Chemo starting June 2018
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Thanks Rosie!
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Final infusion was 6 days ago...Rang the bell and was so excited to be done with this part! I was expecting elation, got steady nausea. Even anti-nausea has not greatly helped. I know I will start feeling way better soon. On the up side, toe bed toughening up enough to wear a real shoe! Back out walking now that shoes can be worn. I have until Thanksfiving to recover before starting 7 years of Anastrozole. Really looking forward to Thanksgiving... I love hearing all your stories and progress! Thinking of you all
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Congrats Washington 48 - Enjoy your time before starting AIs - I've got another week of freedom before I start... And Thanksgiving should taste so wonderful!
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I did my second-to-last chemo treatment (AC) yesterday, after standing in line for over an hour to vote. I am so thrilled. I know the surgery will not be fun and the radiation will not be fun and whatever hormone thing they put me on most likely won't be fun either -- but I am so thrilled to be nearly done with chemo.
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yellowb:
Congratulations for being close to finishing!
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Kat22, Washington4:
Congratulations to both of you!
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All, did any of you choose the Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) instead of the traditional radiation therapy after lumpectomy? pros and cons? Thank you!
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The BS commented that:"Current data suggests IORT is only advisable in patients who don't really need radiation", interesting!!!
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Quick vent that I haven’t had chemo in 5 weeks and I continue to lose my eyelashes and eyebrows. I call no fair!
Hope all of you are doing well.
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RosieRed , I hear some people get through the whole thing with cold-capping, having preserved reasonable hair, and then lose it all a few weeks out. Nothing about our follicles is fair!
Speaking of which, my last chemo is on the 20th, and my eyebrows are making a gesture towards coming back -- but I'm going to lose them again, aren't I. Ugh. I look like a pleasant unisex elf, and I have a job interview on the 19th.
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My lashes and brows held all the way through and then fell out about 3-4 weeks after last TC. I'm having to wear eye and brow makeup or I feel like the guy from The Wall.
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RosieRed and rachelcarter35 and yellowb and everyone....
I also call No Fair on EVERYTHING we're going through!
My eyebrows were mostly gone, quite suddenly at the end of treatment and through the subsequent 3-4 weeks. Also most eyelashes, same. Suddenly, at about week 6 PFC, they returned! I can't believe how exciting that was. Mostly grown back in now, and I'm about 9 weeks PFC. I'm sure this depends on which treatment plan we're on....
I kept my hair on my head quite splendidly through Paxman cold-capping. Maybe kept 80% of it. Aside from a couple of bare-ish places, it passes for a full head of hair. However, my head hair follicles ACHE and are super sore all the time---this started 6 weeks PFC, and continues, but it's now getting a bit better. Head hair shedding stopped at about 3-4 weeks PFC...
Here's an un-welcome addition. Much hair on my face. Downy and extremely thick. Never had this before. Heavy on upper lip, on chin, even cheeks. It's quite long. And some is very dark. This furry look is not a great one. Requires some strategic bleaching and trimming and plucking. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be worsening. My research says that this will be a "cycle," and that it will fall out. Can't wait! Going through chemo is like being in the CIA. You find things out on a need-to-know basis. No one ever mentioned that there would be a Chewbacca phase, PFC! Chemo, the gift that keeps on giving!
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I never lost my lashes. My eyebrows thinned out a lot but I still have them. I guess the trade-off is that 8 weeks PFC, still no sign of hair growth
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Hikinglady: I just laughed the hardest on this forum from your CIA comment! I think docs don't list all possible SEs because no one would do any of it if they knew all of them. My face is downy too.
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RosieRed:
I'm also 5 weeks PFC but what is falling out now is new growth. It just doesn't have a strong root yet.
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hi everyone! I just wanted to check in and wish you all a happy thanksgiving! This year I’m extremely grateful for all you. Thanks for going through this with me and all of the suggestions and commiserations and humor.
Has everyone finished up chemo?
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Happy Thanksgiving
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This thread has gone very quiet, just thought I'd pop in and inquire how's everyone doing? Hopefully silence means we're all doing well.
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I finished chemo in September. I cold-capped, and I kept probably 80% of my hair. Lost eyelashes and brows in about October, of course.... hair kept thinning for another month or maybe two. Now that I'm 4 months PFC, my hair is regrowing where it was thin, and I'm back to feeling pretty normal. Eyebrows and lashes and all other lost hair regrew within 1-2 months. Had my final reconstruction (TE's swapped for implants) on Jan 2.
I look back on 2018 as a year of horror. In addition to breast cancer, I had foot-rebuilding surgery in Feb 2018 and (related, follow-up) hardware removal in Dec. 2018, as if breast cancer wouldn't have been enough to go through in one year, ha ha!!! I'm also GRATEFUL to have had treatment and a chance of beating this! I'm now on AI's for 5-10 years, and doing okay, after some adjusting to the stiffness and other annoyances.
