Starting Chemo May 2019
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Hey everybody! (And special hi to newcomers!),
Great news in this thread recently with Nat feeling better and some vein improvement for Happyanyway. I will be thinking of everyone. I find myself wondering how each person in here is doing pretty often throughout my days.
Thanks for the kind words about the pic too, I wasn’t sure if I should post it but I also like putting a face to the name sometimes
I (finally) have AC#2 tomorrow. Ever since day 5-6 after my first treatment I’ve been feeling 100% myself and I feel really blessed for that. I got to celebrate my dads 50th bday with my family... precious moments.
I’m dealing with another allergic reaction but this time just skin problems. Apparently I’m allergic to the PICC line dressing. I walked in to my cancer clinic to have it treated and my nurse looked at me and said “What’s next with you?!” Lol!
Hoping for minimal SE for everyone with upcoming treatments
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Britt- good luck with your AC #2 tomorrow. Hope it goes well for you. Sorry about your allergy to pic line dressing. At least they will now know to use something different for it. Glad you felt well enough to celebrate your dad's 50th birthday. How wonderful for you. Precious moments indeed.
I ended up taking my 3rd of 4 chemo today C/T. The doctor spoke at length with me about side effects I experienced at first 2. She decided to cut my chemo by 10%, gave extra bags of fluids ( thanks for the suggestion Kimmh), and putting me on steroids for 3 extra days post chemo. Hopefully se's will be mitigated this time. I am really forcing myself to drink more water too.
Hope everyone gets through their next treatments with minimal se's.
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Good luck Britt. Keep us posted.
Upstate. how r u today?
Praying for the whole group!!
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hi Jrom- doing ok today, keeping very hydrated. But se's don't usually kick in until Saturday. Hoping that they won't be too bad this time. Hope Nat does well at her next treatment. Keeping you all in my prayers.
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upstate we r praying for minimal SE for you. Hoping Saturday will be surprisingly easy for you. Keep chugging the liquids. We r nervous about a recurrence of that weird diverticulitis that knocked us out for 11 days. I think the low WBC were definitely an issue. She has never had diverticulosis before. We’ll discuss all with our MO prior to 3 rd AC infusion on Monday. Praying for all of us !!
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Jrom, will pray that Nat gets through Monday treatment ok and wbc issue and diverticulitis will not occur this time. Good luck with the 3rd infusion. She will do fine. Take care.
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Its so nice to read of you all! When I was first diagnosed in 2004, I only knew one survivor...it was hard. To have a group of women are working through the program is so inspiring. We can write about an up and down in one sentence! So freeing. I thought about you all surviving through SE and chemo days and just wished I could send warm sunshine. The cruise to my son’s wedding found me waking up in a Miami hotel thinking my cat was sleeping in my face. Of course it was my curly hair on around my pillow. I should have trusted my instincts and shaved it earlier. The upsides? I waded on a sandbar 100 yards from the beach. I floated on a foam raft praising God for putting my on this raft in this ocean of infinite blue. Sure I was in a long sleeved sun blocker and huge hat...but I felt free. The wedding was beautifully simple and I bonded some more with my stepmom who brought said hat and top. I did not get a dreaded infection from the ocean or the ship or the plane! Two days after returning was chemo round 2. Thrush came back and everything tastes like a moldy day dishcloth. Smoothies are my only food at Th is point and scrambled eggs. I am thinking the texture matches the moldy rag expectation. Please giggle with me. Only real SE is the bone pain. Pretty unbearable. So Claritin every day from here on out. Why is no one scripting pain killers!
Question for anyone out there...anyone develop a large red blotch? One just appeared on my arm...about the size of quarter. Been there about a week with little change. Weird, huh. Not a bruise or a burn. Doesn’t hurt.
Glad to be back with you. Sorry for the long wait and especially the long post.
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Hi All,
Done with 1 cycle of TCHP. Dealing with constipation. Though i am having a bowel movement, the stools are super hard and there is lot of straining. I tried colace, senna, milk of magnesia, prunes. Still same situation. Anything else to try?
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hi Neeli,
I don't know in which country you are located but if you are in Europe, you might try fig juice available in pharmacies and health stores (OTC).
My medical center recommended it and I used it after my first chemo round with success.
And, of course, hydrate hydrate hydrate.
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Micahray: what a marvelous time you had!
To all who are in the chair today - I am thinking of you and sending you good vibes!
To all who had treatment recently - wishing you minimal/ manageable SEs with all my heart.
We WILL get through this!
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Thinking of you, brittandherboobs.
Hi jrominger! Praying for you, Nat and everyone. I woke up at 4:45 and began praying until I fell back to sleep. Must have been a need for someone.
Hey UpstateNYer, thinking about you!
Micharay it's so nice to hear from you! Sounds like you had a fabulous time. How sweet of your stepmom. I'm a giggler, I get it!
Neeli, I'll look up the the medicine that I take. It helps tremendously with constipation and painful movements. I'm on the way to treatment now.
Thanks LaCombattante! Hope you are are as well as can be.
MountainMia, it's you and me today, buddy!
Good wishes to everyone on here!
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Neeli: Dr. Schulze's Intestinal Formula #1.
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Ooh! I'm so excited!!! My hemoglobin raised from 7.9 to 8.8! Thanks so much for the prayers and positive vibes!
