Chemo Starting September 2018
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Not to be a downer, as I know I am lucky to be surrounded by people, but going through this is the lonliest place on earth.
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piksie- I hope the next month passes quickly. I'm sorry the taxol is so rough. I hope they can modify it so you are able to finish. I plan to stick around this thread long past chemo because I feel like it's a journey that is really just getting started, so consider your seat saved
Sadlynew - congrats on finishing the AC part of your chemo!
Elizabeth - It IS a very isolating experience. I’ve made a point of surrounding myself with people currently in treatment or post-treatment through emails and on-line groups, a breast cancer support group locally, friends who have been through it and two friends-of-friends I’ve met up with. They are the only ones who really get it and it makes me feel less alone.
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ladies came across this article and wanted to share it. Not trying to scare anyone but just inform.
Doctors, patients raise alarm about cancer being linked to breast implants
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/doctors...
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Hi ladies - I just completed my 10th round of taxol and am trying to prepare myself to start AC combo in December (my doc at MD ordered taxol first then AC for some reason). She just gave me the option of doing AC every 2 weeks with the shot, or AC every three weeks with no shot. One obviously puts me getting through this more quickly which is definitely a strong desire I have, but it requires shots for white count. Do any of you have advice? thank you in advance!
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Sunocean - My sister’s friend is a BC survivor and her doctor told her to take out her implant now because 3 (!) of his patients developed lymphoma in their 8th year. I’m considering going flat since another BC survivor told me even though she used her own tissues instead of implants, she’s becoming more flat over the years.
Anette68 - I’m doing T+AC too. I read some study that said this order may be slightly more effective. As for AC schedule my MO at DFCI in Boston only gave me the option of every 2 weeks. I guess that is amore aggressive approach?
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brinkofteternity - makes me feel better that I am not the only one! thanks for your response. everyone I have talked to did it the other way. I don't know how to choose on the 2week vs 3week thing. I don't feel super aware of the costs/benefits. Did your MO mention if you would have a break week or two between treatments?
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annette68 - the side effects seem to vary for everyone, but for me a 2 week AC schedule would have meant being a full time cancer patient for the duration of treatment. On the 3 week schedule, even though the SE’s were really tough (mostly the nausea. Oh god, the nausea), it still meant I could essentially work 2 out of everything 3 weeks with 1 off stuck in bed. Those extra weeks also meant I had some time feeling good to participate in the stuff my kids have going on, see friends, generally feel like I still had a bit of a life. I got the neulasta shot even on the 3-weekly schedule and didn’t find it so bad. Bone pain, yes, but Claritin helped and there were only a few days each cycle that were really awful.
I think if you can/want to dedicate yourself to getting it over as quickly as possible the 2-week schedule could be a good choice. My second opinion MO also said it seemed to work better in people with BRCA mutations if that applies. Good luck whatever you decide!
As a side update - I am now on Day 9 post my last AC (thank f***!) and have been unable to return to work which I usually do on Day 7. I just can’t shake the “chemo feeling” which is related to nausea but not quite. More like my gastrointestinal tract is trying to eat itself from the inside. It is quite depressing to still feel so terrible but I remind myself that it’s cumulative and the last one... on to weekly taxol next. May that be easier as many have said!!
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Feeling setback and down with treatment cancelled due to low hemoglobin and high liver enzymes. Can anyone relate?
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Oh, Elizabeth, that's hard. I had to skip my last of 4 AC treatments because it was causing too much damage to my heart muscle function. Had to admit I was relieved as good (enough) heart function underpins our ability to live our lives as we want.
Annette, I did the AC fortnightly with the neulasta shot. The side effects were different each cycle, but the second week of each I was able to work part time. The first week went like this - first few days,not too bad, Day 4, crash!, then gradually resurface by day 6. I was very pleased to have the shots for the protection they offer, especially as I have multiple small grand children, who generously share their bodily fluids:-) I caught one mild cold in the first week, but nothing else.
