Chemo Starting August 2018
Comments
-
hi benji, glad to hear from you and hope your swelling goes down soon. I had a MX but I had drains for a little over 3 weeks. I hope you get yours out soon. When do you start your rads or is that still open until you have a little longer to heal. Take care and wishing the best for you
0 -
MGJ - Woohoo!!!!!!!! So glad you are finished and can now just focus on healing.
SB - Closing in on the end! The 21st will be here before you know it. I'm glad that cream is helping - it sounds great. And it's wonderful that you are packing in so much fun with friends and your son.
MACTAZ - Five miles a day - good for you! Absolutely wait for the surgeon you really want. And I'm with MGJ - I wish I'd gone smaller. I don't think I was adequately guided on when to stop.
KWilli - Hope you have a fantastic beach vacation. The ocean air is healing, I believe.
Benji - I hope you heal up soon. I hated those drains. I had two of mine in for 10 days and the other two for 17 days. But I had a BMX, so it may be different. I do hope the swelling goes down and you can get them pulled out quickly.
We got a gorgeous day today, after lots of rain. Sunny, high of 68. My husband and I went for a long walk and then sat out having a couple of pints at a beer garden.
0 -
benji— had a mastectomy so my surgery was different. I had 2 drains. The one in the chest came out about a week after surgery, the axillary drain took a lot longer. More like 3 plus weeks. Then they drained a seroma that formed. It was quite minor so very little fluid was extracted. Didn’t hurt. Good for you for exercising! Awesome for getting after it.
I am freaking fried. Like I came off the BBQ. Still quite purple skin in my armpit. The thing with rad burns is they don’t get better right away, I’m finding out. I got seriously fried with my last skin bolus March 1 (I think!). When I wake up now in the morning I have scorching, searing pain in my armpit. It sucks. Now I’m peeling, too. When is this going to feel a bit better!?!?! Plus my stickers are fused onto angry skin so there they will stay. My hubby asked why I still have my radiation stickers on and I told him if anyone touched them I couldn’t be responsible for my actions.
Santabarbarian—take those naps. Sleep in! What good kitties to let you rest. Cape Cod sounds amazing. What a awesome getaway. Too cool. I pray your skin behaves and that it doesn’t get ridiculously angry.
Now that I have my mornings free with no treatments it seems like my days got so much longer. I love it! Well off to run with my cranky armpit. I sure hope it improves soon.
0 -
MGJ, thank you. Did you ever try the domeboro? I have and it promotes drying/peeling. Does not sting and feels relieving. Might help those stickers drop away...? I am thinking of you! You are brave to run-- and I am sure it's a great message to your body: HEAL!
0 -
My boob is a tomato, painted by Warhol. Just sayin.
0 -
Hello Everyone, Hughope here! I am sorry I have been so bad at staying in touch. Doing the grandma duties, my grandson (12 years old plays travel baseball so I have been on the road with him) We came in second in big tournament this past weekend. And my daughter got taken to her first concert ever, PINK last night in ATLANTA. So I am feeling well enough to handle the kids and give her a break.
I am work right now, need to get some time to read back though the post and see whats happening with my girls here. xoxoxo0 -
maztac, I don't know what color my hair is going to be either, it is darker than it has ever been. But it could be turning gray now, but that's what they make hair dye for. LOL
I wanted to ask you about your pathology report now. My oncologist took me off the perjeta maint. and kept me only on the herceptin maint. he did not want to put extra strain or risk on my heart after my pathology report came back good after mastectomy. Looks like we are pretty similar in treatments. My breast reduction side looks real good now, the pure vitamin e that he has me putting on the scars daily is really helping, plus when I was still in the adding to expander stage he wanted vitamin e applied several times a day to help with the stretching.
0 -
Hughope1 thanks for the vitamin E tip, I’m going to check with my PS, no one has said anything about what to do for the scars but when I had a dog bite and had surgery on my lip they had me use an oil and massage it to breakdown the scar tissue.
My path report showed a complete response to both tumors and the DCIS so was all clear. The only thing that showed up was scarring in one of my nodes which means there were cancer cells there but were killed off by the TCHP treatments. Since cells could have squeaked through he wanted to keep me on Perjeta as it attack’s HER2 cells differently than hercepten. More of a precaution than a necessity. My heart has not shown any impact, slight reduction in pumping % last echo but still in the very strong range.
Glad everything is going good for you, sounds like your staying busy with grandkids and enjoying life. That’s what it is all about.
SB, you are getting close to being done, you will soon flourish into a Warhol muse versus a painted tomatoe boob. Take care.
MGJ, hope you are well on your way to nice pick skin.
