How can I keep my mother positive?

[jgneco]

I am Rosa's mother and I am sorry to worry her so much. I have always been a caretaker and now I am depending on husband to care for me.
I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Nov 09. I have her2 (neg estro. & pro.)level 3. I was a healthy 54 year old woman who used to work out daily and ate right.
I have no one in my family with cancer, so it too me a long time to accept the fact that I had cancer. I had one chemo which almost killed me. I was bedridden for 10 days and could not keep anything down. I lost 10 pounds in 6 days and had a fever and a constant headache.
I will go tomorrow for the second chemo round and I am terrified. When I communicated the problems to my doctor and other cancer patients that I met, I found out that the anti-nausau (ONDANSETRON) was giving me a migrate headaches and pain medication, OXYCODOND medication got me very sick.
I was throwing up and had diarrhea for 4 days.
I went to the hospital and got hydrated and felt better for one day.
Then I had a fever because I had a some type of infection. The doctor gave me antibiotic (CIPROFLOXACIN-HCL) which gave me a immediately reaction. I started shaking and could not stop my body from shaking. I also started thinking of suicide. The doctor was called and allegery medication was given to me. I was also given anxiety medication to calm me down.
Yesterday, I got a power port put in because I ran out of veins. That should make my Chemo easier.
I was a strong single mother who raised three children, who are successful and good human being. I struggled all my life but this is a struggle that I have no control of.
I thank you all that responded to my daughter's concern. I will try Chemo again because my love ones have convince me. I just hope that I don't die from treatments...

[Jackie07]

Hi Rosa's Mother,

It's so good to hear from you. I'm glad you are going to resume the treatment. Hopefully your doctor has got everything figured out and will give you the right meds this time.

A port really helps. I'd had several surgeries before my breast cancer, so the surgeon installed the port during my lumpectomy in 2003. After the 2nd (or 3rd?) chemo using the port, I was having too much pain when the needle went into my port (even after taking a deep breath and then holding my breath - so one of the technician brought me a cream to put on the port to numb it and the next several rounds of chemo I put the cream on before I was headed to the hospital because it takes 25-30 minutes to take effect.

I'm mentioning this just to emphasize again that there's solution for everything and a chemo patient in modern time is not supposed to 'suffer' from needless pain. There are good anti-nausea medicine also. Be sure to ask for it when you need it.

Isn't it wonderful to have a wonderful daughter like Rosa? Be sure to tell her how much we admire her devotion and love to you... and please keep us updated.