Hi there Gottafght,
I'm new to this forum and I'm replying to your post because I have recently finished treatment for grade 3 invasive breast cancer which included a double mastectomy and FEC chemo. I see that you posted on the 10th of March so I'm thinking that you will be well into your treatments by now. I'm hoping that it hasn't been as bad as you feared. I too was terrified at first (even though I'm a nurse) and nearly refused my first treatment because I was so frightened. My main fear was that I was going to spend days uncontrollably throwing up and I have a bit of a fear of it. I felt very nauseated on the night of my first treatment and all through the next day but wasn't actually sick. I gradually got better over a couple of days but was a physically and emotionally stunned by the experience. I didn't want another one in a hurry! My oncology team see you two weeks after each session to evaluate and adjust your treatment. I asked the doctor if he would prescribe a drug called Emend for me which stops vomiting for chemo patients. He did, and it enabled me to continue my treatments with confidence. It's true, everybody reacts to chemo in thier own way, some people have virtually no side effects and some people have many but I would say that once you start your chemo you will fall into a pattern of side effects which you will learn to expect and deal with as they happen. My hair started to come out two weeks after my first treatment and was so thin by the third one that I shaved my head and found it more comfortable to keep it smooth as the patchy stubble irritated me. The bain of my life during chemo was the nasty taste in my mouth which would start about 3 days after a treatment, I called this 'badger mouth' to relieve this, I sucked on fruit flavoured ice lollies...lots of them! On all of my treatments days 7-10 would be an emotional roller coaster of tears, headaches, fatigue, insomnia and generally hurting all over and feeling rubbish but after that I would recover quite well and feel good in that third week just before the next one. I got really bad indigestion a few days after my first chemo and my GP gave me Omeprazole which was brilliant and made a huge difference. If I was going to offer you advice it would be to drink lots of water the day before and during the hours leading up to and after each treatment. This will help to eliminate the drugs more quickly from your body and if you are sick you won't dehydrate too quickly.
In retrospect, it wasn't too bad and once you're on that journey it isn't long before it's all over. I was fortunate that I didn't need radiotherapy because I had a clear margin between my tumour and my chest wall also there was no spread to my lymph nodes. So for me, it's all over I hope. I having a few effects as my body recovers from the treatment such as fatigue, general aches and pains and some intermittent tingling in my hands and fingertips. But I gather all of this is normal and each day I feel a little better. I would say the main thing you should do is keep a positive frame of mind, accept that all the side effects, the hair loss and feeling rubbish etc. is temporary. Try to welcome the treatment and embrace it as your cure. Above all, include your family in your experience and accept any offer of support that is going, you're gonna need it and it will help them too. Chemo is a very isolating experience and believe me when I say your family will never feel so helpless. Good luck with it all. I hope this has helped.
Chin up!
