Chemo starting April 2018
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Many thanks for your input on icing. I have ordered FlexiKold Gel Ice Packs on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076PG75QJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and will take bags of peas if I need to throw those back in the cooler. I have the booties for my feet. I know they say Taxol is "easier" than AC, but I'm very anxious about the neuropathy risk. I'd almost rather continue on AC just because I know what it does to me. but this too shall pass...
GAWarrior, thanks for the new acronym!
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GA Warrior and Deb Al, thats awesome you guys are meeting up. Post pics.😀
Piksie, I hope icing helps you with the neuropathy. My clinic did not advise it and I did not push for it. I have had tremendous pain and discomfort due to Taxol, only in my fingers though. Feet were swollen but no other issues. Nails got detached, I almost lost one nail. I do not have any tingling or pain now. Thumbs feel slightly numb. Nails are growing back. Wishing you all the best
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Engine, sorry that Janice is back in the grind and it's been tough for her. Also, sad to hear about the radio show host - I wish we were all the last ones who would ever have to contend with this disease so no one else had to go through it. I'm in a surgery group and some of the ladies are just starting out, so they are facing the possibility of chemo. Makes my stomach churn to think of it!
Piksie, be sure you get gel ice packs that say they will last for several hours, because - trust me - they last about 20 min even when they say "hours". Also, your feet, fingers will HURT until they get numb - hang in there, it gets better. I gave myself a quick break (3-4 min) when it got to be too much. I iced for 15 min before and 15 min after the infusion, too. I understand what you're saying about continuing with AC because you know how you feel on it. I felt the same and was really worried about T, but it was a breeze compared to AC (except for the neuropathy concerns). Be sure to keep letting your MO know what symptoms you are having so they can make treatment adjustments if needed. Good luck!
Maggie2, I hear you - the Atlanta airport lines are no fun, lol.
Got my drains out last Wed and went to FL to spend a few days at Disney with my DD and my SIL for his birthday. My nice organic, healthy diet went into the garbage, so I need to start back up today. I'm happy to report that I'm doing great except for these VERY uncomfortable TEs! DH won't let me do a thing and is taking great care of me (a nice side benefit, lol).
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Update..well just got out of Radiation appt. Which i will be getting 6 weeks and 25 normal 5 boost. I have mapping tomorrow morning. I still have one spot that the stitches is irritating my skin. Hope it stays closed during rads. PT is going well and I have just enuff movement for Rads. Nothing else has changed much for me.. thinking about adding some color to this head of hair..
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Hi GAWarrior,
Thanks.. I worry all the time about how the job stress affects Janice. I have always felt guilty that she earns more than I do and has for a long while now. A lot of that is a social mores that the husband is supposed to be the provider and that just adds to the guilt I feel. I earn a decent salary, but she has always earned more. Anyway, knowing that she is back in the same stressful position she was in before her diagnosis makes me feel even worse. I've even thought about taking on a second job so that she might be able to cut back.
I'm glad you are helping ladies in the surgery group. I know it makes it easier to speak with someone who has been through it. Janice has done that with several cancer patients over the years. I've seen it help them to deal with everything they are going trhough.
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Hi Everyone. Sorry I've been MIA lately. I am dealing with exhaustion after coming off a radiation and between my two jobs I'm just pooped. Last night I was so pooped I went to bed and forgot to take my anastrozole. Boy did I go into a panic this morning. I need to take the time and read up on the boards to catch up with everyone. But I did want to say. because I think it's happening very soo, yay for GA Warrior and Deb how cool is that that you get to meet! I still think it would be so cool if we could all figure out a localized point that we could do that too. Hugs to you all! I think of you often!🤗
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My big update is I finally got the anastrozole prescription this week (I finished rads 10/4). I picked it up yesterday but am going to wait until after a trip this weekend to start. I am weirdly nervous about it—I think it’s the potential sleep disturbances that wig me out. I sleep pretty well for a woman of my age and am dreading having that impacted. The NP said it was okay to start every other day for a few weeks after I asked about it. Oh well. I guess we’ll see. . .
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hello, I just got back from radiation mapping. My simulation is Monday and I start Rads on Tuesday til Jan 4th.
I agree with Life it would be awesome if we cld all meet up at a central location.I wld go!
