Starting Chemo March 2021
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HopeHeal, do you take your blood glucose at home? I will ask the nurse tomorrow again. I also have a blood sugar monitor from my pregnancy. Maybe I should start checking it at home as well.
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Dmjshriver I Followed Chris Beats Cancer once I was diagnosed, had to eat more cooked foods during chemo though. Now that I am done with chemo, I will be going back on his protocol. I believe it helped me, I just need to make sure I get enough plant based protein
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Aram, I have a glucose monitor but need to get updated sticks for it; I should start checking.
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Hi March group!
I am wondering if any of you have had to get chemo peripherally through a vein by arm, not a permanent picc line? I am experiencing a problem with my power port and it will be getting replaced, but the onc doesn't want to delay my chemo which is scheduled for tomorrow.
I've always been told I have a good vein in my non BC side, but I am afraid the chemo will ruin it. Is there anything I can do to help? Should I drink more water beforehand?
I will be getting the fourth infusion of taxotere and carboplatin.
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AlwaysMeC, I had my first two infusions through a vein in my arm because I didn't have my port. I don't have good veins and it was really hard for the nurses. They told me drinking water should help and I drank a lot but still was hard. The nurse put a warm towel on my arm to expand the veins and that one helped.
Good luck!
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Aram, thank you. I will ask them about the warm towel tomorrow. Hopefully, my port can be replaced soon.
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Happy July everyone. And best wishes to all of you still going through chemo.
I had my last radiation treatment yesterday and rang that bell again. I'm so happy to be done with these treatments. My skin got red and I have some itchy and sore spots but no blisters. The breast is swollen, firm, and tender/sore in certain areas. But nothing too extreme. Doc says the symptoms should peak in a few days then start getting better.
In a couple weeks I'll see my MO to decide on which aromatase inhibitor I'll take, and I'll start that treatment. Not looking forward to working through those side effects.
My hair is growing, but it is very light in color... Not sure if it's gray or white. I was a light redhead as a child and more auburn /brown as adult. But I had a fair amount of gray before this, which was actually more like blondish white.
I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great and safe Independence Day. 🇺🇸🎆
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Heidi, congratulations on being done with radiation! I love your picture!
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yay! Congratulations! Love the bell pics 😊🙌
I have my last day this Thursday and I can’t wait. My skin is quite red and angry. No blisters, but the underarm especially hurts. Ready to be done, then on with Tamoxifen.
Also, my glucose level were very high during chemo. They can back down. If your doc doesn’t worry, then I wouldn’t stress too much. Chemo WRECKS the body.
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Kipepeo - Thank you for your response re. TC and shortness of breath. AND Congratulations for completing radiation. It is so nice to complete another difficult phase of this journey.
GreenOutdoors - Thank you for your post as well. Definitely comforting to hear from all of you and know that I am not the only one going through this, and hopefully, the heart rate and shortness of breath issues will go away.
NatureYogi - Thank you for your comments too. Also, with regard to neuropathy from Taxol, when I had AC & Taxol back in 2014, for the neuropathy I did acupuncture and I also took Vitamin B6 at the recommendation of the oncologist. The B6 seemed to help with my neuropathy, and over time, I ended up not having any issues.
HelioSue - after your comment to check my hemoglobin, I ate a steak, and I thought I felt better. Who knows - it seemed to help.
Ladies - I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend, and got to do something fun with friends and family.
Cheers.
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Good morning!
I wanted to check in and say hi. I love reading about more of us completing chemo, radiations, etc… and for those of you heading to surgery next, looking back on it, in my case, surgery was the easiest part of treatment (not easy but easiest). I wish you a prompt and complication free recovery!
Congrats Heidi and Chrystal on finishing radiation! Will you be taking AI or Tamoxifen? And if so for how long? My last radiation treatment is Tuesday! And I’m scheduled to get my chemo port removed Thursday. Then I’m getting a DEXA scan to make sure my bones are healthy enough for me to take an AI, if not I’ll start Tamoxifen. Im pre-menopause but I will be getting Lupron injections. My MO would like me to stay on some type of hormone suppressant for 10 years.
