Post chemo recovery

EZLiving66 said:

Hopefully the pain is just

Hopefully the pain is just the tail end of the neuropathy and will soon go away.  Tomorrow will be ten weeks for me since my last chemo and I noticed a lot more energy between eight and nine weeks.  For the past few nights I haven't taken any Percoset before going to bed - I had been taking half a pill for the pain in my left hip.  I walked around outside this morning with Spunky, my little dog, and had no pain. 

I'm so glad you're feeling better, Cindi!  I think emotionally is just as important as physically.

Love,

Eldri

Ladies, Thanks for your replies. I'm glad I posted Gardena. I almost didn't because I wasn't sure I had enough info to help anyone. But then decided to share the feel good day since our emotional spirit is important too (Eldri!).

Eldri - so glad your body is finally getting over the chemo hit. I'm sure Spunky missed a healthy Mom! :-)

Nancy - take care of yourself and finish up strong!

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

unknown said:

Of course we like to hear our friends joy.

I use to say a quick prayer of thanks everyday for my perfect life, until it started to fall apart with my husbands health woes.  Then I thought, I still have everything I had before, just in a not so perfect (to me) way.  When I lost my husband, I wasn't sure anymore, but found peace and happiness again, then this.  Well, sometimes I need to be put in my place and be able to feel real peace and happiness in the everyday minutes.  I loved to hear you experience great feelings again.  Hugs Nancy 

(((Nancy))) it gonna get better.  Get those next two chemos in so your body can start to recover.  Much peace and happiness to you!!

Love,

Eldri

TeddyandBears_Mom said:

10 Weeks Post Chemo - Neuropothy

Wow! Can't believe it has been 2.5 months already... Time does fly.

I posted this on another thread and decided it needed to be on this one...

My neuropothy is getting more painful now as my numbness is wearing off.  My toes, heels and the top of my left foot hurts like crazy. I can't put any pressure on to top of my foot and stretching my achiles tendon really hurts. My legs are also more achy now. I have been using the elyptical instead of the brisk walking I was doing in hopes that would be easier on them but it doesn't seem to make a difference. On a good note: my breathing has improved a lot and I can go 20 minutes at 4.5 - 5.0 MPH. That is huge progress!

Also, I noticed that my feet get really cold at night when I'm in bed.

Other than the above, I'm feeling pretty good. Still have to rest in between stuff but my strength is returning.

Oh, my hair continues to grow but I can still see some scalp. My "used to be blond" hair is coming in very white on the sides and back and what looks to be black on top! I might end up looking like a reverse Oreo!! lol

Love and Hugs to All,

Cindi

I'm 12 weeks out from my last chemo.  Cindi, LOL, at LEAST you're getting hair back on the top.  Mine is coming in pure white and thick on the left side, white but much thinner on the right and I'm still bald on the top - kind of like male-pattern baldness - YIKES!!

So far not a lot of pain in my fingers but they're still pretty numb.  Four of the fingernails on my right hand have come off - that hand is number than the left, and one nail on my left hand has come off so far.  I think eventually, they will all fall off.  My feet, especially my toes, are still numb but the feeling that needles are poking in them is, for the most part, gone.  My feet are still freezing too - especially at night.  It seems as it gets toward evening I get colder and colder.  I started taking the L-Glutimine last week so I hope it helps with the neuropathy.

Do any of your joints still hurt?  I'm still having pain in my left hip, again, especially at night.  My stomach still has cramps and just about constant diarrhea.  When do you have to go back to your doctor?  Everytime I ask my doctor she says to wait for six months after chemo to see if it clears up on its own (in the meantime, I suffer).  She also asks me if it seems to be getting better and, I guess it does.  I'm not crawling around on the floor barfing and wetting my pants anymore - anything was better than what I was.

Hi, I am new to these discussion boards but thought I would chime in. Finished 6 months of chemo/radiation for stage IIIC endometrial cancer on Dec. 30.