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On to the next step Urdrago. You have too many holidays in your schedule, guess thats taking it to Jan. The good thing if any in all this, radiation isnt as bad as what we have already been through.
Ingerp, you have been busy. What is the next holiday destination?
Life, dont over do it. Its still early days. I would like to say the same to Deb Al and Engine’s wife. Take it slow, if possible that is.
We went to MO yesterday to discuss next steps. Capecitabine ( chemo pills) . Starting from 19th Nov for 6 to 8 cycles of 3 weeks each. Will end sometime in April I believe.
On a different front, DH wants to buy a house, now, right now. We are renting now. We were house hunting when this hit and had put that on the back burner. He says we have waited enough. I am not able to feel as excited as I should be. We dont know a thing about buying a house. I have to admit its more fun to think of beautiful views and school zones than chemo SEs. But putting all the savings into something when I dont know if I will be able to pull my weight or not, not fun
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Frog this weekend is just a few hours drive to visit one of my kids in DC, but I’m spending Thanksgiving with my two other kids in California.
Re: house hunting—I think it *would* be a nice distraction for you, even if you don’t find anything. I was surprised when we were looking for our first house at how many I didn’t like at all. When we finally found one that we thought, “huh—this one’s not so bad” we knew we’d found our house. We drove neighborhoods we liked looking for “For Sale” signs, although this was before everyone had the internet. ;-)
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Hi All! Sorry I've been MIA. I came down with the Flu on our trip to Florida and it has been an awful recovery. I was lucky and got on the tamiflu right away so I can't imagine would my body would have done otherwise. My Herceptin infusion was delayed but luckily I was able to get right back on schedule as soon as my fever broke.
I've enjoyed reading all the posts and the photos. GAwarrior - love the photo of you and your DD so glad to hear your surgery was a success. Ingerp - great seeing you smiling in front of the castle. Frog - good luck house shopping. Udrago - glad to hear you have your radiation scheduled and 2019 will be looking up.
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Ugh duffyzmom--I think my husband had the flu last week. Missed two days of work which is unheard of, but bounced back pretty quickly. Did you get a flu shot this year? I get them regularly these days (and try to do it early in the season--late Sep or early Oct) and can't remember the last time I had it. (Hope I haven't jinxed myself!)
I asked my MO's office to get the rest of my Herceptin appointments made (I'm kind of a planner) so I now have everything on the calendar, with my last one May 17th, 2019. We're already planning a vacation when I'm done, maybe even starting May 18th. A couple of my kids will probably join us--we just need to figure out where. duffyzmom it looks like you'll be about a month ahead of me? Fist bump on that!!
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Ingerp - yes I had my flu shot in September. I'm now two weeks out and still not feeling 100%. The good news is it has jump started my post chemo weight loss. Maybe I'll be able to get rid of all the weight I gained during treatment. I have all my Herceptins in my calendar. Right now my final infusion is scheduled for 4/17.
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Duffy, ugh, the flu is the pits - hoping you feel better soon.
Urdrago, good that you have a rads plan and can start soon. 6 weeks will go by fast, especially with the upcoming holiday season. You'll be back to being exhausted, though... Hey, we're trying your chili recipe this weekend - it's going to be freezing here! They are even talking about possible flurries in the mountains <shudder>
Life, I'd love to meet in a central location, too! Maybe one big Facetime or Skype conversation some day...
Engine, until recently I always earned more than DH, too. It never bothered me and I'm sure it doesn't bother Janice. It's just too bad that she can't at least cut back on her hours if the job is so stressful. DH helps with things like getting dinner on the table and doing the laundry - I'm betting you do, as well. Those little things make a big difference.
Ingerp, I hope you have a nice trip to both places and can sleep after starting the anastrozole.
Frog, 3 weeks on Capecitabine/3 weeks off will give you a nice break, hopefully. House hunting will be fun and will help take your mind off of everything else. I know what you mean, though - we've talked about downsizing and the thought of trying to box everything up and haul it to another place (or to Goodwill) makes me cringe.
My update - I'm doing fine, except these dang TEs are overstuffed and a literal pain. Oh well, I'm grateful I still have my body parts (except the insides of my breasts, of course), but I would kill to be able to sleep on my side again. I'm looking forward to seeing DebAL in 3 days! Watch for pictures
Have a great weekend everyone!
