Chemo starting December 2017
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Swewing, read VL 22 on nausea if meds doesn’t work, there are patch you can do. Patch called Sancuso.
Also stay on top of your nausea, take meds before nausea starts.
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Hey DxAt37,
How are you? Hope you're doing well. What kind of surgery did you have? Agh they want to do chemo on me first to shrink the tumor I guess and then do surgery later.
So she removed one lymph node and said positive? Will they do radiation too on you? I'm not 100% suremon that but my surgeon removed 2 lymph nodes and had them tested, mine were negative. But I haven’t had my actual surgery yet.
When are you tarting chemo? Best of luck keep in touch!!!
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Mjb,
Oh I’m sorry to hear you are sick. That sounds awful fever and everything. I don’t have fever just a nasty cough, sneezing and stuffy noise and lost my voice for now. I hope your medicine helps you get better very soon. Oh I also read somewhere drinking fresh made ginger tea apparently cuts down on a cold. Eh I’ll try anything. I reallly hope you’ve feel better.
Paulette, you are so kind. I really hope I find my strength like you and everyone else has found. I’m still struggling. Also my right breast is hurting my tumor is actually very painful so it just all sucks
oh well I’ll suck it up lol 0 -
Daniz, is it possible you can put your Dx and teatments to public so it is easiler for us to answer your questions. We all have our bad days especially now, I cried so much in the beginning and during chemo. We are here to listen to everyone. Are you taking any painkillers? Talk to you MO, so what kind of chemo are you doing?
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Day 13. Scalp hurts in spots and hair is starting to come out. Most of it is still really tight, but Lordy, I can tell it won't be long now...That is all. Hugs to everyone
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I am on day 15 and just had my 2nd chemo today. Yesterday my hair was coming out a lot so I put it braids and chopped it off. I’m hoping I can attach them to one of my hats! We can do this! Sending gentle hugs to all0 -
Hey everyone. Day 5 of Cycle 1 and somehow I missed the "gas ex for bloating and abdominal pain" thread? Tried everything this afternoon. Called the PA and got clued in to Gas Ex. Ran to the store and now I'm praying for relief from this balloon in my abdomen. I have this mental picture of my stomach ready to explode. Make a note for future reference.
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Oh my goodness Swewing! Hugs! Such beautiful braids! I’m right behind you.
Diveslikeagirl, I guess I missed that memo, too! I actually got some not so fun diarrhea on day 3, but suffered gas and bloating for the next 8 days. Finally had to resort to MOM. Thanks for the tip.
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Swewing,
WOW what gorgeous braids. So beautiful!!!! I’ll be doing the same thing with my long hair and saving my ponytail. I just have to figure out when to cut it. Hope you’re feeling well!
Paulette,
I wasn’t aware my diagnosis and treatment wasn’t populating over for everyone to see. Sorry about that, I hope I have fixed it.
I’m doing AC+T dose dense starting Friday. I’m not taking any pain killers. I did take Advil today, and started musinex today. Hoping it’ll help. Going to see the nurse tomorrow for my chemo teach so I’ll tell them about my cough it’s awful.
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Mjb1018: What is MOM? I have been a fanatic about drinking tons of water and eating foods with fiber (my beloved oatmeal tastes like paste). But maybe that is my problem (fiber creating gas)? I'd rather not swing from Big D to Big C for the next few weeks. I was kinda counting on SE improving and energy returning as several have noted. But I know that I need to manage my expectations; we're not all the same.
Swewing, your braids are amazing and I see years of great memories, love and laughter in that box. Hugs to you.
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Diveslikeagirl, MOM is Milk of Magnesia. My D wasn’t so bad that I needed immodium or anything, but that was all the activity I had...after 8 days I had to do something! I took the minimum dose and it really helped. Stool softeners do nothing for me, so I skipped that step
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Tonight is the last night, I start my treatment tomorrow. I’m not sure what to feel anxiety, fear or somewhat of excitement. I’m feeling everything. Super nervous too. Got all my meds, have to put my patch on tonight and idk everything else tomorrow I guess. Hope everyone had a good weekend!
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Ladies, taxol and taxotere give you a lot of gas, you can read the July thread, we talked about how bad it was. I took my acid reflux drug omperazole twice and you might need to get Pepcid and take twice a day.
Taste buds Dives, that’s one of the SE also. While I was on chemo steak tastes like cardboard to me, in fact after 7 weeks post it still tastes like cardboard. I used Nuuns on my water so the water tasted better also you can put lemon in the water also.
I hope this will help you, if you have any questions you can PM me.
Wishyou all have a minimal infusion.
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Daniz, in fact, it's the last night those cancer cells will have party in our body! That's what I thought.... once chemo wack in... bye bye.
Stay positive, keep us posted!
