My fight progess

24

Comments

  • danker
    danker Member Posts: 1,276 Member
    Pattie13 said:

    Baby Wipes
    Thanks Ann,
    I am using the charmin wipes myself. Love them because they are flushable. I do have a sitz bath that I can put over the toilet. Started using that when I thought (and the doctor thought) I had hemorrhoids. I never really liked the Ramen noodles, but if they go down easier during the treatment, I may have to give them another look. Besides they are cheap and I really need to watch my pennies right now where I can.
    I see you live in AZ. I myself live down here in Tucson. Great sunny state to live in. :-)
    Prayers and Hugs
    Pattie

    pattie13
    I too live in Tucson and went though it all at UMC. Have Dr prescribe lomotil for the diarrhea, it is stronger than the imodium. Just take it a day at a time and don't be afraid!!! If you read my history you will find we can get through anything. My best wishes to you Pattie
  • AZANNIE
    AZANNIE Member Posts: 445 Member
    Pattie13 said:

    Baby Wipes
    Thanks Ann,
    I am using the charmin wipes myself. Love them because they are flushable. I do have a sitz bath that I can put over the toilet. Started using that when I thought (and the doctor thought) I had hemorrhoids. I never really liked the Ramen noodles, but if they go down easier during the treatment, I may have to give them another look. Besides they are cheap and I really need to watch my pennies right now where I can.
    I see you live in AZ. I myself live down here in Tucson. Great sunny state to live in. :-)
    Prayers and Hugs
    Pattie

    Pattie
    You're welcome! Yes, I live in sunny Arizona - great place in the winter, but not summer (unless you live in northern AZ) - lol! Of course, it's a tad bit cooler in Tucson during the summer - lol! I also ate jello and tried to drink Boost for the protein since I wasn't eating much. Sometimes scrambled eggs would taste good.
    Best of luck to you as you begin your journey!


    Ann
  • AZANNIE
    AZANNIE Member Posts: 445 Member
    danker said:

    pattie13
    I too live in Tucson and went though it all at UMC. Have Dr prescribe lomotil for the diarrhea, it is stronger than the imodium. Just take it a day at a time and don't be afraid!!! If you read my history you will find we can get through anything. My best wishes to you Pattie

    Danker
    Yes, that lomotil is good stuff and worked better for me than imodium. Amazing what a tiny pill can do...
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    Start on Monday... Yikes
    Ok, was given the word that I start on Mon. April 23rd. Will have a first dose of the chemo intraveniously then onto radiation. After that I will be taking the chemo pills (2x a day on the days I have radiation). Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will ask the pharmacist at the VA about the other immodium type pills... I will write it down. LOL. Also going to ask him about some spray someone mentioned on here that really helped so you just spray it on and don't have to risk hurting yourself more by rubbing it on. My CT scan on Sunday turned out just fine, they did not find anything else... .thank goodness. Still been chugging down those Carnation Instant breakfasts but did find a good frozen yogurt by Blue Bunny with the live and active cultures in it, so I have been... GLADLY... doing that. :-)Just cannot stand the other yogurt. Got a boatload of Vicodin delivered to me yesterday... 180 pills... and get to refill twice....geesh. They are prepared that I may be in some pain eh? Well hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones who ..yes... still has some pain... but not as bad as thought.
    Thanks again everyone. Will let you know my progress.
    Hugs and Prayers.
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    danker said:

    pattie13
    I too live in Tucson and went though it all at UMC. Have Dr prescribe lomotil for the diarrhea, it is stronger than the imodium. Just take it a day at a time and don't be afraid!!! If you read my history you will find we can get through anything. My best wishes to you Pattie

    Fellow Tucsonan
    Congrats on being cancer free. Nice to meet a fellow Tucson who also went to UMC. Since I was in the Military in my young life. I am doing this through the VA. I will have the chemo from the VA off 6th and all the radiation treatments up at UMC. They sure are a wonderful bunch over there.
    Thanks again for the tips!
    Hugs!
  • RoseC
    RoseC Member Posts: 559
    Pattie13 said:

    Start on Monday... Yikes
    Ok, was given the word that I start on Mon. April 23rd. Will have a first dose of the chemo intraveniously then onto radiation. After that I will be taking the chemo pills (2x a day on the days I have radiation). Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will ask the pharmacist at the VA about the other immodium type pills... I will write it down. LOL. Also going to ask him about some spray someone mentioned on here that really helped so you just spray it on and don't have to risk hurting yourself more by rubbing it on. My CT scan on Sunday turned out just fine, they did not find anything else... .thank goodness. Still been chugging down those Carnation Instant breakfasts but did find a good frozen yogurt by Blue Bunny with the live and active cultures in it, so I have been... GLADLY... doing that. :-)Just cannot stand the other yogurt. Got a boatload of Vicodin delivered to me yesterday... 180 pills... and get to refill twice....geesh. They are prepared that I may be in some pain eh? Well hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones who ..yes... still has some pain... but not as bad as thought.
    Thanks again everyone. Will let you know my progress.
    Hugs and Prayers.

