Starting Chemo July 2019
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deanders wow that's a lot! Nothing I can do to make it any better other than to say I am here to have a ear, love no matter what, and share we have, will have, or are going through all the emotions. Just hits at different times and severities. Yes we all have been through so much and at different points deal with it in different ways. You, and we have to know our mind is a very dangerous thing and if we let it can take over. It's ok to cry, get it out and then move on from it. If we stay there in that moment too long it can drag us down. I've said it before that the ones that are really having a hard time pulling out of the anxiety may need to speak with MO or primary dr to get something that can help. I have trintellix and it helps clear my mind and anxiety, without spacing me out and not being able to function. I still feel normal when I take it. Some don't want to ask for help thinking people will think they are crazy, but I would rather get help than to have deep depression and anxiety all the time. That's no way to live. But that's just my opinion. And I HATE taking medicine. As far as your MO I would seek another one out until you find one that makes you feel comfortable. I went through 4 PS until I found the one that was right for me, and I LOVE HIM. This is a long road and we need people we trust and feel comfortable with to ensure we get the care we deserve. One day at a time is all we can do. Sometimes it's hard but we just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. We have been together through the good bad and ugly and we will continue this journey together! Don't give up!
This is what I had done before I started chemo. I hope you have a better day and much love to you 💕💕0 -
❤️Deanders❤️
I am getting my tattoo on March 27. Will share.
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Hi everyone- just wanted to say I love your tattoos! Was it painful to get it on your wrist? I think I might get another where my port is once it's out.
What do you all think about the corona virus? My family is starting to get some extra food in case we have to stay home for a few weeks. Couldn't hurt I figure.
Otherwise I'm doing ok. 5 more rads to go and then I get a break before reconstruction! I'm still doing the clinical trial but that is a breeze compared to chemo and rads so I'm not counting that.
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my tattoo didn't really hurt at all. The lines are pretty fine and I guess maybe that's a plus to a little bit of neuropathy
As far as the coronavirus goes this isn't the first time something like this has come up but it is the first time it's come up after I've been battling a disease. I just think I've managed to make it through winter without having any other problems with colds or flu so I'm just going to keep on that path. I just don't have the energy to freak out about something else!
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love the tattoos 💜
Update:Last radiation treatment today! 🙌🙌
My boob looks like a shriveled up prune, still have one raw spot under my arm, and red all over but I’m hoping the Aquaphor and Maalox clears it up soon.
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CONGRATULATIONS MELMAX! I am a week and a half out and my skin already looks normal, and I had some skin breakdown by the end.
Love the tattoos too
We have a well-stocked pantry 'cause we live in the boonies and it can be weeks between grocery store visits. Seems a good idea. Why people are panic buying water is mystifying to me, though!
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Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well.
Melmax - congrats on finishing rads!My doc's told me stay off the stage 4 threads. It's not pertinent to my treatment, and there are way more people with our diagnosis that do not go metastatic that we never hear from because they don't post.
I am thinking of getting a Scottish Terrier pup. Went and met the breeder and toured her facilities yesterday. Very impressive. When I arrived she was sitting outside the whelping hut with three six week old puppies who were playing. SO CUTE! She had on a large windbreaker so I didn't see her T-shirt until she took it off about an hour later. It was a breast cancer T-shirt. I asked her about it and she is a 33 year survivor of Stage 3b triple negative, high grade breast cancer. She found her lump herself and decided to wait until after a wedding to have surgery, even though she knew it was invasive cancer. In those two months her tumor grew from the size of an almond to baseball size. 😳 she had extensive lymph node involvement. She refused a mastectomy 😬 and had a lumpectomy, radiation and chemo. She's fine and enjoying old age and breeding Scotties. I've since decided to wait until I'm finished with Herceptin infusions and all of my surgeries are finished to get a pup, but I'm thinking in the fall I will have a little male named “Burns" running around my house ❤️🖤
I would like to join the FB group as I have issues with my posts being public on this board.
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congrats melmax!
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good morning ladies! A lot on my mind with this Covid 19 and how it affects us 😢 I hope you are all doing and feeling good, staying safe, have enough food, supplies, and income during this crisis.
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Haven’t posted lately due to covide 19 and caring fo my dad. I too hope that everyone is doing well with treatments and you all are staying safe.
Update on where I’m at...Finally found the courage to take my first Anastrozole today. I'm going to take it every other day for the first two weeks and then reassess.
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We were on spring break this past week and I still haven’t heard if we’re going back to work Monday or staying home. The pandemic is scary but I’m not freaking out. Cancer diagnosis was more frightening.
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Hi Ladies-I have only posted a couple times in the past, but I have followed your stories. Thank you all for sharing. You are strong amazing woman that I admire. I keep you in my thoughts & prayers.