Wanderweg, benji69, and KiWilli- hope you all are enjoying less dr appointments and some fun times.
I don’t know about you all, but I’m feeling really healthy and good. I had forgot what it was like not to be dragging. Take care all, hugs.
0 -
Well went out in public today to a non-healthcare location without my hat. Felt a little strange but wasn’t until a lady came up to me and said I really looked good in my short hair, not many can pull it off but you can. I thanked her and started to tear up so exit stage left. I didn’t realize until then how uptight I was about the whole situation
0 -
Aww, what a nice thing to happen! You deserve that! Good Karma!!
0 -
PS what a lesson, about how a kind or approving comment can be a lot more meaningful to the other person than we may ever suspect!!
0 -
So true SB, so true.
0 -
SB - Yikes - sorry about the Warholian boob! Sounds painful.
And you, too, MGJ. I really feel for you guys getting rads.
hughope - sounds like you’ve been enjoying your grandma time.That’s great!
MACTAZ - That’s how you know you’ve passed from obvious chemo hair to edgy short hair!
So, I saw the integrative care doctor for the first time last week. I had heard he was vegetarian and was glad to be able to go in and tell him how I’ve been eating a mostly plant-based (plus seafood) diet. He was happy about that but made some surprising suggestions based on my aryuvedic body type: Eat more fat. Increase the amount of fatty fish I'm eating. Lay off the raw vegetables and salads. When I do eat salads, load them up with fats like avocados, nuts and fish. He wants me to eat a "vata pacifying diet," which means eating and drinking things hot or warm as much as possible. I'm supposed to eat warm, moist, heavy, nourishing meals. Even water should be no colder than room temperature. Veggies and greens should all be cooked. Wants me switching to decaf coffee or green tea. Cutting back on alcohol. And adding a tsp of spirulina and a sheet of nori seaweed every day.
Him: "And you need to eat more than you probably think you do."
Me: "I already eat more than my husband."
Him: "That's good, keep doing that. If he ate as much as you need to, he'd gain weight. You're a hummingbird."That made me laugh out loud, but I going to try to follow his recommendations and see how I do
0 -
My breast actually doesn't hurt, just super red, and itchy. It stings a bit when it peels, but it's nothing I can't ignore.
Minus the hummingbird /ayurvedic part, your diet and mine sound similar though my doc did say to limit animal fat and rely heavily on vegetable fat (nuts, avocado, coconut, olives, & healthy oils). I think cooked veggies can be more digestible absorbable, esp if they are al dente, roasted or blanched, not boiled.
I was advised to take ashkawanda, which is ayuredic...
0 -
SB - I'm glad to hear it's not actually painful. And mine wants the "more fat" part to be mostly from plant sources, too. Fish and eggs were okay, and minimal dairy. But he said to really load up on olive oil, nuts, and the like. I'd said I didn't want to take any more pills if I didn't have to, so he suggested just adding the spirulina to something I was eating anyway (I dissolve it in green tea).
0 -
Wanderweg and SB, I must ask how you got going on the plant based diet. My hubby is pretty stubborn about his diet, never had weight issue and needs calories just to sustain. Of course opposite my issue. He also has a lot of digestive issues so doesn’t eat a lot of fibers. I find it’s just hard to change your diet is people in the household aren’t on the same menu. Some insight might help if you have the same issue. I bought a book on anti-inflammatory diet, no hassle 30 minute cookbook. I must say is was overwhelming.
We don’t eat beef, but do eat skinless chicken, pork, sea food and 97% lean ground turkey Also I have added salads, broccoli, avocados, raw carrots and a few other veggies. Also cook only in olive oil. But I do have a big issue with sweets. I do now drink green tea in the morning, coffee was terrible tasting during chemo so I was weaned, I had tried to quit for years. Amazing what a little chemo can do for a girl lol.
SB, I’m glad your aren’t in much pain. Hopefully only more week for you
All take care.
0 -
Mactaz, it's a process.
When my 27 year old was 15 he went vegetarian... so I modified my go-to cooking to accommodate him, with some extra meat on the side for me and my other son... a vegetarian chili, or a lentil or bean salad, or a vegetable soup/stew, a veggie burger/ felafel, or an omelette as the core of the meal (he did eat eggs and dairy). "Protein" based salads are good and hearty... nuts, goat cheese, avocado or legumes can make any salad much more substantial. Soups are easy.... bone broth is very good for you and can be a base for virtually any soup. Smoothies are easy, healthy, and can be based on "coconut yogurt" which is non-dairy and has good fat ("Cocoyo" brand) and nut milk (Califia is a nut based kefir I used). Those ingredients plus berries & ice = very healthy. No dairy, good fats.
