Hey everyone!
Had 5th Chemo on Thursday (2nd Docetaxel) at 10% lower dose. Boo! No reaction but I’m an idiot and I forgot to do my Pegfilgrastim yesterday and only remembered this morning, 12 hours late!. So worried I’ve screwed up and will end up neutropenic again.
It’s been a stressful week with kids exams and some kids trying to steal my son’s phone at school and I’ve totally not set myself up for success with this cycle. Feel frazzled on Day 3!
I hope everyone else is doing okay this week. Haven’t had a chance to catch up on messages and I forget each persons tag within 2 seconds of meaning to reply as my brain has basically been replaced by a watery soup of nothingness.
We already had 2 weeks in Estepona, Spain, booked for Aug 2-16th and I finish chemo on July 4th. We’ve been told to go ahead with it from Day 1 as we had a 4.5 week tolerance for any delays with chemo. I was insured anyway if we needed to cancel as it was booked pre-C.
Looks like we should be fine to go and then I start radiotherapy 2 days after we get back after a 6 week break to recover from chemo. They said 4-6 weeks is what they aim for to recover from chemo so it’s on track at least.
@altoan I was told 3 weeks too for radiotherapy. It seems that’s pretty standard from what I understand. They used to do 6 weeks standard but the methods have improved.
Have a meeting on Monday night with a gynae about removing my ovaries rather than using Zoladex for Ovarian suppression.
Read a massive study last night and the ovarian suppression doesn’t actually do a huge amount for prognosis. Tamoxifen/Letrozole are the winners there. They’re what has transformed recurrence rates. I just would rather be on one drug and know that it’s just Tamoxifen causing side affects and not need to rest from drugs to figure out whether it’s ovary suppression drugs or Tamoxifen. I need to understand the increase in risks of bone density issues and heart risk of permanent suppression to make the decision. My best friend’s Dad trained this gynae so I know I can trust him to do right by me. There aren’t any decent studies on permanent suppression vs. temporary suppression so it’s hard to know what to do.
I’ve always been scared of bell ringing at end of chemo and am relieved to know that my hospital won’t allow it. They said it’s not fair to have someone ringing a bell on a ward where some people will never ring a bell because they’re Stage 4. I’ve never felt so relieved in my life as the bell ringing felt like tempting fate to me and there wouldn’t be enough wood in the world for me to touch to counter that! Am I alone in hating the bell ringing bit?
Anyhooooo, steroids on a taper so hoping to feel a little more human in a few days. It really is the worst bit I think. I’m sure I’ll correct that tomorrow once the bone pain ramps up.
Oh and icy feet things seem to have helped. I thought I had frostbite from them but I’ve got no peripheral neuropathy pains from this Docetaxel so would recommend trying them as it’s a big help to not have that pain this time!
Sx