Thankfully I finished my rads on Friday March 13th before ILLINOIS shut down.
Melmax I noticed you said aquaphor & Maalox. I’m using aquaphor but never heard anything about maalox. Can you please tell me more? Thanks
Hope everyone is staying healthy & sane during these crazy times
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ChiCat congrats on finishing rads! 🎉🎊
I had one area that was red raw and moist with a stinging pain. Aquaphor relieved the dry brown skin but made the moist spot worse. A lady in the rads forum private messaged me about Maalox. Maalox dried that area up after only a few uses and relieved the stinging instantly. I’m so grateful she reached out. They use it in hospitals and nursing homes for bed sores and wet wounds. I think some also us it for diaper rash.
Stay safe! 🙏
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Hi all, just checking in and giving a quick update. I’m finally healed up from rads. My skin nosedived a week after. I looked like one of the patients I used to have as a wound care nurse. It was shocking. Last Friday I had an oopherectomy and hysterectomy. It was laparoscopic... healing extremely well with no pain or bleeding. I started taking anastrazole on Monday. And finally, after several weeks of intermittent fasting, I’ve lost quite a few pounds. All in all happy and glad the worst is behind me. Hope everyone is doing okay. Has anyone had bad side effects from anastrazole? Oh, and here’s my hair ... had it bleached as it came back gray
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Britgirls, You're looking good. Love your hairstyle and color. Sorry about the skin issues you experienced with rads. Glad you completed your surgeries as well with no complications Now it's all behind you. I have been taking anastrozole for almost 7 months now. No noticeable se's. Hope it will be the same for you.
Pat😳
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Im struggling with some PTSD when it comes to COVID-19. I just finished treatment and have been grappling with how to balance living life with that little niggling voice that pops up to say- what if the cancer comes back? Now that voice is taking a back seat to - COVID-19- Is my family going to be OK, am I going to get laid off, am I going to be OK.
My poor planner is sitting around collecting dust- can't plan any!
I am trying to focus on things I can control, making sure I get exercise and writing seem to help the most. Alas, I wake up most days around three and have trouble falling back asleep.
I was very very fortunate and had no peeling from rads. I asked my doc about it she said fair skinned people ironically usually do better- also because I had a BMX and no reconstruction my well healed flat chest makes it easier for the radiation to go where it needs to go and since I was healed up less stress on the tissues. So I'm glad for all that. On the minus side it's a pain finding tops that don't look super dumb on me. I started Femera on 3/1 knock on wood. No bad side effects . I take it around 9pm each night.
ChiCat glad you got in under the wire for your rads! Less worries.
Britgirls you look gorgeous - as per usual!
Virtual Hugs to all of you!
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Melmax thanks for the advice. Just in time too, the skin under my arm has pealed & seems split open. I will have to try the maalox.
2019whatayear hang in there! I have my moments too and those same thoughts. I think it’s inevitable and if the tears come....sometimes that’s a good thing. And so much for planning, my husband & I left on a road trip the day after my rads ended. We made it to the Grand Canyon! And then all the restaurants started shutting down. I was getting overwhelmed & crying every day. We cut the trip short & headed home via Denver for a short visit with our daughter and then back to Chicago. 3300 miles across the country & back in 6 days!!! It definitely didn’t follow the plans but oh well, we’re so happy that we had a chance to get away from all the appointments.
Ditto to Brittgirls - you look great!
Hang in there everyone and enjoy the moments.
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Hello Ladies! So sorry it's been so long - it looks like we have all slowed down in our posting. Not like our minds aren't preoccupied or anything.
Isn't this pandemic something? This is the kind of thing you read about in history books, not live through. And then it occurred to me that the last year has been spent being afraid of things I can't see.
2019whatayear - I am right there with you. My mind keeps trying to go down the path of all the different horrible scenarios. What if hubby gets it? What if kids get it? What if everything falls apart and then the cancer comes back? It seems that we can't catch a break, any of us. And my son - he's a senior this year and was supposed to graduate, now we don't know what the heck they will do. And I live in Washington which was a hot spot for awhile so we have been on lock-down ("Stay home - Stay Healthy") since mid-month. And now the governor has said that not only will it most likely be extended but they are now allowing local jurisdictions to enforce it. Grocery stores are closing at 8pm, parking lots are empty, downtown is a ghost town. It's surreal. And then there are always the ones that thumb their noses at it and do as they please - which means if they are sick, they are spreading it everywhere and we'll have to live like this even longer. Jerks.
I just wanted to check in with you all as you really are the only group that knows how I feel about what's happening around us and inside us. What a battle we have been fighting. The only good thing is that I was practicing these hygiene things any ways because of chemo. At least I broke the habit of touching my face 7 months ago
We should get on facebook together and do a virtual happy hour. What do you all think? I will throw that out on FB too.
