Starting Chemo in July 2017
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Hi DodgersGirl!
Just realized after reading more posts that no one told me what was in my pre-meds, and I never thought to ask. Silly me. Will find out during next week's session!
But seeing I have improved appetite and trouble sleeping, won't be surprised steroids is in the mix. It's now 4 am over here, and my brain is humming the Smurfs' jingle.
I am gonna do 12 weekly sessions of taxol, followed by 4 sessions of AC every three weeks. Doc only precribed anti-nausea medication to take home, but to take only if I get nausea. Although I am seeing a lot of comments to take it before nausea even kicks in. Might take one later in the morning if I managed to fall asleep. Have my puke bucket ready beside my bed! Will see how my joints and limbs fare over the next few days, and report back!
I had on gloves and soaked it in ice water, feet was in socks. I couldn't ice my feet at all. But had my fingers immersed in the ice water for about an hour cos I fell asleep, but woke up with tingling and numbness in my hands, probably from the cold. So I asked my friend to help take it away. The nurse taking care of me was also worried about frost bite and kept checking on me. Funny thing was my friend said I was severely pale during the icing, and almost immediately after taking away the ice, I had colour in my face and cheeks, like blush and lipstick. Doctor on call was amused by this but told me not to worry.
My Onco recommended elastogel gloves and footwrap, so I ordered from Amazon. Let's hope that goes betters when it's here.
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Mayryoshka,
Love that story. Funny thing is he may actually be in my town right now. We live near Pinewood Studios where they film a lot of the Marvel movies. They are filming the next Avengers movie now. Thor goes to the gym I belong to so that's my motivation to go to gym next week once chemo starts. Hopefully some light exercise will help me combat the fatigue.
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matryoshka- ref nausea and Taxol, I haven't really had that too bad especially compared with AC. With AC, I would highly recommend taking anti nausea meds as directed by your MO, don't wait to start to feel nauseous. With Taxol, I take one Zofran and one Compazine on chemo day just to be safe. I do get anti nausea meds in pre-meds along with Pepcid as well.
Ref icing -- for me, I have 4 silicone bags like zip locks that I fill with ice. I lay two on top a table. I wear 2 layers of food grade gloves on each hand and I cover the two silicone bags on the table with wash clothes. My hands lay on top the wash cloths and the other 2 silicone bags are laid on top my hands I use the socks with frozen inserts top and bottom for my feet which are available at Amazon.
Best of luck to you !!!
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If Benedict only knew the circles he's making on the chemo thread. Haha.
Matryoshka and she - so glad to hear you're doing good.
Janeway and purplegazer it's almost time to jump on the chemo train, enjoy the weekend, for Monday we are infused!
Theresa
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Hi! I was on the no chemo train for a long time, but a surprise TN tumor, missed by all imaging, was discovered during my lumpectomy. I just found out about chemo on 7/7. AC and T, starting 7/24, spanning 20 weeks. I ranted, cried, cursed and googled the crap out of TNBC, then was telling my husband when I die within the next 3 years not to remarry too fast!
But today is a new day! I'm not going anywhere. Yes, I'm annoyed and angry and late at night afraid, but there is no choice but to fight. Im so thankful for this forum - it does get me through. So good luck to all on this unwanted journey. I'm going to start gathering my chemo supplies to make this go as smoothly and quickly as possible
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I'm all set for Monday. Hope they are ready for me as I'm not going to be there traditional patient. I purchased a Star Trek yoga top so they could have easy access to my port. I have a Star Trek fleece jacket to keep me warm as well as a Dr Who blanket. My Dr Strange and Sherlock videos are packed along with my portable DVD player. I also packed some adult coloring books one of my students gave me (Dr Who and Star Trek). And I'm not calling it the red devil. I'm calling it red matter and I will imagine it blowing up any lingering cancer cells.
