My name is Felicia Anderson and I reside in Surprise AZ. I was diagnosed with inductal carcinoma in the left breast in 2013 of June and had surgery in August and unfortunately it returned in June 2016 to the bone. According to my Oncologist is has spread to my liver and lungs. I was currently on Ibrance/Letrozole ,Zoledex and Zometa was taken off of it because my CBC was too low. I'm currently receiving WBC shots to raise my white blood count. I am so tired of not having energy and I'm seriously considering forgoing the treatment all together. I took Ibrance/Letrozole for 2 cycles and felt awful the entire time. These drugs in opinion do more harm than good and either way it's spreading so why give up my quality of life taking this if the cancer is spread anyway. Now I'm fighting to get my counts back up and I have NO ENERGY!! Just wanted to vent, thank you...😥😥😥
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Felish48
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Oh honey, I am so sorry you are still feeling poorly! I know from talking with you the other day how horrible it is for you. Please think long and hard before foregoing all treatment. You know my reasons but there may be more out there for you. I would do anything for you to feel better!! You have my numbers, call me anytime to vent. The women on here will give you some additional things to try to help you feel better. Take advantage of their advice and I am thinking and praying for you!! I’m going to call you again soon if I don’t hear from you first!!
Thank you Lisa11171...I have an appointment @ 2:45 with a new Oncologist and hopefully she will listen more than my last one. I will call you later today..
I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. I understand that treatment is hard, has you spoken to your oncologist about how this is impacting your quality of live. Maybe they can change dosage levels. Also, have you considered looking at integrative medicines such as acupuncture which has been proven to reduce side effects. Does your treatment facility over integrative medicines? Sending healing energy your way that you may have relief from these side effects and no further progression.
My Oncologist never take time to listen, which is why I'm changing to a new one starting today. My appointment is @ 2:45. Thank you for responding to me...Hope that all is well with you.
Dosage can be changed; so can meds. There are options for liver radiotherapy if you choose. I have Mets to bones and lungs. Quality of life is important. I could not do ibrance 125; am on 75 now-much better. I know how depressing this mbc can make you feel. Before you make any major decision talk to others on here and get a third
Opinion if needed. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Love and hugs being sent.
They took me off of it my numbers were too low and they say that my cancer markers went up so apparently the Ibrance/Letrozole wasn't working for me and was doing more harm than good. My white blood count was a 2 and my red was a 2.17 hemoglobin is 8.8 and continuing to drop. I feel awful , i have no energy. My new oncologist wants me to start on Gemzar Thursday, actually she gave me a few chemo choices. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, im just tired now..😥😥 Thank you for your response and I hope that all is well with you.
I am sorry Felicia you are suffering. Can you wait few days to rest and have counts come back up? Did they give you epogen? Of course you feel terrible with those blood counts. Did they offer any suggestions about that issue?
Ive been resting and brought a lot of vitamins and herbs to help. They didn't offer anything to help bring my red blood count up only gave me a shot for the white cells and im guessing thats to only get me well enough to start Gemzar the chemo drug. Im not going to start any new treatments that would further lower my red blood count and most of these drugs tend to do just that. So no matter the progression of the disease im going to wait until i feel stronger before i put more poison back into my system. They like to scare and bully ,but im not afraid and cant be bullied by anyone Dr.
In November/December I got sick twice while on ibrance(sinus infection) doc wanted me to start next cycle but I refused. I felt so bad and tired weak. I waited few weeks before I started again. My body needed that rest.
