Who is starting chemo in September 2016?
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70Charger..your regimen looks like mine will be.im starting on the 15 th..Glad to hear you didn't feel too bad...I hope I do as well as you...take care.!!!
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Ok - just got all the calls and everything scheduled...at least for the first round of the AC chemo, haven't scheduled the Taxol 12 weeks yet.
- 9/12 - getting port in
- 9/13 - chemo class
- 9/14 - start chemo #1 - A/C (not sure if I go back on 9/15 for neulasta shot or if I get the patch. Thinking I am going to see if I come back for the shot - if they will give me the IV flush)
So based on these start dates - looks like my last AC will be on 10/27...just in time to be crabby and puke on trick-or-treaters.
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MFalabella - Wow, that is good to know. I was getting my info about oncotypeDX from BreastCancer.org and what my MO told me. I knew it took a while to get the OncotypeDX results back and I was anxious to get going so I asked my MO if we could run the Oncotype test sooner, and he said "no we have to wait for the pathology report to see if it is in your lymph nodes, you don't need the test if it is in your lymph nodes because if it is, you need chemo regardless of the test". Of course there are always exceptions, and every case is different. Were they not going to do chemo if your Onco score was low even though it was in your lymph nodes? Maybe it helped them determine what type of chemo or how soon to do it? Oh well, good to know none-the-less. Knowledge is power.
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Well, KD, here we go! We're doing this together.
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Bagsharon..thanks ...I really don't trust this oncotype crap for intermediate ranges..they just don't know. The study group is still being evaluated post treatment..we may learn too late if intermediate is recommended chemo. I'd rather attack this bugger with all I've got..i want to see my 11 year old graduate!
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jelly amd tessu. Thanks for the cheers and support. Sorry I'm scattered and see posts late...Glad to know the other side I'd waiting for us!!!
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Ladies: google Phil's friends and Fighting pretty for some neat freebies.
xoxoMichelle
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Not sure of a date yet, but I will be having my port put in within the next two weeks. The Dr. said she wanted to do my first treatment the same day..Has anyone else had their port put in and then chemo the same day?
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Welcome CFed89,
Mine has been in 4 days and I start chemo on Friday. I have heard of it being done the same day, as a matter of fact, when my port surgery was finished they said it was ready to use. It was really the easiest part of this whole ordeal for me by far, and I hope the same for you. Feel free to ask more questions as you think of them.
xoxoMichelle
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Had my first chemo session yesterday. Still feeling ok, but waiting for it to hit. I'm armed with anti nausea meds and Valium. 1 down and 7 to go.
All of your posts and former month posts have helped so much.
Is anyone else doing CMF chemo? I would love a "buddy" to compare with.
If anyone is interested, please PM me.
Taking Valium and going to sleep.
Positive thoughts everyone
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Michelle, I found the Phil's Friends site, but the form seems oriented toward sending a care kit to others. Hopefully, we care for ourselves and others, but I feel kinda weird. Did you put yourself as both the sender and recipient?
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ACS, how frustrating that your doctors won't discuss your pathology report. Do you have a copy so you can perhaps do some preliminary research and have specific questions for your second opinion doctor? I know I ran across a few good sources on understanding a pathology report early in my research, but don't recall now which were the best. Maybe start on the main site of this group and the American Cancer Society web site?
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Kdtheatre - I cracked up when I read your comment. I believe I'll be doing my last infusion on 10/27 too (i get my official schedule today), so I guess I'll be right there with you, crabby and puking on trick-or-treaters. Thanks for the laugh!
Chemo starts today for me, yay! Let's get this show on the road! Bring it on chemo, do your thing, kill them buggers!
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missil, what stage is your recurrence?
My MO told me that if BC comes back in any place other than the other breast, it's automatically considered stage IV. She is putting me on 4 cycles of Taxotere and Cytoxane ... Not sure how it would affect me - worried about the alopesia SE with taxotere.
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I'm here y'all. Just laying low.
Chemo last Friday went as well as expected including crying to the nurse, ha!
Got all my hair chopped off Friday night. My standard response when people comment on it is "don't get used to it!"
I was off the weekend and took Monday off but have been at work since Tuesday. I'm just exhausted and in bed before 9 most nights. I stopped taking Zofran yesterday and am just dealing with the nausea because I've also had some constipation issues since last week and Zofran just adds to it.
We are on a family vacay next week to the beaches of NC! Looking forward to some real R&R before next AC on 9/13.
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Hey SG!
Glad everything is going well lady...I stopped the Zofran yesterday too...I am having real bad constipation with that med. also...have a great vacay!!