Probably no wrong decision, as it depends on your plans, and the unpredictable factors including side effects.
Best wishes
Susan
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annette68 - If efficacy between 2 and 3 week AC schedule is the same I’ll probably go for every 2 weeks so I can get it over with quicker. My MO hasn’t mentioned anything about breaks so I don’t think that’s an option unless my body cannot handle a 2-week schedule.
Now that I’m day 10 PFC from my 12 weekly Taxols my resting heart rate has finally come down from the 80s to the 70s. I hope to start exercising this weekend and get my body in shape before surgery and the AC afterward. I don’t think I can do a Spartan race but I’d like to be as close to Piksie as I can!
Piksie - Hope you are recovering OK from your DD Taxol!
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Ladies, thank you for your well wishes. This is such a roller coaster. After breezing through AC (relatively), I thought I had it made with Taxol! You just never know what it's going to do to you. I'm now on day 9 and feeling much better. A tad bit more lingering pain than last time, but I'm still doing really well. It's funny how easy it is to forget the bad parts when I'm feeling good. On Monday, I was contemplating throwing in the towel, but today I'm chipper and ready to tackle #3. I'm dreading it, but willing to do it. I'll have to remind myself of this statement on day 4. (which falls on Dec 8, but who's counting…)
Annette, I did bi-weekly AC and while days 4-6 weren't awesome, I was never completely down and out. I got the Neulasta shot, but Claritin was effective at minimizing the associated bone pain. My only warning there, take it longer than you think you have to. I stopped on day 6 the first time and got walloped with pain on day 8. Subsequent rounds, I made sure to take it longer and had no further bone pain. My good weeks were really good. Other than being bald, I had little to no side effects days 7-14. However, know that my experience is very unusual.
Elizabeth, sorry for the setback. Is your treatment delayed or canceled?
Brink, happy to hear your resting hr is coming down. Get out there and get it!
Beeline, I hope Taxol lives up to its name and is easier than AC!
Unrelated to cancer altogether, I took my kids to see "The Grinch" stage play at the Old Globe Theatre in SD last night. You'd think the lady taking the picture would have noticed that one of us was completely dark. I should have checked….
Take care of yourselves! xoxo
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Hello All-
Had an occupational therapy appointment with a lymphedema specialist today. Found it helpful and learned a lot. At this point I don't have any LE in my arm, but she is watching my ribcage/trunk area. She is also fitting me for a sleeve - it was her position that any woman who has had a node dissection should wear a sleeve daily through radiation and should wear it during exercise/flying/heavy arm use. I have good insurance so I am going to follow her suggestions and do the twice a week therapy. The thought of spending more of my life as a patient is disheartening - especially during this time of weekly taxol since this means I will have 3 separate days per week where I have appointments 40 minutes from home. It is a lot with kids and work and home and trying to use all of my emotional and physical energy to maintain a positive outlook through this. My weekly taxol SEs are still manageable. I feel like two of my fingers were slammed in a car door - the nails are sore and painful - and I have hot flashes all night long which is starting to get tiresome as well. But it is so much better than AC for me that I feel guilty complaining.
I did the dose dense AC with neulasta. It was a long 8 weeks but it was better than I expected - I took all of my anti-nausea meds religiously along with prilosec and claritin - days 1 -3 were my best days during infusion week - hopped up on steroids, zofran and emend, days 4-6 were the hardest, with day 5 usually involving tears and depression and a day in bed. Days 7-13 were pretty much "normal" + nasty mouth but that is because I don't think I remember my normal before. That's the thing with all of this - I'm starting to forget what my life was like before... I look back at photos or facebook gives me a daily memory and my old life seems so foreign and innocent. I'm struggling to get into the holiday spirit. I usually look forward to Thanksgiving-New Years all year - I love to host holidays, make tons of food, bake cookies, go to parties, drink too much prosecco, volunteer for all of the kids stuff at school. We make every part of it an event, from cutting down our tree to going caroling to making real gingerbread houses. It is a blur of sprinkles, wine, twinkling lights and crowds of family and friends. I don't even know what I can pull off this year. It seems like just every day existing is tough enough to manage...
