TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

It is so good to read everyone's PFC stories and to see all that hair on Robin, wow! My last chemo is Thursday and I am having such a hard time convincing myself to go through with it. I feel like I've been beaten up enough already! But all of you are inspiring me to do it one more time.

RobinLK I turned 50 two weeks PFC. I also have fast growing hair although I kept cutting my short.

49 kinda sucked didn't it. 

Iago - 49 did suck... 20 days after my birthday was when I found my cancer. For some reason, I cannot change the spelling on my former post to *compliment.....auto correct only works when you don't need it!

Hoping to make these the "Fit Fifties!" Now if I can just get moving and lose the weight I gained on Taxol.... Thinking about a Color Dash 5k in November. Not a timed event...they even said you can crawl or roll. If you do the last two they would like for you to make angels in the colored cornstarch! ROFL

Robin, your hair looks gorgeous! What's the key to getting it so lush in just a few short months?

My husband claims it is Miracle Grow in the shampoo....it really has always grown abnormally fast. Luckily my leg and armpit hair were slowed down. Otherwise you would have had Bigfoot sightings in AZ! I was banned from shaving for quite some time due to my WBC....

for those of you not as fortunate as Robin in the hair growth dept... Have no fear . I was a slow grower. It was 4 mos PFC before I had enough growth to venture out uncovered. It comes back eventually . Mine much, much darker, finer and curlier:)

FYI all you girls on hormone therapy  army of women is doing a study on hormone therapies. How we feel about our meds. Looking for volunteers. All over the phone. Called WHIP. Will attempt link .

https://www.armyofwomen.org/

SpecialK 

Great! Me too....

i was thinking about doing the accupuncture one, don't know if i can be free for that, sounds good, though!

Thanks ashla,  I signed up too !

Debiann - my MO stopped me at 4 due to my liver enzymes.  He did say he could continue and really reduce the dose but that the most important thing that I was doing was the herceptin.  He also said that there really hadn't been any large enough studies done comparing 4 to 6 treatments to know if they made a difference and that the difference that a small study showed was very small - i think he said less than 1 percent- and in his opinion this did not outweight the risk of damage by continuing the chemo.  So I stopped at 4.  It does concern me a bit but it really didn't concern him.  Hard decision - but once it was made I refuse to look back and second guess it.   Go with your gut and don't look back once you make it.

On the hair issue - think I will be one of the slower growers.  Almost 2 months since last chemo and just fuzz on top of head but at least it is fuzz - can feel it but barely see it.  Maybe I will have some hair by Christmas lol.  Doesn't bother me though.  Funny it has become unimportant to me and I stopped wearing hats, scarves and wigs - mostly go out bald.  I always take a baseball cap with me in case my head gets cold but in general I just go natural.  

Debiann, you'll still be getting Herceptin during those 8 weeks, and like Linda said, that is powerful stuff.  One of the most interesting things I learned through this is that more side effects does not mean better treatment.  Even though the side effects from Herceptin can be pretty mild for most, it is really more important than the chemo.  They just still do them together because no one wants to do the study where they just treat us triple positive gals with Herceptin alone.

Keep us posted on what you decide.  And I like Linda's advice, once you make your decision, don't second guess it.  I've had to tell myself that a lot too.  I do second guess not doing a BMX...but oh well, the mammos every few months are fun (NOT!)

Linda, I was a slow grower too.  First month pfc I didn't even have fuzz.  Now I have a ton of hair again.  Take biotin (inexpensive, in the drug store with vitamins--a few a day.  It is water soluble, so if you don't use it, you pee it out).  I too went topless way early.  I was so done with the wig, I just didn't care.  And I work for a healthcare company where everyone is supposed to be young and healthy.  I was relatively healthy, just bald.  

Hi Jmo06 - I didn't have treatment at Moffitt but I did get a second opinion there.  His name was Dr Soliman and I liked him at least for the one time I saw him.  I am sure SpecialK will come around - I believe she has a friend that got treatment there and she may have a good recommendation for you.  

Great blog post Ashla!  I always say go to the drug's product insert (they are all online), PubMed or a credible site like one from Johns Hopkins or Mayo.  Other than that, believe nothing medical on the internet.  I've seen some amazingly ludicrous stuff!

now that I am going to have to find a new oncologist, I have dug out all my old questions, and am revising them to now include things like communication, post diagnostic tests, circulating tumor cell markers, etc. I've been doing some internet reading to help formulate the questions,