Aa
After Chemo - recovery?
Will have six rounds finished tommorow. Carbo and Taxol. Still recovering from the surgery, from December, 05. 27 staples stage 3c. Can anyone tell me how long after chemo will you start to feel yourself again?
You're a hoot!
I stopped riding without a helmet after my 3rd concussion. Wind in my hair is great. Wind blowing through the cracks in my skull, not so much. LOL Live and learn (and live to ride again) is my motto now. I was a barrel racer Now I'm a dressage rider with body armor. I look more like a knight heading of to joust!
The hair thing is killer, isn't it? My first day of orientation at the treatment center, a woman walked up to me, commented on how pretty my curly, shoulder-length hair was, then said, "Do yourself a favor. Cut it off now. It'll hurt less." Of course I thought she was talking about the psychological pain. I didn't realize she meant PAIN pain! LOL I did give myself a cute trim that night--very trendy-- but when it started coming out in handfuls it HURT! Out came the horse clippers, and I buzz-cut it all. It was nice not to wake up in the morning with a face full of hair.
As for the helmet problem, I did try some solutions like knit caps and the cool "medical hair loss" goodies available at one of the online sites. What I really wanted was a black doo-rag like the kids at school had, but I couldn't find one anywhere. Anyway, it gave me an excuse to buy a very sexy new helmet that I wouldn't have splurged on otherwise. Since my hair came in baby-fine, it still fits. Yay, me!
BTW, my white hair is getting darker over time. The back is nearly black now with a few gray hairs. This morning I noticed the front is turning brown. It's certainly an adventure!
Ah, the "forcing oneself to go to chemo" thing . . ! Yep. Been there. I could have SWORN the doc told me up front I might be done after 3 rounds. I heard him. He said if my CA 125 dropped to 21 after the first treatment, we'd go for 3 and stop. It did, and I got all excited. I think he was afraid I'd quit if he told me the truth. LOL
The first two rounds were relatively easy. I didn't start feeling the "why are they trying to kill me?" thing until after round 3. Then I wanted out, BADLY. But I kept reminding myself that if I quit and the cancer came back, I'd be totally p'd at myself and have no one else to blame. I for SURE don't want to do this a second time!
ANYBDDY:
I had some serious short-term memory issues after chemo. While it did make it possible for me to watch every episode of Law and Order without noticing if I'd seen it before, the situation was not without its frustrations. I used the Nintendo DS with the Brain Age games and some others to get past it. Anyone else have that problem? I still sometimes have to pause when I'm speaking to make sure I know what I was saying. That's usually when I'm tired and haven't been using the DS for a while. Any helpful hints are welcome.
I stopped riding without a helmet after my 3rd concussion. Wind in my hair is great. Wind blowing through the cracks in my skull, not so much. LOL Live and learn (and live to ride again) is my motto now. I was a barrel racer Now I'm a dressage rider with body armor. I look more like a knight heading of to joust!
The hair thing is killer, isn't it? My first day of orientation at the treatment center, a woman walked up to me, commented on how pretty my curly, shoulder-length hair was, then said, "Do yourself a favor. Cut it off now. It'll hurt less." Of course I thought she was talking about the psychological pain. I didn't realize she meant PAIN pain! LOL I did give myself a cute trim that night--very trendy-- but when it started coming out in handfuls it HURT! Out came the horse clippers, and I buzz-cut it all. It was nice not to wake up in the morning with a face full of hair.
As for the helmet problem, I did try some solutions like knit caps and the cool "medical hair loss" goodies available at one of the online sites. What I really wanted was a black doo-rag like the kids at school had, but I couldn't find one anywhere. Anyway, it gave me an excuse to buy a very sexy new helmet that I wouldn't have splurged on otherwise. Since my hair came in baby-fine, it still fits. Yay, me!
BTW, my white hair is getting darker over time. The back is nearly black now with a few gray hairs. This morning I noticed the front is turning brown. It's certainly an adventure!
Ah, the "forcing oneself to go to chemo" thing . . ! Yep. Been there. I could have SWORN the doc told me up front I might be done after 3 rounds. I heard him. He said if my CA 125 dropped to 21 after the first treatment, we'd go for 3 and stop. It did, and I got all excited. I think he was afraid I'd quit if he told me the truth. LOL
The first two rounds were relatively easy. I didn't start feeling the "why are they trying to kill me?" thing until after round 3. Then I wanted out, BADLY. But I kept reminding myself that if I quit and the cancer came back, I'd be totally p'd at myself and have no one else to blame. I for SURE don't want to do this a second time!
ANYBDDY:
I had some serious short-term memory issues after chemo. While it did make it possible for me to watch every episode of Law and Order without noticing if I'd seen it before, the situation was not without its frustrations. I used the Nintendo DS with the Brain Age games and some others to get past it. Anyone else have that problem? I still sometimes have to pause when I'm speaking to make sure I know what I was saying. That's usually when I'm tired and haven't been using the DS for a while. Any helpful hints are welcome.
I HEAR YOU!!!! I have been back to my normal type A manic self this last month, but I have to make myself go back to chemo for the 3rd time on tues. That is something no one should have to do without a court order. I feel like I am being sent to serve a prison sentence. I know I will become my cancer persona and I don't much like her, I HATE the way she treats my husband and I hate the constant feeling of being a vomitous blob of sweat. I know I have over done it these last couple of days because I am in excruciating bone pain even with Fentanyl patches and hydros.