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Piksie - that’s great that you were able to get out to see the Grinch with your kids I really want to do so,etching Christmassy soon.
KK - That is a whole lot of appointments to have every week. I have that same feeling about FB memories popping up. It feels like a whole different life. No clue what was waiting around the corner
So I had one of the weirder freak occurrences in this whole process. Backstory: I woke up from my exchange surgery in early August with a completely numb foot and have been stumping around like a pirate ever since. My foot has gradually regained a little movement and feeling, but not entirely, and stays really swollen. Apparently pressure was put on a calcification (which I've had since childhood and has never caused problems before) because of the way I was positioned during that long surgery, and it damaged a nerve at my ankle. But nothing could be done until I was four weeks out of chemo. So yesterday I had surgery to remove the thing, which was identified on my chart as a “lesion of unknown behavior.” But it turned out to be more complicated than they were expecting, and they had to move the nerve and cut out part of my tibia. I left with instructions not to be upright for more than five minutes an hour for a full week because the tibia is the bone that supports most of your weight on your lower leg. Between the cut bone and the nerve being moved, my ankle hurts like the dickens. Good times. Still I'm thankful for a kind and skilled surgical team, including an anesthesiologist who fetched me an extra blanket and said, "We want to take extra special care of you because you're a survivor. And when we're done today, you go back to kicking cancer's butt."
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Good morning ladies! I’m about to start chemo on 12/5. Is it okay to take Metamucil for constapation? Among the threads I read, nobody recommended this, I’m wondering if any of you heard negative about this from your doctors.
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anxiouslady - welcome to the board! My MO was quite adamant about me not taking any supplements as much as possible. She only prescribed vitamin D and vitamin B6 for me. That said I suppose fiber supplement might be ok? For constipation I’ve been drinking smoothies every morning and that helped.
Piksie - That picture is hilarious. Once I had a waiter who focused so much on the food on the table our heads were all chopped off. And that was before digital so we couldn’t even check...
KK2018 - I started the nail pain with 2 fingers too. For me it felt like my nail was pressing down on my finger. Now they look like they were slammed in a car door but still the pain is not bad. Hope yours hold up ok!
Wanderweg - Sorry you had to do another surgery. I’ll need to do a dental implant before my mastectomy actually so it’ll be something else to worry about. But at least my tooth is acting up now instead of during chemo, so I’m thankful.
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Good afternoon...
Anxiouslady: I had severe constipation and as a result serve abdominal pain the first round. It was likely mostly from the Zofran which was one of the anti-nausea drugs I was prescribed. From rounds 2-4, I was advised to start taking colace a few days before chemo and continue until I felt right along with sennakot (senna) at night. I also stopped taking Zofran - they also gave me compazine and I used that BUT only too a few. I really didn't need anti-nausea medication. I didn't know that first round. I only got Zofran in my IV. I also switched to a softer diet (e.g., soups, etc. ) the couple of days before hand and then kept a few days after. I had virtually no issues with pain the final 3 rounds. I wasn't 100% right, but no big deal. I also was told I could take Miralax. Metamucil was never mentioned. I don't know anything about it, but the first round was my worst one in terms of pain and so if you're worried about it, discuss with your MO and/or nurse. My group has been more open about supplements that the advice others have been give. But, I'll say I would not wish that pain on anyone. I almost went to the ER.
Piskie, I am glad to hear your doing better and sorry it has been so rough! Hang in there.
Elizabeth, I hope you get back to it soon, sorry to hear about the setback. And I get you about the loneliness. I hope it passes and you find a way to feel support and strength.
Brink, glad your resting heart rate is down. Mine has been elevated as well.
For all still in chemo, hope you're doing ok and keep at it!
