Can we do a ROLL CALL with everyone posting their name, cancer diagnosis, & where they are in treatm

Auntie Shelly said:

Roll Call
Hi. My name is Shelly. I was diagnosed with stage 1B uterine cancer in Jan 09 and had a abdominal hysterectomy also removing lymph nodes and ovaries in Feb. 09 @ Hoag, Newport Bch, CA. Currently in the 3rd month of chemo (carbo/taxol) 3 times a month for six months and once a month 9 months after. I am also having to get both shots for red blood cells and white blood cells. (sorry I forgot what their names are)

I have had 2 bladder infections so far and am not getting very much sleep. Most nights I wake up every 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I am very tired all the time and am not sure what is due to the chemo. After trying to treat the bladder problem my oncologist has requested a referral to a urologist but OMG they are hard people to get to see!

My family and friends are very supportive but I am really getting tired of being tired all the time! Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do?

Thanks!

Ro10 said:

Welcome Shelly
Sorry to hear you are so tired all of the time. You really are on a different chemo schedule than most of us have been on. Most of us have received our chemo every 21 days if the blood work is okay. I am one of those who had 3 chemo treatments and then radiation and then will finish with 3 more chemo treatments. I will have my internal radiation on Tuesday.

Sorry to hear about your bladder infections, too. That is miserable when you can't get good rest at night. Have you tried drinking cranberry juice? that is supposed to make the urine more acid to reduce the chance of infections. I am sure the urologist will have some "magic" pills to make you feel better.

Glad to hear you have a supportive family and group of friends. Hope you find this site helpful too. Good luck with your treatments.

nursey420 said:

I have been out of work
I have been out of work since 1/30 I was to have a simply hyst on 2/4 but the biopise came back cancer so had to see oncoligist. Had surgery at end of Feb due to the docotors schedule. I am a RN medical case manager for a work comp insurance company and my case where given away so did a lot of resting an house cleaing for the first month. I had daily radiation for 5 weks and my doctor wanted me to just rest. After the external i had the internal ones that ended 2 weeks ago and the doctor wanted me to rest for a month but convinced them to let me go back in 2 weeks. I have very good disabilty insurance. My doctors beleive that rest is the best. I was very tired and still get tired by end of the day but it is much better now. Best thing is to talk to the doctors they really know best.

woofgang said:

April Newbie overcome by Chemo Fatigue Finally signing in
Hi,I'm Sharon, and you can see more details about my situation on my profile. I've been lurking, but just didn't have the energy to get with it and sign in, not to mention I've not blogged much and was afraid I would do it wrong and drive everyone nuts.... But I'm a stage IIIc, with papillary serous and clear cell features. My situation sounds alot lot Deanna's. I had surgery 12/31/2008 and just finished my 6th chemo May 20. Next is the radiation, and I can't tell you how much you've all helped sharing your radiation experiences. There are alot of angels on this blog and you've all really inspired me.

jen2swt said:

Hi Lisa
You have been out of
Hi Lisa
You have been out of work since February? Is that because of the treatments? You can't work during that time? I right now have taken off 6 weeks...Just curious if it will be more if I need treatments.

lindaprocopio said:

I wish I knew for sure if radiation could cause that pain.
My radiation has been to the pelvis and the internal radiation that I will have next will be inserted vaginally. So I really don't know if your internal radiation could cause that kind of pain down your legs like that. But I can tell you that I have NO radiation-generated pain of any kind. I will do some research and see what I can find out for you. It probably doesn't mean the tumor is growing, and is more likely just that the nerves are irritated by the treatments. BIG HUG. Be sure and talk with your oncologist about this; he may have something he can give you.

desertflower said:

Pre-hyst Fearing the worst
Set up for a hyst on July 14 and looking for another doc to do the Da Vinci instead. Back in Sept 07 had an endometrial biopsy showing negative for cancer and had fallopian tube taken due to cyst/infection. While in surgery doc took lots of pictures all looking good but said she thought I had fibriods, to keep check on it. Well, I got laid off after recovery in December and finally got employed last July. After getting caught up on a lot of back bills I finally got another sonogram (wasn't big on my list as it wasn't causing problems) showing a huge tumor in uterus. Doc set up for surgery now did an in office sonogram and it was round like the moon and had white on it - he said 99% chance it is not cancer but a calcified fibriod. I'm definitely going to get a hyst but trying to be pro-active and get myself ready for worst case scenario should I get positive biopsy for cancer. I'm in fear as I am having other symptoms like lymph nodes doing roll call/pain hoping it is something else. Hearing you guys going through what you are puts a human face on a tragic but survivable disease - thanks for sharing your stories.

lindaprocopio said:

Welcome, Desertflower! Try not to worry.
If there's one thing I've learned by this cancer experience, it's that 'borrowing trouble' by trying to anticipate every possible contingency will only exhaust and distress you. So please try not to let your imagination go wild, peeking around every corner ahead of time. Your symptoms and test results so far don't sound like cancer to me, at least not the scary aggressive UPSC kind that I have, which is a cancer with NO symptoms and NO pain. And bleeding and swelling would be the symptoms I would expect for the more common type of highly-curable uterine cancer. So, deep breath! (When you see all of my cancer research on this Board, you will be tempted to shoot back that I should 'practice what I preach', but I have always been insatiably curious and research-oriented about every interesting thing that captures my imagination, and now "cancer" is on that list! I've always been that way, and perhaps we are kindred spirits in that regard. You wouldn't believe all the useless information in my head on a million different topics!)

And if it turns out that it is cancer, we're here for you. If you get the cancer diagnosis, THEN you'll want to be very pro-active, informed and prepared for each step of the journey. But for now, pre-diagnosis, 'ignorance is bliss', so try not to make yourself crazy just yet. BIG HUGS! We all know how scary this is!

Pat from MN said:

Roll Call
Hi, my name is Pat and I am from Minneapolis, MN. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Oct 1998, had a lumpectomy and eventually, a bi-lateral mastectomy. I had 4 Chemo's and 5 years of Tamoxifin. Then, 10 years later in Oct 2008, I had stomach pain and they found a Fibroid. I had a Hysterectomy on Oct 15, 2008 to remove it. The pathology showed more cancer - this time it was UPSC. I had a second surgery on Dec 9, 2008 to take out the remainder of the Cervix, that had caused problems with the first surgery & lymph nodes (all negative). I have done 3 rounds of chemo - Taxol/Carboplatin, 25 external radiation & 4 brachy's. The plan was to have 3 more chemo's but you know what they say about well laid plans... More stomach pain so another PET CT showed more cancer by my liver. So, now, there will be more than 3 more chemo's to try to shrink it. It kind of makes you wonder what else can go wrong. But this site is a God Send. It is so good to hear from people who know what you are going through. Family and friends are great but they don't always understand your feelings.
Thank you all for being here.