I am very grateful for everyone on this site and this thread for generously sharing their experiences. It's all helped me to stay hopeful, and to have a context for what I'm going through.
I'm committed to daily exercise; it's always been a part of my life. Currently, I cannot exercise, due to recent foot and foob surgeries and some recovery weeks, but I'll get back to it after healing. Now that most of this is behind me (except the foobs, which are in front of me, ha ha), I am ready to go forward. My treatment plan gives me a 90% cure expectation, so I need to focus on that 90, not the 10! However, the fear of recurrence will not totally leave me..... I also feel mostly grateful and hopeful at this point.
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Hi everyone - I’m doing well (I think lol) - finished chemo oct. 22 and rads dec. 24 - kept 70% of my hair by old capping - my hair texture is definitely different and very curly but at least it’s there - stared tamoxifen Jan. 7 and so far it’s going fine - I don’t notice any side effects yet so fingers crossed - so I just have herceptin left and should finish jun. 11 - I see my onc for follow up on Jan. 31 and I’m guessing we will be talking about my follow up imaging and what it will be (that will always be the stressful part) - I started working out 3 times a week again (yoga and Krav Maga) so I’m definitely sore and my lumpectomy/radiation side definitely feels it more - tight, sore and just uncomfortable but I’m hoping it will get better with time.
Hope the rest of you are doing well
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I finished chemo Sept. 18, had lx Oct. 25. Rads was delayed a little through the holidays, but today was #17 of 28, then 5 boosters. So far I've had little SE from rads, just minor redness and yesterday RO put me on some med for what he thinks is thrush after I started having throat irritation (he is doing rads on the lymph nodes in my neck as a precautionary thing).
My hair took it's sweet time about deciding to come back, but it's about 3/4" long now and filling in nicely. Darker than it was before, but can't tell yet if it's going to curl.
Other than that, it's almost back to "normal" life. I feel good. A few months ago, I thought I'd never say that again. Love you all, we got through Hell together.
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I finished chemo in October as well. I also cold capped and lost most of my hair. It's still a bit thin on top but is growing in. I had to have my port replaced again due to skin erosion and I got sick about 5 times after the last Neulasta injection wore off and I developed neutropenia. My nails keep breaking a few mm down the nail bed despite a clear coat but I've gained some weight and am getting my strength back.
I'm still a bit sensitive to the taste of water and have developed a preference for cold, reverse osmosis purified bottled water. Previously I was a room temperature tap water person.
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I finished chemo on Oct 8. Had BMX Nov 14. Had tissue expanders filled once per week and was going to PT to get my ROM back for my left arm so I could start radiation. 5 weeks after the BMX, a small part of my incision opened up (seroma) on the left side and I got an infection. Ended up staying in the hospital for 4 days with cellulitis. PS recut my incision, stitched me back up again and put in a drain. 5 days later PS took the drain out and things were looking ok until another seroma happened and the PS had to sow me up again. Now I’m healing from that. PS is concerned that the skin is thin where he stitched me up last, so I will see him next week. If all goes well, then I’ll have my planning session for radiation the first week of February. If not, then my PS wants to take another stab at removing the thin skin and sew together the thicker skin around it so I’ll be able to tolerate radiation.
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I haven't been on here for awhile but feel like this is my home base forum so want to vent a little. I finished chemo mid august. Had my implant exchange September. Tattoos in October and went back to work. My hair is in a cute bleach blonde pixie and I'm feeling amazing.....Christmas eve I ended up in the emergency with an abscess that I didn't even know I had bursting on the bottom crease of my right foob in the incision. I took a round of antibiotics and have started to watch my incisions more carefully. I can't feel anything under there so it's easy to miss. Well I went to my follow up ultrasound this week to check for any more pockets of infection and they've discovered a 1.7 cm mass right under the surface of my skin between the skin and implant on my left breast! They couldn't do a needle biopsy because they were afraid of puncturing the implant. So I'm waiting for approval for an MRI and then if it's suspicious they will have to remove it from the outside and send it to the lab to see if its cancer. I guess there are a lot of B9 explanations so I'm hoping. I'll probably be getting a MRI this next week. I'll keep you posted.
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rachelcarter35:
Sorry to hear about your complications. I hope the mass turns out to be benign.
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rachelcarter35 - praying that what you found is benign.
I ended up going into surgery last Friday where my PS found it best to remove my TE on the left side and putting in a new one. Hope this fixes my issues on that side. Feel like I took a step backwards because I’m dealing with yet another drain and healing from getting a TE. Sigh.
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Today I got the results from my MRI and they say that its a benign cyst. In six months I'm supposed to follow up with another ultrasound. I'm so relieved and plan to try to stop worrying and start enjoying life.
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rachelcarter35 - Glad you are doing well. Yay!
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Thank you RosieRed. How are you doing? I know you've been going through a lot lately.
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