Information and opinions on Breast Cancer from koponen at MyBreastCancerNetwork.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293 http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293 http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/20947/chemo-1 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:19:00 -0500 koponen Hi Everybody,I'm sitting in infusion getting my second to last chemo!!!! Only one more to go!!! Talk about exciting!!!In 10 days I will be done!!! One more left!!! Yippee!!  In 10 days, my hair will start to grow, I won't be tired all the time, I will be able to feel my fingers again, I won't be tired all the time, I won't be walking on marbles, I won't be tired all the time, I won't be a puffy marshmallow, I... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/20947/chemo-1 http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/20429/news Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:26:00 -0500 koponen Hi Everybody!!I feel like time is just flying by! Coming in every Friday for chemo does seem to make it go faster. I remember back when this all started thinking six months was a lifetime! Six months of chemo - a year of herceptin...wow, that will take forever! Well, after today, I only have 3 more chemo (Taxol) infusions to go!! I will still have 42 weeks of herceptin - I think I go back to every 3 weeks instead of every week...whatever...the... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/20429/news http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/19510/sister-study Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:39:00 -0500 koponen Hi Guys,Thought I'd spread the word on a new study I heard about from my sister. My sister, Kathy, is the best. She took the news of my cancer pretty hard but has totally been there for me. She did tons of research on her own so that she would understand what I was going through.  We went through a bad scare a couple of weeks ago when she found a lump and had to have a needle biopsy. Thank God it came back negative. I'm not... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/19510/sister-study http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/19335/cocky Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:24:00 -0500 koponen Hi Everybody,Sitting in infusion for my 5th round of Taxol (all ready had the 4 rounds AC). Got just a little cocky and paid the price. The Taxol just seemed so much easier to bear than the Adriamycin and Cytoxin that "Dr. Koponen" decided to stop taking the nausea medicine (don't like taking meds if I don't need to). Well, Friday night wasn't fun...the nausea wasn't as bad as it could get with the AC but still. Totally... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/19335/cocky http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/18674/taxol-oops Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:57:00 -0500 koponen Hi Guys!!How is everybody?!?!? Talk about confusing!! Doxorubicin/Adriamycin/Anastrozole /Arimidex/Paclitaxel/Taxol/Tamaxofin/Trastuzumab/Herceptin /Warfarin/ProchlorperDexamethasonWarfarin/Cytoxin /Cyclophosphamide/etc/etc/etc/etc..... anybody else confused yet!!!  I really kind of concentrate on one step at a time and when I finished the AC part I felt like I crossed a major milestone....yippee!!! Now I'm on to the next step, I got... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/18674/taxol-oops http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/16972/halfway Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:25:00 -0500 koponen Hi Everybody,Just a quick update...just had chemo #4 yesterday...that is the last round of adrimyacin and cytoxin!  In 3 weeks I start my 12 round of tamoxofin.  I'll start the 52 weeks of herceptin then, too.  So, the way I see it, I am halfway through the chemo...major milestone!!!  In 15 weeks, my hair will start to grow back.  In 15 weeks, I'll start getting some energy back.  In 15 weeks, I won't be... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/16972/halfway http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/15913/pink-wigs Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:25:00 -0500 koponen Hi Everybody,I've talked with a lot of you but haven't written a journal entry in a bit!!My second round of chemo went very well. The doctor changed a few of the nausea meds around and I didn't get anywhere near as sick. Hopefully they've keyed in on what works for me!! Kytril is the anti nausea drug that works for me...they have to give me samples of it because my insurance doesn't cover it. I think that is ridiculous...we... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/15913/pink-wigs http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/14854/chemo-angels Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:10:00 -0400 koponen Just in case you all haven't heard of this...there is an organization called Chemo Angels that is absolutely incredible...I have a "chemo angel" that is sending me little "pick me ups"...I do not know who she is but it is awesome to have these "warm fuzzies" just show up...go to chemoangels.com to check it out!!  It hasn't ceased to amaze me the amount of support that is out there. It also hasn't... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/14854/chemo-angels http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/14853/2-bald Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:49:00 -0400 koponen Hi Everybody,I'm sitting in my hospital's beautiful infusion room getting my 2nd round of chemo.  Quick update since my last share post: I really didn't have that bad of a time with the first chemo. Don't get me wrong, it was not any fun, but I haven't had it as bad as others. The nausea and reflux that was so bad in the beginning really tapered off after the first week. It was kind of like having a bad stomach flu. I... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/14853/2-bald http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/13915/days-chemo Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:27:00 -0400 koponen Hi Everybody,I had the 1st round Monday...Today is Thursday...it wasn't too bad...not great but not too bad.I started with the nausea about 8pm Monday night and it got progressively worse as the night went on. Not as bad as others have had...kind of like a really really bad stomach flu. The medicine helped the nausea but it was kind of hard to not being able to go ahead and throw up to get it over with. It just came in waves. It would go... http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/9293/13915/days-chemo