Thanks Laura, I’m sure it will all go to plan. Thank goodness for all these treatments how ever horrible they are. That’s what I’m focusing on. I hope you are OK after your Herceptin Helen x
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Good morning everyone,
I hope everyone is feeling okay today?
Has anyone else on Docetaxel experienced ear aches? I remember it last time but put it down to me being so unwell in hospital.
They’re back again today and my teeth hurt so badly today too. Nail beds really not happy either, feel like someone has stamped on them.
Sx
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@swk1981 my teeth are certainly not happy 
was even considering visiting the dentist during the night, as it kept me awake. Jaw in general not particularly happy either! Oh chemo, the gift that keeps giving, and taking us by surprise! Laura x
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Sorry you’ve got the same Laura! You’ve reminded me that my jaw, at the hinge, was horrific last time.
I feel like there’s cotton wool stuck in my throat too, holding both sides of my throat together and choking me.
I seem to remember @elle16 and I complaining about teeth last time at this point maybe.
I’d take EC’s nausea any day over this right now.
Have only managed to sleep 3 hours a night since the night before chemo (a week ago). I’m not on any steroids now so it makes no sense at all. Feel exhausted and weak but cannot sleep for the life of me! X
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I found this with sleep during each round of EC and it turned out it was the Filgrastrim injections that give me insomnia. Just wondering if you’re on a few days of those as well? I start them as I finish the steroids so it ends up days of not sleeping much. I haven’t had the high steroid dose from Docetaxel yet though but it seems to be Filgrastrim that gets me worse for some reason
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I’m on Pegfilgrastim rather than the individual ones but can’t remember if I struggled on EC with sleep. I seem to recall sleeping like a cat, for 18 hours a day.
Probably should have written more down last time. Oops! 
x
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Aw, @belle1 - it’s definitely not what you needed and I’ve got my fingers crossed for you.
Welcome to the group, @msizzle160!
Loving the hair shot, especially with the dark colour replacing the grey! Mine are completely white!!! 
Loving what you said re: porn boob - @swk1981 
@countrygirl1 - thank you for the tips for Naseptin.
Thank you @altoan @swk1981 & @pollyanna1 for telling me about your surgery. I was going to have therapeutic mammoplasty as well as sentinel lymph node surgery back in March until they found out that I am HER2 positive and wanted me to have treatments first. I will know more when I have my ultrasound after my next chemo. 
I have not heard of Hametoma & Seromaso I think I’m going to look it up. 
One thing I have noticed here on this thread so far, we all seem to be having it with our lefties as mine is the same! 
How odd!
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Well I had my second docetaxel yesterday - managed a decent sleep last night despite huge steroid dose but then I always find the whole chemo experience exhausting. They have given me something to help with the gastric issues so fingers crossed that it works - although fully expecting the side effects to kick from Friday like last time.
I also had a massive hair shed last night - by far the most I’ve lost in one go and now I’m panicking that despite sticking with the cold cap (which is horrendous) I’m going to lose my hair after all this time. Not sure I can cope with that now having come so far but guess I have no choice!
Like @gromit12 I am so fed up with all this now and just want it to be over. I know my chemo regime is nowhere near as long and onerous as some peoples but I still have surgery and radiotherapy to go and then who knows what to follow that as my cancer type is rare and they’re not sure how to treat it long term. Feeling fed up and a bit whingy today - sorry!
Emma x
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@pinklady2 - I’m a righty - but then so was my Mum who had breast cancer a couple of years ago!
