another one just diagnosed

Good for you! Hope it continues going well! By the way, hair loss isn’t a big factor with Gemzar like it is with some other chemos, I hear. There’s one amazing guy on this board, JeffG, who has had different chemo regimens for 5 years or so, and he just started losing his hair from Taxotere. So maybe you can keep your tresses.
Joyce

That’s hysterical! I have a 4 yr old girl myself and I don’t know what I”d do with a boy– though they all come with their own sets of problems, I know.

One good thing that comes from these life-changing events is that it gives us a much better perspective, doesn’t it? Worrying about a stain on the furniture or a fender-bender just doesn’t seem worth it! Then again, I would probably still worry if I had to give my daughter “the talk”!!

I remember not long after my mother’s diagnosis I was in the post office and the line was kinda long and people started getting real ugly and threatening the poor tellers and I just said, “Hey, we have to wait 20 minutes on line at the post office and some people are dying and in pain and half the world is starving and tortured and doesn’t have two cents to rub together. Get some perspective!!!! “

What you’re going through is a whole lot more important than a long line at the post office – that’s what I’m trying to say.

I’m glad you have a therapist and your son does too – you need every bit of support you can get!
Joyce

Hey Barb,
You must be some kind of wonderful person to have everyone doing such incredibly thoughtful things for you! It makes ME weepy just hearing about it! And of COURSE you’re young! I’m not too far behind you, so don’t say it’s old.

My only tip for chemo is: make sure they give you some good anti-nausea prescription drugs. My mother had three or four prescriptions and some would work great right after chemo, some worked at other times, she just mixed and matched. You may be lucky and not get nausea, but when it hits it’s usually 2 days after treatment, because they give you anti-nausea stuff in your IV with the chemo and its effects last for a bit. And when my mother was nervous for her first chemo they put some kind of anti-anxiety drug into the mix (it may have been Ativan) – it calmed her immensely.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. You sound like you have had so much going on, it’s no wonder you feel overwhelmed.

Joyce

Hi Barb,
Yes, they say this cancer is not “curable”. But there are people who have lived with this for many years and are still going strong. And I am not too sure this is not curable…what I mean is that my bestfriend who is a padiatric oncologist and one of my biggest cheerleaders points out that some of her patients who had incurable cancer have been in remission for years with no signs of anything.

You sound like you have a large support group around you and that is wonderful. Dont worry about your crying, it is natural but you might want to see someone for a bit to “get your head around it” as the British say. I was seeing someone for a couple of months after i was diagnosed and it helped so much. Maybe your som might want to see someone as well.

Take care.
Kris