Hoping you are doing ok with chemotherapy and recovering from your surgery.  I think about you a lot!  

Joan - you are in my thoughts. Just sending some love.

Steph

Joan, I happened to tune into the sex discussion, and I wanted to commend you for your brilliant response.  Most of the other responses were horrifying.  I would love to tear into that convo, but I can't stomach joining the group.

One response that really got me ruffled indicated that if we allow gay marriage, people will all just get gay married and not have children. 

Conservative logic!

Glad to answer this, Joan! Gotta stick together in this experience!!!!

I had 2 types of chemo scheduled.....4 treatments of one called AC, then 4 treatments of a second type, called Taxol, over a 6 month period. I was supposed to have treatment every 2 weeks, but my white cells wouldn't come back fast enough so it ended up every 3 weeks instead. I am very prone to infection at the best of times so this had to be carefully watched.

The first lot of chemo wasn't too bad....I felt very woozy & 'flu-ish' for about 6 days & then I'd be just fine for the rest of the 3 weeks. This chemo turned my urine orange, so I called it 'sunset orange' which the chemo nurse decided to adopt to tell patients...hahaha!

I have fibromyalgia so fatigue was definitely compounded there. Of course I had to have anti nausea drugs before treatments & those few days after, but they were ok so I had no problem there.

Started losing my hair a couple of weeks after the first treatment, but I got some beautiful wigs from Paulayoung.com which was very uplifting as my hair was always a signature. I had long, very thick, dark red hair which is of course now mostly gray. After treatment, it grew in very tightly curled, matted, coarse, gave me awful headaches with tight scalp. I couldn't get a brush through it so had to keep cutting it very short until it recovered. Took 3 years!!!

I did develop the mouth sores which were not pleasant under & around dentures, but it's part of it all & I learned to cope with eating softer foods.

The second lot of chemo called Taxol, was pretty bad for me as it affected absolutely everything. I couldn't stand up, walk, see straight, severe bone pain, & just generally could not function, for about 9 days after treatment. I had a second treatment & got worse so the drs. decided to not give me the final 2 doses as they said the benefits don't out-weigh the massive side effects. So I actually finished that whole course a month early.

Then I had 5 years of Femara which affected the fibromyalgia a lot, but the oncologist did warn me of that as it's part of the side effects. I finished that 2 years ago, & so far things seem fine with my check-ups. I don't feel 100% but I'm still breathin', which I hear is a good thing.....hahaha!!! I absolutely NEVER miss my yearly diagnostic mammos....it's what found my cancers in the first place, so I have great confidence in those.

I'm willing to share my email address if you'd like to 'talk' that way.

Pat

Dear Joan

Glad to have you as a friend :-)

Hey, Joan!  Matthew Greenberg and I wondered if you'd be interested in commenting on a piece of his.  We both think it's relevant to you.

In any case, all the best!

Hi Joan. 

Good to get in touch with you. You're free to discuss anything with me about my situation if you like. 

Hope to see talk with you soon!