If you have a Whole Foods type store with a good salad bar: to save time I get many salad "extras" from the salad bar (just the extras, w/ no lettuce). Then I use my own lettuces, cabbages, or spinach as a base, and I add those extras (beets, peas, roasted brussel sprouts, etc) to several green salads of my own making at home. I am just one person, so in order to get decent variety of extras without waste, this is a very good "hack."
Roasting green vegetables will change your life. They have more flavor, and aren't mushy. Try for two vegetables per meal. Toss w olive oil and garlic, roast in oven at ~350 degrees ~10-15 minutes. Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, asparagus, zucchini, or any similar veg can be made this way. Eggplant is practically like a meat in "feel" - I do a lot of roasted or grilled eggplant, eggplant parmesan without bread crumbs and lighter on cheese is very healthy.
Sounds like you have begun leaning towards including more vegetables already. It's mostly a matter of discovering things you like that are NOT forbidden and bringing them in and squeezing out the animal foods, so that your animal fats are not too high. You can still have meat, but instead of 12 oz meat and 3 oz veggies, do the opposite proportions. Snack foods: HB eggs (organic if possible), Almonds, Pistachios are great and hold your hunger. I do eat some full fat organic dairy.
In California we have a lot of vegan restaurants. There are so many delicious things to eat that are 100% healthy and vegan or vegetarian.
0 -
MACTAZ—I can tear up too almost immediately if someone says something nice to me. I went to dinner awhile ago with some friends who we hadn’t seen in awhile and one of my guy friends told me “you are the prettiest cancer patient I’ve ever seen.” I totally started bawling. I cried off my meticulously applied eyeliner. Then looked awful again
Wanderweg—what a cool thing! I love the naturopaths suggestions. Very interesting. I’d go to that dr in a second. I love things like that. I’m mostly plant based but will now eat cheese pizza maybe once a week if it calls to me. I figure what the hell. But that’s it. No meat or fish for me. I have backyard chickens (8 lovely ladies) and don’t even eat their eggs but my hubby does.
Santabarbarian—Warhol boob! I love it! I actually dated a guy who had a real Warhol in his bedroom. I was far too young to appreciate it at the time. I mostly remember him because I was wearing old jeans and sat down on his bedroom floor and the whole back seam up the rear totally ripped open exposing my butt. No wonder why he liked me.
Hughope—you sound great! Glad you’re doing well.
I continue to be absolutely fried. I did order that domeboro but it’s not here yet. Sleeping is awful. If I lay on my left side my skin screams at me. I put in a call to my acupuncturist. Maybe he can help. I’m going on vaycay the end of the month and I can’t stand any pressure on my left side so wearing a bikini top might just put me into orbit. I’m scared 😬 I hope the pain and edema goes down soon. 🤞🏼I can always just wear a rash guard with no bikini top. I will make it work
0 -
MGJ there is also a miaderm with 4% lidocaine....
0 -
Thanks SB for the suggestions and thoughts, I will keep plugging away. Unfortunately for me I have a very sloooooow metabolism so I eat about 4 to 6 ozs meat and the rest is vegs, carbs and of course the dreaded sugar intake which is something I really need to work on. It is probably my biggest food issue right now, then carbs. I will try to work on both but more emphasis on sugar first. For carbs I do try to stick to whole grains most of the time. The smoothies are probably the way I should to curb my sweet tooth. I will incorporate your suggestion on roasted vegs, I bought a big bag of brocolli so can start there.
I’m limited to about 1500 calories a day even with walking 5 miles a day to maintain my weight. I have always had a weight issue and struggled my whole life but was able to keep most of it off. Since chemo I lost 15 pounds and so far have kept it off. I think in the long run I need to stay at this weight for my joints, seems to be a bit better.
MGJ, first I really hope the domeboro works for you so you can put that bikini top on and enjoy. I’m holding off of my vacation until I’m through with surgeries and H&P infusions, but watch out everyone when August hits, I will be headed somewhere for some BIG fun.
As always thanks so much for your support. What would I do without the August chemo warriors.
0 -
Mactaz, I too fight a belly that wants to expand ... but honestly, getting rid of carbs/sugar has solved that for me. Even if you are still a bit high in the animal products and fats, once you have spent about 20-30 days off of sugar and all carbs, you will start dropping weight like you would not believe. Then, after you've sustained decent weight loss, if you want, you can add back in the nutritious carbs (lentils, quinoa, fruits, etc) slooooowwwly and stop/cut back if your weight loss stops or if you begin to gain.
