Starting Chemo May 2019
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Hi All,
I finished my last chemo today though i will have herceptin every 3 weeks for a year. I kind of feel relieved that the chemo is over at the same time its the prayer that i never have to do it again. I have about 4 weeks before the surgery. I am so thankful for all you may chemo group members
and wishing you all the very best. Good to see all the blood counts doing good, my blood counts were good for this cycle. I wonder if there is any connection for blood counts getting better towards the end.
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Congratulations Neeli!!!
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neeli, congratulations on the last chemo!!
Interesting thought about blood counts towards the end. The way to test that is that we all perform another "excess drinking prior to blood draw" experiment in our next cycle. Now we know we are no matter what in the safe zone. I will try that. I must say due to my mouth sore my drinking the last 4 days went way down, as drinking hurt too. Now I have recovered and for the next cycle, I will go back "super-hydrated". It is interesting, that for me, mostly the white blood counts were affected. However, the two have different units, RBC 10^6 and WBC 10^3 cells per µl. So maybe the less number of cells in the population of blood cells, the harder it gets to count them correctly at a low dilution and the larger the variance associated with that measure. Again, I am just putting out raw thoughts here, no idea if that is the case.
The other thing I was told today, is that my MO said that if anything major would be to happen now with respect to side effects, we could stop taxol. So basically, he seems to think that anything after 9 is a bonus, for my cancer. He did not say it that specifically, I am sure he wants me to keep going.
He also did a breast exam today, and could not feel anything. That is not too much of a surprise given I had my tumor removed first and then did chemo afterwards.
Overall, I am so relieved that mouth sore pain is gone and it is good to know that my immune system IS still working! And once it is activated, there is no stopping it. Last night at 1 am I woke up and could still hardly swallow. I was thinking about canceling my appointment today. Then at 6am, the situation had changed. The thing had changed color from light-white, to dark yellow, like a ripe pimple, and then the pain stopped. It took 3 days for this process to happen, which is actually not longer than on the few rare occasions, when I did have mouth sores in my pre-cancer life (usually when I had dental problems, as I have now, but can't fix them until chemo is over).
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Hello everyone, Sounds like everyone is doing relatively well
Jrom and Mightlybird01, Congrats on your terrific counts. Must be such a relief. Hoping all keeps in normal range.
Mountainmia- how are your rads going? Did you finish? I had #6 of 16 today. Will be happy when they are completed.
April-you are almost at the finish line..congrats
Palmetto- how did PS appt. go today? Hope you got the answers you needed to hear.
Happyanyway-glad you are doing well
God Bless everyone, take care. Pat
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UpstateNYer. Palmetto. Happyanyway. Mightlybird Neeli April. Santabarbarian Lacombattante, etc. you have to admit this is just a special group!!!! Everyone caring and praying for one another. So awesome. Thus the reason for a post BC party in N. AZ next summer or fall!!!
So happy for you Neeli being done!! Onwards and upwards!!
Mtnmia and UpstateNYer. Praying that the rads are doing their job and minimal SEs.
Mightlybird I love the thought of the last 3 Taxols just helping with the overkill. I was thinking that if we had to stop that it probably would be no big deal. Please keep us posted on our mutual blood work experiment!! We may do the same, however we did like our numbers on the 3 hr liquid fast!! Love to hear no tumor regardless of pre-surgery. That is awesome.
I will continue to pray for this group as long as I am on this earth!!
God bless.
Jay
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Neeli- Congrats on finishing chemo. 😊😊👍One hurdle accomplished. Let us know how surgery goes.
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Thanks for asking. Yesterday was my last radiation. Also saw RO for a skin check. I'm pretty pink and speckled, a bit red under my arm. She told me to use Aquaphor to keep it moist. My skin is likely to get worse over the next couple of weeks, maybe blistering a bit (this is what happens, not just to me,) and then quickly get better. I had 20 treatments, which was 16 whole breast and 4 boost.
As to side effects other than skin, I'm feeling some of the fatigue that often comes with radiation. Shortness of breath on much exertion. It's not as severe as it was after I was done with chemo, but it's noticeable.
Last night a dear friend of mine died. She had colon cancer, a rare type, and ultimately there were no more options. I messaged her daughter yesterday and said, I hesitate to tell you this, but I think Lisa would want to know I finished radiation. If it's appropriate, please tell her for me. Daughter messaged back and said YES, her mom would want to know, and she would tell her. Lisa was having a good day (because it was her last) so I will guess Daughter did actually tell her.
Humans are very fragile. Handle with care.
xoxo
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Mountain Mia.. so very sorry to hear of your friends passing. Holding you in my prayers.
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Congrats Neelii!!
