I was due to have my last dose of FEC today (Tues) but as with all my other doses my immune system has not recovered and it is delayed. I’m having another blood test tomorrow and if all is well it will be chemo on Thurs. If not, then it will probably be next week which will leave me in bed feeling rotton on Christmas Day.
Anyone else in the same position? How are you going to cope with Christmas?
I have 2 girls, 12 and 9, and they have coped brilliantly with mummy being ill for 4 months. Now I would like a good Christmas. I can cope with them opening presents while I stay in bed but I would love to sit with them and enjoy Christmas dinner. I’ve also been given a bottle of champagne to celebrate the end of chemo and I would love to pop the cork on Christmas Day.
Sorry if this seems like a whinge but I’d just like to know others who will be feeling the same on Christmas Day and know I’m not alone.
We could always have a big celebration on New Years Day.
Hope you all have a good Christmas!!
I am having my 4th FEC on the 30th December and just had my 3rd a week ago so I will be feeling fine for xmas but sh*t for New Years! I’m going for a big time celebration in March for my 40th as my last FEC is the 10th Feb!
My birthday is March too, the 25th. When is yours. I’ll be 45 then so a few years older than you. Does this make me middle-aged? I feel too young for that. Still think I am 30 something.
No, you are not alone! I’m having my final Taxotere tomorrow, which means that my taste buds will be well and truly shot and I’ll be feeling grotty by Christmas Day. I also have children of similar age - girl 14, boy 12 and girl 9, so hopefully their excitement will help to offset the negative impact of the tax side effects. I fancy champagne to celebrate the end too - I’m thnking of having a little tomorrow evening, even though that’s right after the chemo, but at least then I’ll be able to taste it!
I’m amazed at how well children do cope with all that we are going through - you must really appreciate your girls at a time like this. Mine live abroad - well, we all live abroad, in the Middle East, but I have been back in the UK since July having my treatment, so it is a real treat to have all the family together just now, sharing our first UK Christmas for 10 years. Unfortunately I won’t feel like celebrating much on New Year’s Day, as that is the day they all head off again and I’ll be back to being on my own, waiting for my January mx, so you and I can be miserable together Ostrich!
Best wishes to you both, and hopefully we’ll all have some good times over the festive period,
Hi Valentine, my birthday’s the 11th so I should be well and truly out the other side of 6th FEC by then! Can’t wait. Christmas and New Year 2008 be done, I am looking forward to March 2009! My kids are 20, 16 and 10 so this is our first xmas without Santa, boo hoo!
Julie, I hope you manage to have a decent xmas and if I were you I’d be knocking back that champers tomorrow night, goodness knows how you are coping alone here in the UK with chemo and then to face New Year and mx on your own - I’d be face down in a vat of bubbles if I were you!
Life’s not so bad, and I think I misled in my last post - yes, the family all go back on 1st Jan, but my husband is planning to come back to be with me for the mastectomy - we’re just waiting for dates to be confirmed now. I’m off to meet a nice plastic surgeon next week to talk about reconstruction too, although probably later as I will need rads in feb too.
March sounds a good time for us all to celecbrate - I might even be able to go home then! I’m hoping for a huge welcome home party, maybe combined with my upcoming 50th, due in July. How can I be nearly 50 when like you Valentine I still feel thirty-something (albeit a thirty-something who for some reason has been given the legs of a ninety year old for the duration of the taxotere treatment!!)
Hi Valentine,
Yes,I’ll be on chemo(Xeloda) over Christmas but it’s not too bad -thank goodness.It has been hard walking around the shops doing Christmas shopping though because my feet have been quite sore.
I’m also due to have my Zometa on New Years Eve but I’m going to ask them if I can have it after New Year, as last week it gave me ’ flu-like’ symptoms and I wasn’t well for two days afterwards.I’m going to a friends party and don’t want to start feeling unwell while I’m there-I intend to enjoy myself!
Best wishes,
Alli x
I’m having my 2nd FEC on the 19th - just hope I gt over it for Xmas - it took 8 days last time. Hope all of you having chemo around Xmas have as easy time as possible.
Hi Valentine
I had my first FEC 3 weekls ago and went back for the second today only to be told that my white blood count is too low. I have to return on Friday. I had no idea that this could happen so early on. Is there anything you recommend to increase the chances of being ok for Friday???
Also interested as 44 and 45 in March !
Bethy x
If it helps, after my first FEC they told me to go to my local nurse for a blood test no later than teh 12th Dec ready for chemo on the 19th, gave me the paperwork and everything as I live about 10 miles away from the hospital. When I went for my Hick Line yesterday, they said I would need my bloods taken on the morning of the 19th before chemo. I explained that I had them done on the 12th, they said it was too early and my bloods were low! I was mad as it messed up my veins more for the hick line when they put the cannular in for the sedation etc… So yes I suppose your bloods can be low early on. I can only assume my were low as I didn’t eat much for teh first 8 days and when I had bloods taken I was still on the building myself up stage. Hoping my next lot will be ok - hey if Xmas is gonna be rough, I’m hoping I’ll be ok for new year!!!
