Topic: Chemo starting October 2017

Feb 27, 2018 07:50AM LisaCincy wrote:

Sara, I was 6 months past hot flashes when I got BC and now I'm also waking up every night, just drenched in sweat. I don't know what to attribute it to since my BC is not hormone based. I wonder if it's a SE of chemo, though we are on 2 different ones. I've put the heat down to 66F (18.9C) at night, which is the lowest my family can tolerate, because I've found that the colder the room is, the better I sleep. But I'm still experiencing hot flashes that may it impossible to sleep through the night. So odd.

After I'm done with my surgery, I'm going to go back on melatonin and see if that helps. I don't think that it helped that I was in the habit of waking up 2 to 3x per night to pee, thanks to the amount of water I was drinking on chemo, and my body has now adjusted to that new normal. Not a good trend.

Feb 27, 2018 09:42PM LisaCincy wrote:

Petey, so glad you're feeling better. I've been on a rollercoaster of emotions since I was DXed so I completely understand.

Still haven't heard about my skin biopsy. I cannot believe that they make us wait over a week to get results back. I read on the Feb surgery threat that it took someone 3 weeks to get their pathology report after their BC surgery. That's nuts!

Getting packed up for my BMX surgery tomorrow. Got my lozenges, sports bra, phone charger, etc all packed. Wish me luck!

Feb 28, 2018 10:29AM Jennifer522 wrote:

Thoughts are with Lisa today as she has surgery. Hiker, I hope you are resting comfortably at home.

Feb 28, 2018 06:24PM petey111 wrote:

Lisa - Hope things went well for you today!

Agatha - How are you doing?

Guess what girls?!!! I'M DONE WITH CHEMO!! My neuropathy is bad enough that they felt it was good to stop early. Apparently, there are studies that show that if you complete 80-85% of the treatment (including AC) that it is as effective as completing the whole 100%. And, since I have radiation and tamoxifen still coming to me as treatments, they are ok with stopping. So I guess I am too! LOL

I wasn't prepared for it to be my last, but it was. I'll have to go back and give the girls some flowers later. They sang to me, gave me a completion certificate, and a little pin that says, "Shine On" with a quote from Maya Angelou. "Nothing can dim the light that shines from within." I got teary.

I meet with the RO tomorrow, so I'll have to read the radiation threads a bit, but I'm not leaving you my girls...not at all! :-)

Feb 28, 2018 07:02PM Simbobby wrote:

Congrats Petey,

Feels great to be done with Chemo - it was still a long haul.

I had my last chemo last week and I am just now experiencing neurophy in my hands and feet this week for the first time. Relatively mild so hoping its temporary.

I'm interested to hear if yours improves now that you're not getting chemo.

My thoughts are with Hiker and Lisa. Hope they are resting comfortably after their surgeries

Feb 28, 2018 08:31PM Tri-lady7 wrote:

Congratulations on finishing chemo Petey! Hope the neurophy gets better now. Hoping all is well with Hiker and Lisa. So nice to hear we are all at the end. 5 more days for me!

Mar 1, 2018 11:00AM LisaCincy wrote:

For those who are still waiting for surgery, here are the items I used:

Chap stick.

Lozenges

Phone

Phone charger

iPad

Pen

Safety pins for drains.

Tooth brush and toothpaste

Facial wipes

Moisturizer

Mar 1, 2018 07:51PM LisaCincy wrote:

Thanks, Agatha. i'm home recovering now. Glad to be out of the hospital! Can't wait for the swelling to go down so that I can take my shower tomorrow and see how the new boobs look. :)

Mar 2, 2018 01:47PM - edited Mar 2, 2018 01:48PM by Jennifer522

Lisa - I hope your doing well today with no pain and new foob's (that word makes me laugh!). Thank you for any tips, I need to start to prepare for my surgery next month. And yeah for all the good news!

Right now it's getting through chemo. I am getting more and more fatigued with each round. With the first few Taxol's I was ok for a few days and only had 2-3 days of fatigue once I wasn't taking steroids. Now it's starting on the evening of infusion and lasting a good 7-10 days before I feel somewhat energetic again. Only one more infusion to go!

Congrats Petey on your last Chemo!

Thinking of Joyseeker/Sara too and hoping rads are going as well as possible for you!