I'm now officially over 4 weeks post chemo. My face is till puffy, my legs still feel like cement, I still have black lines down some of my nails (but no pain or lifting), and I still need a hat but I see a lot of dot sized regrowth to pair with my demented pixie and it does not look gray! Hallelujah! I am hoping I might be able to try toppik soon and go hat free in the next few weeks. The hat is a drag when I'm not at home because of the hot flashes. I cannot remember if I mentioned but I saw a neuropath to help with that and get better advice and what is and is not estrogen and progesterone causing and how to handle the hot flashes. Some days I have a lot and some days none. I have cut back on drinking, so know it is not an occasional glass or two of wine. I start radiation on Monday. My re-mapping is going to have me be on my stomach for radiation rather than the normal back. Given it is my left side I'm not sure they prefer back with the breathing method over the stomach....a question for Monday. I also never excelled in Geometry so glad there are doctors that did.
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Hello ladies! Checking in on 5 th day of final TC round. Yes, one part of the treatment done, yeey! And i have a story to tell! Most of my infusions were on Tuesday. So on 26th i took steroids in prep for next day's infusion. In the night i thought of checking exact time of lab work and what did I see!!! My labwork, chemo everything was scheduled for Monday 26th itself. I had missed it completely. Both of us had taken leaves considering 27th to be infusion day! On 27th went to hospital and told them abt it. They had backlog from holidays and were asking to come on 28th. When i asked what should i do about steroids, they realized i had already taken the dose previous day and somehow accommodated me. We were in hospital from 9-4, but i was thankful that they adjusted. Did not even ask abt ringing the bell, but glad that it is completed!! Muscle fatigue had hit on first day itself and now advil is my friend for bone pain. But the fact that all rounds are done, keeps me going.
Piksie, still i think the pic is nice as it shares a lovely moment. Sorry that it was rough in between for you, but hoping it is getting better.
Wangerweg, sorry to hear about additional surgery. Hope you are recovering well. Take care.
Tigerlilly, yeey for hair regrowth. Thanks for info on hot flashes. I will have to ask abt it to my MO. Hope remapping goes fine.
Peace and strength to all.
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anxiouslady I actually did use Metamucil, but only once as constipation was not a problem for me. My anti nausea drugs (and believe me, I took them!) were so AC daily, metaclopromide, and others. I don’t know what zofran is, so not sure if it shares an active ingredient with anything I took. On AC I had no bowel problems, and now on Taxol I tend to have diarrhea and Imodium is my best friend
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tigerlily - that’s encouraging to hear about hair regrowth. I am two days behind you and waiting anxiously to see some. Slight discoloration in my nails, but that’s it .
BeingPositive - Yikes! So glad they were able to go ahead and get that round done. Bell or no bell, yay for finishing up the TC! I’m a little over four weeks out and my thighs still feel super heavy and tired!
Turns out I still don’t react well to narcotics. Not sure why I thought it might be different with this surgery, but after one night of taking Percocet as scheduled I had a migraine and got sick. So ibuprofen it is, and I am following orders not to stay reclining with my foot up. I’m really hoping I get the go-ahead to return to work when I see the surgeon Friday, because I have a full day scheduled the next Monday. I think I won’t find out what the pathology report shows until Friday
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Thanks everyone for the information on the AC 2 vs 3week!! I saw some of the posts about about nail issues and neuropathy. I will go back and find the cryotherapy studies I read from the last couple years about taxol and AC, but I have been wearing cryotherapy packs on my hands and feet during treatments (I've only had 10 taxol so far). So far I haven't had much neuropathy pain/symptoms and strangely the only thing I have noticed with my nails is that they have grown more during chemo than they have ever in my life. I do have autoimmune issues so maybe that has just always affected my nails and I have never known! May be worth a shot to try the ice packs 15-20 minutes before, during, and after chemo for those with neuropathy and nail issues.
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annette68 - I've also noticed my nails on AC are stronger and grow longer than they ever have before. Usually they would break and peel once they reached a certain length. Pretty weird.
kk - I've been seeing a LE therapist, too, and the one upside I've found is that it's the most holistic, self-care-like treatment I get. It's almost like treating myself to a massage. I find it really relaxing. Hope your experience is similar.