I am feeling very good and a lot of energy now, except for weird intestinal things that come and go. Very interested to hear that many of you are having the same intestinal "burning" feelings and weird stomach issues on and off. I don't have radiation enteritis, but I certainly do feel like my intestines are not behaving normally yet. Would be interested in hearing more from others about this issue and what your doctor says about it. I swing between panicking that it's cancer returning and annoyance that it must be something I am eating. i also took some probiotics and wonder if it's making the situation worse. Thoughts? Anyone come up with a great diet post-chemo/radiiation? 

Also, I wanted to share that at 12 weeks out, it finally looks like I actually have a head of hair. It's about 3/4 of an inch long all over my head. White/gray came in first then black, finer hair, so now it is salt and pepper. A far cry from my shoulder length blonde hair I had before all of this, and I can't wait till I hit about 4 1/2 -5 months when I can color it back to something that looks like me. Still, I'm happy to have hair that seems to be coming in.

I had to laugh about a poster being delighted to find a hair growing on her chin. I feel the same about hairs on my chin, or under my arms, or on my legs, or in the pelvic area. I guess about 9 weeks the chin hair came, and in the last two weeks my eyebrows suddenly rebounded (I never lost them completely), my eyelashes are regrowing near to normal, and i all of a sudden have hair growing on the other parts of my body. Very grateful to see it as I have been bald most of the time since last August.

Would be interested in hearing from other people who are post treatment and how they cope with the fear of cancer returning and what they do if they have aches and pains - do they run to the doctor or try to soldier on alone, and what's best?

christine8822 said:

Post chemo/radiation12 weeks out

Hi, I am new to these discussion boards but thought I would chime in. Finished 6 months of chemo/radiation for stage IIIC endometrial cancer on Dec. 30.

I am feeling very good and a lot of energy now, except for weird intestinal things that come and go. Very interested to hear that many of you are having the same intestinal "burning" feelings and weird stomach issues on and off. I don't have radiation enteritis, but I certainly do feel like my intestines are not behaving normally yet. Would be interested in hearing more from others about this issue and what your doctor says about it. I swing between panicking that it's cancer returning and annoyance that it must be something I am eating. i also took some probiotics and wonder if it's making the situation worse. Thoughts? Anyone come up with a great diet post-chemo/radiiation? 

Also, I wanted to share that at 12 weeks out, it finally looks like I actually have a head of hair. It's about 3/4 of an inch long all over my head. White/gray came in first then black, finer hair, so now it is salt and pepper. A far cry from my shoulder length blonde hair I had before all of this, and I can't wait till I hit about 4 1/2 -5 months when I can color it back to something that looks like me. Still, I'm happy to have hair that seems to be coming in.

I had to laugh about a poster being delighted to find a hair growing on her chin. I feel the same about hairs on my chin, or under my arms, or on my legs, or in the pelvic area. I guess about 9 weeks the chin hair came, and in the last two weeks my eyebrows suddenly rebounded (I never lost them completely), my eyelashes are regrowing near to normal, and i all of a sudden have hair growing on the other parts of my body. Very grateful to see it as I have been bald most of the time since last August.

Would be interested in hearing from other people who are post treatment and how they cope with the fear of cancer returning and what they do if they have aches and pains - do they run to the doctor or try to soldier on alone, and what's best?

I'm glad you found this forum, such great people here. I too was diagnosed w 111C endometrial, but unlike you, I'm still in treatment -- I have completed 6 rounds of carbo/taxol and this week I start external beam radiation coupled w low dose cisplatin. And tho I don't have any diet suggestions I want to thank you for giving a time line on your hair returning. I'm four weeks out from my last carbo/taxol infusion and the hairs on my head that remained thru treatment have gotten longer but nothing else has come in. I'm missing sections of each eyebrow and my lashes are sparse... just when I'm feeling stronger than I have since I started this journey I look the most ill!