Hope you are feeling stronger and recovering your counts. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️
Greetings: Sister, and yesssssss warrior. We all have/had some bad days, but I am praying God will give you peace, and comfort. Please stay strong, and don'r give up the fight. We have all been where you are, or are going through some of the same difficulties you are experiencing. right now. We are your sisters, and we are here for you. I pray Joy will come in the morning. XoXoXo
My name is Laura. I live in Peoria and had inflammatory breast cancer and every conceivable side effect they could throw at me (beside the kitchen sink)...though some days it feels like that. Anyway, I understand where you are coming from. At one point they wanted me to go to Seattle for a stem cell transplant that wasn’t seven covered by insurance, but I started with chemo, did surgery in the middle, followed by more chemo, then radiation, and a year of Herceptin. I just though of things in chunks (I’m a reading specialist so that helped me break it down I guess I didn’t get too overwhelmed). One of the radiation techs told me to think about treatment times like mini seasons and then it made me think about the work that goes into “seasons” for the future ones. I thought about it a lot laying in weird positions, not moving, and burning after two weeks for 23 minutes for seven weeks. I told her there were so many analogies about planting, reaping, saving strength, building up, etc. and it did get me thinking a lot. What I learned most is that positivity - attitude, outlook, smiles, being around kids (I was teaching in a K-8 school and still worked when I could even though their immune systems were dangerous to me.), being around others who are positive (even doctors), can make a huge difference - there are many studies on the topic. A few years after treatment I went to MD Anderson in Texas for treatment on a side effect and they treat everyone like they are a family member. I realized when there that every place should treat people like that. Sadly, they don’t. When they do, however, it translates in care and compassion to all around.
Thank you Laura for your kind words. We must meet in person to lean on each other since you live so close to me. I hope that you are doing much better, as for me the pain has subsided a lot compared to where it was. Now I'm just trying to decide if I'm going to do the iv chemo or not...
I’m glad you feel better. I would look into the different options, results from studies, side effects and decide what is best for YOU! And yes, we should. I can’t believe there is like a town between us or not, probably in some places.
Yes I'm doing that as we speak, I'm not one to jump on every drug that these doctors recommend especially when it comes to traditional chemotherapy. My cousin was rushed into taking chemo and now only 30% of her heart is working. A healthy heart to now this. Her mother is so upset, my aunt says that my cousin can't sleep most night, and when she does finally fall asleep it sounds like gurgling when she breathes. She can't walk w/o getting out of breathe. Her quality of life has diminished. I don't want to live like that. Well you continue to take care of yourself and try to stay cool, the heat is on in AZ now..lol
Yes, we have to remember that chemo is toxic. If it is killing cancer, it sure takes a toll on other things. I’m so sorry about your cousin. I took three chemo drugs at the same time as my cancer was very aggressive- most people who discover it are stage 4. The lowest stage is 3b. I had to have a heart test every three months and prior to chemo..and after. But I still ended up with a heart issue. So, I get to see the cardiologist every six months as explain to every doctor I have what I have and why. Any surgery? I have to go get cleared by cardio because of it. Ugh! I also have lymphedema in my left arm and due to the AZ heat and my feeling of claustrophobia of anything tight on me, you can guess how any wrapping feels on that arm...especially on the day it was 110. There are side effects with the immune system (found out about that one AFTER treatment and that is a long story). The tiredness you mentioned, the pain at times, the brain fog, the not wanting to be around others or do anything followed by the opposite, mixed with swirls of all kinds or thoughts going on in your head that it’s hard to catch up...or sleep. My insomnia started 15 years ago. I sleep maybe three hours a night. Some things are so much better, and I’m stronger for it. However, all the treatments along the way came with a price/cost that led to something else. Radiation led to lymphedema, which led to balance and favoring one side over the other. Over time, this led to the need to two spinal surgeries. Chemo caused low red and white blood counts so I had problems during treatment and had to get shots before and after every treatment. I would get multiple sinus, ear, and UR infusions a year prior to, during, and after treatment. I discovered later I had Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID), where you body doesn’t produce enough antibodies to fight infections. When foreign items are introduces (like shots or vaccines), my body rejects or attacks it. I got the pneumonia vaccine in 2013 and by body attacked it. They couldn’t find it in my system. It was why I was catching six to eight infections a year that lasted two rounds of antibiotics and no one nines why...they didn’t run the antibody test for the blood. Now I do infusions..at home. And in the last six years I’ve only had eight infections, which is better than 36 to 48. And I feel so much better, except for the headache side effects. But you give one thing, you get something else. Isn’t that the may it goes? Everyone stay cool...especial my friends in hot, hair dryer climates like Arizona, or the hot and humid places like Florida, Virginia, the Midwest, or areas across the globe. If you are somewhere cool...those of us that are somewhere hot are a bit jealous.
Vent thats why we are here for. It doesnt matter how long it matters we here. Never stop fighting we will fight toghet. Im tired also getting the shits iron red blood cells down. Double mastectomy and if i go to doctors people stare at my hair scarf like i have the stay away disease. I know its so hard to fight this darn disease. But we at least have each other gb you hun.
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