Mar 3, 2018 09:31AM HikerVA1956 wrote:

Hello everyone and I have appreciated all the well wishes and concerns. Had surgery on Monday wth no complications or delays. Nothing reported by the surgeons as being abnormal. Everyone was happy. They got me into a room quickly for the night. I had no appetite, but tried to eat on some crackers to prevent nausea from the meds. I like my meds. They were great but to not put me in a place where I can not function. (worst side efffect is trying to type). The sleeping on my back has not been as bad as I feared. Having plenty of pillows propped up of different sizes does the trick. I do have come intense pain in the center of my rib cage and running across when my boobs would sit, sitting there like heavy iron bars. Pain meda help relieve this some. No other great pain, must minor stuff, like when you stretch and something plus...Emptying the drains has been easy too/and recording. I was told that I could take a shower also, but my sister and I looked at the bandage and there are just two square bandages over each sight making it appear there ie nothing further below that??? I am guessing maybe some type of mesh stuff, but I am not ready to mess with this stuff Bathing around the boob area wiii work until DR visit on Tues. My Sis has been changing the bandages around the drains. Love having my family to be here a skwirm and laugh with me, hehehehe

I did ask my PS about my final surgery, the DIEP when I get a real body back...the one I am excitied about,,,he said 3 months from 2/26/2018

I have been keeping up with everyones finishing and excitemenet ...may not be posting as much... meds really screw with my grammer.

Mar 3, 2018 09:46AM petey111 wrote:

Man on man. My fingers are worse today and so are my toes and feet. It's a good thing we stopped. I also developed a rash on my arms. It's been building actually, looking more like eczema than anything. But Thursday (a day after Taxol), I got angry red streaks on the top of both arms. Right up next to my arm pit on my bicep. It was sort of darker and red going down my bicep, then my rashy/eczema part on my elbows, then my forearms have red dots down to my wrists and my hands were getting red. Yowza! So, they called in a zpack for me. Just what I need - more steroids! :-P Oh well, this arms stuff is crazy, so I hope it helps. The nurse said, "I think Taxol just really didn't agree with you." Ummm...understatement. LOL

I could tell last night that I was tanking when I was out with a friend for dinner. This morning, my hands/feet are worse, my arms are annoying, I'm starting to hurt, I have got the big D, and I was nauseous and had to take a zofran. BUT....I know I don't have to go through it again. That makes it a bit easier.

So for those still finishing....hang in there. It does make it a bit better when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Here's hoping everyone gets through the weekend ok!

Mar 3, 2018 11:14AM AgathaNYC wrote:

Hey, Lisa - Hang in there. Petey posted the exercises that I was going to send you. I'll take another look at my handout booklet and see if there are any others. Thanks for the tip about practicing getting up out of bed. I have realized I use my right (surgery) arm to really push myself out of bed. I may actually sleep with my head at the foot of the bed so my left arm would be the push-off arm (bed in a corner - can only get out on one side.... joy of city apartment living)

Hiker! Great to hear from you. I'm glad your sister is with you to help. Hope every day is better.

Petey - sorry your neuropathy is so bad. I'm hoping both of ours eases up with time. I may ask my MO for some gabepentin or something when I see her after my lumpectomy. Your RO sounds eccentric and kind. Some of my best doctors have been like that. Are you going for a second opinion?

joyseeker Sara - Good luck with rads. I must have missed a post with your start date. Have you already had your simulation? Have you actually started the daily sessions?

I had the radioactive seeds implanted yesterday, to mark off the abnormal area for my surgeon. It kinda sucked. The breast is compressed in the mammogram machine for about 20 minutes which was uncomfortable, even after they shot the lidocaine in the areas where the seeds would go. I asked if my breast could be numbed before even going in the machine, but no-go.

My surgery time is finally set for Monday's lumpectomy. I'm scheduled to have the nuclear dye injection at 6:30am and in the OR at 9:15. It's in 2 different buildings about 7 blocks apart which I think is weird. There's a shuttle van that takes you from the dye place to the surgery center. I'd rather they just knock me out and push my gurney down 1st Avenue, weaving through all the commuters on the sidewalk! I could have one of those clown horns to move people out of the way.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Mar 3, 2018 05:22PM LisaCincy wrote:

Thanks for the exercise links. I'm definitely going to try to move my arms more. I also need to walk more.

I think I'm going to send an email to my PS asking what stepdown OTC drugs I can substitute for the Oxy. I'm very sore, but not in excrutiating pain or anything, so I don't think I'll need the big guns past today. I especially hate that after taking one, I'm out like a light for an hour or 2. I've successfully extended the time between pills by 1.5 hours but would rather take something without codeine as soon as possible.