Piksie - love the photo, even with your ghost son
Wanderweg - hope you are recovering well from surgery!
Being Positive - congrats on finishing TC! Sorry it was such a hassle to get that last one done!
Our September chemo team has been pretty quiet of late, so I just wanted to say hello. I am on Day 15 after my last (!!!) AC and am still feeling rubbish. Tired, nauseous, achey. This is usually my good week before I go into the next round, but I am def not bouncing back as usual. The good news is that it is my last week of work until I start my new job in January. I considered staying on an extra week since I hadn't planned to miss last week and as a contractor I only get paid for the time I work, but I decided I'd rather have the time than the money and we'll make that work somehow. Hopefully I will feel a better before Taxol starts next Tuesday.
Here's a story only my fellow bc patients will understand. I went to a sample sale at a local store last week and ended up unexpectedly in a communal dressing room. I was totally unprepared and had actually taken my undershirt off earlier because it was so warm. So rather than freak out the other (mostly younger) shoppers with my single boob and giant mastectomy scar, I tried the tops on over my shirt -- which not only caused a hot flash in that enclosed space with 4 other women, but then in my rush to get it off I also managed to take my wig off, too. Luckily I came away with a couple of great bargains as I was tempted to never leave the house again.
Hope everyone is hanging in there. xox
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beeline - Oh my God, I laughed so hard at your story! I’ve had several times where someone comes to my door and I frantically try to hop to the door on the walker with my big clunky boot and pull a hat over my bald head. I can’t imagine what people think when I open the door looking like that and panting from the effort.
I was able to read my surgery report on the patient portal. The calcification in my ankle that got pressed into a nerve during my reconstructionsurgery was attached within the muscle and also attached to the bone and was "not only significant in size but also directly pressing against the neurovascular bundle" so they had to use power tools to get it out and send it to pathology in pieces. So glad I was out for all that! The pathology results say it’s benign and even though I knew it was an unlikely site for bone mets, I still breathed a huge sigh of relief. I guess we will just always be under that shadow now.
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Annette, Beeline, my nails are stronger after AC, too. 2 of 4 DD Taxol and they're still relatively normal. What an unexpected consequence!
Funny stories, ladies. I startled the Amazon driver last night. They usually ring the bell and drop the package at the door. So I didn't worry about covering my head and just went to get my package. The diligent girl was standing there waiting for me and looked at me bug-eyed. "Ummmm... Sheri?" I hope I didn't scare her away because we have a lot of door step theft this time of year and I really appreciate her waiting for me to answer.
Wanderweg, great news! Sounds like a horrible process to get it out of there!
Beeline,glad you're taking the extra week for yourself. We get so few!
To those of you who are finished with chemo, how's the hair growth coming? I hear it can take a while. Ugh.
I'm prepping for Taxol #3 tomorrow. Chin up, Sheri! I've canceled all my plans and am prepared to close the door and just tough it out. I'll resurface around Tuesday good as new.
Hope you're all doing well.
-Sheri
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Elizabeth - It is true, going through this is the loneliest place on earth. I try to not think about it too much, but I have noticed that some of my friends stayed away from me, and my in laws haven't been calling because they told my husband that "we don't know what to say to Judy.". I am not dead people! I am just so over it. Truth to be told, I am pissed!
Piksie - I am sorry that you had such rough time, but am glad to know that you didn't quit. After my rashes, I thought about quitting too. The thought of having to go through the pain and feeling sick was not appealing, but then again, the thought of not completing all of the treatment and have this cancer come back in the future didn't sound good either. I am glad that it is behind me now.
KK - do you mind to share what you learned from your OT? My boob is still swollen and a little painful, I wonder if I have a little bit of lymphedema. I am glad to know that the SEs on T are still manageable.
Wanderweg - just out of curiosity, why do you think you will lose all of your eyelashes? It is so sad that we will always be wondering if this "thing" that we have is cancer any more. I guess we will just have to learn to put it aside and not to freak ourselves out.