    Good luck Pattie - you're on
    Good luck Pattie - you're on the way to getting rid of this beast! You've got a great attitude and that will help you through this. Be sure an let us know how you're doing.
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    RoseC said:

    Good luck Pattie - you're on
    Good luck Pattie - you're on the way to getting rid of this beast! You've got a great attitude and that will help you through this. Be sure an let us know how you're doing.

    Good luck
    Thanks Rose! I appreciate it! I will be sure to keep posting and letting you know how it's going.
    Hugs and prayers!
    Pattie
  • AZANNIE
    AZANNIE Member Posts: 445 Member
    Pattie13 said:

    Start on Monday... Yikes
    Ok, was given the word that I start on Mon. April 23rd. Will have a first dose of the chemo intraveniously then onto radiation. After that I will be taking the chemo pills (2x a day on the days I have radiation). Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will ask the pharmacist at the VA about the other immodium type pills... I will write it down. LOL. Also going to ask him about some spray someone mentioned on here that really helped so you just spray it on and don't have to risk hurting yourself more by rubbing it on. My CT scan on Sunday turned out just fine, they did not find anything else... .thank goodness. Still been chugging down those Carnation Instant breakfasts but did find a good frozen yogurt by Blue Bunny with the live and active cultures in it, so I have been... GLADLY... doing that. :-)Just cannot stand the other yogurt. Got a boatload of Vicodin delivered to me yesterday... 180 pills... and get to refill twice....geesh. They are prepared that I may be in some pain eh? Well hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones who ..yes... still has some pain... but not as bad as thought.
    Thanks again everyone. Will let you know my progress.
    Hugs and Prayers.

    Pattie13
    Best wishes to you as you begin your cancer fighting journey. This too shall pass...

    Ann
  • cap630
    cap630 Member Posts: 151
    Good Luck
    I'll be thinking of you tomorrow... Keep us posted.
  • RoseC
    RoseC Member Posts: 559
    cap630 said:

    Good Luck
    I'll be thinking of you tomorrow... Keep us posted.

    Best wishes - we're with you!
    Good luck Pattie - stay calm if you can. I have a special technique I use whenever I'm going through an uncomfortable stressful thing - maybe it will help you too. I lie back (or sit back), close my eyes, and will my body to relax. One muscle at a time starting with my brain, haha. I just say 'relax - down girl', make my body go limp, then I think of the beach. Of the waves rolling gently in and out, peaceful and calming. Works for me (almost) every time. :)
  • rds711
    rds711 Member Posts: 113
    Pattie13 said:

    Start on Monday... Yikes
    Ok, was given the word that I start on Mon. April 23rd. Will have a first dose of the chemo intraveniously then onto radiation. After that I will be taking the chemo pills (2x a day on the days I have radiation). Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will ask the pharmacist at the VA about the other immodium type pills... I will write it down. LOL. Also going to ask him about some spray someone mentioned on here that really helped so you just spray it on and don't have to risk hurting yourself more by rubbing it on. My CT scan on Sunday turned out just fine, they did not find anything else... .thank goodness. Still been chugging down those Carnation Instant breakfasts but did find a good frozen yogurt by Blue Bunny with the live and active cultures in it, so I have been... GLADLY... doing that. :-)Just cannot stand the other yogurt. Got a boatload of Vicodin delivered to me yesterday... 180 pills... and get to refill twice....geesh. They are prepared that I may be in some pain eh? Well hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones who ..yes... still has some pain... but not as bad as thought.
    Thanks again everyone. Will let you know my progress.
    Hugs and Prayers.

    You can do this!
    Pattie,

    SO glad things are finally getting under way for you, the waiting drove me nuts!

    I am now 2 1/2 weeks out from end of treatments and doing very well, can finally sit on my butt as opposed to my hip hehehe. Got rough for me at 4-5 weeks into radiation, until then wasnt bad at all.

    Please remember drink,drink,drink noncaffeine fluids. It is imperative to stay hydrated. Protien is also important for healing.

    I know you can do this Pattie with your sense of humor to pull you through. My radiation Oncologist told me that people with a good outlook and sense of humor seem to do much better than those without.

    SOOOOO kick that cancers ****!!!!! Fight back!!! And laugh in its face! :)

    One day at a time!!

    Youre in my prayers and I am pulling for ya!


