like I should be walking or doing just a little, but agree, am too weak and too sore and it actually doesnt help at this point. Each day I am improving, never pain free completely, but am glad to hear we bounce back!!! I was starting to wonder until I heard from you wonderful ladies on this thread. So tough having nobody but your nurse to talk to and whilst they are so amazing, they havent gone through it.
Kate - Im looking forward to around the 5 week mark!! I like you didnt want to wonder 'what if' I did rads 4yrs ago. The fatigue is cumulative too with that so you'll probably go down for a bit at the end, just make sure you take time to rest at the end. I remember going like a power house, worked right through it, and crashed, my radiologist said I wasnt Wonder Woman as I had no support, worked full time and am a single parent. Good luck with surgery too, be well!!!
0 -
Kate: wishing you all the best! Glad you will pass this milestone in 2015.
My MO told me yesterday: "Your 2016 is going to be so much better than 2015." I think that's pretty optimistic and I've become much more guarded through this, endeavor,but my scans and tumor markers look good, so hope that's true. My kids and I went to the Comcast holiday light show today, a Philadelphia icon. It was not lost on me that I was able to eat out, walk for three hours around the city, sit on the floor and get back up at the show (take that spinal mets and fractures). I felt, dare I say, so normal! (About 4 weeks PFC with first HP yesterday.)
Wishing us all a very uneventful 2016! Thank you for all the support and friendship you have given me this year.
0 -
Deanna, that picture is truly gorgeous.
I've been busying myself with the holidays and have been extremely thankful for the distraction of traveling and family time. I'm still battling a little fatigue here and there, but overall the muscle weakness and discomfort has gotten so much better. I also want to reiterate that your body feels better the further you are out, so hang in there.
I'm looking forward to putting 2015 behind me. Happy New Years, ladies. May 2016 be uneventful health-wise, and a time of healing our mind, body and soul....oh and hair growth! Here's to hoping 2016 is full of ridiculous amounts of hair.
0 -
Socalgirl
Loved your post LOL, I second that!!! Here's to hair growth, woohoo!!! and an uneventful 2016 health wise!!! to everyone!
0 -
Hair growth and health!!
Bluefrog, I'm happy to hear you had a wonderful day.
Kate, best of luck with your surgery!
0 -
Good luck today, Kate!
Bluefrog, glad you had a wonderful day and wishing you and us all a great year ahead. (with full heads of hair).
I almost stopped chemo this week but went ahead. My neuropathy is affecting my bladder and that was a little scary. When I told my doctor last week he discussed stopping treatment and told me it was my choice to weigh one risk agains the other. Last week he made me more afraid of potential permanent side effects, but this week he made me more afraid of stopping treatment, so on I go. I'm taking comfort in the fact that although the symptoms get progressively worst each week, the symptoms peak mid-week and then I do see some improvement before my next treatment. So I'm banking on continued improvement when I complete all my treatments. Just two more left after yesterday. My hair is filling in a lot on my head and event getting a tad longer. Eyebrows and eyelashes gone. I'm hoping since I'm losing them quickly, perhaps they'll start coming back quickly. Tastebuds are getting worse. The neuropathy is affecting my tongue, lips and tip of my nose.
0 -
RavenSally, thanks! I'm still busy but I miss having my chemo sisters to talk to.
I'm continuing with the turkey tail - it's supposed to work in conjunction with the herceptin, but also be effective in its own. I take two capsules in the morning and one in the evening. I can't remember the amount in each capsule and it's really cold in my apartment right now so I don't want to go to the kitchen and look it up, lol. But I will soon & let you know the kind & the dosage. (Apparently the kind matters.)MelClarity & JenPam, a nurse at the clinic told me it can take weeks or even months after chemo to get your bone marrow back up to snuff, so your immune system is/was probably still depressed. This past week my WBC counts were finally above normal (due to Leukine) after continuing to be low for a month post-chemo. It is still hard for me to think about getting out & walking, going up & down stairs, etc., but it's getting better. (How do the marathon-runners do it???)
Oh KateB, "buttcrack o'clock" was a new one on me, and one I plan to use. Too funny. I hope you've had time to work on your book. I know I'd buy it!
SoCalGirl, from your mouth to God's ear! Let's all have lots of hair on our heads in 2016! (Oh and on our faces too ... one post-chemo treat for me has been suddenly starting to lose my eyebrows & lashes after months of them seeming normal. Grr.)