For months it felt like I would never be done with active treatments, and to be able to finally see the finish line is exciting and overwhelming! My mind is slowly switching to long term prevention and I’ve been reading a lot about diet, exercise and supplements. I still have so much to learn! Feel free to give me advice here or PM me or recommend a thread you’ve found helpful.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here, it has helped me more the past few months than I can explain!
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Yay! I finally finished radiation! My left breast and armpit are WRECKED, but I’m done. Looking forward to healing and getting back to “normal.” I don’t have a doctor’s appt until mid-August. Feels crazy!! Love it.
I start tamoxifen next week. For those of you finishing up radiation, how did it go for you? It was good for me until about day 18, then the burns got really bad. Pretty miserable
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Greenoutdoors, one more and done! Congrats!
Chrystlx, congrats on finishing radiation! Your hair is back!
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Congrats Chrystlx- on finishing. Be forewarned the redness gets worse before it gets better. I think I'm finally on the getting better side.
GreenOutdoors- I don't yet know what drug I will take. I'm post meno, so there are more options. I'm going to discuss a dexa as well. He did Brandin a drug I could take for bones that also adds 1% positive to the 9 year non recurrence rate.
I do not have a f/u scheduled yet with my RO, but I see my MO on the 19th. After so many of you saying your ports are getting removed so soon, I'm going to ask for mine out. He said 6 months, but honestly I think mine will pop through the skin before that. Just thin skin over it. It's very sensitive now and bothersome, and forget about letting a seatbelt touch it.
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oh no! Worse before better?!? That sucks. So I’m like 3 days removed from my last rads… has it hit the peak yet?
Not gonna lie, might’ve chosen single mastectomy if I’d known this radiation burn would be so bad
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Crystals, I was told 2 weeks out for peak. But I'm now 10 days out and I think I've turned a corner. It definitely got more red for a week and a few blisters formed at about day 4 post. I got the silver cream and that has helped keep them from popping. Was quite red under the crease. Mine was directed at about 6 o'clock where my tumor was. It's more common for the tumor to be at the top of the best near the underarm. Is that where yours was? Would explain why your armpit is wrecked. Mine is just a little red. Also what was your total dose? Mine was in the 4000s of centigrays, but I don't remember exactly.
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My radiation team said my armpit was bad b/c of the friction. I was given a bandage thingy to cover the worst of it to protect it from my always moving arm.
It was def whole breast radiation. You can see the rectangle of treatment
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Chrystix, congrats on finishing radiation! Hope the redness/burns calm down soon. Congrats to everyone else that has finished chemo and radiation! I'm having surgery next week, so after that it is radiation for me!
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Congrats to everyone finishing up chemo this month! I finished up on June 25 but since yesterday was the three week mark, I feel like I can finally give my body permission to let down its guard.
I haven’t seen any movement in the regrowth of my hair or lashes yet, but I’m actually wondering about weight gain. In the last month or so of chemo my weight fluctuated from 126 to 132 daily (126 has been my average weight for years now) and despite managing/ decreasing my food intake and increasing my activity level, my weight seems to have stuck at or around 132 since my last session. My onc said it’s normal with patients who undergo chemo for early stage BC, but I’m wondering if anyone else experienced this and if so, did your body return to normal eventually? I’m 47 and was forced into perimenopause by the chemo so I expected some physical changes but I don’t know if the weight gain is chemo related or bc I’ve crossed the menopausal threshold lol. I’m trying to be as patient and accepting of all the changes chemo has made to my body, but patience is admittedly not my forte.
If you experienced weight gain during or after chemo and have any advice or resources to share, please let me know.Thank you so much… love to all my warrior sisters who have stood by me in this community throughout my journey… I am so thankful for all of you.
Dawn
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natureyogi, best of luck on your surgery this week. I hope that where you live you are able to have someone with you before hand.
Chrystal, are you past the worst of radiation skin irritation? My armpit is also what bothers me most.To avoid friction I keep my hand on my hip like an angry grandma! Lol
Dawn, we’re about the same age, similar weight and I’m also in chemopause. I’m now just back at my pre diagnosis 132lbs but I have had to really work at it (I’m 10 weeks post chemo). I think that in my case chemo (or steroids?) made me gain weight and menopause is slowing my metabolism a lot. What helped me: For a few weeks I entered everything I ate into my Fitbit app, looked at the breakdown of fat/protein/sugar, etc and adjusted as needed. Walnuts are healthy but have a lot of fat so I still eat them but only a handful a day, fruits are healthy but still contain lots of sugar, I eat less on days I move less, I eat tons of spinach/arugula salads and I make overnight chia/oatmeal pudding for breakfast which keep me full for hours. Finally I try and fast 13 hours/day (eat dinner early). You just finished chemo and you have kept your weight gain reasonable so you will get back to the weight you want to be soon. Using an app really worked for me, maybe it can help you also! Good luck!
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Thanks y'all! My angry armpit is calming down finally.
And I, too, gained weight during chemo/radiation. I blame the fact the the only thing that tasted good to me was lemon cake 😂
Just before diagnosis, I lost 25 lbs through hard work, and now I've put it ALL back. Sooooo, I'm going to just have to do the work again.
And lay off the cake. Lol
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Hello All!
I hope that you are all doing well and hopefully you are done with chemo at this point or nearly done.
I am 12 weeks post my last TC chemo and wanted to post and say that I have no noticeable chemo related side effects anymore. I also have eyebrows, eyelashes and thick very short hair. Permanent hair loss with TC is a concern so I wanted those reading to know it doesn’t affect everyone!
I have other issues (don’t we all?), but none causedby chemo at this point!
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Thank you GreenOutdoors. It is great to hear the chemo side effects are mostly gone.
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Thank you GreenOutdoors, so encouraging to know. Is your hair growing in a different texture? Your body cells are so happy they can reproduce again.
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hopeheal, yes the texture and color are different. I had a lot of thin dark blond hair and the new hair feels like each strand is thicker if that makes sense? It also doesn’t know what color it wants to be! It started out looking very dark and now it’s blond-ish with some white/grey mixed in. Not what I would choose but I’m so happy to have hair
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I just trimmed some sparse but stubborn grey-blonde hairs that were refusing to fall out because they were getting too long by contrast. I'm nearing the end of my chemo so none growing back yet, and now I look more completely bald, it's quite hard for me to look at, I should cover my scalp up at home.
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Hi Ladies. Our thread has been pretty quiet. I thought I had somehow turned off notifications for it. Please check in and let us know how you are doing now. Hopefully everyone is back at life in general and putting treatment behind.
I started the aromatase inhibitor in Aug and am not really having any side effects, thankfully. I did get a bone scan that shows I have the beginnings of osteopenia so my MO wants me to take Prolia.
Today I went for my first post treatment mammogram. I had told my surgeon I was feeling some tender congestion/raised area where my lymph nodes were removed, so she added an ultrasound to the order. Came back abnormal, so now I have to get a biopsy done. I'm hoping they are just being overly cautious and it's really nothing. I won't lie...I'm scared of this. But this is my life now...tests and worry. *sigh*
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Hi Kipepeo, I am sorry you need to go through another biopsy. When we are diagnosed with cancer, they are overly cautious. Hopefully yours is going to be benign.
I finished my chemo about a month ago and I have my BMX scheduled for October 6th.
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Kipepeo, The ever-present worry just doesn't get easier, does it. Sending positive thoughts your way. My last chemo infusion with Taxol was the 19th of August. We had to cut the infusions short by two treatments because the peripheral neuropathy in my legs and hands was getting overwhelming. I'm afraid it is not going to go away and there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done about it.
Starting radiation in a couple of weeks and I'm getting very nervous about the "fatigue" side effect.
Wishing the best to all others that started out in this forum and hope you are all doing well.
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Kipepeo - so sorry you have to have a biopsy. Sending you good vibes 😎
Me, I’m doing very well. Month 3 of tamoxifen, only side effect is hot flashes, but I’ve had those since round three of chemo. Getting used to them..
Hope everyone is doing well!!
Oh, and my hair is growing fast, thick, and curly!!
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