Starting Chemo in November 2017
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Re: hair
This weekend (6.5 weeks pfc) is the first time I considered going out without a cap. The hair is filling in, and while you can still see my scalp, it looks deliberate and bold, rather than bald and sickly. I didn't end up doing it, but I think it would have been fine. I am more comfortable keeping the cap off around the kids too, so it's often off when I'm indoors. Hopefully soon these can all go in the donation pile!
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so lovely to be able to catch up with your posts ladies
Tina, just enjoy!
SDK8, hopefully you are officially done with chemo!
Nonahope and blair and Iris, always great to see your updates.
Try elevating your feet to promote good blood circulation and maybe that might help with the swelling a bit.
I’ve hit my halfway point with radiation. today is 16th of 30. And also roughly 12wks PFC. Enough hair that i can hold on to it but not identifiable if it will grow out curly, wavy or straight.
finished all 5 seasons of Elementary during the first half of radiation. The farther out i go from chemo, the less i remember of the details of the treatment. Surgical scar from UMX is healing well (but also feels dry because of radiation). I’ve been on 2.5mg of anxiety medication daily since Feb but therapist would check and see if i can be weaned off it after radiation. But most of all thankful to have the energy to walk and do things most days. and also train Buddy during weekends
here he is being the dork that he is:
Enjoy the rest of the week!
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Buddy would like Gil, who is always with me when I'm at home. Goldies are amazing.
I've gotten over the bald head. I only wear a hat to prevent sunburn, and when I'm chilly. The rest of the time, my head is naked. No hair... Don't care!
Energy is good, but not long lasting. I have to take frequent breaks. That is frustrating, but better than how things were during chemo.Since I've met my out of pocket maximum for insurance this year, I'm getting everything I can think of checked out. Seeing an orthopedic Friday to assess my knees. Probably arthritis, but he can get images and do whatever is needed to lessen pain and improve function, and all it will cost me is my time. I have lots to do, and painful knees are getting in the way.Here's my bald head... You can't see it, but there is a tiny bit of hair growth. And, here's a picture of my family at my daughter's college graduation which was Saturday.
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meowmmy you look great!
yes goldies are incredible. they’re big goofballs! 💕
my mom gets a crack out of my hair now. she thinks i should wear ribbons and headbands that baby girls wear. hahahaha so every week when i go home i buy a different headband. it’s rare that i have hair this short so i figured it’s okay to have a laugh about it.
I think she’s in for a tummyache from laughing with this week’s batch!
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Kat! You have actual hair, and it looks great. I love the crazy headbands. Laughing and having fun is important!
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crazy headbands! Anything to make a laugh!
Today is gym day and lunch with bunch of gym pals at our favorite $5 Italian diner! How can you resist a lunch with ladies that get it? As in several are survivors either themselves or have lost loved ones. Ok so we basically just gossip! We have all been long term gym members so we complain the water is cold or waterever
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Love the "hair" pictures...you both look great!
Iris...Enjoy your lunch. I agree, it's serves a purpose to be with people who "get it".
Hope
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Ladies, love seeing the progress of your hair! Kat, love the hairbands! I'm excited to go shopping for headpieces and hairbands that are a little bolder.
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Tina, did you finish rads this week? Time for happy dance?
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Hi ladies. Sorry I haven’t checked in for awhile. The cellulitis above my breast and swelling in my breast have not responded to antiobiotics and lymphedema therapy, so today I’m having a breast MRI. Hoping it’s something easy to deal with, but scaring myself reading about inflammatory breast cancer. My hair is coming along. I feel good except for dealing with my offending breast. A friend’s mom is starting chemo today for uterine cancer, but it is T&C just like mine. 6 rounds three weeks apart. I took her a chemo care package yesterday full of OTC meds, lotions, etc. to help her manage SEs.
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hey, we have the same hairdo! I am trying to develope sa dif hairstyle but cowlicks seem to do inate! But hey, it is hair!
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Orangedaisy the hair is looking really good! Your vitamins and various potions have paid off. You'll be relieved to get the MRI. Cellulitis can be stubborn, plus I'm sure our immune systems aren't quite up to snuff yet. Let us know how it goes.
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proudtospin I never knew my hair grew in so many different directions on top. I knew I had a cowlick and I can really see it now. I've started putting gel on it to try to take it, but no luck.My friends keep saying my hair looks like a fashion choice and not chemo hair. Not sure I agree!
Klvans I agree about cellulitis. Chemo can bring it on. I hope itis all due to lymphedema chicken and egg scenario. Lymph pooling caused cellulitis and now I am being careful with cellulitis area and can't get rid of lymph fluid, so cellulitis won't clear.