Tigerlily - I hope you are doing well with Rads. How many times do you need to have? Since the cancer was in my left boob, I was told to hold my breath while the rad. There were a few times, I couldn't hold my breath and let the line dropped below the range. I freaked out about damaging my heart. I can't remember exactly, but I think I was told not to take biotin while doing the Rad.
Beeline - your story made me laugh out loud. There were many times, I refuse to take the trash out or open the door when I don't have my wig on.
I am a month out from finishing my last TC, it has been a rough 4 weeks for me. I was on steroid for a week after TC which cause many sleepless nights but I still felt like a superwoman. And because of the rashes from my third round, my doctor skipped Neulasta this last round. I was glad not to have it because I didn't care to have the bone pain, but after the steroid wore out, boy did I hope I had Neulasta?!! I kept on getting sick... At first, I had gingivitis, then pink eye, then a cold that turned into sinus infection, then when I thought I am done feeling like crap, I had stomach virus!! I am hoping for a better week. I am tired of being sick and cold and achy all the time. As for my hair, I am waiting impatiently for it to grow. It is really cold without my hair! At night, I get hot flashes, so I take my hat off, then I get cold, I put my hat on and put my blanket on.. Needless to say, I don't get a good night sleep at night. I have been taking pictures of my bald head to see if my hair is growing. Well, on November 19, I had a small patch of hair on the back of my head; then on November 30, I have lost about 80% of that patch of hair!! I need my hair to grow but it is doing the exact opposite! My legs are still sore. If I stand for too long, my lower back starts to give in too. Like a friend of mine said, "chemo is the gift that just keeps on giving.". I am going to see my MO on December 17, then I will start taking the 5 year med. I was told that we will regroup at the end of 5 year to talk about if I should continue with another 5 years.
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JNKK - You've had a rough run of this last round. I have talked to people who've done TC earlier than us and they ALL lost their eyelashes. And generally, it happened after chemo was over. And then again in a second wave after they'd grown back! So I'm just preparing myself for what seems like an inevitability.
I started Tamoxifen Saturday night, so I've taken it three nights now. So far I can't tell any difference. I had a very mild hot flash yesterday but I've had those for a few years anyway. I'm taking it with melatonin every night in the hopes that I can avoid the cancer cells becoming tamoxifen-reistant.
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Hi, ladies-- I've been absent b/c chemo has been pretty nasty, but it's so nice to read up on how everyone has been! I'm getting better now, but sooooooo ready to be done with this!
My last round of chemo is on 12/19. I'm scheduled to go back to work on 1/7, and as a professor, I have a course starting about a week after that. I've been off work since last summer, and I'm scared to pieces about whether I'm really going to be able to do this. But then I'm on Day 6 and everything always seems to be bad then. Question: For those of you who have completed AC, when did you start to feel normal? Teaching statistics is surprisingly physical, and doing it with my usual enthusiasm is hard to picture.
I can tell I've been lucky not to have many of the SE y'all have had. No nerve pain, surprisingly, though bone pain whupped me. A runny nose for months, to the point that I have cracks in my skin. I've lost 20 lbs since Sept. because of the nausea and had fatigue. But this is routine stuff for the most part, right? I'm also on TCHP, and my onc told me only about 25% of his patients can work through it, and only then if they have a lot of support from their boss.
I'm worrying about where things go from here. I'll be continued on Herceptin and Perjeta after I finish AC on 12/19, and I don't know what the SEs are of just those 2 drugs, since they are combined with the chemo now. I'm on them until Sept. I, too, can tell that I'm now looking like a cancer patient...The weight loss is making my skin fold together, and it's pitifully dry. I just look about 10 years older now, and that makes me worry about going back to work and dealing with colleagues' reactions.