My drains are still capturing a lot of fluid, so I kind of doubt I'll be able to get them removed on Thursday because I have to be 3 consecutive days under 30mL total. I'm glad I only have 2 drains to deal with, but they are a minor PITA. I also have a major backache from laying down all the time.

I'm starting back on the Nioxin, and am happy with the growth so far. I still think it'll be 3 months before I'll walk out without a cap on, less if I can find someone to color it.

The upside to all this: my complexion is beautiful. I suffered from acne my whole life, but now it's peaches and cream. Of course, I also have a whole bunch of peach fuzz growing, too, so maybe it won't last,but I'm enjoying the no-makeup lifestyle. And I know that I'll enjoy the no bra lifestyle, too!

BTW, I looked at my new foobs and they are a mess right now. The scar across my chest where they removed the nipple is like something out of a Frankenstein novel, and the implants are mushed here and there. I'm hopeful that once the swelling goes down, I'll be happier with them! Right now they itch like a mother, and I'm already feeling phantom pains from my ghost nipples. Very, very strange.

2brandy, I think that the Herceptin ladies should all have HER+ in their profile. I'm TN so no targeted treatment is available yet for me.

Agatha, the Nuclear Medicine place was in a different building than where I had surgery, but at least it was on the same campus. I'd pay good money to see you transported down 1st avenue with a bullhorn. Good luck with your lumpectomy! I hope it's a smashing success.

HikerVa, I've showered twice since surgery. I removed the compression garment and gauze and the rest was covered in steri-strips and glue. I was really happy to get rid of that compression garment, though, and move on to a soft-cup bra. 5/26 will get here before you know it, and hopefully you'll be all healed up in time to enjoy the rest of the summer.

Petey, keep walking and moving around to try and help with the neuropathy. I walked 2 to 3 miles as often as I could after my chemo ended, and my neuropathy is nearly gone. I also played the air piano a lot to help with the hands.

Sara, You are in the home stretch!

Mar 4, 2018 01:18PM Tri-lady7 wrote:

Lisa and Hiker- so happy everything is going well for you both. Rest up and allow your body to heal:)

DDK- I asked the same thing to my MO. He said no more scans unless I am having pain for at least two weeks. Very scary to know it is just a wait and see approach. I've been a little emotional this weekend as my last chemo is tomorrow but I still have rads and the hormone blocker in the future so i feel good knowing I am still fighting it!

Good luck tomorrow Agatha! I will be thinking of you. Just an FYI I didn't even need pain meds after my lumpectomy as I had no pain.

Mar 4, 2018 03:37PM - edited Mar 4, 2018 04:01PM by Jennifer522

Good to hear your off the big dog meds, Lisa. I had a lot of dental work done in the year before dx, and prescribed Oxy. I don't know why people want this drug so much, it just makes me foggy and what to sleep all the time!

My BS has warned me of that numb breast feeling. That it won't feel like my normal breasts. I wonder too how I will adapt. I have a dental implant put in back in September and it still feels weird. That there is no feeling there. And that is just one tooth, not my chest! Speaking of my BS, my husband took daughter to private birthday party yesterday (at one of those kids bounce places) and who happened to be there (at the same party) but my BS. She has 2 young girls around my daughters age. Talk about small world.

I never had a PET scan either. I had a MRI at dx and I will have another MRI next week (considered pre-surgical). The BS ordered it. My MO was just going to order another spot US on my tumor like I had after AC. If they are going to do a US, I expected them to at least do the entire breast and lymph nodes not just the one tumor they know about. I know my SIL who had early cancer, pays for a PET each year out of pocket ($8,000). I do get what your MO said since my mammogram didn't catch my tumor 7 months prior and it was 2.6 cm when I found it. And you always hear about false negatives or it being nothing. But wanting some reassurance is totally understandable!

Thinking of you tomorrow Agatha! I would love to see you being wheeled down 1st avenue! :) I am sure crazier things have happened in NYC. And I saw you mentioned the pink pockets on the surgery thread (I am starting to read those). I ordered those today along with a few button down shirts and PJ's. I don't usually wear button down, so I had nothing in my closet.

I still have on my list (maybe) zip down cami, shower stool, wedge pillow. I worry the most about being able to get out of bed and to the bathroom on my own. We have a soft memory foam bed, that I sink into. Or an old school style recliner that I would need someone to pull the feet up and push the back for me. My BS mentioned not being able to shower for 2-3 weeks (I assume while the drains are in) and to make sure my husband installed a removable shower head.