Feeling Great

I had my daughter shave my head when the hair began falling out.  I looked in the mirror ar the bald head and it REALLY hit me that I had cancer.  It is the constant reminder .. even on those days when you feel decent and go about your life .. that bald head it always there.  I really didn't care about the hair itself .. got a couple cute wigs that I wore when I left the house for work, church, chemo, etc.  It's just the bald head was like wearing a scarlet "C" on my forehead.  

I didn't lose my eyelashes/brows until near the end .. and them came back quickly.  I had to learn to draw on eyebrows .. now THAT was funny.

One thing I wish I had did during chemo was the Look Good, Feel Better .. or join a support group with other chemo women.  Nothing better than a bunch of ladies sharing the same dilema.

Glad Mom is feeling good.  How many rounds of chemo to go?  Keep your eye on THAT prize .. the end.

Judy

Hi Judy,
It's great to hear from you.  Joy was in great spirits after chemo today. They say between the 2nd and 3rd cycle it starts to get bad.  Today was cycle 2 day 1.  She will have 4 more for a total of 6 carbo/taxol cycles.

CA125
Before surgery = 290
After surgery = 400  Yikes!
Midway after 1st chemo, 10/31 = 295
Day before 2nd chemo cycle = 77  YEAH!!

Doctor was very happy with her numbers.

I imagine it was hard for your daughter to shave your head.  I think Joy is concerned about the "C" on her forehead, but she has a great attitude about it.  She showered today and it really thinned, so she said she would probably get it buzzed tomorrow.  Maybe she'll keep her eyebrows for most of chemo...I guess we'll see.  I can imagine it was tough to tell where the eyebrows went when drawing them on.

Joy is old fashioned and doesn't go for support groups and things, however has opened up to classes like Look Good...etc.  Did your family give you the support to help you through chemo and everything?

Her prize is kind of far away...so please keep reminding us of that prize!

You are on tamoxifen now?  How are you doing?  From your bio it looks like you were diagnosed in 2007?

Great to hear from you.

Caren

I was diagnosed 6/06 and finished cisplatin/taxol Thanksgiving week 2006.  It is going on 2 years of no real chemo.  Started taking tamoxifen 7/07 for rising CA125, but no evidence of disease.  CA up to 77 and we are watching a lymph node near my liver that was first seen this May and had not changed at the end of August.  I have elected to wait until 12/19 for another PET/CT and am waiting until 12/30 for results.  Nothing will ruin Christmas.  My grandson will be coming (with my son and dtr-in-law) for Eli's 2nd birthday, then my son's birthday (12/23) and Christmas.  They live 5 hr. drive away so I don't see them near as much as I'd like.

I worked for oncologists and just retired at the end of Sept.  I'm not sure who gave who support within my family since I had all of the working knowledge.  I have seen so many patients fight this fight in the 10 years working for oncologists, that I just had to think of them and I grew strong.  I've seen patients given 18 months to live make it to 7 years.  There is an ovarian cancer patient going on 8 years since diagnosis.  The staff (coworkers) were I worked became my personal cheerleaders.  During chemo, I worked every third week.  I miss my friends and support from the office so much these days.  The office underwent a merger and I just thought it was time for me to retire.

Ah .. the prize!  I really did just keep chalking up one round of tx after the other.  Getting past 3 was great because it was all going downhill from there.  Round 4 was my toughest .. had a case of shingles after 5 which held up round 6 for a week, but that's cool .. I was done by Thanksgiving.   In fact, my gyn/onc .. himself .. came in an opened the office just to give me my neulasta shot on Thanksgiving Day 2006.  I will never forget that gesture.

Good luck with everything.  Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.  I am so lucky to have had 2 good years and am praying for another 2 .. then another 2 :-)

Judy

Chopps.

Your mother is very lucky to have someone like you.  We've corresponded...your mom and I are on similar chemo tracks.  I was pretty happy to not be losing my hair until Tues. when I found strands of hair in my hand.  My birthday was Wed. so I did not want to deal with it then.  I start my second chemo carbo/taxol on Monday.

THe American Cancer Society hair shopping sight it really great.  I bought a wig...yuck...before the chemo here in Austin but found the ACS sight and think I'll probably go with the scarfs more...it's just so hot here and with the surgical menopause...I ordered a few scarfs and also the fake "bangs and halo" for short hair.  received them and they are very nice.  They have such a variety of colors, and just a little hair peaking out from the scarfs may help one feel like they aren't walking around yelling I have cancer.  Want to be incognito as much as possible while going to Walgreens etc.  We'll see what I'll wear, hat, scarf, wig...don't know but will find out sooner than later.

Hope your mom continues to do well with her treatments.  

Hi Doicat,

Great to hear from you.  I think you moved your chemo a few days earlier.  So sorry about the hair, but sounds like you are prepared.  You and Joy, my mom are very close in your hair loss timing.  Are you thinking about the buzz cut?

I remember reading in one of your posts about a 2nd opinion with MD Anderson.  Are you still going for that second opinion?

My mother does do the Neupogena shots 3 days after chemo for 6 days to help keep her White Blood Cell Count up.

Also, there are 2 great books....A Guide to Survivorship for Women with Ovarian Cancer (A John Hopkins Press Book) and Ovarian Cancer..Your Guide to Taking Control by Kristine Conner.  I can't remember if I emailed you.  I would get these books asap and read the 1st one first.

Talk soon,
Caren
PS.  I couldn't find your chemo tracker...it's a great tool.