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VLH, i signed myself up for Phils friends, and I emailed them to make sure it was okay, they said it was.
xoxoMichelle
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Hello all,
I start chemo tomorrow and am nervous as all get out. My best friend is here so will be with me and my husband for the infusion. Tonight I am having bestie shave my head. Needless to say I am playing with my hair all day lol. I hope all of you are well and that SE are minimal. Please send prayers for my nerves. Love and Light,
xoxoMichelle
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So Zofran makes you constipated? Ugh.i am more nervous about feeling nauseous..was going to hit the Zofran hard..bummer.
Did anyone NOT shave their head..I don't think I can do it...I'm not vain but my hair is long....I think I am in denial. Was going to wait til 2nd treatment but my nurse coordinator will be showing me wigs during forst treatment. Do you think it will fall out before the 2nd infusion?
Mfarabella..prayers for you for low SE!!!
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Mbella...Good Luck tmrw!!!!!
Imen....I haven't shaved my hair yet and I have had just one treatment(which was last Friday)...I am going to wait til it starts shedding...not ready yet..lol...I took Zofran for 7 days and stopped..i haven't had and nausea..which is great...I will start back taking it again on my next chemo day(which is next Friday)...and my hair hasn't started coming out yet..thank God!!!:)
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smilethrupain, re your question: "missil, what stage is your recurrence? My MO told me that if BC comes back in any place other than the other breast, it's automatically considered stage IV. "
Wow. I have not heard anything like that. My first situation in 2008 was DCIS (Stage 0), but of an aggressive type and in a couple of different spots on my left side - we wound up going with a mastectomy and radiation followed by 5 years of tamoxifen.
In my current situation, which is eight years later with nothing but clean scans in between, they initially called it a local recurrence (it is on the same side as the first time even though I had the mastectomy) - and then later debated if they would treat it as a second 'new' cancer detection.
I asked my MO after the biopsy pathology what stage he'd consider it. He said Stage 1 or 2, mostly I think because they could not 100% rule out any lymph node involvement though there is nothing as of now from the biopsy, clinical exam, or three types of scans I had to suggest it. The MRI came back with slightly larger area than the first scans, which I'd guess has put me in the Stage 2 range based on this new instance alone.
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I'm heading into 10 days now from the first TCHP treatment (Thurs 8-25). Overall in some ways it's been better than I expected, in others worse. SE-wide, nothing extremely dramatic but mix of things I've seen so far that at times have had me feeling very tired or shaky - I've lost 8 lbs (maybe a plus?), had some D issues and feeling of bloating/gas since last weekend on and off, about to call the doctor tomorrow for help with that since it's not gone away. Mild pains after the Neulasta, Weird mouth feeling last weekend and things tasting funny, that got better over this week - fairly normal today. No major feelings of nausea, but a couple of times starting getting close enough I took the Rx they gave me. Some reddish spots, slight bleeding on my nose. Head feeling just a tiny bit dry today, guessing that is the first sign of the hair issue starting to materialize. I ordered a wig and have an appointment to get it all buzzed off next week. And lost my voice twice today at work which was quite a surprise since i'd never seen that mentioned among the side effects.
I was able to go back into work at my office job Tuesday, sticking it out about 6 hours each day so far. Totally admire those who are trying to tackle a full-time schedule with a lot of activity. I've been feeling kind of shaky in the mornings, being able to flex my time to show up in mid/late morning has helped me a lot to get the g-i issues to sort themselves out for the day, have time to eat/drink something, and feel more ready to tackle work and driving. By afternoon I'm doing a lot better - sometimes fairly normal. Before all this came up, I had some social things planned for evenings this week. I've pretty much decided that's going to be a no on a work or treatment day for the indefinite future.
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First AC treatment today. It went ok. The Benadryl IV made me tired but that is it. Just tookmy home meds (Claritin, chemo mouthwash and a zofran substitute bc I can't take zofran due to another med I already take). Let's hope it all wards off any se.
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So...I'll be joining you all as well. I don't have a start date yet, most likely the week after next. This whole process has been delay, after wait, after delay. Had a Muggascan this morning and port placement is now scheduled for next Friday (that got delayed too). I haven't heard much about the port placement until reading this, I had the impression it was no big deal. I was even hoping to get my chemo teach later that day so I didn't have to wait until the following week - weekends keep getting longer and longer since I know nothing is happening to move this process along. Think I'm crazy for that idea? And who gets Nulasta? I'll be started on AC whenever I actually start. And how many days after chemo are you back to "normal"? By the time I actually start this I do want my weekends back!