    Randy
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    RoseC said:

    Best wishes - we're with you!
    Good luck Pattie - stay calm if you can. I have a special technique I use whenever I'm going through an uncomfortable stressful thing - maybe it will help you too. I lie back (or sit back), close my eyes, and will my body to relax. One muscle at a time starting with my brain, haha. I just say 'relax - down girl', make my body go limp, then I think of the beach. Of the waves rolling gently in and out, peaceful and calming. Works for me (almost) every time. :)

    Thanks Rose. That is a good way to relax. I do deep breathing but I think that thinking about the beach and waves would be very good to visualize. Thanks for the tip!
    Hugs and Prayers
    Pattie
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    rds711 said:

    You can do this!
    Pattie,

    SO glad things are finally getting under way for you, the waiting drove me nuts!

    I am now 2 1/2 weeks out from end of treatments and doing very well, can finally sit on my butt as opposed to my hip hehehe. Got rough for me at 4-5 weeks into radiation, until then wasnt bad at all.

    Please remember drink,drink,drink noncaffeine fluids. It is imperative to stay hydrated. Protien is also important for healing.

    I know you can do this Pattie with your sense of humor to pull you through. My radiation Oncologist told me that people with a good outlook and sense of humor seem to do much better than those without.

    SOOOOO kick that cancers ****!!!!! Fight back!!! And laugh in its face! :)

    One day at a time!!

    Youre in my prayers and I am pulling for ya!


    Randy

    Humor
    Thanks Randy... .going to really try and keep my sense of humor on this. In fact, I am a huge Star Trek fan and I was thinking that when I go to radiation... I am just going to imagine a Phaser gun set to disintegrate the cancer each and every time. :-)
    Thanks for your tips. I don't drink coffee or tea and very very rarely drink soda so I should be ok on not getting the caffeine.

    And congrats to you to being down to the wire on your treatments. Only a few more weeks to go for you! Hang in there.

    Hugs and prayers
    Pattie
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    cap630 said:

    Good Luck
    I'll be thinking of you tomorrow... Keep us posted.

    Good luck
    Thanks Cap630! Will keep you posted. :-)
    Hugs and Prayers
    Pattie
  • Pattie13
    Pattie13 Member Posts: 47
    cap630 said:

    Good Luck
    I'll be thinking of you tomorrow... Keep us posted.

    Good luck
    Thanks Cap630! Will keep you posted. :-)
    Hugs and Prayers
    Pattie
  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    Pattie13 said:

    Good luck
    Thanks Cap630! Will keep you posted. :-)
    Hugs and Prayers
    Pattie

    Hi Pattie!
    Best wishes to you today as you begin treatment. I know you are anxious, but you can do this! We are all behind you and cheering you on! I wish you a smooth first day and hope you'll keep us posted on how things went.
  • Captain11
    Captain11 Member Posts: 88
    Pattie13 said:

    Start on Monday... Yikes
    Ok, was given the word that I start on Mon. April 23rd. Will have a first dose of the chemo intraveniously then onto radiation. After that I will be taking the chemo pills (2x a day on the days I have radiation). Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will ask the pharmacist at the VA about the other immodium type pills... I will write it down. LOL. Also going to ask him about some spray someone mentioned on here that really helped so you just spray it on and don't have to risk hurting yourself more by rubbing it on. My CT scan on Sunday turned out just fine, they did not find anything else... .thank goodness. Still been chugging down those Carnation Instant breakfasts but did find a good frozen yogurt by Blue Bunny with the live and active cultures in it, so I have been... GLADLY... doing that. :-)Just cannot stand the other yogurt. Got a boatload of Vicodin delivered to me yesterday... 180 pills... and get to refill twice....geesh. They are prepared that I may be in some pain eh? Well hopefully I will be one of the lucky ones who ..yes... still has some pain... but not as bad as thought.
    Thanks again everyone. Will let you know my progress.
    Hugs and Prayers.

    Hi, Pattie... Glad to see
    Hi, Pattie... Glad to see that you are finally on your way... Yes, keep the laughter going... I think I mentioned I watched every episode of Hogan's Heroes, Bob Hope movies, Monty Python and even Benny Hill.... I just kept laughing...
    I am glad you have the pain meds... I didn't need any... maybe you won't either. You may be able to psyche yourself out of pain... just like Rose said about visualizing yourself on the beach. How is the Blue Bunny ice cream???
    When you get to the butt lotions... also think of using the Tucks pads for wipes... I used those and the store brand of baby wipes... but be careful to get the ones with the aloe and none of that harsh stuff.... I think my one daughter uses Huggies and says they are very gentle.

    Glad to see that your CAT scan turned out fine.

    Remember to stay hydrated.... chew sugarless gum also to keep from getting the dry mouth. I hope this goes easy for you... which I am sure it will.

