Starting chemo February 2018
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I was told by my radiation oncologist last week that she was going to start my radiation within 3 weeks of being finished with chemo. Hopefully the CAT scan and mapping will get done on Tuesday and I'll start radiation by the end of the week. I still have to get herceptin and Perjeta every 3 weeks. Initially I was told there would be an eight-week wait between chemo and radiation but she decided to move it up because I tolerated chemo so well. Initially she felt it would be a good idea to have a recuperation period between chemo and radiation. Don't know if the protocols are different depending on the geographical location or your oncologist. Or any of you experiencing difficulty with your close vision? My issue started after around 4 and my vision has steadily worse'n. My worst side effect from chemo has been without a doubt vision deterioration..
My Mo said be patient within 3 to 4 weeks post chemo I'll start seeing Improvement. It's been 2 weeks post chemo and I haven't seen any Improvement. My taste is starting to come back. I'm aware it's going to be awhile before our bodies start returning to normal. Have a wonderful Monday and keep the side effects to a minimal.
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My MO said 3 weeks after chemo before starting radiation and then I think a few months after radiation before tamoxifen. I think they basically want to be able to tell which treatment is causing any SE's since there's some overlap in symptoms of a lot of them.
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cbok- your explanation makes a lot of sense.
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Hi ladies,
Just checking in. My last chemo was May 18th (My MO did not recommend rads) and I just started Tamoxifen today! Also, my hair started growing while my eyebrows and eyelashes started disappearing. Just great! I hope they start growing right back. My recon surgery is July 20th and I also start PT this week since I have this numb feeling in my arm that never went away.
Just wanted to remind you all how AMAZING each one of you is for finishing chemo! Give yourselves a healthy dose of credit! You all rock!
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Well, I'm bummed.
Had a diagnostic mammo just on my right (presumably healthy) breast cause it's been a year since that breast was scanned, and the radiologist saw something she didn't like & wants a follow up ultrasound. I have that booked for July 9.0 -
moth- I'm sorry to hear you have something new to be concerned about. Hopefully it's just scar tissue or something that's no big deal. You're always positive so keep that positive thinking going in your direction. I know waiting is going to be extremely frustrating. You're in my thoughts. When I meditate I will send positive energy in your direction
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So great to see more of you finishing Chemo, it is not an easy feat! Jo herceptin infusion is only 1/2 hour tho I was there about 2 with all the pre prep stuff. Getting close to my surgery, I'm still fatigued and have bad swelling in my legs, ankle, feet, worried I'm having some heart failure which herceptin causes. No pre surgery testing either like an ekg, did do blood work. Ugh, hope this goes well, think of me Tues morning
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Hi Deb, try to relax this weekend, do all your surgery shopping/prep early and then maybe netflix binge or do fun stuff with friends?
They monitor everything so well during surgeries and the skill levels now are so great.They'll take good care of you!
I'll be thinking of you on Tuesday!
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Deb- good luck with your surgery. I thought surgery was the easiest part of this whole process. I had an echo prior to my surgery and also prior to my chemo . I Will be thinking about you. I'm receiving my herceptin and perjeta now. You were correct it takes 1/2 hour for each. The whole process from start to finish is going to take me approximately 3 hours. I have Labs then the doctor then I have to wait for the medications to be ordered and arrived at the chemo lab. It beats the hell out of chemo. Chemo was 7 to 9 hours a day.
Have a wonderful weekend.
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Wow, you guys had crazy long chemo days! For AC we were there about 3 h, taxol is 2.5
I do my labs 24h before at a hospital very close to me so it's just a short errand. While on taxol I only see the MO every 3 weeks and it's the day before treatment. I guess separate trips might be a headache for people if you have to drive far but it's pretty easy for us.
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Moth- I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts during your ultrasound July 9th, and praying that they just over read the mammogram and it ends up being nothing to worry about. The radiologists are probably on heightened watch for those of us with known previous cancers and aren’t taking any chances with our health. This can be comforting, but also lead to more scans and much more worry!
Best of luck with your upcoming surgery Deb. I hope that the fatigue and swelling gets better and you can rest comfortably while you are healing. I haven’t had another echo either, even though I’ve been on the same chemo/immunotherapy as you and my lumpectomy is coming up on the 11th. The surgeon did send me to my PCP to be cleared for surgery, and my PCP did order an EKG. Maybe check with your primary care physician (if you haven’t already), and see if he/she will order the heart tests- it might help your peace of mind. Hugs to you.
Jo is your close vision improving? I’m over two weeks out from my last HPCT infusion and the only eye problems I am having is excessive twitching, probably due to my eyes being dry like the rest of my desiccated body, lol.
Congrats on finishing chemo Butterflylily, and good luck with your reconstruction coming up. I’m also seeing eyelashes and eyebrows disappearing faster now that I’m done with chemo and it’s freaking me out!
I have surgery coming up in about a week and a half, and I learned that she will be taking more lymph nodes than just the sentinel, so that’s been the thing worrying me these days (because it’s always something, amiright?). I was hoping to minimize the chances of lymphedema, and was really hoping that she only has to take the one node that looks worrisome on all the scans I’ve had. I guess due to the placement of my tumor (armpit) she will have a hard time getting to that node and may have to clear several in the axilla. Boo on that.