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Welcome, VL22... I was in a similar situation, with the change in plans for chemo. Sucks to deal with it emotionally and there are days I resent having to deal with all the prep needed. Oh well.
Janeway, best of luck tomorrow! Let us know how it goes. I start Wednesday. And I love your attitude
Rock their world 
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Benedict Cumberbatch? That's a riot!
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All you ladies starting this week, my thoughts are with you! Drink plenty of water! Keep us updated, and keep thinking of Benedict Cumberbatch!
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I am starting chemo on July 13. I am also a teacher. I teach 6th grade and was hoping to continue to teach. I am worried about germs too but I still can't bare to miss the start of school. What grade do you teach?
And best wishes!
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I understand worrying about germs, but I told the nurse we had a trip to Universal Studios planned for after my third AC treatment and she said to go . I was shocked - is anywhere dirtier than a theme park? She said wash my hands, listen to my body, rest, etc. so I'm going! Avoiding the waterpark however - those places have to be germ filled
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@Teese - I am stuck with my doctor for now. Irrespective of his rigidity to do port insertion in GA, overall his approach is all good. Keeping that in mind, 17th would be the D Day - Port Insertion + Taxol
@Matryoshka - icing of limbs, and painful ? You are getting the chemo via arms/canula ? Why not port ?
Also, my plan is similar to yours -
3 times a week - Taxol ( 1 dose divided in these three days, total of 12 sessions - I am doubtful on this, can you confirm the dose ? )
4 doses of Cytoxan ( every 3 weeks )
5 weeks of Radio daily for a total of 51Rads of rays.
5 years of harmone therapy.
My retirement days had just started 5 months back - and I was really enjoying the free time, but destiny has something in store for all of us - with this diagnosis, my life, my family's life is now revolving on this.
FYI, if it helps you all, I am also using the following since a month now -
1. Protein Bars - 20gm of protein in one bar - 1 bar per day.
2. Trying high protein - chicken soup + eggs
3. Circumin - Turmeric concentrate tablets - 1 / day
4. Salmon Omega 3 tablets - 1 / day
5. Drinking carrot + beetroot + pomegranate + lemon juice daily.
I am hopefull to continue the above atleast till treatment.
Wishing you all the best for treatment, for motherhood and for all the good things which are waiting to happen.
No harm in being optimistic, right ?!
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Hi Teese,
I full well remember the night before my first chemo. That was November 26, 1997. I've put my info into my profile but not posting for some reason. Need to go back and check on it.
I know that AFTER that FIRST ONE I just felt more at ease with knowing what to expect Teese. I took my favorite drink, a Chick Fil A iced tea with lemon, a couple magazines, my devotional, a cross necklace I bought right after my diagnosis. It was Stage 3 Teese and so far, so good. I am blessed. Drink lots of water, use body lotion often because the chemo will dry out your skin and do not hesitate to take Senokot. I never knew constipation could be so tough and the meds seem to affect this. I bought a juicer and used it daily.
Please keep me, all of us posted.
Blessings to you Teese.
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Teese- good luck tmrw!
Hope- be careful about day 3-6, these were the worse for me. I am planning to work starting back on day 8. But that's when your defenses go down. Hopefully with neulasta your # don't go so down and you will be able to teach! Not sure if with different chemo your good/ bad days would be different.
I can't ice limbs but I did hold a cup of ice on my first round, tried to keep ice on my mouth as much as I could.
Theantz- careful with the protein bars, my nutricionist told me not to have anything with soy concentrate. Soy is ok! Not the soy concentratate. To increase the amount of protein she recommended powder protein ( vegetable protein) from Whole Foods. I mix it in a smoothly. Especially after chemo your mouth may feel funny, I didn't get sores the first time around but there was definitely a change. Turmeric is a blood thinner. Not sure about the tablet, but I would check with MO during chemo.
Matrioshka/Dodgers- have you try acumpulture? I didn't believe on it either, by since the hospital offered, I got magnets on my wrist! There is a especific spot on the inside between two tendons! It worked the first round. My next round is on the 17- will let you know!
