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Re: TCH (Taxotere,Carboplatin, Herceptin)
Now that I have been through all the treatments...the full monty...and just had my second anniversary of the dx, I feel so different I can't believe this is me talking...I was exactly like you are with the "to hell with it" attitude about how nasty was chemo, terrified of radiation before it started, etc. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming through all the treatment, but I have to say, do all the treatments. Every last one.
It's a marathon not a sprint. When it is over you will lose the weight you gained on the steroids they give you to tolerate chemo. There is no way to keep it on! It falls away even though I did no dieting , etc. your bowels and tummy and hair and eyelashes and everything do return to normal. Have faith that you will feel a hundred percent better at a time in the future. Then you will only be left with this question: "Did I do every single initial treatment they told me to do?" If you can answer yes, your peace of mind will be a million times better. I was so fed up after chemo I delayed radiation start and just was absent for several and they had to reschedule them so no, I didn't do all the radiations in the time recommended. But I did them.
Please relax. Do everything and anything you can to take time off and get through the treatments. Please. I'd love to read your posts one day when you are a long term survivor. We have lost a number of women on these boards. Please, please, find the Rocky Balboa in you to get through this.
I am here for you and so are all the wonderful, brilliant women on here.
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fall 2008: mammo of rt breast worrisome so am asked to redo mammo and have ultrasound of rt breast.I delay it til january 2009 and the results are "no cancer in rt breast. phew."
found plum sized lump in right breast the day before my dad died: April 17th 2011. saw it in mirror, while i was wearing a top, examining my figure after losing 10 lbs on dr. bernstein diet.
diagnosed may 10 2011
mast/lymphectomy: june 7 2011, 5/20 cancerous nodes. stage 3a before radiation oncologist during our first mtg on july 15th says he found cancer on the lymph node of my breast bone. Now stage 3b.
her2+++, EN-, PN-. Rt brst tumors:3 at onset, 4.5 cm was the big one
chemos: 3fec's followed by 3 taxotere, total of 18 wks chemo. sept: halfway thru chemo the mastectomy scar decides to open and ooze pus. (not healed before chemo) eventually with canasten powder sent by friend in ny (illegal in canada) it heals.
radiations:although scheduled to begin 25 january 2012, I am so terrified by it (rads cause other cancers) I don't start til february, miss a bunch, reschedule them all and finally finish 35 rads mid april. reason for 7 extra atop the 28 scheduled is that when i first met my rads oncologist he said he saw a tumor on the lymph node of my breastbone. extra 7 are special kind of beam used for that lymphnode. rads onc tells me nobody ever took so long to do rads so he cannot speak for effectiveness. trials had been done only on consecutive days so......we'll see.....
10 mos of herceptin started 6 wks into chemo. canadian onc says 10 mos is just as effective as the full yr recommended by dr. slamon......so we'll see..completed july 2012.
Sept 18 2012: reconstruction and 3 drains. fails. i wear antibiotic pouch on my job for two months and have 60 consecutive days visiting a nursing centre where they apply burn victims' silver paper and clean the oozing infection daily. silicone leaks out daily. plastic surgeon in caribbean. emergency dept wont remove "his" work. He finally appears and orders me in into an emergency removal of implant. I make him promise no drains and I get my way. No infection as a result. Chest looks like a map of Brazil. Had a perfectly good left breast on Sept 17th but surgeon wanted to "save another woman an operation" ? so he had crashed two operations together on my left breast, foregoing the intermediary operation where you install an expander. the first surgeon a year earlier had flat out refused to waste five hours on his feet taking both boobs. flat out refusal. between the canadian health system saving money and both these asses, I got screwed. who knows when i can next get enough time off work (i work for myself and have no substitute when my husband is on contract) to get boobs again. arrrgh.
I have a blog where I document this trip and vent.
www.nora'scancerblog.blogspot.com . I stopped the blog before radiation. I think the steroids made me more angry and depressed and i just hated reading it anymore
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