BlueFrog, how wonderful to feel more like yourself now. I hope that continues for you in the new year.
Now ... here's what I'm wondering ... for those of us who have always tended towards stress & overdoing it (my friend calls it bringing a salad plate to a buffet & filling it up) ... now that we are post-chemo and feeling more like ourselves, how do we jettison those parts of "ourselves" that contributed to our ill health in the first place? I'm struggling wth that right now - stressful, overwhelming work & family situations. (And that whole "now that you're done with chemo, let's just forget that you've been sick & get on wth stuff" thing, especially from family.)
I'll probably check in tomorrow, but just in case I don't, Happy New Year in advance to all of you!
0 -
I will raise a toast to that: To Hair Growth and to a Happy, Healthy New Year for All!
Hugs
Octogirl
0 -
Hair, health and happiness to all in 2016!!
Vicki
0 -
hi August ladies. Ive been following from the sept group. Your experience helped me know what to expect when I was doing chemo. You all are great. I am 3 weeks Pfc today!
For tam-iam I also was on AC-T. I had dose dense. I did experience bladder neuropathy symptoms during taxol staring with the first dose. It got so bad I almost didn't do the last dose. My mo said that if the symptoms continued after chemo that he would send me to a urologist. Thankfully the difficulty peeing went away right after I stopped chemo. I did drink a lot of water all thru chemo. I was freaked out when I couldn't go or had trouble going because of family history with urinary issues. But it went away, including a bit of the neuropathy in my hands and feet. I hope you feel better.
0 -
Hear, hear !! To uneventful 2016 health-wise!!!
Speaking of hair growth! I noticed mine is definitely more dense! But anyone noticed the asymmetry? not on the head, but underarm. The bc side is growing slower, sparer than the other, with much more than usual. I had thin fine hair before, & I don't shave that often (& never had to with my legs). So today in the shower, I was surprised! I'm wondering if the missing Lymph Node has something to do with that...
0 -
Shopgal, thank you so much for letting me know you experienced it, too, and it improved after chemo. That gives me a lot of comfort!
0 -
Mom2aboy - I have come to accept now, it will take time to recover, so instead of being frustrated or expecting more of myself, I'm working with it, do a little and stop when its enough.
You are SOOOO Right!!!! Everyone around you especially family EXPECT Chemo has finished and its business as usual and DO NOT get it?? I too was guilty of running on empty, working 5 days a week with special needs children, being a single parent and all the stresses that come with life. Like all women, I've always put ME last and especially as a Mum, its just how I was brought up. Something quite profound has happened since this all started in June for me. I would always push through anything and go to work, I STOPPED doing that, all I could remember was saying to myself is...If I don't matter now, I never will...in my head I kept saying Honor Thyself..Odd?? I did work but the last 7 weeks of Treatment I was unable to and I felt no guilt. I learnt through this too, to say NO, it wasnt being mean to people, anyone who knows me knows Im a very generous giving spirit. But...it was time to put ME above everyone and everything...and it was hard and of course is still hard. But every time challenges hit me and they have on top of BC this year, I stop, breathe...rise up above it and then put me first again, everything else still gets the attention it needs, but after I give it to myself.
So anyone reading this, don't forget to honor yourself, everything about you, most importantly nurture yourself, even if its for 5mins, something small..Im not an indulgent person, but that cup of tea with the sun on my back is heaven...or that soak in the bath for 30mins. Whatever it is that makes you feel special. DO IT!
Im a selfless Mum, and its been soooo hard to do the slightest thing for me...and yet now I realize the importance and now teaching my kids something new.
xx
0 -
I'm home and resting (Netflix and Norco)! I'll catch up more tomorrow, but wanted to drop in and say hi.
0 -
Welcome home, Kate!
0 -
I am done with chemo!!!!! The MO called off my next treatment. So I finished 11 taxol. Today was number 11!!!!!!! My neuropathy is really bad in my feet. So she said I was done..... I left her office went to the infusion room then went to the bathroom and cried!!!! Cried really hard! Mixed emotions...... so happy I am done with that but now it is time to get better for surgery and then rads..... the emotional rollercoaster has hit again!
0 -
Kate-Glad you are home and surgery is over with! Sending healing vibes your way.
Mama-bear-Congrats on being done with chemo. I wish we could all be done with the emotional roller coaster as well.
Melclarity-Well said!
Cheers to a 2016 full of happiness, healthiness.....and as others have said lots of hair
0
