Hi Kez,
Guess you’ve had your first dose of Epi by now… Well, I seem to the only one who’s answered that is on the same arm of the Tact 2 trial… arm 3… and can’t believe it’s 25 weeks ago that I started the long haul… tomorrow morning I’ll pop my last Xeloda tablets… YAHOOOOOOO!!!
Anyway, I’m not going to do the doom and gloom side of it, but echo the others that have said it is very do-able… and stress that everyone’s experience is different. I occasionally meet a lady at the hospital who is on the exact same regime as me, and on the very same timescale and she’s had some similar symptoms as me, but firstly didn’t lose her hair and secondly, didn’t throw up once (boy, am I jealous!!) I did throw up a lot the day following Epirubicin, but with the anti-sickness meds, most don’t seem to… I was just unlucky! My chemo treatment was usually about 3pm and I got the train to and from the hospital and felt absolutely fine that evening. I did try the cold-cap (they never wet my hair first, just put it straight on the head)… yes, it was cold, but I found it very tolerable and worth a try… didn’t work for me, but did for the other lady, so nothing ventured, nothing gained… give it a go girl… worth a try!!
I didn’t suffer from the fatigue others have, so you may not… think positive. My treatment was on a Thursday, so Friday was a complete right-off, Sat a bit better, etc… and usually I was back to work by Tuesday, albeit on a bit of an easier workload. I found I needed to work, to keep some kind of normality in my life… I live alone and didn’t want to sit at home, getting down and feeling sorry for myself. It has worked fine for me. Each cycle has been a bit different.
And so to Xeloda… much kinder on the body!! I had no diarrhoea at all, hair started to grow back and yes, I did have a bit of the Hand/Foot Syndrome, mainly during the 3rd cycle. Like the others, I plastered on the E45 cream, usually morning and night. I couldn’t avoid putting pressure on my feet, as my work involves walking much of the day!
I actually think the 3rd arm was the best to get (sorry everyone else), but not having the accelerated Epi gave the body more time to recover. My veins did start to protest and the forearm was sore, but that cleared up once on to the Xeloda. And getting blood tests can be an issue for some… I really only had a tough time on the last one. A tip that might help is to arrange to get your blood tests done at your local doctor’s surgery the day before chemo… saves an extra trip to the hospital… you’ll have enough of them.
Anyway, hope this helps… any questions feel free to pm me… also look on bcpals forums…
As I said, your experiences may be different to everyone else, but you can pick up a lot of tips from these forums.
By the way, I’m 44 yrs, and don’t know if age affects how you cope with the various side-effects.
All the best for your treatment and hope today went well… keep smiling… the time will pass and you’ll eventually be able to put all this behind you.
Take care,
Alison x