I have been a little bit looser with my diet lately, having spent a solid 6 months being perfect... I do eat the occasional non-nutritive carb-- but I treat bread, rice, & potatoes like desserts, max maybe 2 servings per week... and I treat desserts like poison! My current go to sweets are berries, or a healthy granola I like: Paleo Hero. A Kind Bar or small piece of 80%+ dark chocolate are both sweets that are less terrible for you if you are really craving a sweet here and there after giving up sugar.
You will feel awful getting off sugar... yeast in your system will die, and it will make you feel cranky and foggy. But stick to it, because at about day 21 it feels better and better. There is a diet called "The 21 day sugar challenge" that is easy to follow, you can find the lists of foods online.
Low sugar and low carbs will reduce your inflammation a LOT. Fats do make dropping sugar easier... you can have high calorie foods like brie cheese or half and half and you will STILL lose weight. You can always have nuts, eggs, etc that fill you up. On the right foods, I do not have to limit myself, or not eat if I am hungry.
0 -
I’m sorry to hear about the painful rads. That stinks. Warhol boob though, that’s gold! Thank goodness for humour, no matter how dark.
A few more days until sunshine! We had a snowstorm today; but the wind is warmer. I can smell spring coming!
Mactaz, add a tbsp of chia seeds or hemp hearts to yogurt and smoothies. It’s a great way to add lots of nutrients without lots of calories. The hemp hearts are high in omegas and the carbs are mainly fibre:
https://https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-health-benefits-of-chia-seeds
www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-health-benefits-of-hemp-seeds#section1
I have been painting my house for the past week; there’s been increased swelling because of it. I went for a lymphatic massage yesterday; it was magical. My scars feel better; she showed me how to massage them to decrease scar tissue and improve their appearance. I’m going to go back regularly.
As a TN girl, I’m looking forward giving this beast a smack down upon return from vacation. I will then be able to say I’m “NED for now” which will be so cool.
Thank you so much for always being here, August girls!
X
0 -
Thanks SB for suggestions. I’m going to work on eliminating sweets first than work on carbs. I think sweets will be the toughest for me but I’m committed and think your suggestions will be helpful My chiro and PCP have been after me and say the same thing, you will feel so much better once you are off of those things you won’t want to go back.
KiWilli, I read the info in hemp hearts, sounds interesting and will definitely try. I need to find a place to buy, I live in small town USA in So Carolina so finding specialty foods or organic can be tough. We usually end up ordering things online and have them shipped.
0 -
MACTAZ - When I met my husband four years ago, he was eating a much more meat-heavy diet. He had to adjust a lot for me! He doesn’t eat mammal at all now because of me. He would like to eat more chicken than we do but I’m a pretty good cook so he’s happy with whatever I make him. In the cold months, I make lots of hearty stews with vegetables, beans, and whole-grains. I use the crock pot a lot. There are some great vegetarian cookbooks out there. I also have a couple of recipes that non-vegetarians like that I’ll post when I am back at my computer. I also throw in some ground flax whenever I can. And last night we had a vegetable stir fry with tofu. I try to do the “eat the rainbow” approach. That way you get a range of nutrients in and it’s also more appealing. The stir fry from last night has a world of color in it:
0 -
wanderweg, I am coming to visit you! Looks delicious!!
0 -
wanderweg, would love to try some of your recipes-it does look good. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on what you are looking at, I have been married for 43 years and my hubby isn't as moldable as he was early on in our marriage. I will definitely try it though you never know.
What does tofu taste like? I have never tried it
0 -
wanderweg: I am down with that plate from last night. Looks good! I know my eating has sure changed a lot since chemo. I just don't eat as much or as much meat now. Kind of lost a taste for it.
0 -
Good news gals, I shaved my legs today. Probably didn’t need to but had a few long hairs. Sounds stupid but it just made me feel a little more normal.
I talked with hubby and we are going to start on one veg day a week and see how it goes. Now I just need to figure out a good recipe for dinner so I can keep this going and he will be accepting of the change. I did try the roasted brocolli tonight and it was really good, he liked them also. I had salad with my roasted brocolli. Sorry, sugars are still in play. Before I decided to start this by eliminating sugar first, we stopped at Russell stover outlet store, not a good idea.
Still doing okay on AI but am having some issues with my knees. I am still walking and won’t stop, but I’m hoping after I’m on for awhile will get better. Time will tell.
I’m thinking of you SantaB, your last week of rads, YEAH.......
Hope everyone is doing well, take care
0 -
Glad you liked the broccoli MACTAZ.
A great Vegetarian cookbook is The Greens Cookbook. Lots of stews and hearty casserole type dishes, salads, side veggies. For all I know it is online too by now. If you flip through that book you will get a lot of inspiration!
0 -
Thanks, I will look for the book. Take care
0