I find out today if my cisplatin/radiation starts tomorrow or next week - either way, I'm nervous about this phase of treatment. My onco team wanted me to start this protocol 2 weeks after frontline chemo but agreed to give me more time to get my strength back - I felt like I was on a conveyor belt of treatment getting my butt kicked at every corner.  For me, chemo was painful,  but it worked (at least so far!) Any guidance, recommendations,  suggestions on the radiation process you (or anyone reading this) can give is greatly appreciated. All the best to us all~

Gardena said:

Welcome Christine8822

I'm glad you found this forum, such great people here. I too was diagnosed w 111C endometrial, but unlike you, I'm still in treatment -- I have completed 6 rounds of carbo/taxol and this week I start external beam radiation coupled w low dose cisplatin. And tho I don't have any diet suggestions I want to thank you for giving a time line on your hair returning. I'm four weeks out from my last carbo/taxol infusion and the hairs on my head that remained thru treatment have gotten longer but nothing else has come in. I'm missing sections of each eyebrow and my lashes are sparse... just when I'm feeling stronger than I have since I started this journey I look the most ill!

I find out today if my cisplatin/radiation starts tomorrow or next week - either way, I'm nervous about this phase of treatment. My onco team wanted me to start this protocol 2 weeks after frontline chemo but agreed to give me more time to get my strength back - I felt like I was on a conveyor belt of treatment getting my butt kicked at every corner.  For me, chemo was painful,  but it worked (at least so far!) Any guidance, recommendations,  suggestions on the radiation process you (or anyone reading this) can give is greatly appreciated. All the best to us all~

I am 3CII with serous lesion, ext lympf and vasc invasion. After hysto I started with 28 rounds of rads with concurrent Cisplatin, had to skipped the last Cisplatin due to getting too emaciate, but finished the first 5. After 3 weeks off I started Doxil liposomal and Carboplatin and have one left that is postponed due to low platelets. Hope to get in this week, but amazingly they are fully booked.

Anyway you asked about recommendations. Since I had some heavy duty rads you may do much better than me, but the week after last Cisplatin was pretty bad for me with nausea and diarrhea, and none of the nausea drugs worked for me. I did find that even with nausea the worst thing was having an empty stomach, even eating a few bites actually improved the nausea, but since I had a long drive I often omitted eating as I was worried about having diarrhea on the way, but that was no good. I also did not drink enoigh while on the road fdor the same reason. But drinking a lot, addong a little lemon or something helped a lot.

I also had to rotate foods as what tasted ok one day made me throw up the next. This, hoever only lasted two weeks. If I had had someone cook for me and not having to drive so much I might not have had the same issues in other words, you may do just fine. Good luck with it and congratulatio9ns on finishing the first 6 rounds.

Well I will have my last treatments this coming Wed. Thurs. Fri. and was wondering when things start growing again.  Hopefully I will be able to have my treatments as I have a sinus infection but it is getting better each day.  Guess we will see when I get to the clinic after blood test. I had read somewhere can't remember where(due to chemo brain) that it takes 5 weeks for your body to be rid of the chemo drugs.  So many times I have had a pain in my body since finding out about the cancer and the first thought that comes to mind is that darn cancer growing some place else.  

Thanks again Chris for the timeline. Will let you know after last treatment what body timeline I have.

Jerri  

Soup52 said:

I'm still in the thick of

I'm still in the thick of treatment, only having two chemo so far. My next one is Monday. Someone asked about radiation. I had my radiation before chemo. 5 weeks of external and then 3 brachytherapy . Yes, it gave me stomach issues as chemo continues with some of that too. Though this week is pretty good. I'm looking for a return of it next week though. So far I have not had any problem with food tasting weird, but I will say my weigh fluxuates greatly, like by about 5 pounds either way last week. Has anyone else had that?

I had the same thing with the weight, Soup.  It kind of depended on the diarhhea and if I could eat.  I know I was dehydrated because my fingers would get all pruny.  Then, all of a sudden my fingers would swell up and my ring which was falling off two days before would be stuck on.  My feet and ankles would swell too and then look all bony - five or six pounds of fluid up and down.  It took awhile after I was off chemo for it to stop.  My GP thought part of it was my liver problems and low magnesium.

