Chemo Starting August 2018
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hug—my eyesight SUCKS! I was also photophobic for a really long time. I had to wear sunglasses everywhere, sometimes inside. It's slightly improved but not great. I need to have them checked but I don't want any appts these days. I want to chill out!
Benji—I'm hoping rads goes well for you. I had 7 weeks and my skin held up great until my very last skin bolus then it got really angry. My incisions that they boosted did open up into sores that oozed and we're nastry but the Domboro Santabarbarian rec really helped dry those out. I'm a month out from rads and totally healed. No pain.
Wanderweg—you look amazing! The place you were hiking looks so serene.
MACTAZ—those eyebrows! No way! Hilarious. But, my eyebrows have gotten fuller, too.
Thanks for all the kind words! I had lots of hair prior to this so my new cropped do takes a minute to get used to. I think I had a body break down after all this stress of active treatment. I got sick a month ago, right after rads and just can't shake it. I've heard people getting sick from massive stress and I think I did that. My acupuncturist said I was a mess. He wasn't wrong. I feel better today but jeez, I want to stop coughing and blowing my nose. I wore a hole in my left nostril from Kleenex.
I have wrinkles and am still so dry. I've really aged. Probably stress.
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Hello old friends, yes I am in Florida. I love Florida but I think it causes cancer. Since retiring here in perfect health 3 years ago my husband had lung cancer and I obviously have breast cancer. I guess we were too busy to notice it before. Yesterday the lady behind us at the grocery store told my husband she loved my hair (pure white, quarter inch long but no more bald spots) . He laughed and said all it took was 6 months of chemo. She was embarrassed but I told her it was the nicest thing she could have said.
Five down and just 28 radiation sessions to go. I’m still working on full ROM but I think radiation is working against me. I had an hour and a half session with lymphadema PT specialist. I don’t have it but every one warns me about it. It is my main concern, constantly wondering if every twinge is a nerve regenerating from surgery or signs of lymphadema. Am I exercising enough to get back to normal or am exercising too much and risking a permanent problem. It takes almost all the fun out of yard work, almost. Best to all.
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Benji - that was a nice compliment! I love that people are starting to just say they love my haircut, assuming it’s intentional. I felt like I was in perfect health, too, prior to my diagnosis. I met my husband four years ago and since then, he’s had a stroke and I got BC -so maybe getting into a new relationship causes health problems! 😜 I still have those nerve twinges, and my BMX was last June. I’m wondering if I’ll always have them.
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Count me among the twinge feelers... though they seem to be fading in intensity/frequency...
Its been sort of a "grinding of the gears" to leave active treatment and become a "well person" again. I am back to my normal routines and my energy level is good -- though I notice I do need to sleep a bit more than I used to and I get a bit more distracted. I suppose I am still recovering from rads which finished on 3/21. Mentally I am a little off from normal, but a lot of my chemo brain has resolved. My hair is about 2.5-3" long now. It is still growing straight up. Pretty soon I will have a perfect David Bowie mullet. Then I guess I'll proceed to a full Phyllis Diller. It's really odd as my pre-chemo hair was stick straight, very fine, and limp. Now it is filled with body to the point of becoming a hedge... zero product required.
I see my MO for my first follow up appt after surgery/rads at the end of the month. Happy news is that he counts the cancerversary date as date of diagnosis. Which means I have 3 more months to be at my one year marker!
I feel well. I have no pain. My skin still itches a little bit from rads but is all healed. One thing about rads is all the skin that peeled away left my LX scar nearly invisible... a bonus.
I think it would be fun to meet in person one day. I feel so grateful to this group.
Wanderweg, that's cool to be a newlywed! I guess midlife relationships carry a lot more reality just because we're at the age where reality hits.... I hop you are both past the speed bump and can get back to enjoying things!
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I decided for myself that I’d count my cancerversary from the date of my mastectomy. That’s when the known cancer was removed. For me the diagnosis date is a sad anniversary - the day I found out what had been happening in my body without me knowing. Not that the BMX was a happy event, but it’s when I could at least feel like I was NED, even if I still had chemo ahead. I’ll say this about being a newlywed when this hit - I sure got to find out what kind of man my husband was. He was a devoted caregiver. He had a stroke when we were newly engaged and wejoke that we have had ample opportunity to test out the whole “in sickness and in health” thing!
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I saw this on a local BC group FB pageand loved it.
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Hey KWilli, how is the Xeloda going? Keep us posted!
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Good blues!
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Hey Girls, I'm back from Charleston, SC. Grandson and team came in second in the tournament. Not bad for a new team of 12 year olds. Hate that I have to come back to work today.
But I have to be able to pay my bills and keep my health insurance current. lol! Looks like our group is moving right along, towards the finish line. My plastic surgeon went in last Wed. and made me a nipple. Cut like a keyhole on my implant side and constructed it into a nipple and stitched around it. It is still healing, then scheduled my tattooing on June 7th. I am starting to think I am a project for him. I did not expect all of what he is doing. I would of been happy with just the tattooing. I would like to post a picture but I don't know if you all would appreciate my boob showing up on our group site.
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hey all! Sorry for checking out for a bit. It’s been the most difficult three weeks of my life to date, which is saying quite a lot.