TO SCHOOLMARM; First off I have the utmost respect for teachers. They can make or break a child. Fortuneately, I had enough OUTSTANDING teachers to make up for the one HORRIBLE excuse for a human being. I think she liked to bully people and went into teaching so she could pick on people who could not fight back
You should buy some cotton fabric and put it in your helmet. I have only ridden 4 times in the last 21 months and that is what I did. I don't usually wear them as I like the feel of the wind in my hair when I am riding, but no hair so....
My hair was going gray when I started this and now it has all come back thick, full, healthy and about 3 gray hairs. I will probably lose it again this time and hope it does not come back gray. I have said this whole time that you don't get to start over baby fresh too often in your life and I have promised myself I will not damage it again with coloring. I am sorry you are still having problems. All I can say is enjoy the heck out of the good days and pretend the bad days don't happen.
Good luck to you with feeling better and living your life to the fullest.
Jan
TO SCHOOLMARM; First off I have the utmost respect for teachers. They can make or break a child. Fortuneately, I had enough OUTSTANDING teachers to make up for the one HORRIBLE excuse for a human being. I think she liked to bully people and went into teaching so she could pick on people who could not fight back
You should buy some cotton fabric and put it in your helmet. I have only ridden 4 times in the last 21 months and that is what I did. I don't usually wear them as I like the feel of the wind in my hair when I am riding, but no hair so....
My hair was going gray when I started this and now it has all come back thick, full, healthy and about 3 gray hairs. I will probably lose it again this time and hope it does not come back gray. I have said this whole time that you don't get to start over baby fresh too often in your life and I have promised myself I will not damage it again with coloring. I am sorry you are still having problems. All I can say is enjoy the heck out of the good days and pretend the bad days don't happen.
Good luck to you with feeling better and living your life to the fullest.
Jan
I am 60 and nearly a year post-chemo after ovarian cancer. I did six rounds of taxol/cisplatin (IV and IP). No special complications other than blood pressure related and a low neutrophil count that was counteracted with self-administered shots of Neupogen and Neulasta.
I have to say I was in super shape prior to surgery in February, '07, but took 9 weeks to recover b/c chemo started almost immediately. That slowed the healing process. I finished treatment in July '07 and was back on my horses in August and working out again by September. Having been cut right through my core muscles from breast bone to pubic bone made getting back into shape a real challenge. The pain from stretching the tight scar tissue was pretty bad. BUT, it's fine now. Really. I can do yoga all day and never feel a tug.
The bad news is that I'm still having tired days, I'm hyper-sensitive to the heat (which is totally destroying my horse-training season), and take days to recover if I overdo.
The good news is that there are also super days when I feel like my old self, can ride two horses, muck stalls, do the gardening and still do a Pilates routine after dinner. Wish I could predict which day I'll be having.
Like Newlifegal, I'm not the most patient person in the world. I'd like to be fine NOW. I am tired of the random joint pain that comes and goes.
Careylyn, I learned to love my wigs so much I hated when my hair came back in! LOL If there's anything to be said for medical hair loss it's that you get to go months without a bad hair day. Wigs always look good! Buy the ones on sale at Paulayoung.com and have fun with it. My biggest problem was that my riding helmets were too loose on my bald head and my head got sweaty if I put a wig on under them.
BTW, my hair was ash brown and curly and came in white and nearly straight. I love it! I didn't lose my eyebrows and lashes till after chemo was over, but they came back in pretty quickly in their original color. It's a bizarre experience, this cancer thing, isn't it?
I have to say I was in super shape prior to surgery in February, '07, but took 9 weeks to recover b/c chemo started almost immediately. That slowed the healing process. I finished treatment in July '07 and was back on my horses in August and working out again by September. Having been cut right through my core muscles from breast bone to pubic bone made getting back into shape a real challenge. The pain from stretching the tight scar tissue was pretty bad. BUT, it's fine now. Really. I can do yoga all day and never feel a tug.
The bad news is that I'm still having tired days, I'm hyper-sensitive to the heat (which is totally destroying my horse-training season), and take days to recover if I overdo.
The good news is that there are also super days when I feel like my old self, can ride two horses, muck stalls, do the gardening and still do a Pilates routine after dinner. Wish I could predict which day I'll be having.
Like Newlifegal, I'm not the most patient person in the world. I'd like to be fine NOW. I am tired of the random joint pain that comes and goes.
Careylyn, I learned to love my wigs so much I hated when my hair came back in! LOL If there's anything to be said for medical hair loss it's that you get to go months without a bad hair day. Wigs always look good! Buy the ones on sale at Paulayoung.com and have fun with it. My biggest problem was that my riding helmets were too loose on my bald head and my head got sweaty if I put a wig on under them.
BTW, my hair was ash brown and curly and came in white and nearly straight. I love it! I didn't lose my eyebrows and lashes till after chemo was over, but they came back in pretty quickly in their original color. It's a bizarre experience, this cancer thing, isn't it?
I am 3 months post chemo and still feel tired some days. I am running three miles a day and have gone back to weight lifting six days a week. I worry that the pain in my feet and legs will come back, and if I even experience a small itch, I start freaking out! Does anyone feel this way? I am 39 years old and had ovarian cancer
Cina M
Cina M
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