Anyone starting Chemo in Feb?

Brain died. I will be having the saline filled then. Boy is my brain dead, anyways have a good day I am going to say good bye before I mess up again. Thanks for such great friends on this ship.
Love, Theresa

Hi Hillary,
Wow, you are really reacting to Taxol it seems. Must be the difference between DD and taking 12 doses, once weekly. You can add Taxol #9 beside my name on the list. I have not had hardly any SE. I am tired today, two days after the dose #8. I hope mine is working. Well, yea it is, my hair is gone. That is pretty indicative. My hair actually started coming out after 2 doses of regular Taxol.
I hope you start feeling better soon. Will you be getting the DD Taxol every 2 weeks? Take care of yourself. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Sammie Kay

Hello Everyone,

Athough I've been reading everyones posts, It's been a while since I posted an update. I finished the 4th A/C today and toasting to everyone this part is over. A/C #3 kicked my butt and I have not been the same since. I could no longer handle working and took short term medical leave. The weakness and fatique is overwhelming.

Question for all you that have had the SNB. I Had this done back in January and still have a Blue tint to the area where the dye was injected - Does anyone see the same? Or does it eventually fade??

Hugs,
Melody

THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE FOR THIS WEEK'S BAR RESERVATIONS:

Monday -Phyl (1st taxol), Jen (last AC!) -- ALL ACCOUNTED FOR
Tuesday - Hillary (1st taxol), Catherine (1st abraxane), Sammiekay -- ALL ACCOUNTED FOR
Wednesday - Wendy, Theresa (last AC), Marsha (1st taxol), tropicmom -- NEED UPDATE FROM TROPICMOM
Thursday - StephJ (last AC!), Twink (1st taxol, maybe), Alyson (last FEC), Piper, Vegas (?), Terry (TCH#5, half-way done!), Tracy (last AC!), Kim (2nd taxol), Melody (last AC) -- NEED UPDATES FROM ALL BUT MELODY AND TERRY

Melody, I had the dye too Jan 21st and I do remember it was gone by the time I started rads on March 14. I don't remember when it finally disapeared, it sure was a big area of it showing though. Report says I had two lymph nodes checked and they were clean. Looked like an awful lot of dye left behind for two nodes. My BS was kind enough to put the dye in after I was out in surgery. I was dreading it because one of the nurses said you will be injected the dye through the nipple before you go to surgery!

Someone asked if I was triple neg (talking about genetic testing) and I'm not.

Have you ladies been wearing wigs? I started wearing my red one since the weather is much cooler. I even have a blond one now and just won a dark brown one off ebay. (If that one is nice I may have to buy a couple more in different styles from the same seller) Decided that since everybody that knows me will know its a wig I might as well have some fun with changing styles and colors. Red one is short hair, blond is medium and the brown one is just below the shoulders. When I wore my blond wig for the first time yesterday I told my rad doc and my rad techs that I was just having "a blond moment" today. I wore the red one in today and said I'm just a "wild woman" today! I may have to say with my brown wig..."its true...brunettes do have more fun!" The hotter days I tend to plop on a hat instead of a wig. It doesn't help my truck's ac isn't working well so tend to heat up a bit wearing a wig on warmer days. On Day 18 of my rads (I just did Day 21) I have some browning and burning right under my arm pits so they are watching it and I'm having to put stuff on it as the burns are most noticble at night while in bed.

My best to all those that cruised today. Hope all went well. Hugs to Steph, Twink, Alyson, Piper, Vegas, Terry, Tracy, Kim and anyone else who went to the bar today. Wow! quite a few of you, you could have a real party.

Vegas, I will be in Las Vegas June 27,28,29,30. I think we will be staying at the Mirage. It is the Suzuki Dealer Show. It is a national show. My DH owns a Suzuki dealership. That is motorcycles and four wheelers.

Carynn, I know some onc don't believe the B6 and L-Glutamine help neuropathy, but B6 is the only explanation I have for myself. I am on dose 9 and so far no neuro symptoms. About my starting A/C in May, thanks. I will let you know if I can't find that info.

I am tired and a little short of breath tonight, so must close.