I might start tamoxifen before or with rads, instead of after, which was the original plan. It all depends on the pathology after surgery. My tumor was heterogeneous with a much smaller portion of it being HER2 +, so they may want to address the larger ER+ portion sooner rather than later.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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22fightor- my clothes Vision hasn't shown any Improvement. But I'm going to be patient and it will improve. What made the doctor decide to take more nodes. You are right. It is always something.
Moth- I think your doctor is just being extra careful because of your cancer diagnosis. So I will continue to send positive energy in your direction.
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Hi everyone,
Moth i will think of you on the 9th. Hope this is nothing. Why is it so long between the mammogram and the ultrasound? Don't they do that at the same facility on the same day when the mammogram is uncertain? This is really a long wait...
Good luck to you Deb and 22fightfor for your upcoming surgery. I will also have a thought for you on the specifics day. That will be one step further in your treatment. Yeah!
Have a great Sunday!
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ladies, does anyone have their eyelashes and eyebrows growing back yet? I barely have any left and wondering when they'll start coming back.
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ButterflyLily- I barely have any of either left either..my savings grace are my eyeglasses and my wig (with bangs) hide this fairly well. I sometimes draw on some eyebrows. Starting to get hair growth elsewhere on my body though..😒...have peach fuzz on my head.
Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadian warriors here...shout outs to moth and Walden!
Moth- so sorry about this new worry. I feel angry that they couldn't do the ultrasound right away for you. I agree with others that they're probably on high alert when it comes to our follow up mammograms and perhaps being overly cautious.
I have a radiation prep appointment on Tuesday with a tentative start date of July 19th. Anxious/nervous to be done.
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Thank you everyone for your good thoughts & wishes. I spoke to my MO and he had a prelim report from the mammo & his general impression was that this would probably turn out to be nothing. He said they said on the report were referring me for the U/S because of my history and an abundance of caution; so this is probably partly why it's going to be a week - it's just not considered urgent.
Lolotte - it is the same place but they only do both mammo & u/s right away if you go in with a palpable lump - then they book both right away. They had only scheduled me for a diagnostic mammo since nobody was expecting to necessarily find anything, and the ultrasound was just fully booked already. & the long weekend is not helping - I heard the scheduling clerk trying to move tons of things around. Ultimately I think other people have more urgent cases so in a way I'm content to wait a week.
As I posted on the taxol thread though I'm bummed today because my neuropathy is getting worse. Ugh. 3 more taxols to go but my I'm worried about my feet and hands.0 -
moth, as ur doctor said they might be just taking a step of precaution.. u r in my prayers honey..
I am one month over chemotherapy.. i am on herceptin now .. i had my frst dose on 21st june.. i dint have it with my taxol as i had low blood count and doctor dint want to weaken me further so three weeks post chemo i started herceptin.. so far soo good .. hope it goes this way.. my insurance dint approve my herceptin.. so thats a pain ..i am fighting with them
Its good to know many of you are done with chemo & some are off to surgery.. long battle February girls .. proud of you all .. hugs
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ButterflyLily - I had my last dose of Taxol on May 25th, so it's been about 5.5 weeks now, and I'm quite pleased with how much regrowth I've got so far on my eyebrows and eyelashes. I was fully expecting them to be gone for a very long time (and it was very upsetting to me - my old eyebrows were very thick and my eyelashes were very long), but I can see good regrowth on them now, been seeing little nubs of new hair for about a week now. It's not much yet, but it's definitely coming - I've got eyebrow stubble and new eyelashes that are maybe 1-2mm long now (but hard to see because they're mostly transparent, as eyelashes tend to be at the tips).
(The last of my old eyelashes fell out last week, and I've got about four old hairs still hanging on in my eyebrows, it's been very disheartening.)
I still don't look at all like myself, and I'm very uncomfortable about it all, but the regrowth is there and it's coming along decently, considering, so hang in there, it'll come for you, too.
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Walden1- I started tamoxifen right before rads. My oncologist said I could wait until after, but I requested to go ahead and start. I have not had a lot of side effects from either as of yet (I am about 20 days into tamoxifen and 12 days into rads).
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Hi Everyone. Just back from a month of travel, visiting family and attending my daughters convocation from university. Missed you all my sisters, and reading back, I have missed so much. So if I miss anyone in my comments, it's just because I can't keep it all straight.
First off, since I'm the first Feb lady to finish, I'd like to tell you all that me too, I lost my eyebrows and lashes at the end of my chemo stint and through my radiation. I hated not having eyebrows the most. I feel it really made me look sick. Anyway, the good news is, the eyebrows came back and my lashes, while not as long as originally, are also on the upswing. In fact, I'm growing hair everywhere and since it's new hair and not hair that had previously been shaved, there is no irritation. Makes me consider never shaving again. We'll see.
Moth, good luck this week. I'm thinking of you too.
People going into surgery, good luck, just another place to recover from but I found Surgery to be one of the easier recoveries, although I can't say for mastectomies as I had lumpectomy.