Bethy,
Can’t really give you any advice on getting white blood count up. I failed nearly every time and tried everything. I’ve tried eating loads of protein, the hospital gave me the immune boosting injections and on the last 2 occasions have upped this from 5 doses to 7. Still didn’t help. The 5th dose of FEC they decreased the dosage to give me a chance and it still didn’t work. I’ve been eating manuka honey for the last 3 weeks and I HATE honey. That didn’t work either. Had another blood test this morning and am waiting for results. Really hoping it is fine and I can have chemo tomorrow.
The only time I wasn’t delayed for chemo was when I had a cough, cold and tonsilitis. I suppose it went up because of the antibiotics I was given.
Thanks for all your support and enjoy the celebrations when it is all over!!
Thanks for your help- its so good to know it happens to other people! Really hope your wbc is up and chemo can go ahead tomorrow. Fingers crossed for mine for Friday! Went out this afternoon and got another wig… I had a long one but having had my hair cut off at the start of Chemo I quite like it and decided that short was the way to go. I used the “cold” cap last time but clearly it is not going to work as my hair is already falling out in handfuls… wondering whether I feel brave enough to crop the rest.Difficult as then one really becomes a “patient” rather than someone who has just lost 2 stone since September.
Will be thinking about you all.
Bethy x
Just had my last taxotere this morning, and about to break open the bubbly. A lovely feeling, although strongly tempered by the knowledge of all the lovely side effects I still have to work through, especially the tired legs and awful mouth. I wish now that I had been more organised and planned my Cistmas lunch tomorrow whilst I still have some vestiges of taste, although with three children I suppose we do really have to stick to the proper day. Good news form the oncologist too - he thinks the chemo has improved my prognosis by 50%, and coupled with the forthcoming mastectomy, radiotherapy and tamoxifen that figure should hopefully go up to 80% or more. Will know more after my MRI on Friday (which I am NOT looking forward to - feel I’ve had far too many needles in me already, but I do want to get the scan results so ho hum).
Feel on quite a high just now (partly the steroids too I guess) - do hope that your chemo sessions go ahead as planned Valentine, Ostrich, Bethy. Mandy and Allicat. Still can’t quite believe I’ve got to the end. Whilst you are in the middle, it feels never ending, but then suddenly it is over!
I’m so pleased for you, and can’t wait til I put a post to that effect on here. I have done it in reverse to you and had my lumpectomy then mastectomy first. On that note, I recovered really well from both. I was scared about the prospect, but like everything else that happens, its never as bad as you imagine it to be, saying that I appreciate we are all different. Like you say “its suddenly over” such a lot happens, and I often sit back and think has all that really happened in 2 months!!!
Hope all your scans come back good. Let us know how you get on, and well done for getting through the chemo - for me that is the hardest part of this nightmare.
Have a good Xmas!!!
Mands x
Julie - Can just add that mastectomy is not that bad. Painful the first day after surgery but I recovered quite quickly after that. Found my mobile (for texting friends) and ipod were the best things to keep me occupied in hospital. I had reconstruction at the same time and was so glad to come out of surgery the same shape I went in.
Would you believe this? - the anaestistist was called Mr Gas! You couldn’t make it up.
Valentine - thanks for your encouraging words! I had hoped to have reconstruction at the same time too, but that’s looking unlikely now (I’m off to see the plastic surgeon tomorrow). My lobular cancer mainifested itself as two tumours, one of 6cm, so I’ll be having radiotherapy after the mx, and apparently that is not good on top of reconstruction from the abdoment, which is what I’m hoping for (I’m a GG cup, so LD flap would need a fairly major implant with it!).
Are you getting your chemo today? fingers crossed,
Hi all, new person here! Had my first FEC on 10 December and my next is due new years eve! So far have just had the nausea so my eating habits have gone a bit wayward - feel pregnant again with morning sickness! I caught my daughters cold at the weekend and it’s really knocked me for six this week though. Am on the mend but not looking forward to the next few weeks as I’m so terrified of losing my hair. I’ve had it cut gradually since I was diagnosed in October as it was long but when the hairloss happens that’s when you look like a cancer patient and can’t avoid it anymore. Have been strong so far - mainly because of my loving husband & two beautiful daughters - but not sure how I’ll be when I can see the change in my appearance & it hits home I’m a cancer patient. Have got tons of love and support from family and friends to keep me going but I would be chuffed to have a few friends on board who know exactly what I’m going through. xx
I’m having my 3rd Fec on Tuesday 23rd so expect to be a bit yuk on Christmas day but I suppose on the up side I’ll be fine for new years eve even though I’ve no plans at least I’ll fancy copious amounts of alcohol.
I have my 3rd Chemo on Christmas Eve @ 10am. I use the cold cap to try and save some of my hair so I won’t be finished until 2pm.
I plan to come home and get some sleep straight after in the hope that i will be ok to travel to my brothers that evening to enjoy Xmas with them.
I have a plan to start taking my senacot at the weekend, drinking pleanty of water to flush out the toxins and i’m even going to try a pint of Guiness each day (yuk) to improve my iron levels. If anyone has any suggestions on how to better my chances of not staying in bed on Christmas day please please let me know