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Hariry, thanks you so much!! I’ll keep you posted after today. I woke up coughing up a storm it’s awful my throat hurts too and I was somewhat calm. Last night I was so excited to get this started. But today came and I’m so nervous. I’m starting to have anxiety for some reason. I just hope it all goes well. 5 months seems like a loooong time lol. Hope everyone is doing good! Hugs!!!
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well I started my treatment on 12/12 and now I’m mostly bald. Now I’m wondering if I pull out the stragglers or just leave them alone?
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I think I’d buzz them off if they bug you. I’ve always had more hair than one person needs, so the last few days I’ve been passable. It’s starting to bug me, though, as it’s falling out so easily. So, I think I’m buzzing it off tonight.
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Daniz, I didn’t think I was nervous for my first treatment, but my blood pressure was psycho! I actually felt myself relaxing and enjoying the warm blankets after the Adriamycin was in. Smooth sailing after that. I’m happy to say that at today’s treatment, I finally got a normal blood pressure since I first felt the lump. Whew! My daughter shaved my head tonight, too, and it feels AMAZING! It’s been falling out for the last 3 days. I’m free!! I hope everything went well for you today.
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Hi Everyone, All the best for 2018. Sending you all a warm hug from the Caribbean hope you all can feel the squeeze. Lol
I am 50yrs old and BC Tripple Negative, left side mastectomy. I have had 2 rounds of AC chemo so far. 2 more to go then 12 weeks of Taxol.
Here is an update on my treatment so far.
13 December 2017 Chemotheraphy Begins - 4cycles (1 every 14 days) medicine received to take at home Nexium, Kyril, Dexamethasone, Zarzio (5injections)
1st Round of Chemo I got up exercised and went to the Clinic. Met with the patient advisor after speaking with her and voicing my fears I was definitely calmer as she explained everything. Met with the doctor who explained everything again took my vitals and then it was off to the Chemo Chair. The Chemo nurse seemed to be very experienced and was very clear in identifying everything that she was administering.The experience was not as bad as I expected in terms of pain and adverse reaction to the medicine.
It's day 2 and we'll see how it goes today. Again day 2 was not as bad as I expected. I felt nauseous but did not throw up in that regard the meds worked fine. I had to go back to the clinic to be shown how to inject myself, another aspect of the treatment. Thank God hubby was there cause I can't inject myself. He did it for the 5 days and it was tolerable. Day 3 I got my meds screwed up and I forgot to take a pill ooooh the pain was excruciating. Day 4 was a horrible day too but I managed to go thru that in a daze. I was nauseous and feeling the need to vomit all day but I didn't. Had some trouble sleeping though. Day 5 started to feel a lil better all medicine done so its time to get the blood counts back up was able to eat normally. Day 6 thru 14 was feeling more energetic except for day 8/-9 I think a wave of tiredness hit me whew just had to rest completely other than that I was fine. I exercised every other day throughout the cycle.
Noticed that my hair started falling out ever so slightly going to cut it even shorter. I don't stress over the hair I have had my hair short for years right now its full of peroxide caused i decided to be a blonde its already weak so this falling out is only inevitable. I wear wigs all the time so thats not new to me either. Waiting to see if i'll loose my eyelashes and brows now that is going to be epic.
Lessons learned
1. Pray all the time.
1a. Don't forget to take your pills on time
2. Drink lots of water in the 1st 5 days to flush that chemo liquid out and help your kidneys
3. Exercise as much as you can
4. Try to eat more vegetables and fruit. Drink lots of fruit and vegetable smoothes orr punches as you can.(beet, pumpkin, carrots, kale, cucumbers, lettuce, apple, pawpaw, water melon etc)
5. Drinking milk based drinks is really working for me. Water not so much been drinking grape gatorade. Really struggling with what to eat any help here will be appreciated.
29th Dec 2017 -2nd Round Chemo Must do a CBC blood test before every round of Chemo.
I got up exercised and went to the Clinic. Got my needle inserted into my port and its off to the chemo chair. Everything ran smoothly. This day its not to bad you feel a bit out of sorts cause after all something foreign is in your body but generally I am are able to go about the days business as usual. Guess its the steroids. Today I felt a bid tired after the process. Day 2 was not bad made sure to take all my meds on time. Day 3/4 is usually my rough days will let you know how that went in my next post. My salivary glands are working overtime reminds me of when I was pregnant urghhhhh.
Stay strong. We can do this. I am strong because you all are strong. Your comments, responses and encouragement gives me the strength to get thru this. God + You are a winning team. Thank you.
Hugs & kisses.
Dark13
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Dark13: So cool you already wear wigs.