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Happyanyway thank you so much for your praying for you right now. Good luck to you and Mtnmia today. Praying for you two and praising God for good blood results. Best wishes to everyone. We’ll keep u posted about Monday. Nat can feel her tumor shrinking and it has little pain now despite the 11 day lag. That has to be good news.
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Thanks jrominger!
I mentioned that I had run into another bald woman that I planned on introducing myself to about a month ago. She actually approached me today. Today she rang the bell! She gave a beautiful speech and sang a lovely song. My husband and I cried, as did most people. Luckily I finished in time to talk to her before she left. We hugged like old friends. She works at the Cancer Support Community that I go to! I feel so blessed to have met her.
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I reported katherine55 to the moderators for an investigation. They copied their exact message on several threads. I wouldn't email them in case they are harvesting our email addresses.
If this is legitimate, you have my sincere apologies.
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Thanks, HappyAnyway. I was going to report, too. Since you already have, I won't.
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How's it going, MountainMia?
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what did Katherine55 post? I do not see anything on here.
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Hi UpstateNYer! How are you feeling? Some generic message asking us to email them. Seemed suspicious.
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Happyanyway- so glad that your hemoglobin is in normal range now, see it only had to take some time. How did everything go today? What did your mammogram show?
Mountainmia-hope all goes well for you today too
Micahray- glad to hear you had a good time for your son's wedding. Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself.
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Hi happyanyway- I am feeling fairly well. Been hydrating and took 2 walks so far today. I am a bit fatigued, but hoping the bad se's don't kick in tomorrow. Hope you are doing well.
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They only did an ultrasound since my previous mammograms had a difficult time seeing the mass. They called my MO to confirm, he agreed. It has shrunk, which I am grateful for. The report will tell what percentage it has shrunk. My MO will provide that information to me in a week. I'm just happy that it doesn't hurt or itch.
Something crazy for me! My WBC is 16! No worries, though. I have no signs of an infection. Last Friday my WBC was 0.5 prior to the Neupogen injection.
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I'm impressed, UpstateNYer, two walks are great! Minimal SE for you!
My infusion was uneventful! Yay. I will journal my SE. I'm about to nap. Benadryl is making me sleepy.
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Sending all my chemo sisters in the midst of feeling yucky a big, gentle hug. It sucks but you can do it. You ARE doing it. Keep on drinking, and walking, and leaning on loved ones.... and pat yourselves on the back for being strong!!!!!
On my chemo thread a couple of us went around semi-bald. Wanderweg led us off... She referred to it as "Sineading around." One by one we joined her. Most young people think it's deliberate and edgy! In reality I am way less hip than that!
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Happyanyway- so glad your tumor has shrunk. Chemo is doing its job for sure. Glad that infusion went well and no reactions to it 😳Hope you have a nice nap, I just took one and feel great. Drinking water like crazy. Eating protein snacks.
Santabarbarian- always nice to have you pop in and give us encouragement, advice, and hugs. Love the term "Sineading around". Too cute in describing us. Yes, I do think it hip and edgy. You are too😳
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Thinking of all of you!
I'm day 3 after AC#2. SEs are bearable so far. I came home after my infusion on Thursday and an hour later ended up in ER critical care because I was having heart palpitations/tightness in my chest. Felt like my heart kept skipping a beat. Had an EKG and a few fancy chest scans to look for blood clots. No clots (thank god). But the drs noticed my sodium levels had dipped far below normal. Ended up being admitted for the night to get me on a saline drip and for monitoring. I'm happy to be home now. Drs think sodium dropped because I drank TOO much water during infusion (4 litres in 3 hours). Moral of the story: don't underestimate your electrolytes!!
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Dang, brittandherboobs! That must have been terrifying. I'm glad that you're feeling better now.
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Hi Britt, thank you for sharing! In fact I was wondering about my electrolytes' level too after my 4th EC hit me really hard. I will definitely bring this up when I see my MO on Monday.
I've been very fortunate with SEs, they were very manageable ... until my last EC. Looks like I got a crush course on all the sh*tty SE chemo can give with the last one. But ... I amover the hump now, with a nasty mucositis as the only remaining SE.
HappyAnyway, great news on tumor shrinking and on uneventful Taxol.
UpStateNewYorker, happy to read that you feel good.
Santabarbarian: you are an inspiration!
Wishing all a very nice weekend, with no or minimal SEs
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Hello everyone,
Checking in after a few days off. I was discouraged last week to find my treatment had to be postponed due to my blood counts. I realize it happens frequently but felt like I was just 2 treatments in so kind of early. Anyway, I went for a biopsy for the study I’m in and asked the technician to measure the tumor and I’m happy to report it looks like I am having a positive response, the tumor shrunk almost in 1/2, so yay. I was able to have a partial treatment yesterday, I had taxol and Tecentriq but could not have the Carpoplatin. I’m told by my the nurse at the infusion center my next 2 treatments will only be taxol. I usually have weekly taxol, and carboplatin and Tecentriq every 3 weeks So, I’m wondering what that does, had anyone else had their carboplatin put off so long? The MO did say he is going to lower my dose of the caroplatin in the hope that will help the blood counts. Any thoughts are appreciated. Hoping you all have a great day.
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