Jrom... I'm close so it's easy for me to join in a post chemo hike up north. Count me in
Glad everyone's counts are good and SE are minimal. Just fatigue and thirsty for me. Did my laps anyway. Having breakfast out with some friends this morning. It really helps to add little fun things to this journey. Makes the days go by a little faster.
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Congrats Neeli! One hurdle down. So happy for you!
MountainMia, I’m so sorry to hear of your friend’s passing. I will hold you and her loved ones in my prayers.
Good to hear from you, Upstate! The appointment went really well. Looks like I’ll be doing a BMx with immediate DIEP reconstruction in the next month or so after chemo.
I had a slight fever last night- not sure why. It has subsided this morning. Getting ready to head out for a quick swim ahead of #11! I’m liquid fasting again, but had to break my eating fast last night due to the fever. Hope labs come back strong and I stay on track.
Hugs and healing thoughts to y’all
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Palmetto sorry to hear about the fever but glad it is gone. Knock em dead today on #11!! Let us know how your numbers are. Praying they are up!
Mtnmia so sorry to hear of your friends passing. Praying for her family and you.
April. I will count you in!! If you are in the valley of the sun, come up anytime and we can all tramp around.
Happyanyway holy moly your close!! Good luck tomorrow!! Easy peasy you’ve got this!
J
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Hello everyone!
A long overdue update from my side. I came back from our break in the Alps to several fires in the office, which kept me way too busy and made me think of an early retirement (LoL).
But... I did bag No 11 on Tuesday, so just one more to go and then the chemo part is over. Fatigue is much more pronounced this time and neuropathy finally decided to pay a visit. I have noticed some light tingling in my fingertips on the left hand.
Palmetto, good luck with your No 11 today!
Neeli and MountainMia, congratulations on your milestones! MountainMia, i am so sorry to hear about your friend passing, indeed, humans are so fragile.
HappyAnyway, good luck tomorrow!
Jrominger, hope Nat feels good, you are getting closer and closer to the finish!
I have not posted much but I have been thinking and praying for you all daily. Jrominger, you are so right - this is a very special group of people. We do care about each other.
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Lacombattante, So wonderful to hear from you. I think early retirement is the ticket! I retired at 50 (Kind of) You can do that in law enforcement because you start to go a little crazy. Just ask natalie
#11 look at you! One more!!! Sorry about the fatigue and especially the neuropathy! Hopefully it will just be minor and temporary since you only have one more! THANK YOU for your prayers, they are powerful!Hang tough over there!
J
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Hey jrominger,
If you don’t mind me asking... what we’re Nats symptoms for diverticulitis? I’m having a horrible sharp pain in my lower left abdomen and it’s a bit of a mystery at the moment. Driving myself crazy with all the what-ifs. Also trying to convince myself abdominal pains may just be a SE of taxol. Ah, who knows
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Hi Britt. Sorry about your pains!! I bet it’s not diverticulitis. The pains are in the lower left side. But the pains were so severe that they caused her to pass out twice. Very scary. I have been told the diverticulitis pain is worse than child birth by 3 people!! I know Nat and other women have had weird sharp pains that seem to move around and were not diverticulitis. Our MO said those pains are common with Taxol and are a type of neuropathy. They just come and go. I’ll be praying that it’s something simple and not diverticulitis. Maybe don’t eat anything with too much fiber if you are thinking it is diverticulosis.
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britt-- I would call to report a sharp pain of any kind. I hope you get it resolved quickly!
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I'm in the chair. My labs look good. A few are a little off, but not by much. I still say that TC has been much easier than AC, even this far along.
I appreciate BCO. Special love for my May and Taxol family. You are always in my thoughts.
Have a great day everyone.
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Happyanyway almost there!!! Glad the labs were good enough! I have been praying for you. Let us know how you are doing.
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Hi HappyAnyway, that's fantastic, you are nearly done with the chemo! Wishing you an easy day ahead and - of course - no SEs
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Thanks Jrominger and LaCombattante! How's it going today?
Someone rang the bell loud and proud! Scared the gentlemen across from me! One said that it sounded like a fire bell 😂! Think they were either napping or deep in contemplation.
My girls and sister are coming in at the end of my infusion next week. Little bit is skipping school. 16 yo is going back to school afterwards. Priorities! 😁 Hubby will sit with me the entire time. I feel emotional today. Wonder how I will feel next week.
Praying chemo will kick all of our cancer's ass (proudly stolen from Ipenelope).
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HappyAnyway, no doubt you feel emotional!! It's a long hard road. Good that hubby will join you for the last one.
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Britt- I echo santabarbarian. Please get any pain checked. It's better to find out it's nothing than figuring out later it's really something.