VL22- 5 years ago i was dx with stage 1, I did a bilateral MX! I was on tamoxifen for all this time and then here I am on this train! We all have our stories, but the important thing is to hop on, fight and get better! I am Going for my second round next week!
Good luck !
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theantz- please check with your MO on taking Turmeric while getting Taxol. Mari's right, it's a blood thinner. My MO said no turmeric during Taxol and was told to stop Turmeric a few days before port insertion and such. So I just stopped Turmeric after DX and will return to it after rads.
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Day 3 report, today the nausea came visiting! And there I was, all confident that I would be able to go back to work today. Really felt the fatigue too! But it wasn't that bad, was able to eat and got some work done. Then I cut myself a little break, left work early and came home for a good nap. Feeling all better now. Now I find myself wondering if it gets worst in the upcoming sessions, or will this be what is expected. Still kind of waiting for the worst to hit me. The waiting can be quite urgh.
@theantz yeah, the icing really hurt my hands and feet! I winced like a baby. But I am going to tweak a few things for this week, try out DodgersGirl's suggestion, and see how it goes. Cannot wait for my elastogel gloves and footwraps to arrive. Anyway, the session last Friday was done through my forearm, because they attached the blood pressure monitor to my upper arm since it was my first chemo. I am seriously considering a port now because of the bruising. I am going to try attaching a picture at the end of this post. One bruising is not that bad but 12 more sessions of this, people might just start wondering if I am in some fight club. The doctor did not specifically push for a port, he just told me about it and that I can decide when I am good and ready, and he can pop it right in. Sounds like a breeze.
My Taxol sessions are 12 sessions, once a week. I am not entirely sure of the dosage. Let me try to see if I can find out tomorrow. Sounds like you are getting a higher dosage per week than me, although the total sessions is still 12, which puts us at the same overall dosage? This can get really confusing at times. I will also get 5 weeks of rads after the chemo, and hormone therapy. Do you know your hormone therapy regimen yet? I am already on ovary suppression (leuprolide) to help preserve my fertility, and will be on aromatase inhibitors after rads, if nothing changes.I totally get the part about life revolving around this. Just barely three months ago, my worries basically consist of back-stabbing colleagues, work deadlines, who to meet after work, what to do on weekends. And now, it's just different. It's not horrible different, but definitely not good different. I do struggle sometimes, trying to find a meaning out of it all, why this is happening to me. But it's not that bad. I am still going, and plan to keep going.
@Mari- definitely believe acupuncture works! But my Onco has warned me A LOT of times not to mix disciplines since acupuncture is considered alternative therapy. But will definitely look into it once I finished the chemo and rads! Here, acupuncture is usually offered with Chinese traditional medicine, and there are a lot of health benefits associated with keeping general health. Just not whilst going through chemo.
Hope all you ladies are having a wonderful day!
Edit: here's the bruise from last Friday. It looks worst than it really is! Sorry the picture is so huge!
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Thank you for the well wishes, in the car now and on our way, so no turning back now.
Going to be terribly disappointed if I don't have a similar Cumberbatch story to relate.
VL22 - saying hello, not happy to see you here though, but we'll all get through. We love universal, if your nurse says go, then have a blast.
Scar - thank you for the kind words. I woke up this morning, pulled on my big girls panties and offered my prayers and day to my Savior.
Thank you for the advice on skin care and GI issues. I've tried to take extra care of such things so I go into this in good shape. I need to remember to keep it up.
Hopeforthefuture - hello to you too! Our little group is growing. Another teacher, God bless you. That's a tough environment to stay away from contagions. Some of the other chemo threads have teachers posting. Such as the May and June groups. If you read through you can find what they posted about their experience.
Matryoshka - the bruising is what I hate, my port is 10 days post insertion and feels like nothing really. Hope it works, we'll see.