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my option is just to not look in the mirror often! I know i have some gel upstairs but too lazy to try it
Gorgeous day, had a visit to my occu therapist, it is not far but i rushed out without doing my morning daily visit to the powder room, result was well not good as i did not make it. Therapist was sweet, she hax Irritable bowel so she got it but definitely embarrassing. All cleaned now, We ended up talking cooking so thinking of giving her a cookbook at end
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Hello, all!
Orangedaisy - Wishing you well on your MRI. You look great with the short hair; agree with your friends that it looks like a fashion choice! I actually work with a woman in her mid-30s who deliberately wears a very similar style and she said it costs her a lot of money to have it cut and colored all the time.
Speaking of MRIs: I finally got the results from the one I had for my port issues and it showed that I have what looks like an injury to my chest near the upper incision. I've been complaining about pain in this area for at least 2 months. So am scheduled to have the port removed this coming Friday. Since I still have 6 more months of Herceptin/Perjeta and lousy veins, I will have another surgery in 2-3 weeks to install a new one on the other side. Sigh.
I'm about 9 weeks PFC at this point and feeling fairly good, though I'm still achey at times and get tired much more easily than before. Had a bout of the Big D that had me up to use the bathroom several times in the middle of the night last night - no idea why. A couple of Immodium got that back under control. Will need to start Arimidex soon, but have been giving my body a break and waiting to get the port situation resolved first.
Hair: Though I cold capped, I shed a LOT of hair and am still doing so. My thin spot on top is starting to fill in with frizzy salt and pepper hairs that stick up in all directions. What's left of my existing hair is very thin. It's grown from the chin length I'd cut it to pre-chemo to about shoulder length and it's so gray, thin and scraggly that I'm wearing a wig pretty much any time I need to leave the house. I will go to my stylist in another month or so when I'm allowed to color and have her cut the longer bit back to chin length again and hope it blends together a little better than it does at the moment.
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Hi everybody- hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day! It was rainy here in FL, so my daughter and I just finished cleaning the house, then just hung out. Violet the cat was even good yesterday. My daughters move is going along. They sold their house, now just moving their things here. She is into her new job, so busy, busy.
I’ve gotten use to my turtle shell back brace. I still however, experience pain if I stand too long or move around too much. No one told me at the spine center just how long this pain lasts. I hope I’m not one of these forever chronic pain types. I’m fine as long as I sit or sleep. Will see them next week.
Today I have my dexta, and this Thursday I see my MO to determine which hormone therapy pill will be best. I was scheduled last Thursday for dexta, but the tech said since I had a total bone scan last Monday that the radiation injection was probably still in my system, so she radiates me anyway, and tells me to come back today! I tell you, I should be glowing neon green by now with all these scans and X-rays I’ve had this past month.
My hair is coming in faster now and is looking very curly. I was hoping it would be straight. I don’t want to look like a chia pet.
Kay - adorable dog and love the hair toppers!
Meow - congratulations to your daughter. She is as pretty as you are - both look very much alike.
Nonahope - I hope your pain is better by now. If I didn’t have back pain, I know I’d feel pretty normal again.
Orangedaisy - Not good you’re having breast issues. I hope the MRI resolves the problem and relief is on the way. Your hair looks great!
Proudtospin - My system acts up like that every once in a while and I’ve had close calls too - I think the drugs cause it to happen.
Magari - what a pain to have to have your port changed, but if it gives the other side relief, then so be it. Hope it all heals well for you. The pain should soon go away as it heals.
Other than my back issue, my breast is still brown from radiation, but no pain. I had my mammo Friday and they took two extra images, but was ok. That scared me a little. Here is a photo of my hair. I don’t like it
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Hi everybody- hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day! It was rainy here in FL, so my daughter and I just finished cleaning the house, then just hung out. Violet the cat was even good yesterday. My daughters move is going along. They sold their house, now just moving their things here. She is into her new job, so busy, busy.
I’ve gotten use to my turtle shell back brace. I still however, experience pain if I stand too long or move around too much. No one told me at the spine center just how long this pain lasts. I hope I’m not one of these forever chronic pain types. I’m fine as long as I sit or sleep. Will see them next week.
Today I have my dexta, and this Thursday I see my MO to determine which hormone therapy pill will be best. I was scheduled last Thursday for dexta, but the tech said since I had a total bone scan last Monday that the radiation injection was probably still in my system, so she radiates me anyway, and tells me to come back today! I tell you, I should be glowing neon green by now with all these scans and X-rays I’ve had this past month.
