Deborah Spencer's Page

Deborah- I was diagnosed a week before me 37th birthday! March of 2009. I have been through it all... Lumpectomy, Chemo, Radiation, Reconstruction. So here is the deal with Chemo... make sure you have Zofran!!!!! It saved me. Ask you doc about it if he doesn't give you a script for it! It is a pill that dissolves on you tongue. Helps with nausea.
Next... the neulasta injection (to keep your white blood cell count up) SUCKS!!! Not giving the shot itself, but the pain it causes the next day! Make sure you take your pain meds proactively!!! With the pain meds though you also need to take a stool softener and laxative otherwise you will be very sorry!!!!
Just plan on resting a lot! You will be okay. And if you have any other questions PLEASE let me know!!!
Good luck,
Adria

Hi Deborah
First off, sorry you had to join this "sisterhood". I was diagnosed September 25, 2008, at the age of 44. My 38 year old sister was diagnosed exactly two weeks before me.
I had a bilateral mastectomy with expanders on October 24, 2008. On December 5 I started my checmo. I had four cycles of cytoxan/taxotere, so I finished treatments February 6, 2009.
I had my treatments every three weeks on Fridays. The first treatment was the longest, because they had to go slow to make sure I didn't have any allergic reactions. But I was done around 4 pm, went home and changed my clothes and went and taught my zumba fitness class. I actually continued teaching my zumba classes all through my treatments and they really helped to keep side effects away. I never got sick! I actually only had to cancel one class, and that was the Monday following my last chemo treatment. I was so tired I couldn’t get out of the chair. That was the hardest part of the chemo…the fatigue. That and losing my taste buds! LOL The only food I wanted to eat and could taste was spicy food. We ate a lot of Mexican at our house during that time. I highly recommend drinking LOTS of water as well.
I did have to have the Neulasta shot every Monday after chemo, but it wasn’t as bad as some people had told me. But I believe the exercising and the detox soak I used after the shot helped.
If I can answer any other questions, let me know. I’ll be celebrating my two year cancer free birthday in October!

Hi Deborah, congrats on being a survivor! It's a club no one wants to join, but breast cancer certainly has changed my life, for the better. I'm a 6 year survivor and did chemo and radiation. I had CMF chemo and didn't lose all my hair. I also did acupuncture during my treatment and attribute that to keeping my energy up and nausea down. I played tennis and other exercise during my entire chemo treatment and only felt the fatigue when I started radiation and my thyroid stopped working. I never had to have the Neulasta shot, so I'm not sure about that one. Definitely drink a lot of water and listen to your body. If you're tired, take a nap. If you're hungry, eat. Pamper yourself. Let us know how you're doing. I'll be thinking about you!

Hi again Deborah, As you can see different cases have all different types of Chemo treatments. Mine went like this.... 16 weeks all together, 1 treatment every 2 weeks (so 8 in all). I was given 3 different kinds of chemo. For the first 4 treatments I was given a combination of Adriamycin and Cytoxin. I did lose my hair. When it really started to fall out (about 3 weeks after 1st chemo) I shaved my head. Honestly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! The last 4 treatments I was given a combination of Taxol and Herceptin (this is not a chemo drug it's to treat tumors that are HER2+). The Taxol does not cause nausea so that was good! The worst part of these treatments is that it's about a 4 hour infusion..... boring! Although they gave me a big dose of benadryl so I was pretty sleepy anyway. So that is my chemo story, I sure you will hear many others. But just know that your treatment is your own! Every case is different, and everybody reacts differently!