I've read people in the previous chemo threads post they finally have the chemo SE all figured out by the last one. The first one is a mystery, the second you make a few adjustments with meds based on how the first dose went. Infusion 3 comes along and the constipation in the first two is diarrhea this time. It's a crap shoot almost. Prayer said for an calm tummy today.
Theantz - I'm glad you're happy with your guy and ok with the plan.
Wishing all manageable SE and peace and comfort to those still waiting for first infusion.
Theres
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It's been a while since I posted on here. Thanks all for sharing your experiences! I have the chemo class this week and will have my first infusion on the 20th. I'm doing TC (Taxotere & Cytoxan) once every 3 weeks for 4 cycles. I tried to time it so that the side effects of the first cycle subside before my sister's wedding on Aug. 5th. Then I'll be doing radiation for 25 days and tamoxifen for a few years.
I'm trying to get as much info from this site to get prepared but it can get overwhelming. What are the big things I need to do to prepare?
For those that have already had an infusion or two, how well are you eating? I know this is a silly question, but my husband and I are big foodies. We like getting together with friends on the weekends to try new restaurants, different cuisines, etc. So this is going to be a huge change for us, since we are in this together. I am already anticipating that I will have an aversion to foods that I love, and will be eating porridge or chicken soup for the next 12 weeks. Hahaha
I just started reading "The Cancer-fighting Kitchen" which gives different ideas and recipes to help manage various side effects. But some of the recipes seem daunting for someone like me that comes home late from work, boils a pot of pasta, pours sauce over it and calls it a meal. LOL I actually love to cook from recipes but is not something I can do every day. What are you all eating, and is there anything that you found that helps with the side effects?
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Hi Teese, you're probably in treatment right now, so just want to wish you happy thoughts!!
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Thank you sunny jay.
I'm in the chair getting premeds. Port access was a breeze and no pain. They said I'll be done in 2 hours. Yay
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Just finished my first infusion. Feeling good so far. My pet scan results came back with no evidence of cancer anywhere else. Best news I've had in a while. I got the neuladta thing. It is supposed to inject tomorrow at 3. Here is a pic of me in my chemo outfit. I think it definitely helped having the port easy to access.
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Janeway, you beat me. They just hung the cytoxan, so another hour to go then we're out of here!
Red devil went fine.
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Done! First ones in the bag, I'm 12% finished. On our way home for dinner.
Janeway - you totally rocked your chemo outfit, I'm jealous
Alas, no Benedict look likes anywhere. Sigh!
Theresa
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This is my first post on the site so please bear with me. I'm starting TC treatment tomorrow every 3 weeks for 4 sessions and have been devouring information on this site since I was diagnosed in March. I'm still very confused about what to do for many situations. I've got a great group of doctors treating me but it's just so much information to absorb. My Onco nurse said the first treatment would be about 3 hours due to them starting slow. I was wondering if you're stuck in the chair the whole time or can you get up for "pee" breaks? I know I'll have lots of questions tomorrow but I tend to not ask a lot of questions on first appointments. My appointments will probably be early in the morning (around 8:30 am) and was looking for some advice on foods to eat before I head out. I keep plenty of yogurt on hand and was thinking of having that, a slice of homemade banana bread and some orange juice. Should I bring any liquids or food with me? Any info would be greatly appreciated
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i took a boat load of water and stuff to read and puzzles for my first infusion last week, this week,read little mostly watched tv
Yeap,mine was 2 hours and i did get up for pee breaks, with my infusion thingie
Time passed quickly
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jane- great outfit! And hair!! I am going cold caps, so all I think is hair!!
Teese- congrats! One down!
Syd- I have the same 4x TC! My second infusion will be next Monday!!