HappyAnyway, I so feel you on the emotions! Yesterday someone rang the bell. I started crying. The lady beside me started crying. We are both toward the end of treatment. There was a woman across from me who was getting her first treatment. All she said was, "must be nice." I wonder how I would have been if I had heard a bell early on in my treatment. Probably jealous. Now, I just get excited for the person. And emotional. LOL I"m happy for you that you will have your tribe there for your last treatment. I also plan to have an entourage with me next week. My parents, my boys, and a couple of besties from work. I can barely contain my excitement. But I know by next week, I'll be a blubbering mess.
Jrom and mightlybird, have to share my stellar counts with you guys. Like I said, I had to break my 24 hour fast, but did do my 3 hour liquid fast (it was actually probably longer than that- I only sipped enough in the morning to get my pills down). WBC was 6.24. Holy moly, NORMAL range! RBC was 3.49, up a smidge from last week. Hgb was 11.3 (up .5), Platelets 316 (down), ANC was 5 (up from 3.24), ALT 22 and AST 17.
Oh, I also got my surgery date set. October 28! Is that when I can finally say I'm cancer free, or as HappyAnyway and ipenelope say, I've successfully kicked cancer's ass? :P
Thinking of you all and praying daily.
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Hooray for good numbers! Sounds like you have figured out the key. HappyAnyway and palmetto, the last week until final chemo moved slowly for me. During chemo, I wasn't as emotional as I thought because with my whole family there plus a couple of friends, we made it into a party and had fun with the nurses the whole time.
I'm 2 weeks PFC and went in to have my blood counts checked this morning. The dr gave me a high five for having such a good report. She said I looked like a normal person! I do feel like my energy is back. She had about 2 minutes for me to visit and left me with several questions hanging. I'm having major hot flashes again, but she told me we weren't going to do anything new until after surgery, which is scheduled for Oct. 10. I'm still losing nails, and my taste is still off; she told me to give it some time. I don't go back to see her until Oct. 21 to check the pathology from surgery. Sounds like several of us will be joining the October surgery thread.
I've gone back to work and my biggest problem is my legs and feet are swelling. I do stand on my feet all day, but they've never done this. Monday, I'll wear some compression socks to see if that helps. No time to pose the question to the dr to ask about this. This Monday is also the day of my breast mri, to make sure the surgery can go on as planned. I'm looking forward to not seeing too much tumor hanging around.
I pray that the next week goes smoothly for all of you with no or few side effects. You are almost there!
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It is great to catch up with this group! Palmetto, I am happy that your fever resolved and blood counts were great.
HappyAnyway, we don't have a bell at my infusion center. At least not one that hangs on the wall. There is a small bell on a desk, but so far, I have never heard it ringing. I don't think I will ring anything when I am done. Will also help with the emotions ;-)! But I will thank my nurse team, they are just all so nice and dedicated. It does really feel like a little (or not so little, there are at least 10 nurses present each day) family.
BAMR, I have read quite frequently, that swelling of feet can happen after chemo ended. Form what I have read it resolved in time, but I would definitely check with the the nurse at least as to not miss anything. Standing all day certainly will not help that condition. Please be careful and monitor it closely. And good luck with the MRI. That is one uncomfortable procedure, that I hope I don't have to repeat too many times.
It is mid cycle #9 for me, Saturday is usually my sleeping day. I had a pre and post lunch sleep, whicle hubby went to the market to get fresh produce. It is peach time in the Midwest. So wonderful.
The last couple days I have been researching teeth sensitivity during/after chemo. I don't know if it is due to the mouth sore that I had last week, but I do think my teeth have become slightly more sensitive as time went on (and not just since the mouth sore). Reading up on it, it seems that yes, chemo CAN damage enamel. Has anybody else noticed some increase in teeth sensitivity? While I don't have the best teeth, they have never been sensitive. I have bought a new toothbrush now, that I absolutely love. It is a sonic tooth brush from Boka. It is supposed to be gentler on the gums and maybe enamel, and their toothpaste contains an ingredient that may help actually repair enamel. I must say that I am really looking forward to teeth brushing now! The sonic Boka makes my teeth so clean and they feel much less "porous" throughout the day and less sensitive. I think that may be a game changer in my oral care. I'll discuss it with my dentist after chemo, but for now, I'll stick with it. Also will try and ice my mouth next time.
Other than that, I think I had a little tingling in my legs, which I thought was a bit weird as usually people talk about hands and feet, but I had the tingling in my leg. It only lasted for a few seconds, maybe 4-5 times a day for the day after infusion, then it disappeared. It did not hurt or bother me in any other way, but I did notice it this time around. Maybe I just do too much walking :-)! I have had this tingling feeling in my leg before when I walked too much on the beach barefoot.