But all things considered, I'm lucky. My adult kids will be home a bit for Christmas. I don't care when or if I get decorations up...I can enjoy a quiet Christmas focused on recovering and rebuilding and just enjoying their company. I love having these young adult offspring...watching them set up their adult lives and begin their careers is really exciting, without any of the Sturm and Drang of college and high school. It's nice to be looking forward to something again!
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beeline - Glad you got some good bargains at least! I’m doing a right mastectomy too and I still wonder whether I can be totally fine with being half-flat.
Piksie - Hope your Taxol #3 went smoothly. You''re past the half-way point now! I drive without anything on my head when it's night time, and sometimes I wonder if anyone would see me. But that was indeed a close encounter!
JNKK - Sorry you had such a tough time with your last round. I can't believe we may lose hair after some regrowth! But please post hair regrowth pictures when they come back!
On lymphedema, I saw this massage place advertising lymph drainage massage. Has anyone tried? I wonder if it would help?
On people's interaction (or lack thereof), I feel like some people label us as "dying" automatically. I've had people who would just stare at me teary-eyed, speechless. I felt like saying what JNKK said, "uh, I am not dead..." I also have a coworker who apparently didn't get the memo (that pretty much everybody else in the department got) and asked me about the red blotches on my face (when I had them). I was like, "Umm, allergy."
On neuropathy, I read from other posts that people would get worse during the month after chemo has ended, but that hasn't been true for me. I started getting better last week (1 week PFC), and this week began to lower my Gabapentin dose. Unfortunately as a result my hot flashes are coming back too. Oh well... Does anyone know how long chemo-induced hot flashes can last?
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Fairchild - Glad the end of the TC part of it is in sight. Will you continue with herceptin for a while? I've worked through my chemo, but took a full week off with each round and then worked a reduced schedule the second week back. And even then, I was tired.
Brink - I never had any chemo-induced hot flashes really. Or at least, nothing beyond what I was already experiencing. I was warned that I'd get them on Tamoxifen, but none yet (it's only been four days, though).
Tomorrow I see my surgeon who operated on my ankle. I'm hoping she'll tell me I can put weight on my foot again and start becoming mobile. I'm hating not being able to walk.
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so nice to read updates on how everyone is doing
I get my 5th treatment on Tuesday and not looking forward to the first 7 days. Insert crying face!!
Fairchild I'm also on TCHP. You have a great outlook and losing 20lbs is a lot! I've lost 10lb but nausea and fatigue are the worse.
Glad to read updates and wishing everyone good thoughts.
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5th Taxol done. I've found Thursday/Friday (days 4&5) are my hardest days. And compared to AC they aren't bad at all - just gross mouth and slight steroid crash. I am becoming increasingly more fatigued but I think that is because my red blood counts are slowly dropping into the anemic range. WBCs are still at the low end of normal. Going to have to focus on some iron rich foods but not sure that will really be any competition to chemo. I've been searching on here how they handle anemia and chemo and I hope I can get through the next 7 treatments without needing any transfusions. I have a busy few weeks ahead am I going to really have to figure out how to manage it all. It is a bit overwhelming.
The hot flashes are annoying. I am a go with the flow kind of person but I really hope that this happening every.single.night comes to an end sooner rather than later. My sleep is so restless and it is starting to wear on me.
I asked about regular massages since I feel like the last 6 months have completely wracked my already poor back/posture (between sitting at a desk all day, large pre-cancer boobs, nursing for numerous years, etc my poor back was a mess before surgery and then compensating for the mastectomy, sleeping propped up for months and then muscle loss from not exercising my upper body as much as I was used to I am in rough shape). I was told to avoid lymphatic massage since we don't have lymph nodes in our arms any more we don't have anything to stimulate. I was also told to avoid deep tissue massage as well. So gentle massage is ok, preferably by someone who has decent accreditation. Most likely in a chair since laying on my stomach for any period of time is pretty impossible. waaahhhh. i just want a good massage.
I think about you all often and how you are getting along. This site has really been such a positive outlet for me and i look forward to logging on and catching up with everyone's posts. Have a great weekend!
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