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Haven't heard from Anthi in awhile...

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Breast Cancer
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Posted 6/6/2007 3:31 AM (GMT 0)
how is radiation going???  Give us an update!

Hugs...

BEV

Posted 6/6/2007 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hello. Rads is going fine thank you but it seems to take a big chunk out of each day - the journey is about an hour in each direction. Once I'm there though the staff are extremely nice and friendly and very professional. They're also very efficient and so far I haven't spent more than half an hour in the hospital. (After all those months of sitting around doing very little while I was on chemo I suddenly feel very busy again which is good. My students are also in the last stages of their exam preparation so that's keeping me busy as well).

My breast is looking quite pink and is a bit sore but I'm putting lots of aqueous cream on and am wearing only cotton next to my skin - I bought some Sloggi cotton crop tops which are blissfully comfortable. Today is the halfway point - I've had 9 rads out of the 18 - so it's going well.

I had my first Herceptin a couple of weeks ago and that also went well. It was a long tedious day as they need to monitor you for 6 hours after the first infusion in case of side effects and I spent 8 hours in the hospital. I had no side effects while I was there. Since then I've had a few muscle and joint pains but nothing much apart from that. I think I'm still getting the chemo out of my system but I feel pretty well on the whole apart from not sleeping at all well.

My hair is continuing to grow but very slowly - I still have some bald patches where the regrowth hasn't started at all. I think I just need to be patient.

Bev how are you and how is your husband now?

Take care everyone
Anthi
Posted 6/6/2007 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
We're doing well, actually. He's still half-heartedly on his diet (seems he thinks potato chips are part of the OWL (ongoing weight loss) portion of the diet, and while he's not gaining weight back, he's not losing any, either. He attributes this to the "dieter's plateau" rather than his consumption of chips, but I suspect otherwise. Now that he's lived through the one surgery and done so well, he forgets that another may be in his future, and it will be much more difficult.

I'm in physical therapy, which helps alot, and I'll be going there 3 times a week for a few more weeks, I guess. Pain level has gotten much better, and so now we are working on strenthening. Joyce will tell you that that means "time out on the naughty ball," or something like that. But if I don't want to look and feel like a little old lady, then that's just what I have to do.

I'm so glad the rads are going okay. An hour trip each way for a half-hour in the hospital...I guess that's better than the other way around! How is the fatigue level??? I don't know...it's always so hard for doctors to understand how you can be so darned bone tired and yet, can't sleep. I think all oncologists should go through a few rounds of chemo just so they know what it feels like. Read an interesting article once about oncs who were diagnosed with cancer, and every one of them said, "my patients always told me, but I just really didn't understand 'til I went through it myself."

What will your herceptin schedule be like???

You take care of yourself. I'm not sure what a "sloggi"...is that like a camisole???

Hugs...
BEV
Posted 6/6/2007 10:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hello again Bev

Sloggi is the make and yes the crop tops are a bit like a camisole but in a stretchy cotton  - they give you good support but have only a couple of seams and darts and irritate the skin much less than a bra.   They're lovely to wear.

Herceptin is every 3 weeks for the next  year.  The second one is also a longer day than usual as they monitor you for 3 hours afterwards but after that you can go home immediately after the infusion which is 90 minutes.

Glad to hear that you are both doing well and that you are in less pain. I hope you can  manage to get him back on his diet !  I shall need to start a diet as soon as rads are finished.  Those fried egg sandwiches during chemo have done their worst!

Take care

Hugs

Anthi

Posted 6/7/2007 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
Ah, the chemo weight gain. I don't know anybody who didn't gain weight during chemo...people are always surprised when they hear that. I've had a great bonus in putting hubby on a diet. I've lost a few pounds myself. But I'm still not back to pre-chemo weight...another 11 pounds to go, and I'm thinking I just might get there! How nice that would be.

Sloggis sound wonderful. Don't think we have them over here.

A whole year of Herceptin, huh? Geez, that's tough...but you'll get there. And you'll get there knowing you've seriously kicked some cancer arse. Good for you, Anthi.

Hugs...
BEV
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