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I’m a righty too…. Never liked that right boob😂
@pinklady2 im also her2 positive - don’t know if you’ve seen it but there’s a HER2 positive thread that may have extra stuff in it/where others may be able to tell you more about their experiences in relation to that
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I’m not going to try and message individually, but I’m going to reply to what I can remember, bought udder cream for hands and feet, so far my fingers not too bad this time but soles of feet are sore, I’ve slept more than I’ve ever slept before and think it has helped me, I didn’t sleep well in EC, my mouth is my main problem and very achey joints like I’ve been to the gym but I definitely haven’t and headaches, my teeth not too bad so far this time but don’t want to jinx myself, I have added the salt water so maybe that’s helping 
My breast cancer was in my right boob 
Had my bloods done, no phone call so assuming all is ok but they did say I can ring this afternoon and check if I haven’t heard, xx
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@ivy-cat oh Emma I’m so sorry about your hair I agree how horrendous cold cap is, it made me so nauseous last time, but as you say having come this far… Mine has thinned a lot which then makes cold cap worse- at least we only have 20 mins post treatment with Docetaxel. I didn’t sleep last night just fretting about all that’s yet to come. Seeing my oncologist face to face tomorrow - want something for nausea for next session as for some reason he’d crossed everything off 
and want some sort of plan. Laura xx
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I’m a leftie too! But have a non malignant lipoma on right side, which didn’t show up on mammogram but did in contrast MRI, so that needs surgery at the same time as the cancer on the left 
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@gromit12 - yes I think I’d got complacent about my hair as it seemed to be holding up well. I’m also fretting about what’s to come. I’m seeing the breast surgeon on 1st July to discuss my lumpectomy (I assume anyway) and then the oncologist the following week. Really hope your meeting with the oncologist goes well tomorrow and that you get the nausea tablets. I asked for extra yesterday as I find the loss of appetite on docetaxel makes me feel sick, Emma x
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@ivy-cat it must be gutting to put so much into cold capping and then have a big shed of hair. I imagine you feel like screaming “Just let me keep one bloody bit of myself will you?” Are there any trials for your cancer? A consultant once told me it’s better to have either a bog standard one or an interesting one. The bog standard they have cures for and the interesting ones they put all their brains into because oncologists are wired to be competitive. It may be worth asking?
@belle1 @pinklady2 a friend of mine recently had her 5 years clear of HER2 +ve. It was a big deal as the risk of recurrence really drops after 5 years with HER2 +ve cancer. It seems to have a shelf life compared to HER2 -ve cancer that is better at hide and seek. I swear we all now know enough to skip through the first year of Oncology training by now. Who knew BC was so varied before this year!
Fed up really sums up where we’re all at now. I’ve got to meet consultant tomorrow about my radiotherapy and it’s scary. I can’t figure out why though. I should be all excited to skip to the next stage. I’m not though. I’m scared of not being in Oncology with my amazing team and familiar faces and instead going to be microwaved for 3 weeks.
I convinced myself that every ache and pain last night was bone mets and that they hadn’t scanned me thoroughly enough too.
Has anyone done a “Moving On” course thing because I’m predicting a few hiccups in the road if my intrusive thoughts last night are anything to go by! I realise that I come on here oozing positivity to people on other threads and I think I may actually be trying to reassure myself as much as them because I feel a bit like I’m heading towards the end, in October time and then I’m going to be completely unsuspended from anything. Eek x
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@swk1981 - its progesterone+ only - which is really unusual apparently and progesterone alone isn’t considered to be a ‘driver’ in the same way the oestrogen+ is - so they’re not sure how to treat it going forwards as many of the hormone inhibitor drugs won’t work. My fear is that they wont do anything and I’ll just live in constant fear of recurrence!
I have registered for the Moving Forwards course but not till October when I’m hoping that I’ll be through radiotherapy and feeling a bit lost without the support of the medical teams. My work has offered to pay for specialist counselling too and I’m going to do this at the end of my treatment as I think I will feel as though I’m falling off a cliff edge then. The one thing I’m not worried about atm is the cancer spreading as I’m currently having chemo and the doctor said that’s it would attack any rogue cancer cells in the body. However, once that’s finished I know I will start to obsess over secondary cancer and I will need some help processing and dealing with that. What a long and difficult journey this is!!
Emma x
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I’m going to do the Younger Women Together and Moving forward courses too. I think it’s too easy to focus on getting through treatment and it’s more of a focus than our wellbeing/future when you’re early on in treatment so have made the decision to start dealing with that stuff now to hopefully gradually work through everything. I’m doing the Younger Women Together course next month as figured I have nothing to lose by giving it a bash then will figure out when to do the moving forward course later in the year. I’ll probs be December by the time I finish chemo/have surgery/have radiotherapy so no mad rush. Also looking at mindfulness/gentle yoga etc to try get some relaxation time and coping strategies for when things get a bit much as I’m usually a go full pelt type of person😂
I also pay into a scheme at my work that would give me a 2 weeks residential stay for wellbeing if I can get my Dr to sign off on it after all this (which hopefully won’t be an issue) that I think will help in looking after myself, especially on my return to work etc so I’m definitely applying for that if my GP agrees to sign the paperwork. Basically just going to take everything going as I think the fear of recurrence/secondary is going to be tricky for me (as I’m sure it will be for all of us) too and I’ll take all the coping strategies I can get!
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@elle16 I don’t know what system your hospital uses, but for me I can check my blood test results as soon as they’re available. Only found it by accident when I went in to look at an old appointment letter and realised there was another section called “Health Record” and then under that “Results”. It wasn’t in the NHS record for me, just in that other system.
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