My sister is a medical lab tech in a hospital, and she just got her second shot of the Pfizer vaccine in the past week. My parents are in their late 70s and they got their first dose this past week (in North Carolina). I'm in Maryland and we are behind North Carolina, schedule-wise. It sounds like t...

I gave myself a Neulasta shot 2 days after disconnect, with a pre-filled syringe. I usually was able to pick up a couple of them at a time from the hospital pharmacy. They did have to make sure that my insurance would cover my administering it myself, which wasn't a problem for me.

In Maryland we are not technically being told to shelter in place, but all nonessential businesses are now closed and we cannot gather in groups larger than 10. We have 349 cases in our state, mostly in the DC suburbs; 24 in my county and 41 in Baltimore City proper. Mike, I have a friend who just r...

My neuropathy hit its peak a good 4-6 weeks after my last infusion containing Oxaliplatin. My oncologist had warned me that it would keep getting worse after stopping the Oxi. I think my last Oxi infusion was at 50%, and my last two treatments lacked the Oxi completely. I'm now 13 months out from my...

Ugh. I have never taken this drug in any form. My parents have taken Zantac for decades, and they've never had any cancer anywhere in their digestive tract. It's no proof either way of course, but I thought I'd respond regardless. My only risk factor was a largely sedentary lifestyle. I was golden o...

Sounds about right. I know they predicted I might be in the hospital another 3 or 4 days after surgery, but they sent me home a lot sooner than that.

I can't speak to gallbladder removal; I had 10 inches of colon including the sigmoid removed a year and a half ago in laparoscopic surgery. Perhaps my experience will be helpful, though. I was up and walking around about 24 hours after surgery, which was much later than we all would have liked. Ther...

Back on antibiotics. This time I had a tooth that was going bad. It had a root canal 18 years ago but has looked suspect at the root for quite a while. Last month they x-rayed it and there was definitely infection going on at the root. So today I had it pulled, with the intent of adding an implant i...

Thanks for the mention of Banatrol. At this point anything that claims to help with c diff gets my attention quick. The stuff I am taking now does seem to help, but it is expensive and it needs to be kept cool to retain its efficacy. Taking it with me on a trip would be a pain. (Still haven't had a ...

Adding to Boxhill's comment, colorectal cancer rates within each state vary drastically from county to county. Economic disparities and access to health care are a big factor. As we all know, obesity is just one risk factor among many. Highlighting obesity isn't any more informative than highlightin...

I had no problems with the Bactrim, fortunately. I took Align for a week, until my shipment of Visbiome arrived yesterday. (This is the rebranded original formula of VSL#3, apparently.) It came in a big 12" square refrigerated box, along with a sensor that turns red if it got too warm at any po...

Just want to chime in and say that I would not be happy about all those symptoms you're having either. Here's hoping you don't have cancer, and that you do get to the bottom of whatever's going on soon. Keep at your docs and get them to keep looking for an answer. It doesn't sound to me like a situa...

Congrats!! So happy for you!

Thanks, all; the words of encouragement and suggestions helped a lot. I was able to grab Align and am taking that. Nobody around here had VSL#3 or visbiome in stock (I called a LOT of pharmacies), and apparently if you buy it direct they only ship Monday-Wednesday. But I'll take the Align for now, a...

I got a urinary tract infection (thanks, menopause :evil: ) yesterday and am on a 3 day course of Bactrim antibiotics. I just started my 2nd day of the pills and my gut is rebelling, I've been in the bathroom repeatedly with diarrhea. I know I didn't have any real alternatives to antibiotics for thi...