A big shout out to Leah, Twink, Kim, Sybil,Jen,Jan,Melanie,Terry. And of course my dear Marsha.
Hugs to everyone. I will catch up this weekend. I will be working tomorrow and daughter and granddaughter coming into town tomorrow and spending the night with us.
Love to all, Sammie Kay

Thanks for the shout, SammieKay.
I am reading every day, but don't feel like I have much to add at this point. I am in the process of being restaged to understand what effect the A/C had. Since i was Stage IV out of the gate, I am lucky enough to have had a baseline CA27.29 (the best tumor marker for breast cancer). When I got home from vacation, the test result was waiting for me. Well ladies, if you don't think chemo works---- it does! I moved my tumor marker down to within 20 points of NED (no evidence of disease). This is a fabulous result for me! On Wed. 18th, I will have CT scan, breast MRI, etc. all over again and they will see what effect the A/C has had on all my parts! Since my breast tumor was small, they are expecting that to be comppletely shrunk, and my lymph nodes have shrunk over 75%. Don't know what happened yet to the 1 cm tumor on my liver.

I know this is talk more properly understood by the women on the metastatic link, but I feel you are my family and want to stay here. All of you stage I/II people, just know that this is a more phenomenal result than I had dared to hope for, and I now feel that I can live with this and might even live more than the statistical 2-5 years that it would have otherwise given me!

So next steps are lumpectomy (even if nothing is there to "see)and rads. I get to decide if I want lymph nodes taken out or not- full or partial or none. I am getting a second opinion on that. See, once you are Stage IV, the risks of surgery have to outweigh the benefits, because chemo is really the only thing managing all this. So it really makes no difference if they are removed or not. For the breast, they now believe that going in to the original breast site and "cleaning it" is the gold standard. Less than 2 years ago, they would not have done that for Stage IV. So this knowledge is constantly evolving and we are the beneficiaries!

My oncologist did a happy dance with me about the test result- I love him!

Catherine, I found a store here that has all the Ricola drops flavors in both regular and sugar free. If you want any, I would happy to mail them to you!

Marsha- let's start planning those fundraisers, I am ready.

Leaving this a.m. to go see my daughter who is a sophomore at Univ. of Vt. Miss her. But we are storming for Sunday/Monday, so glad I picked these days.

I have been following the work discussions. I missed 4 days of work, and kept full hours plus, but I did not have any other responsibilities. I didn't cook much or clean nor have to worry about DH or a child, so I would just come home, change into jammies and go to bed. That was my choice- no heroism involved. For me, work was therapy and I was able for blocks of hours, forget I had cancer. I also needed the support of various people at work, as they are my community. So for me, working was part selfish- had my own group of people to selectively call when I wanted company, to bitch with, cry with,exchange hugs with, etc. That's a lot of why I worked. Being alone, with myself, would not have worked mentally for me at all.

Thanks for the SNB info. I thought it was sentinal node, but I didn't get the "shot" part.

4Sybil, found a wonderful therapist who specializes in Stage IV people, as she did 8 years in hospice work. The issues are very similar. I am so glad I am involved in this process- I feel stronger and more at peace already knowing I will be able to unravel some of the issues about my life, my life legacy and what I really value and how I want to spend my days- however many I have.

So, have a great weekend everyone. I am flying high right now due to the test result, so I am learning to live with the incredible ups and downs that I will go thru every three months for the rest of my life. What a ride!

Love to everyone.

Good morning...

Congratulations,Leah! Such wonderful news. We are all here for you. Hope you don't get caught in this huge snowstorm they are calling for. DH is putting the snow plow on the truck today to prepare. Have a wonderful trip.

I am exhausted today after TCH #5...my face is red and I am really bloated from the decadron. Took a lasix. As soon as the Benedryl sleepiness wore off yesterday, the Decadron high took over and I didn't go to bed until 1am. Awake at 5:50 so I am tired. But going to work...at least a half day and see how I do.

Today is my 48th birthday...feeling a little low. I could sit down and cry. Don't know why. My treatment is going well but I hate getting on the scale and seeing it go up from the fluid buildup. I am eating the same so I don't think I am gaining real weight. Is this happening to anyone else? I guess I am just tired physically and emotionally and not looking forward to doing this until almost July. Maybe I just need to have a meltdown and get this out of my system.

Well...thanks all for listening, What would I do without you. I am keeping my chin up for my 4 kids and hubby and Mom. Don't want them to see me down.

Off to work...love to all,

Leah, You are my hero! I am so very very very pleased for you. You have led this pack of crazy cruisers into the unknown from the very first and your inspiration and outlook on your life (I say 25+ years) makes me proud to be your friend. Don't you dare stop posting and visiting with us!!