And now for something completely different. I had my own scare during my holidays. While camping, the rest of my camping party left the campsite and I decided to stay back to have some alone time, reading etc. the next thing that happened was I was found wandering around the campground not knowing who I was, where I was, crying and scared. The campground hosts remembered me and took me back to my campsite but I didn't even recognize my own truck and tent. (all this has been recounted to me, I still don't remember any of it) My memory started coming back of who and where I was when I saw my daughter arrive at the campsite, but still nothing of what had happened to me in the period I was alone.
I was taken by ambulance to the hospital and made to wait the night for a CT scan in the morning. All I could think of was, this is it, Stage 4, brain cancer, I'm going to die soon. It was a truly terrifying experience. Before with my stage 2, I've waxed philosophical about death, thinking I would be ok with it, having lead a great life and seen my children grow. But this possible reality was an eye opener, I do NOT want to die. I've got tons more to do. Anyway... the CT ruled out tumours and stroke and since I didn't have any other signs of concussion, they ruled that out too. gave me a diagnosis of Transient Global Amnesia. Which in lay terms is amnesia in the absence of brain trauma. It was supposed to go away in 48 hours and I did feel better but when I started doing activities again, I realized I was still having issues holding onto memories. Re-diagnosed the next week as concussion. Now I'm home and going to a third doctor, I want everything possible ordered. Still nervous about what happened. So off I go, right now, to the doctor. I'll keep you all updated.
Laurie
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Hi Friends!
I haven’t been on here since February. I wanted to check in and say hi. I lost my password right around when I was starting chemo and just got so wrapped up in treatment I hadn’t messed with resetting it until now. I hope everyone is doing ok.
I finished chemo on June 21 and am now waiting to have an MRI on Saturday. There was a spot they thought could be suspicious besides the tumor we know about, so we’re trying to see what it looks like after chemo and see if we need to biopsy or whatever. After that I have to decide between lumpectomy and mastectomy (if I still have a choice) and it is absolutely killing me trying to decide. I can’t eat or sleep for worrying about making the right choice.
Anyways I’ve missed you all and look forward to hearing how everyone is doing. ❤️
BTW Laurie just read that last post-how scary! I’m sorry-hope you can get some answers as to what happened!
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Well crap Laurie, that is so scary! So glad you didn't wander off & get lost somewhere.... Ok, great news that it's not mets or strokes or anything obviously super bad. All my fingers & toes are crossed that 3rd doc will agree this is nothing to worry about & will just make a great story to tell at future get togethers. "hey remember when mom wandered off & didn't know her name?" and everyone will laugh ....
(um, so don't take this the wrong way but is there any chance someone might have accidentally contaminated your food or drink with shrooms? I'm teetotal but my university roommate was into all sorts of stuff and I heard of similar experiences from her.)
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Yes, Moth. They made me do a pee test in emerge, to rule out that kind of thing. I was clean. Went to the doctor today and she is going to confer with a neurologist and get back to me. She says its good to look into it further because cancer can make us prone to blood clots and she want to make sure that a CT scan was sufficient evidence of no mets. So still waiting. Looking forward to that "one day" when we all laugh too. Strangest thing that has ever occurred to me.
Keep you posted.
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Oh yeah and hey! Check out my new hair.
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indiahood -I'm jealous of your hair.
Laurie- What a terrifying experience. Insust on further testing.
Moth- waiting for my simulatiin and first radiation. They are running behind schedule. I am severely claustrophobic, so, I'm a little worried about the machine. The social worker showed me a picture of the machine last week and it didn't look too bad. Now that I'm here though I'm nervous. I'm not nervous about the procedure just about being closed in.
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jo - did you take ativan or something similar to help with the claustrophobia? It will be ok. Close your eyes, focus on your breathing. Count slowly back from 100 by 7s and then back up by 6s ....Hope your simulation is fast & over before you know it!
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Jo6359-had my simulation on Tuesday. Mostly lots of in and out breathing in my case. The machine was open ended on both sides..and they talk to you through a little speaker..think you'll do just fine!
Laurie-wow..also jealous of the hair! Sorry to hear about your black out. Hope to they get to the the bottom of things.
Colleens80-huge struggle for me too making that decision. I hope you can come to a decision and be at peace with it soon.
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mom and moth- I just finished the simulation and my first radiation treatment. It was great. I was not enclosed at all. I did have some Xanax just in case. LOL. Fortunately I didn't need it. Have a wonderful day. I'm headed to work.
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Great to hear it, jo! Glad it was a breeze.
Laurie, you look fab -you remind me of Jamie Lee Curtis.
I just ordered a wig online because if I'm going to school in Sep I want to look good in ID photos
I'm hoping that I'll have a short crop like yours by the second semester. 0 -
I notice my oncologist did a blood smear test 4 weeks ago. What is the purpose of a blood smear test? I'm finished with chemo. Unfortunately I have to continue with herceptin and parrhetta. He continues to do the CBC differential every 3 weeks but has now added blood smear test. I am unable to understand certain aspects of this Blood smear test. Why start now. Chemo is over.
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