My hair is coming in faster now and is looking very curly. I was hoping it would be straight. I don’t want to look like a chia pet.
Kay - adorable dog and love the hair toppers!
Meow - congratulations to your daughter. She is as pretty as you are - both look very much alike.
Nonahope - I hope your pain is better by now. If I didn’t have back pain, I know I’d feel pretty normal again.
Orangedaisy - Not good you’re having breast issues. I hope the MRI resolves the problem and relief is on the way. Your hair looks great!
Proudtospin - My system acts up like that every once in a while and I’ve had close calls too - I think the drugs cause it to happen.
Magari - what a pain to have to have your port changed, but if it gives the other side relief, then so be it. Hope it all heals well for you. The pain should soon go away as it heals.
Other than my back issue, my breast is still brown from radiation, but no pain. I had my mammo Friday and they took two extra images, but was ok. That scared me a little. Here is a photo of my hair. I don’t like it.
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blair, i like the curly hair! I wish mine came in wavey! Mine is totally straight and before it had just a tad bit of wave but not now.
So dumbo here stubbed my big toe, since i am on blood thinner, it bled like crazy and now have dribbles of blood up the carpeted stairs. Fun. Went to urgent care, they were casual about it but said i would likely loose the nail. Dang!
And on to all my dumb stuff, knocked glass on floor, it is in the corner so it will stay there till my cleaning gal arrives later in the week
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Blair, wow your hair is growing fast. I don't think many people escape chemo curls. They usually fall out after a year or so.
Meowmmy, you look so cute bald and love your hat too
Ouch on the toe proudtospin.
Margari, sorry you have to get another port, but it's better then using those lousy veins.
Katy you are so cute with the headbands. I've tried on a few and like me better without.
I have to have surgery! Here's my MRI results.
Between skin and implant there is a crescent well-circumscribed heterogenous high signal non enhancing structure measuring 7.1cm long, 5.4cm AP, 13.0cm transverse causing extrinsic compression of the anterior aspect of the implant. This was mistaken for fatty tissue on previous ultrasound. This most likely represents phlegmon. There is no enhancing mass or adenopathy. There is a slight increase in vascularity around the implant capsule, consistent with an inflammatory process. There is mild dermal edema, also consistent with infection.
Fluid is too thick to drain. Doc recommends removing implant and all or part of dermal matrix. Clean cavity. New implant, but do not replace dermal matrix. I may have some rippling, but I don't care. Test fluid during surgery. If highly infectious, leave implant out for 2 - 3 months before replacing. Same day surgery. 2 - 3 hours long. As soon as insurance approves, I'll schedule it. Hoping next week. He took me off antibiotics today. It there is infection, he wants it to show itself during surgery. Just gotta stay very aware of how I feel.
He's never seen this happen seven months after surgery. I blame the chemo and the steroids that suppress immunity.
I did love the word benign at the top of the MRI report!
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Yikes Orangedaisy - however it’s good that everything is benign! What a headache to have to have more surgery. I hope it goes well for you in the end. Keep us posted.
Proudtospin- ouch is all I can say. Since I’m not suppose to bend over too much, I have Kleenex tissue on my floor that I dropped putting make up on, and don’t care til I clean again. So understand that real well. I did buy a stick grabber, but it’s downstairs and I’m too lazy to bring it up just to pick up the tissue!
When I had my dexta yesterday, I found out I only shrunk 1/2 inch in height since my 20s. I thought the smashed disc would shrink me a good inch, but it didn’t. I’ll find out how bad my osteoporosis is this Thursday.
My hair is only a half inch long, but that photo makes it look longer. It wants to cling to my scalp.
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Blair - I love the curly hair and the beautiful silver color! It looks great! Seems like it has grown pretty fast, too. I'm just about 2 months PFC, and no hair to talk about. A little fuzz - but not much. As the days get warmer here, I find I'm only covering my head to protect it from sunburn outside and air conditioning inside. I've gotten used to the naked noggin, and people around me are getting used to it, too. That picture at graduation includes both daughters and my husband. We had a whole series of goofy selfies. Can never get all of us looking good at one time!
OrangeDaisy - you started chemo exactly a month ahead of me... I hope I have that much hair this time next month, but it isn't looking hopeful. Your's looks great! Good luck with that surgery. And yes, benign is a great word!
Magari - I have terrible veins, too. I'm glad you are getting a new port. Can't imagine making it through all the infusions of herceptin and perjeta for the rest of the year without a port! I've had the reversible heart damage from the herceptin, so have to keep an eye on my echo-cardiograms. After just 5 treatments, I had to take a 9 week break to allow my ejection fraction to improve. It did... so I've resumed infusions, but I know I'm going to have to take at least one more break before this is over, pushing my infusions into 2019.