Good luck on your chemo on Monday!!

Love,

Eldri

christine8822 said:

More about aches, pains and recovery

Hi, thanks so much to all for the posts. I think we have safely established that chemo and radiation do funny things to your digestive system. I love the poster's comment that " the radiation team and the chemo team end up pointing fingers at the other as to who is to blame". 

Yesterday I happened to be driving near the cancer center where I had my treatment. I was thinking about what I'd posted here and so I just drove into the parking lot and went up to my oncolgist's office. He's not there on Mondays but his nurse is, and nobody else was there. We had a long talk. She told me that many endometrial cancer survivors have adhesions inside the colon and small intestines caused by the radiation. This causes weird intestinal issues that come and go or get better or worse, or cause pains various spots, but especially in the area where you had the radiation, in my case, on the right side.  She took my hands and said, look, you can do this. just keep a journal of what you eat and how you feel and work with it, and you will be ok. try not to worry that every pain is cancer."

So I just wanted to pass that along. In addition to the 6 rounds of taxol/carbo July-December, I had the five weeks of radiation M-F, for a total of 25 doses, and it was strong - strong enough to kill the cancer in the lymph nodes I hope. Maybe digestive issues are a small price to pay for being healed. 

Good luck to us all. Would love to hear any more stories about hair (ok, i'm shallow, so sue me) and when you lost what I call the "haunted" look in your eyes and face. I think that is starting to fade 12 weeks out, but i'm not positive. I feel like I've aged about 50 years since being diagnosed.  

 

I am 13 weeks out from my last chemo. I always referred to my chemo look - no eyebrows, lashes or head hair as looking like ET. I do have my lashes and brows back. They aren't their normal length yet but at least the ET look is gone. And, they are not very dark yet either.  My hair is completely covering my scalp now. It came back in white and black. So far, it is about 1/2 an inch long (or less). So, still waiting for it to get long enough to look like I'm a female. I agree, this does age us. But, hopefully our bodies will bounce back to our pre-cancer look. And, if not... at least give us our health back!  I did not have the external radiation, only the brachytherapy. So, I don't have experience with the impacts. I can tell you though, that I still do get strange pains in my stomach and vaginal area once in a while. I'm still building my strength and have good days most of the time with a few days thrown in where I just don't feel like doing much. So, I rest a lot on those days...  Neuropothy continues to be an issue in my feet and legs. And, hit harder about 2 months after I finished chemo.

My sister got me a FitBit for my birthday. Just started using it 3 days ago. It has been fun to see how much activity I do in a day. And, to my surprise, I am more active than I thought I was. I think it is going to be a good motivator to keep me moving. Kind of like having a contest all by yourself. lol

Like you, I'm looking forward to having my hair back. Still waiting to see if it is going to be curly. It was stick straight and blonde before chemo.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

unknown said:

Aah, to look female again!

I smiled when I read that in your post.  I was sitting waiting for my lunch at Panera last week, the server came from behind me and said "your lunch sir", and then quickly looked embarrassed when he saw I was a "ma'am".  I just smiled and thanked him.  I know I could wear makeup, usually my clothes are pretty female, but the back of the head is definately not girly.  Hugs Nancy

Nancy, I wish I was brave enough to go without covering my head like you and others do! I was able to do that walking my boys down the street. That was major for me. But, still haven't convinced myself to go to the store or beyond my street yet. I wear more makeup now than I did before chemo. Got used to putting eye liner on to compensate for the bald eye look! And, I just feel better about myself taking the time to do it.

I went to the dentist today and had to take my baseball cap off because it was in the way. (This cap has hair attached to it...)  And, it didn't bother me to do so. Maybe I'm getting closer to a new reveal?! lol

Anyway, I'm happy to be alive, feeling pretty darn good and learning who I am in this new world of mine.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi