TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

ashla, she is a ball of energy!  She is small in stature but mighty in personality.  I showed her this knot on my inner arm that I was concerned about and she gave me an anatomy lesson.  I still laugh about it.  She said "this is your underarm, Lee.  This is your ARM."  hehe.  

She really went the extra mile regarding my micromet.  One day I passed her walking on the street near Providence Hospital and said "I'm on intravenous Vancomycin for an infection" and she yelled back "I know, I heard!"  She is on top of EVERYTHING (and she's not my physician).

Shasha, an echo wouldn't show low platelets.  It is a sonogram of the heart and shows the muscle function.  Did your NP tell you what your left ventricular ejection fraction was?  That is really what you need to know because Herceptin can decrease it.

So I did it!  I am at work, topless!!  I just couldn't take the wig anymore--itchy and gnarly.  Plus it is windy here and I don't want my "hair" to go sailing across the parking lot.  So far, lots of compliments and one coworker told me I was brave and admirable.  :-)  I know some of the mean girls are making fun of me, but I don't care.

There is something so liberating about breast cancer...you got to look for the good in everything!

Yeah Pbrain...You go girl!

ashla the reason your hair is so much thicker when it starts growing back is a lot of the hair is growing all at the same time. Our hair has cycles. Grows for a while then falls out. It's staggered though. Chemo messes with that schedule. It takes a bit for it to get out of sync again. I did find my normal texture started to come back 1 year PFC. You seem to be right on schedule for Anastrozole hair loss (as seen with my friends and my receding). I use Minoxidil and it seems to help and reduce hair loss. It has worked for friends too. Ask your onc.

Pbrain you can get a wig cap to prevent itch. I got one. Had too or it would have been too itchy for me. It was still hot when I wore it the 2 times in december. I went topless 13 weeks post PFC. I did have hair. I looked terrible bald. head shape not good

Thanks Lago... I was afraid it was anastrozole. Disappointing. Do any of the other AI's have better hair loss results? Your hair looks very thick and shiny. Okay..minoxidil check...Latisse check...

ashla I've always had thick, shiny hair. It has receded but I had that problem before treatment. a lot of what had receded before grew back after chemo but then I lost some of it again on Anastrozole but still not as bad as before. I started Minoxidil again 3 weeks PFC. I use the women's (walgreen's brand). I only use it 1tx a day but if you are really thinning use it as directed (2x a day). I'm using mostly to keep it from falling out. I did get some hair growth from it though. It's best to do it when your hair is wet. This way it will absorb into your scalp, not your hair. I paint it on my eyebrows too.

It can take 3-6 months to work. I wouldn't wait. My neighbor has thinned so much. She is finally going to try the Minoxidil. She was treated right after me, also a triple positive. We have the same doctors. I feel guilty every time I see her because I know she sees my thick shiny hair.

My hair dresser says the women at his salon tried Spectral.DNC. They say it's better than Minoxidil (although it does have some in it). My hair dresser also now uses it. He's not one to believe in these type products. It seems pricey. I haven't switched because so far the Minoxodil is working for me and the generic price is affordable.

I have a pdf of the brochure of the specs. It doesn't have prices or where you can buy it though. If you're interested I can send you the pdf. Just pm me your email.

lago and ashla - my hair is much thinner than when it first came back - mine came back with the normal texture I had before, it was not thicker and it was not curly.  It is pretty limp and particularly thin on the crown, thicker on the hair that grows from the ears down.

lago - crossing my fingers that your cyst behaves!

shasha - pbrain is right - the echo would not show your platelet count - it does show your ejection fraction.  That is not to say that yiur platelet count is not low - but that would be detected on a CBC. 

LeeA and shasha - platelets are fragile in the body - they are replaced by the body much more rapidly that other types of blood cells.  They may be low one day and normal the next as their turnover is so rapid.  They are damaged by chemo and make take a while to stabilize.  If they continue to stay low you can be transfused with platelets - it is an easy infusion, takes about 20 minutes and you do not need a cross-match, just a blood type.  Low platelets are problematic, if a long-term problem, because they are what helps your blood to clot.  LeeA - this is why the surgery delay for you, it is too dangerous.  What do your other counts look like?

pbrain - yay on the topless - boo on the haters!  The other thing about life after BC is that you realize what really matters, and it is definitely not petty people's opinions!

ashla, I love Charlize Theron's short haircut!  I wasn't sure if you meant you wanted to buzz it all off to just start over (I've read about some people doing that with their hair during chemo because of the stray hairs that come up).  

I've been taking Biotin throughout chemo (the oncologist okay'd it).  This is the back of my head as of Sunday (4.5 weeks PFC).  I didn't ever shave everything off 100% but I did shave a good portion of it (a pretty haphazard process on my part).  I'm guessing some of this is chemo damaged but I've taken pictures throughout and some of it is new hair - post chemo.  

SpecialK - I took a screenshot of one of your older posts about platelets regenerating (?) every five days or so late last night.  Thank goodness for the great search function here at BCO.org!  

My out-of-range counts are: 

WBC - 1.7 L

RBC - 2.9 L

Hemoglobin - 10.3 L

Hematocrit - 31.2 L 

MCV - 107.6 H

MCHC - 35.4 H

RDW - 15.1 H 

Platelet count - 73 L 

Absolute neutrophils - 804 L 

Absolute lymphocytes - 668 L 

Absolute monocytes - 119 L 

Dizzymom I first saw a podiatrist then when I got it on my fingernails I saw a dermatologist. The ones recommended by my onc were best. If you already have it on your fingernails the dermatologist might be able to deal with both.

dizzy -  my wedding ring fingernail was removed by a dermatologist.

ashla - I take Biotin - 5,000mcg, started about 3 weeks PFC, but my hair still thinned - I am pretty sure it is the Arimidex.  I don't know what it would look like witout the Biotin, possibly no different, but I will never know.  I also use Bosley shampoo/conditioner at the suggestion of my hairdresser.

Lago, I just looked on my outlook calendar and counted.  This is week 13 PFC for me, so I guess topless is semi-ok.  Lee, I don't begin to have all of your hair though--how'd you keep that during TCH???  One treatment with that stuff and the hair leapt right out of my head (on Thanksgiving day, all at once...it was lovely).

Dizzy, I actually asked my NP about donorship.  She told me I was fine to donate blood in the future--she just wants me to wait a bit because hemoglobin is still low at ~ 10.  But she also said my bone marrow donor days are over.  I guess I should contact them.  I've been a donor since 1994 and no one has ever made me a match.  I must have one bonky HLA gene.

And we can still donate organs, but she said they won't want the heart, liver, kidneys etc.  She said they would still take our skin and corneas.  Oh well, I was getting a little crusty anyway.

My fingernails look exactly like yours, but I don't think that is blood under there.  I think it is actually dirt (I know, gross!).  I can't get it out and I even use the brushes surgeons use to scrub in.  I get the feeling my fingernails are in thin little sheets and that gunk gets stuck.  It doesn't help that I garden either.  Mine did lift a few days post the last chemo, but there was enough sheet of nail there to make it so the fingers didn't hurt. I couldn't scratch my dog's tummy though with only fingertips ;-)  No toenail problems at all.  So you might be a-ok.

Lee U'r hair looks georgeous and such a pure color--it's like baby hair all new. I tease my grandson my hair is younger than his.

Dizz, like Lago, my fingernails have been a nitemare and my toenails a horror nitemare---Now of course they are as hard as a rock (never had nails like that) but 2 are still lifted off the bed after all this time, and my toenails are sideways after falling out--no nice sandals for me, that's for sure--some of those shoes are so cute and not much of a heel so they'd be perfect but (as u see this silly thing aggrevates me) LOl 

Very quick note for now....1st chemo (TCH)....DONE....no problems/reactions during.....home for BIG nap......Chickiepooped

LeeA,

I went topless with a lot less hair than you have now. the only thing I did was to make sure I put on borow pencil, eyeliner and mascara...at those times I actually had lashes.. a little lipstick and usually a pair of earrings. IMHO if the front is nearly as long as the back, I would go wigless. Just shave the nape of your neck even.