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Hi GAWarrior,
I usually cook dinner and do the laundry. It is good to know that you and DH are in the same boat as us.
Really, really tough day here. I am sure you all have heard about the mass shooting at the bar in Thousand Oaks, CA. It was college night there and many students from our school were there. One remains unaccounted for. All of the students are shaken and it is tough to do classes today. We are holding a prayer service on campus this afternoon.
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Oh no, Engine - I hadn't heard that! I'm so sorry - that's horrible. I'm sure everyone is freaked out. Take care of yourself {{{HUGS}}}
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Engine, I had heard that the bar was a favorite of Pepperdine students. All those families impacted. What another unfathomable tragedy
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GAWarrior, I empathize about wanting to sleep on your side. It was just starting to get comfortable for side sleeping with expanders and then I had the implant exchange surgery. It’s only been the last couple weeks that I’ve been able to try side sleeping again. It takes time to adapt or adjust to the foreign feeling of expanders
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I've never been this close to one of these horrible tragedies before. So many of our students are deeply affected by this, as are all the faculty and staff here. They have encouraged us to keep classes going, but most classes are not about the course material today. This is a day of just being together and talking this out. There was a memorial service organized by the college and also an impromptu one in the amphitheater outside my building that students organized themselves. As far as we know, there were 16 Pepperdine students at the bar, which as Maggie mentioned, is a long time favorite place for them to hang out. My boss is a Pepperdine alumni, as is his wife, and they both went to that bar 20 years ago.
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Hello, ladies and Engine. The recent shooting had me in tears. I just don’t understand what made this young man do this. PTSD, probably. It why did he get to keep his guns? This is horrible.
In other news, my radiation is almost over! 2 more sessions left. It’s not as bad as I though it would be. My skin holds up nicely, but the cords are back. Going to PT again. During the 2 weeks of my absence from the board my mother had an emergency surgery - gallbladder removal. It was a scary experience, but everything is fine now. She is doing remarkably well. And I just got a UTI, which messes me up big time. Antibiotics again. I just want it to be over.
GAWarrior and DebAl, so good you are meeting! I’d love to meet you all!
Hair report: My eyebrows are almost back, my eyelashes are about half grown and I just got a five-o’clock shadow on my scalp. Hope to burn my chemo hats by Christmas!
Tired, tired, tired. Good night and God bless
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Engine, I did see the tragedy and loss of the loved ones. Im sadden that government hasn't been able to put some kind of rule in effect for semi guns to prevent further loss. As well as additional support for VA vets, they should be able to go any where and goverment pay for their health. My heart breaks for all of those involved.
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Engine I am so sorry to hear that. At this rate we’ll all be personally affected by a shooting some day. .
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Engine - such an awful experience for these young people to endure. I'm sure your community will come together to provide support as so many other communities have had to.
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Thanks, everyone..
Now, our school is locked down due to the fires burning around Malibu. Classes were cancelled today, but all students and faculty are hunkered down in the student union and gym.
My wife was hosting a scrapbooking retreat in Oxnard this weekend, but she had to cancel it because the hotel asked if they could release the rooms she had reserved so they could be used for evacuees. She said, "Of course,, that is more important".
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Look who I ran into this morning... DebAL!
She and I had a great visit. We chatted nonstop over coffee and the time went by way too fast.
I'm super jealous because she has a LOT more hair than I do (she's the one with the adorable hair cut. I'm the one with the hat...sigh...). Since she's 3 months further out from chemo than I am, at least I know what my hair will look like around mid-February, lol.
Deb, it was awesome to see you!
I hope all of us get to meet in person some day...Hugs to you all, wish you were here!
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GAWarrior and DebAL, what a nice picture and it was great that you two could meet in person. I'm envious!
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You two are both adorable. GAW how many weeks PFC are you? I gotta believe you’re close to having pretty good scalp coverage.
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How exciting to see two of us meeting! You both look great. DebAL your hair looks adorable, I'm guessing you have had some type of hair shaping. My scalp is covered but we've been right around freezing for the last week so I'm still needing a head covering just for warmth. GAWarrior slowly we'll get there with the hair. I think those of us with fair coloring have slowly regrowth or it is just looks slower because of the light color (some may call mine grey but I'm calling it platinum).
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Looking great, ladies! And I am done with the rads!
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Congrats InnaB! Wonderful!
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