I hope everyone is getting a nice restful Sunday.
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Thanks guys! And thanks jrominger!
I had already reported the pain to my MO and we have an abdominal ultrasound booked for Oct 17th to check it out I was just doing my own research I guess! Such a great little community here, the advice is really appreciated
Hope everybody's doing well
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MightyBird, Yes, my teeth seem more sensitive. Maybe add Sensodyne (or something else like that( as the paste. They also don't seem to be as white as they usually are.
My clinic doesn't have a wall mounted bell either. They have one they bring over to you and ring. I've only seen them do it a handful of times. I'm not big on that sort of thing, but I know when I heard it, it gave me hope that someday these infusions will end. So if they ring the bell, I'm just going to remember it's more about hope for everyone else
My youngest daughter got an excused absence from college so she can join me. I have a handful of friends (3 or 4) that are meeting us at my favorite juice bar after it ends for a celebratory acacia bowl. Then, I'm going home to nap. I'm so looking forward to not being so tired. Between the steroids and reduced activity I've gained about 8 pounds. Really need to get that in check before surgery. I feel very round. I've been good about not focusing on it, bc being cancer free is more important, but I'll be happy to have some energy to get some more cardio in and try to lose some of that.
BAMR, I'm a nurse so I'm on my feet for 12.5 hours 3x/week. I always wear compression socks. I think they help a lot. Hope you find some to try and that they help.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
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I did not have a bell at my chemo place either. Sort of anticlimactic.
But after rads made up for that. It was the end of my overall treatment, too, so really symbolic. Anyway the rads center had a bell and they asked if I wanted to ring it as I left my last appointment. I said sure. WELL, they play the "Rocky" theme music as you walk down the hallway and out the door into the lobby, and everyone stands and high fives you as you walk by and everyone claps, and then you go out into the lobby where people are waiting for their appointments, and they rise and clap, and you ring the bell. SO emotional!! This center (Procure NJ) was really personal. They also gave every patient a unique coin, imprinted with a unique number that says what # patient you are to be treated by them since their inception.
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My infusion clinic had a handheld bell at the desk. The gals asked if I wanted to ring it and I said I wasn't really done, since I still needed radiation. But they said, "We celebrate ALL the finishes here! Go ahead and ring it!" So I did, and in fact it was pretty emotional for me and my husband. Last Tuesday I finished rads. (It is 2 floors down from chemo.) They have a wall-mounted bell. The radiation techs came out and stood with me while I rang it 3 times. Everyone applauded. The techs had tears in their eyes. I told the student tech, this is the good part of the job. They all hugged me, and I left. It was a good finish.
I know NONE of us are DONE. I know we all are on alert for ever after, even if there is never another recurrence or new cancer. I know this is burned into our brains forever. But I agree with the chemo gals -- celebrate ALL the finishes. It is one of the ways to add joy back into our lives, and certainly we've had plenty of joy sucked out that needs to be replaced.
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mtnmia we are so excited for you. Praying that you are done with cancer forever!!! Please stay with us and give us updates and advice!!
Santabarbarian your center sounds a lot like ours!! Very cool How are your workouts and diet coming along?
Ipenelope you know I feel about you!! Thank you for the encouragement
Happyanyway are you done this Friday? Your girls and hubby must be stoked
April the leaves are starting to change up here!! Come check em out. We are getting a lot of audio books done as we drive from Flag to Goodyear every week!!
Britt has that pain disappeared?? Praying it has!!
Palmetto mightlybird so happy about our blood counts Let’s keep it up We’ll do the water fast again and let you know
BAMR, Lacombattante UpstateNYer thinking and praying for all of you!!
Natalie has BS meeting tomorrow. We should get a surgery date! Our RN Daughter is coming with us. Then MO Naturalpath and nutritionist on Tuesday prior to #10 Taxol. Getting there! We are sure praying for good blood work and that the tumor remains undetectable. Natalie is a very private person and is not overly interested in ringing the bell. She doesn’t like attention. I must say when I hear it, it brings tears to my eyes. She said she will quietly ring it to honor me. Bless her.
Her hair is growing fairly quickly. First like a monk and now filling in. She feels Pretty dang good. Just a little tired on day 2 and 3 and few weird tummy pains. Man we are all getting close. Hope everyone is feeling well and the finish line is right there!!
I pray multiple times a day for everyone here! Hang tough!
J
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jrom, thanks for being the most ardent cheerleader!
Yes, I hope Nat rings the bell, and maybe just maybe, on the last ring, she will be extra loud, and really enjoy it. I'm glad she feels so good. Thanks as always for your good wishes. 0