    Keep us posted. God bless.
  • torrance
    torrance Member Posts: 118
    some humor to keep in mind!
    Pattie,

    Congratulations on beginning your journey and being one step closer to done! Each day is one day done and over with. Stay in the moment and keep focused on the journey. Remember your journey will be different than each of ours. Don't get anxious if you do not react the same as one of us might have and always remember you can come here for reassurance.

    Mouth sores...my chemo nurses had me drink, sip on supercold ice water when they administered the chemo. I never had a problem with sores. So don't anticipate the worst. Take it as it comes.

    I didn't have any problems with sleepiness with Zofran given for nausea. I did faint the day after I started my first round of chemo.

    Pain meds...take them if needed and don't hesitate changing them if they are not effective. However, don't stop taking me, like I did. I went through horrible withdrawls and ended up in the emergency room. For me, my pain came when I needed to use the bathroom and I don't think the pain meds did anything to help with that. When I wasn't in the bathroom I wasn't in bad pain. Remember they can also cause constipation.

    Immodium and lomotil...lucky for me I didn't have huge issues with this. Be careful, constipation can be just as miserable. You may at some point want to add a stool softener to your arsenal.

    Vaginal stenosis...ask your rad onc about using one. If he recommends use during treatment or after. Mine definitely said after as it would be far too painful during treatment. I believe him as when I first started after treatment it was very painful. I also had issue with tissue fusing so you may want to ask him about using premarin at the opening to prevent fusion and keep things softened and flexible.

    And on a funny note....I heard this about the plight of anal cancer survivors..."Everyone wants to save the boobies, no one wants to save an ****!" So I thought maybe I should have a badge made for my rad onc that says,, "I save ****!" And another one...if we are the face of anal cancer, does that make us buttheads! Hope it doesn't offend anyone, isn't meant to, but hopefully provides a chuckle to someone.

    UR in our thoughts and prayers!
    Joanne
  • mp327
    mp327 Member Posts: 4,440 Member
    torrance said:

    some humor to keep in mind!
    Pattie,

    Congratulations on beginning your journey and being one step closer to done! Each day is one day done and over with. Stay in the moment and keep focused on the journey. Remember your journey will be different than each of ours. Don't get anxious if you do not react the same as one of us might have and always remember you can come here for reassurance.

    Mouth sores...my chemo nurses had me drink, sip on supercold ice water when they administered the chemo. I never had a problem with sores. So don't anticipate the worst. Take it as it comes.

    I didn't have any problems with sleepiness with Zofran given for nausea. I did faint the day after I started my first round of chemo.

    Pain meds...take them if needed and don't hesitate changing them if they are not effective. However, don't stop taking me, like I did. I went through horrible withdrawls and ended up in the emergency room. For me, my pain came when I needed to use the bathroom and I don't think the pain meds did anything to help with that. When I wasn't in the bathroom I wasn't in bad pain. Remember they can also cause constipation.

    Immodium and lomotil...lucky for me I didn't have huge issues with this. Be careful, constipation can be just as miserable. You may at some point want to add a stool softener to your arsenal.

    Vaginal stenosis...ask your rad onc about using one. If he recommends use during treatment or after. Mine definitely said after as it would be far too painful during treatment. I believe him as when I first started after treatment it was very painful. I also had issue with tissue fusing so you may want to ask him about using premarin at the opening to prevent fusion and keep things softened and flexible.

    And on a funny note....I heard this about the plight of anal cancer survivors..."Everyone wants to save the boobies, no one wants to save an ****!" So I thought maybe I should have a badge made for my rad onc that says,, "I save ****!" And another one...if we are the face of anal cancer, does that make us buttheads! Hope it doesn't offend anyone, isn't meant to, but hopefully provides a chuckle to someone.

    UR in our thoughts and prayers!
    Joanne

    Hi Joanne--
    Good advice and I love the humor! We have to laugh about this, don't we!
  • KathyMart
    KathyMart Member Posts: 5
    mp327 said:

    Hi Joanne--
    Good advice and I love the humor! We have to laugh about this, don't we!

    New to the group. Just started week 2
    Hi everyone....Just started week two ...of radiation treatment. Week One I did the 96 hours of the 5 FU with a push of the mitomycin C along with my radiation treatment. I will have the chemo again in my 5th week and have 4 and a half more weeks of radiation treament. The hardest thing right now is the mouth sores and the burning feeling in my mouth. I am to the point I am hardly unable to talk. I do the swish and I was prescribed the miles solution. Not helping. Haven't been able to eat anything for 3 days nows. I am drinking ensures. Any other suggestions? I do see the medical oncologists today. I am terrified to go through that next round in the 5th week. I have Addison's Disease which is an auto immune disease so I wonder if my sympomts are just intensified due to my already compromised immuned system. Thanks for letting me share.