Started Xeloda, 2650mg twice a day. I have lost 20lbs (necessary, but too quickly) as I was so nauseous I couldn’t eat. My feet were sunburned and blistered, making walking difficult., diarrhea nearly did me in completely. During the 2nd week, my husband had to fly to help his Dad who had knee surgery, his mom has Alzheimer’s. He got back, took me to the hospital where I had an emergency appendectomy!
I’m now 3 days post op. Chemo is on hold for 4-6 weeks, which I can’t say devastates me, although I do have it hanging over my head.
I could use a little love!
K
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Sending hugs and good wishes. Things HAVE to get better. It isn’t fair
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KWilli - Oh no! I hate to hear that - you are really having a rough go of it. Was the blistered feet a SE of the Xeloda? How long will you have to be on that? Sending LOTS of love and hoping it gets better very soon
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What a rotten experience you have been through! We are here for you and we send love! I a glad for your ittle break. That sounds like a huge dose of meds, can they potentially back it off a bit?
Was the appendix unrelated to chemo, just a "bonus"?
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thank you! I totally needed the sympathy and support from people who get it.
The appendix was just a bonus, lol! That’s what I have been calling it, too!
Unbelievable.
I’m loving hearing all the great stuff from everyone. Hughope, totally post a pic of your amazing new boob!
Benji, 5 down! Awesome!
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My friend who takes Xeloda had the foot issue but it passed. I think they adjusted her dose. She is still on it and doing well.
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KiWilli, I'm so sorry you are going through this. I'm thinking of you and sending lots of hugs. I hope things start going better for you. Take care and keep us in the loop. We are here for you.
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hi wanderweg- I think we’re in the same boat - weakly ER+ and oncotype dx calls us ER-
Just wondering what yr oncologist tells you about recurrence risk.
I was started on TC but reacted to the taxotere so I did one TC and 3 AC. No radiation as nodes were negative. I opted to not do reconstruction.
I have enough hair to look sort of normal but I don’t really like it much. Still too short to do any styling.
Feeling physically good these days but kind of in a restless “now what?” Frame of mind. Can’t quite focus on the future
How about you?
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thank you amazing ladies! Loving the support and hope and knowing that comes from our stupid journey!
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Hello Girls, Hope things are going well and some of you are getting back to some type of normal in your lives? I know it's hard for we always have that little voice questioning every every little bump or mark we find now. When I figure out how to stay out of my own head about this stuff, I will for sure share it with you all. Take care stay strong, xoxoxoxo
KWilli Please keep me posted and let me know if you need anything or just want to talk. Kenna "hughope1'
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Normal has been a little harder to 'get back to' than I thought it would be... mentally switching gears to a "maintenance" mindset.... getting back into work (I am self employed).... deciding what my new routines should be. It's a little weird not having a "save my life" project to work on!
I am basically back to my normal energy level, normal workouts, etc. I see my MO today for my first follow up appointment, and will learn what my follow up routine will be.
I've had a treat -- my youngest son has been home for a visit the last 10 days. (He's spending the summer in Montreal where he goes to school.)
I feel like I am still transitioning to post treatment life.
Lots of love to this group!!
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RimRoc - Sorry, I've been away from the site for a little bit. My oncologist said (when I was making my decision about chemo) that when the oncotype shows you as TN, it's no longer a valid assessment of your risk - that the risk of recurrence is likely higher than it suggests. He guessed a 35-45% recurrence risk without chemo. Made it an easier decision. I haven't asked what my prognosis is now, but I see him tomorrow.
I feel like I'm slowly readjusting to something closer to pre-cancer life. But it's always there. I visited my mom this weekend for her 80th and it felt normal. Except that everyone seemed unreasonably thrilled to have me there! It was good to be with my sibs, though. For your entertainment, my husband and I dressed for the murder mystery party (I was a young Italian with mob leanings and the daughter of the murdered guy, my husband was a French wine maker:
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Awwwwwww such a cute couple!
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Wanderweg, you two are a cute couple.
I had my implant surgery and reduction last week and went in today to see PS. He took off the compression wrap, thank goodness. The girls look good. My implant breast is a little flatter but he said that it will plump up after it settles. Pathology from reduction breast was clear, yahoo. They are definitely smaller, I’m thinking small c but won’t know for sure for several weeks.
Hope all are well, take care
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Mactaz, I'm glad they have taken the dressing off, and that you are feeling better. We will talk this weekend.
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Thanks Hughope1, I will call you. Looking forward to catching up
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Ever since I started chemo my finger nails and toe nails have been growing like crazy. Even radiation didn’t slow them down. My theory is that I always bit them (not toe nails for a few decades) but I was so careful during chemo not to catch anything germy I stopped biting them. Heck of a way to break a life long habit.
I have #21 of 33 radiation treatments tomorrow but by the end of this month I should be finished! Best wishes to all
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Benji69, how exciting, you are getting close to being done. when I was doing chemo my nails were hard as nails, what I find now is they are really weak, they break all the time. Any little bit of pressure they break. I’m going to have to look for some nail strengthener. Good luck, 👍.
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Hello Girls, Please know I am still here, sorry I have not been as active on the forum as I would like. I know that some of you are trying to get back to some type of normal, if we even remember what that is like. I have been trying to be active with my grandkids, me being sick took a big tole on the 12 year old. So trying to do as much with him as possible, and give him some piece of mind. He took loosing my mom so hard, and thinking he was loosing me too. Best wishes going out to all my strong women trying to get back to our lives. xoxoxo Hughope.
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