I would have a good breakfast but not heavy things. Dress comfortably maybe layers, I would wear slip ons. You maybe get a chair or bed( at least here in Chicago) you need to drink constantly to get all chemo out of your system. That includes during chemo and the days after! Lots of whatever liquid you want. When you go to the bathroom you carry a pole with the IV with you! I didn't take food, but had drinks! Also chewed ice on and off to decrease canker sores. Held the ice cup up decrease neuropathia on hands. I am also doing cold caps in a attempt to keep my hair. I rented them from artic cold caps.
They will give you lots of things to manage the chemo. I got lorazepam to help sleep and anxiety; zofran for nausea ( some prefer compazine) ; neulasta to keep your white blood cells of going down, Claritin.
Good luck tmrw!
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After your message, did searched a lot. I can see multiple links which gives us the advantages of using circumin along with chemo. But to be double sure, have sent a message to doc as well. Same goes for protein bars(soy concentrate) vis a vis protein powder.
Few of interesting reads >
http://integrativeoncology-essentials.com/2013/03/...
((The above shows many advantages of using Cicumin, but on the other hand says "it may decrease effectiveness of cyclophosphamide ))
https://integrativeoncology-essentials.com/2016/04...
http://depts.washington.edu/integonc/clinicians/ac...
https://www.livescience.com/35077-indian-spice-cur...
And finally, see this >>
https://www.turmericforhealth.com/turmeric-benefit...
I am waiting for my doc to respond to above, but it looks that I will skip Circumin for next three months, till my chemo is running, and will start taking afterwords.
@Matryoshka - ahhhh, your bruise looks painful and bad. Go for port - with just one arm available, it would be next to impossible to accommodate 12 shots.
Also, I think, my doses would be similar to yours - once per week, every Monday. ANd on the fourth dose of Taxol, would add Cytoxan. Sorry for the confusion earlier - it probably is not 3 times a week, but every week for 3 sessions. But still, have sent a message to doc to send me a complete schedule.
Sydsym - welcome to the same boat ! I have the same treatment plan as yours. Paclitaxel + Cytoxan.
All the positive vibes to everyone of you. We will have to fight, and hopefully would make out of it. I know next few months would be depressing, tiring and sometimes unmanageable, but hang on there ...they will pass.
Out of topic, and not related to my case, a friend was being provided ATC Chemo(AC + Docetaxel) dose (which she has completed), and is on second week of Radio. Yesterday she was diagnosed with high insulin - heavily diabetic. WIth all the bloodwork done during chemo sessions, she was not at all diabetic. Can these meds cause it ?
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theantz - ref Turmeric: thanks for the links. Interesting info. Of all the herbals and supplements I take, Turmeric during Taxol or surgery was the only 1 I was advised not to combine. I took Relief Factor or arthritis pains before my DX and was concerned about giving that up but found the steroids in my pre-meds took care of the arthritis pain so am doing ok for now but when all is said and done, will return to Turmeric
Ref your OOT question- wondering if the steroids caused your friend's blood sugar spike? I know steroids give my hubby's sugar numbers a ci
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@Mari and @ProudtoSpin and @Theantz
Thanks so much for the info and support! I brought some water, banana bread, jolly rancher hard candy and cereal to munch on with me. I don't think I brought enough to drink (only a 32 oz. bottle) so I'll definitely have more next time. I also brought a light throw, some footie socks, a sweater, a book, my IPad and phone. They said the first time would be slow so I figured I'd overload rather than underload on stuff. I've been here almost 3 hours so far and they just started the first chemo drug after all the premed stuff so it looks like it'll be a loooooooong day. But I'm comfortable and have plenty to entertain me so it's all good.
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Well, my infusion was uneventful but not post infusion. It appears you can drink too much water and limit salt intake too much.
I ended up being admitted Monday night, nausea was unpleasant, but strangely my urine output dropped dramatically as my body tried to hold on to fluids, and my limited salt intake played a role. My husband has a restricted salt diet, I followed suit and that isn't what you should do on cytoxin
So here I sit as they work on increasing my sodium levels slowly. Ugh.
Still no Bendedict look alikes, such is life.
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