Since I met my out-of-pocket insurance maximum for the year back in March, I've been taking inventory of what needs "maintenance". Saw an orthopedic for my knees last week - chondromalacia patella - so starting steroid injections and physical therapy to fix that. I know I need a colonoscopy, but I'm waiting until radiation is done before I go through that. I figure I've "paid to play" for the year - time to get as much done as I can!
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Blair I also love your curly hair. The color and texture look great. I wish my hair was coming in curly but no such luck. Sometimes I think the hair gods have a warped sense of humor; give them the opposite of what they want and make them live with it, lol. I have short hair in some areas and some long in others. Basically I have a strange looking mullet. I'm trimming the long hair and figure one day the long hair and short will meet, until then I've decided to ignore the whole hair issue as best I can.
Meowmmy I can see in your picture that your hair is starting to come in. I admire your great attitude about it. And your girls are very pretty. They have your expressive eyes.
Orangedaisy benign is the most beautiful word any of us can hear. I'm sorry you are having more surgery but so glad it's not for direct cancer reasons. Hang in there and let us know how it goes.
Magari I'm sorry you are also having more surgery, but it sounds very necessary. I hope it goes well and that you continue onto the next phase without problems. My "saved" hair is also thin and scraggly but the new hair growth seems fine and is the same color and texture as my pre chemo hair.
Nonahope are you feeling any better? Sure hope you are.
Take care everyone.
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Kivans....Thanks for asking about me. I'm still suffering from severe neuropathy from Taxol. I can't drive, can't walk without holding on to furniture, walls etc. yes, there are days when I cry and ask myself if this is what I have to deal with the rest of my life...I am in pain 24/7. I pray each day it will get better. Maybe it will, and maybe it won't. Only time will tell. But, I'll keep hoping and praying.
Wishing all the very best outcome with upcoming surgeries, scans etc.
Hope
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Nonahope I'm so sorry you are in such pain. I will say a prayer for you and I bet others on this thread will too. I hope you have friends and family that visit. Being isolated is difficult.
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Kivans...Thanks! Yes, I have a sister who lives a few doors away and a daughter just a couple streets away. They have been amazing help with going to the grocery, taking me to the doctor etc. I hope there will be a day that I can repay them in some way special.
Hope
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hope, so sorry your nueropathy is so bad . I have it but have found a lot of help by using a rollator in the house. It helps me get around the house and i do feel my legs are getting stronger. You are fortunate to have family living close to you. Have you done any therapy?
Wierd as i am not in pain, just feeling weak
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Iris...There's no way I could attempt therapy at this time. I heard back from the oncologist a bit ago. The next step is a low dose of Cymbalta. He said studies have indicated it to be effective to relieve pain in 59% of patients with chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy. Now, lets just pray I'm in that 59% bracket.
Hope
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Nonahope - so sorry to hear this news too. I’ll be praying for you that the Cymbalta will work. This is depressing that you are suffering so much. How long do you have to take the Taxol? Is it so many weeks on or off?
I have a feeling I’m stuck with forever chronic pain with my back. It isn’t improving much and my oncologist told me that kyphoplasty is a hit or miss ordeal. I won’t see the spine people until week after next. My dexta did indicate that my osteoporosis has gotten worse since 2015. It’s not severe, but bad. She is going to use Tamoxifen instead of letrozole, and my primary will determine what calcium pill I should take. So - the battle continues. I think because I gave up things like ice cream, cut down on cheese intake because of my heart disease is why my bones got worse. I’m in a catch 22 situation. I take 1200mg of calcium supplements, but need to be at 1500mg. So another doctor’s appointment and more drugs to add to my many drugs and supplements stash.
Thanks for the compliments on my curly hair. I read that tamoxifen can cause hair thinning - I’ll be wearing my wigs forever I guess.
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hope, sorry about your pain, we are all different in symptoms and treatment plans, hope the new med is a nhelp to you
Well my therapist today freaked out when she saw my nasty bruised big toe, it does look ugly but doesnt hurt, i see my onc tomorrow so will get her thoughts on how to deal with it. My therapist today gave me some rubber thingies to cover the dangerous leg of my rollator! Hopefully it will work
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Blair I think it's too soon to know if your back will give you chronic pain. It takes at least 6 to 8 weeks to heal from any sort of surgical procedure. Perhaps physical therapy would help when the right time comes. And you may not need a wig. Your hair already looks nice. From the picture it doesn't look thin at all.
Nonahope praying for you that the medicine works. So much about breast cancer is unfair.
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