My husband gave me a buzz cut last night while my teenage daughter watched and said I look punk rock. It wasn’t as bad as I thought but I wouldn’t be able to pull off this look in public although so many ladies can and look beautiful. I tried on my wig with bangs and at first couldn’t get use to how it looked but that went away in like 10 minutes. My natural hair is salt and pepper (Asian) and I haven’t dyed it in many years. The wig is a dark Hershey brown and makes me look way younger. Today I’m going back to pick up the wig I ordered. Maybe I’ll post pics soon.
Hope everyone is doing ok
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Dark13,hang in there you are doing good. Do drink enough water and decaf tea, you can put lemon in your water so it taste better, also try Nuun so it tastes better. If you have dry mouth you can use Biotene mouthwash and toothpaste. My day 4-6 were bad days also, keep going you are on right track. I kept my eyebrows and lashes until I started taxol. They do come back, my brows and lashes returned after 5 weeks post chemo.
Hang in here, there is rainbow at the end waiting for us.
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Hello ladies. Day 1 after first treatment of AC and I just feel awful. I felt great while there but 4 hours later the nausea hit and hasn’t left. The meds don’t seem to help. Zofran seems to be making things worse. I have a huge headache and can’t eat or drink anything. Even sips of water are just tearing my insides up. I called doc last night and she said to continue exchanging the pills I did sleep a few hours but this morning is awful. Did anyone have this? And what did they’ve do? I have no idea what to do and am desperate. I’ve been sick and nauseated before but this isn’t ten times worse. Thanks everyone!
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Daniz, I'm sorry it hit you badly. Are you getting better now?
The day chemo went in was as awful. All my sinuses burned, the headache drove me crazy. I nearly knocked my head against the wall hoping it'd go away. I puked twice. Lots of burping. I'm a mother of four, all my pregnancies were with bad morning sickness. And this is five times worse I thought. Maxolon didn't help. Celebrex helped with the headache.
took a small dose of xanax and it helped with a deep and reviving sleep.
Gentle hugs and hope you recover soon.
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Daniz1983, when nausea gets so bad talk to your MO to get the patch. I can’t remember the name of the patch but I know VL22 mentioned that earlier and I did also. (Chemo mind I just can’t remember now) remember to drink water if you can, can you stomach some salty crackers?
Hariry, are you having acid reflex? If it is take Prilosec, that should help.
Hugs for you two.
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@Danzi1983 How are you doing today? Pls make sure to take your meds on time. My doctors gave me Emend for the nausea and it helped a great deal. I could not stand water but I found that grape flavored gatorade was able to stay down plus any milk based drink was tolerable. I also placed a warm water bottle on my stomach that also helped with the pain. Rest if you can. Hugs.
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@sswp The big chop can be scary and exciting at the same time you might think you can't rock it in public but thats only until you get accustomed to the new you. Just sit in front the mirror and decide which feature you want to play up eyes, cheeks, lips and roll with it. Do it with your daughter will be fun for you both. The wig is always a great backup. I went in and cut of all of my hair on Friday. Today I'm going to sit in front of my mirror to try on some new subtle make-up looks. I think the key here is confidence. We got this and we gonna look good kicking cancer's butt out the door too. Lol & Hugs.
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I started everything on Wednesday. I get Taxol, Carboplatin, Perjeta and Herceptin. I did ok during chemo, just woozy & tired from the Benadryl that’s proactively given.
I’ve been testing and drinking water but the darn bloating/trapped gas and diarrhea is killer. I take Imodiumas needed but the bloating is just the worst.
I live in Michigan so getting outside for a walk is not an option, I need to get to a gym of some sort. I’ve also noticed I can’t eat big meals. Small servings at a time. I am drinking my water!!!!!
I went wig shopping with girlfriends yesterday so so that is done. Next session is January 17, day before my 40th Birthday. Yay!!
I also was scheduled for a pet scan yesterday (causing me weeks of serious stress and anxiety) only to show up at 6:30 am and have it rescheduled for the next week.
So good luck to everyone!!! I’d feel ok if I can get this digestive system under control.
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I wore this wig to the wig shop yesterday, I was going in to get fitted for the one that I ordered in The salesgirl brought a net out because she thought it was my real hair. Feeling relieved that it should be convincing enough, just want to have the option of looking somewhat normal on days I want to. Dark13: I'm planning to have fun with different looks. We’re both going to look kickass lol.
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Thanks Paulette for your kind concern. I took desilant, it helped with the acid.
Dark13, your list of tips is great. And thanks for being such a strong and proactive member.
Sswp, your hair looks good. Is this a wig? Real hair? Ver natural
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Hariry: Thanks, it's a wig
One tip I wanted to pass along about getting a wig: try to find a store that has experienced stylists that will spend time trimming it to suit you. I think it makes a big difference on getting it to look less wiggy.
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