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Well one thing I have to come to a decision about is that I'm not going to get all stressed about this food or that food or maybe I should not ever have a steak or a chocolate bar or a hand full of jelly beans for Easter - because the pandemic is a huge reminder that even if you try to walk a perfect straight line of don't do that and don't do this or the cancer will come back--- ha! You could get sick from something else- so screw it I'll have a steak , glass of wine, or chocolate on occasion and I'm not going to feel guilty about it !
So far I'm still employed- half pay, Tomorrow is going to be very nice in chicagoland so I plan to run my longest run since being able to run post second surgery. (outside on the empty streets around my house away from people)
I really hope they will be able to make a blood test to see who all has had the virus. When I was really sick in Feburary, I lost my sense of taste and I just thought it was some weird chemo rebound thing- but now they say that is a way to know that you have COVID. Go figure.
Virtual happy hour count me in!
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I think 50% or more of us are walking around with covid 19. No testing so we don’t know. I sure hope this is over before July 1 when my son leaves for basic training.
Anyway, still taking AI every other day. Still afraid of crippling side effects. So far dizziness and hand stiffness.
Britgirls I love your hair. I keep going back and forth but I might bleach mine too. Mine is two toned, medium and very light gray. Soon to be 53 bu I look much older now. I may pick up a box of Nutrisse when I get groceries.
P.S. if I see one more “my pillow” commercial I’m going to scream!
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I hope we soon widespread testing so we can all know if we had or have not had covid. Knock on wood I'm on my second bottle of AI and no noticeable side effects. I have been having some trouble sleeping but it's very hard to say if that is from medication or the general state of the world right now. Ha! People assume if you have short grey hair that you are 103. Like women in their 80s still have longish hair and dye their hair. I now look older than them. I mostly don't care because I will be happy if I get to live into my 80s ! But I'm passing on dying my hair from here on out- I am going to grow it to my shoulders tho-
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For those staying home due to corona virus, what are you doing to stay busy?
When I'm not working (from home) or helping my dad, I'm watching tv (of course), removing wallpaper, doing yard work and minor home repairs. I’ll be organizing my bedroom closet and the garage soo. Thought about opening the pool but can't shop for pool supplies right now.
P.S. TV commercials... Tempted to order a NuRazor and HydroMousse! 😁
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hey hey hey! Hope you all are doing good! We just got a pretty big storm here and it cooled down a lot outside. Had a hot day today, was beautiful this am.
All is well here in NC. Seems like everyone around here doesn’t speak English or just doesn’t understand because it’s business as usual in most places 🙄🙄 Def not staying home, and my God the folks that are at Lowe’s. Unbelievable, looking like Black Friday.I’m still working thank goodness. We are essential staff.
My 2nd reconstruction surgery was cancelled so we shall see when the new date will be.
I’m feeling really good. Hair is still growing, I’m about to die to color it. It’s coming in wavy and that scares me. I’ve never had that type of hair so it’s taking a lot to get use to and style.
The tamoxifen so far has been good to me, other than hot flashes. Still struggling with my weight gain since chemo. I started that intermittent fasting but can’t tell a difference yet. I need to start walking again. They did a biopsy of my uterus and came back negative so that was a blessing.
I’m glad to see we’ve made it this far. We should be proud of ourselves cause damn if we haven’t been to war and back.
Well gonna call it a night! I hope everyone has a great night and Happy Easter 💕💕💕
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Me and my best friends lil boy so you could see my hair.
My 14 yr old baby when we got his tux for 8th grade formal. Guessing it’s a no go too 😢😢
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what a handsome young man! your hair looks great! great news on your uterus (what a weird sentence!)
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@ 2019whatayear Bahahahaha too funny!
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Oncologist took me off anastrozole.
Dizziness, Hand stiffness, Sweating. No big deal. I knew this was Anastrozole.
Shortness of breathe, Nose and Chest Congestion, Cough, Headache, Weakness. I've also been taking an allergy pill with no change.
He said to stop taking the AI and let him know how I feel. It’s been three days and no headache or dizziness. Still have cough, congestion, and short of breath. Thought I might have Coronavirus with no fever but he said no to testing and go to emergency room if my breathing gets worse.
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I hope you feel better soon. those symptoms sound scary. xoxo
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melmax I hope you get to feeling better. I sent your symptoms to my best friend that is a anesthetist and this was her response
She def has some symptoms Of it...lots of blurred lines. So I figured they should test her especially since she is immunocompromised
If you don’t get any better you may want to go ahead and call to see where you can get tested. Please keep us posted!
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