Terry, I too had a major meltdown, after A/C #3. We are all entitled to that and to be honest, I'm still finding myself a bit teary eyed easier than before the chemo. Never much of a crier but could pretty much cry on a dime at times.

So far, taxol #1 is causing me NO problems. No neulasta shot since my counts were way up before Wed infusion. Doing a survivor walk this evening. Have a great day everyone.........Marsha

Oh, Leah, Leah... so wonderful to read your post, I am so happy for you that all this journey makes sense because it does show results. As you say, there is a thread for women with similar staging as yours, women who also write about the incredible hope there is, no matter what, because there are options and a lot of things work, not to mention the fact that there is not a month that goes by without the news of some new promising treatment. It's OK to go read these posts... and respond, but INDEED, stay here with us, you've been our beacon in the dark when we embarked on that cruise... We need you here... I completely understand what you say about work, this is your community, and the support must be tremendous. Take real good care of yourself and come back here often to talk to us.
Big hugs to you, keep dancing...
Catherine

Leah, I came to this group late, so am trying to catch up on everyone's story, and yours is so inspiring! I am so happy for you and your test results are AWESOME!!! I don't even know you and I feel like my whole day has been made. And it sounds like you have an amazing attitude. As I keep reminding my friends whenever I see them with the long face as they ask after my health - I am NOT a statistic. Those are for researchers and clinicians and have nothing to do with us individually. Keep it up, dear Leah, and next time those results just may be totally NED!!

Twink, to determine size, you just need to figure out how many Mardi Gras beads you want to catch! Are you going "hootchie mama" or something a little more understated? For me, as small as I was before, anything would have been an improvement, so I feel quite busty with my small size Cs which are also affectionately known as "The Rack Pack" in true Vegas fashion.

Marsha, so great to hear that so far you have no side effects. I am hopeful that after Monday I will be able to say the same!!

Luckily I copied this as I was timed out again. Probelm is I have to go back and read the previous posts - have a real cottonwool brain these days.

Well done Leah, it is great to hear positive news these days.
Marsha, really pleased to hear that the Taxol went OK
Terry, you are allowed meltdowns especially on birthdays. I think we need to remember that we all are in a very fragile state at present. Haven't had a big meltdown for a while just little hiccups. Hope you had a great day and were able to celebrate.
Carynn - we lost, have another game tonight not sure if I will get up to watch or not. We really need to win this one to stay in the tournament. Getting up and watching cricket or rugby games is something we are used to doing. Most of the teams we play are half a world away.
Karen keep your spirits ups, being positive has wonderful effects on treatment. I know we must be realistic but there is always hope. I am determined not to let this thing beat me even if I do have real down days at times.
Well the trip to the bar was terrible. Was given extra drugs to knock the nausea, problem was it made me really ill and affected my heart beat. So had to stop the chemo till they did an ecg. Everything settled down some continued getiing the red devil. then the last lot gave me a terrible head ache. Came home and crawled into bed feeling awful. Woke up about 1am and was violently ill for several hour. Slept most of Friday. Today, Saturday afternoon here, I am starting to feel better. DS has just been around to check how I am which is lovely. Both duaghters are out of town at present so things have been very quiet.
Feeling a little sad as our good friend from Indiana are returning home after 6 months here - will miss them as this is prpbably the last time they will come for that length of time. Nevermind we are planning a trip next year. Will vist Vancuver, then the States- Indiana of course then will get to visit my aunt and cousins in Pennsylvania. They have been to NZ on many occassions but this will be my first time visiting them. We will then visit Ireland, the UK and Europe. It is so good to be able to think about something like this. It rather like planning DD2's wedding. Its someting really positive to think about.
Feeling really sleepy again so will finish now.
You are all in my prayers
Alyson

Leah, what a beaufiful person you are. You inspire all of us. Please stay here with us, we need you. I have been meditating on "blooming where I am planted", wherever that may be.
Carynn, put me down for Taxol #10 on Tues.
Hugs to all. Goodnight. Tired tonight. Sammie Kay:)

Hillary --
I had one period, on schedule, after AC#1. Then another, off schedule, two weeks later. I'm now late for the 'on schedule' one and early for the 'off schedule' one. Not sure if I'll see another because of my age though. I had that pre-menstrual feeling just before I should have started the 'on-schedule' one, but it passed with no action.