I've got no problem asking questions, as you can see. I'm glad to find this group and wish I had a few weeks ago when my Oncotype came back. I was struggling to find others that were "young and otherwise healthy" - that's the catchphrase this summer, fyi. Not sure how many times I've heard it - and it never makes me feel better. Getting the recommendation of chemo has hit me hard. The surgery was successful and this cancer is basically gone. Going through this for the future is understandable but...ugh.
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Cc2016.
I hear ya!!!!.sounds like we had alot of the same things said to us. We may be starting same week too. I struggled with what to do but my Surgeon told me she has a patient now about my age..intermediate onco..LVI..did not do chemo as recommended and she now has a recurrence so she said do it . Sorry for your delays but I had my surgeries in July so 2 months later for treatment is about right. I feel like this is insurance for out future. I will be thinking of you next week..good luck!
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VLH- I saw my radiology oncologist today and he was more than willing to go over my pathology and explained everything to me. He is awesome and is a cancer survivor himself. After my chemo I have to do six weeks of radiology too, wasn't expecting that, but it's just another bump in the road.
MFalabella- I know you're nervous, but you'll be just fine. I'll say a prayer for you.
Hang in there ladies who just started chemo this week. I hope that you all have minimal SE. I will be joining you all midweek next week. Very anxious to get this over with, but very nervous too!
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You don't have to stop Zofran if you need it (except for Ware because of another drug she is on). Once I found out that Zofran was causing my constipation, it was very manageable (I was on it during both my pregnancies). I did the usual that we all know: I drank lots of water (sigh), added to my diet more high fiber, low sugar, high magnesium foods (oatmeal, flax seed, spinach, broccoli, watermelon, berries, kiwi, almonds, pumpkins seeds...), I took a low dose magnesium supplement (regular doses cause me nausea), I reduced my dairy (I drink way too much milk). If I needed more help, I took Miralax and a stool softener which was all the time since it was hard to always eat healthy when I was so nauseous. Ugh, I just read on the Miralax label not to take if you have kidney disease or for more than 7 days, I don't have kidney disease but I know my kidneys and liver are working hard right now with the chemo and other drugs, so I'm trying to be gentle with them. So this time I'll replace Miralax with Benefiber (with lots of water) and still use the stool softener. If I need something stronger, I'll take the laxative my PA recommends, Senocot. If you get SenocotS it has the stool softener built in. I heard fish oil capsules help too, but my PA said no fish oil (omega 3) during chemo because it can thin your blood. She did say I can still take my probiotics though.
I feel like a get so preachy, sorry. I just love when people share on here what they have learned to make it easier for others, and I have learned sooooo much from this group and my August 2016 group and so I try to reciprocate, sorry if I come off preachy. Next I'll tell you all I've learned about how to survive diarrhea without a sore bum, hehehe, you think I jest.
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Lisbeth..thank you...that info is awesome..going to put it bank of SE tricks. Not preachy at all..love to hear anything that you recommend!!
And I am in on the diarrhea knowledge too.haha..cuz I have to work and do not want to have any surprises!
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isslil, I see that you did the cDCRT radiology. I just read about that and am hoping to talk my radiologist into it. Did you like it? Shorter than regular 6 weeks? I am afraid of getting my new recon breasts caught in the radiation from my lymph node.
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Ware, I didn't know they gave you Benadryl with AC too? Someone said it was only with Taxol. I have to start chemo next Friday. AC first Dreading it all, and really trying to avoid the Benadryl as I will need to be able to drive within a few hours after treatment. Did they tell you anything to get that out of your system faster? Please post how you're doing over the next few days. I'm trying to find out all I can since I'm following you right down this road. You can also PM me if you'd rather.
Best Wishes!!
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Well i just finished getting fluids....i feel a lil better...pretty much been feeling drained all week..i told the nurse that when i pee it burns...so they did a urine test...the nurse reports back to me that i have no infection but the test showed microscopic blood in my urine...i said wow...she asked is it time for my menstrual cycle to come on..i replied yes...and that i have been having cramps for the past two days but no period...she then told me that chemo can make you not a period..and she asked me how much water am i drinking...i said probably 1 to 2 bottles a day....she said ...no no no...you have to drink at least 5 bottles of water..i was like goodness..that mean i will peeing all day long....nurse was responded with ..well i know some dialysis patients that would love to pee all day...with that said..i was alright 5 bottles of water a day i want to keep my kidneys strong..only gotta tell me once..lol......so the bathroom is finna be my best friend...lol...happy friday ladies:)
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