If it’s any help Jackie, it’s been 5 weeks since my 4th and final Tax (2weeks since EC 1) and the cumulative effects of Tax that I was having a few weeks ago have now started to go. I’m tired on EC but I wouldn’t say I was fatigued now, my muscle pains eg when walking uphill are much less and my twitchy eye has gone!!! I can understand your aching when mashing food too! Several weeks ago, my arms ached when holding a small mirror up and looking into the light when pencilling in my eyebrows! But I can do it OK now!! So in a few weeks time, fingers crossed you’ll start to return to your old self.
Yes Egg, I second Jackie’s advice. Get lots of rest - I found I recovered faster if I did.
X
Morning All, and happy bank holiday Monday.
I can sleep for England at the moment. I start off first thing in the morning thinking I don’t feel too bad, and the act of getting up renders me exhausted. I am day 7 post Tax 2, still have the awful mouth and the shooting pains and bruised bones. The only time
The only time I am not shattered is when I am sitting or lying down.
I haven’t actually moved house yet Jackie. Am in the process of moving. Our moving date is middle of June, a month after my last cycle and before Radiotherapy. . Can’t believe I am saying the words last cycle. My OH is an angel, we are having a house sale bank holiday weekend so we need to be organised for then.
I must say I am looking forward to moving when we find the right house, a new start, a different lifestyle.
I think we are all Warriors. You find an inner strength from somewhere to keep going.
Hugs Mooney.xxx
Belated Happy Easter Tax (and other chemo) warriors. Hope you have all had a good weekend despite the SEs, and that you were able to taste the chocolate and hot cross buns.
I finished radiotherapy last Thursday, so my ‘active’ treatment is now over. I still have Herceptin injections every 3 weeks until October, and the hormone tablets, which I started taking last week.
The fatigue really does get better, but it takes time, and Blue2 is right that you recover more quickly if you rest when you need to. Sometimes you have no choice because your body just goes on strike. It is a difficult thing to accept because you want to get back to normal as soon as possible, but the effects of chemotherapy are cumulative, so at the end it takes a while to recover and for the poison to leave your system. It may also get a bit worse at the end before it gets better.
I think your body tells you when it’s time to start being active again. For three weeks after the ‘official’ end of chemo I really couldn’t be bothered to do much and slept a lot. After resting all that time I started to feel better, so I was able to get around more and cope with the surgery. Although I still get tired sometimes (and radiotherapy has probably set me back), I can’t say I feel really fatigued very often. I can function normally now, even if I am probably not up to tackling a long distance walk.
It is also remarkable that you tend to recover better after FEC/EC than after Tax (Tax really does seem to be more taxing). By the last week of every FEC cycle I was more or less back to normal (apart from having no hair), but it took longer to recover from each Tax, and the fatigue got worse with each one.
Some of you have also mentioned having a sore mouth and and thrush with Tax. I found the sore mouth really difficult to cope with because it came with a dry cough and a sore, swollen throat that made it difficult to swallow solid food and tablets. This lasted about a week and was much worse than the slightly sore, dry mouth I got with FEC. During the last cycle I also got a small ulcer on the side of my tongue. The only things that really helped were Difflam and Bonjela.
I think I only escaped oral thrush because I was given Fluconazole anti-fungal tablets as a preventative. This is something you could ask about if you have had thrush, or are concerned about getting it next time. It is a 7 day course of tablets, and you take 1 a day, from Day 10 of FEC cycles, and from Day 8 of Tax cycles.
I hope this helps. It is a long slog, but you will get there in the end. By the middle of the summer all this will be behind you.
Hello all. Ebim I believe the zometa thing is patchy. It’s not something all hospitals are doing. Might be worth asking about.
Jackie I know what you mean about leaden legs! Mine sometimes feel like lead when I’m lying in bed, never mind walking up stairs.
Hope you’ve all had good Easter weekends.
I’m off to the hospital tomorrow for bloods and then Wednesday is my sixth chemo and third tax! Get me! End of chemo in my sights.
Hope you all have good weeks. R x
RobinJ - the end is in sight at last. Hope your blood test is OK today, so that you can have the last one tomorrow.
Wow Robin.
Will you be the first of the January warriors to finish?
Shall we have a party? ???
Robin you are so near the end! I am jealous - still 3 more T to go… right now on day 5 of T1 it seems very far away
hope all goes well tomorrow for you.
Egg x
Good luck for tomorrow Robin! ??
I have bloods Friday ready for my final chemo (t3) on Monday!
I’m home now and the hospital rang to say they can’t find my blood test results! They want me to go back but it’s a two hour round trip! Might have to go in early tomorrow. Why are things never straightforward?! R x
Robin,
What a bummer! Fingers crossed they fnd them or you’re ok tomorrow morning. All the best for your final chemo, you are our advance party leading us all forward!
Good luck Robin and Ebim, I hope you both get zapped tomorrow as planned!
day 9 after T1 here and feeling pretty much OK. My glands have been swollen, in my neck and armpits which has been the most uncomfortable part so far, together with my scar but slowly subsiding.
Good luck Rob and Ebim. Hope all goes as planned. Xxx
Thanks for all your good wishes. The hospital did eventually find the blood test results after many phone calls from me. Some question mark over the liver profile so I’m a bit worried chemo might get postponed. I told them I had wine at the weekend and the nurse just laughed!
Anyway. All being well I will be holding your metaphorical hand later on today Ebim. Hope yours goes well. R x
Robin and Ebim hope it goes well today. Isn’t it funny how we all dread having chemo delayed, but at the same time I hate having it?
Day 7 of T1… I am tired! Caffeine doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. ?Kids are back to school though so I am going to have a daytime nap. Plus I seem to be plagued by nosebleeds and feel like I have a burnt mouth. So unpleasant.
Big hugs to all,
Egg x
Fingers and toes crossed Robin and Ebim that you are OK to go ahead.Yes strange, we hate the chemo but we are desperate to get it over with, finished, it is the first step to getting our lives back. So good luck to the first of our chemo warriors having their final chemo. Yes! Can’t wait!?
Day 8 post chemo 5, and coming out the other side. Mouth feels better taste still not right but getting there. I have had the spontaneous nose bleeds too. Very annoying. Aches and pains better, last gcsf injection last night so am on course for a trip to see my brother and sister in law and then the wedding at the weekend. Really looking forward to both.
Hope everyone is coping with these side effects.
Sending you all oodles of strength and courage - nearly there.
Mooneyxxxxx
Hope you enjoy some peace and quiet Egg. School holidays during treatment I find so hard. My boys are away for a few days with OH and it’s wonderful to be able to drop my guard for a while and take off my plastered on ‘happy, all is normal’ face that I wear most of the time when around them. I’ve actually spent loads of time eating, reading and drinking tea in bed - by choice!
I had nosebleeds on Tax too, id forgotten about them! Nosebleeds, then crusty scabby nostrils that affected my breathing and sleeping. Lovely!
I can’t believe you are at the end of this chemo stage Robin, and you too Esther. It really does feel like only a few weeks ago you were halfway and worried about transferring to Tax. I hope everybody else’s chemo halfway onwards passes so quickly!
I hope your wine consumption hasn’t affected your livers too badly Robin and Ebim!! All the best for you both today.
X
Good luck Robin and Ebim… Hope you get your chemos today. Robin I am willing you on over the finish line. Can’t wait to get there…see you at the finish!!
I am feeling reasonably okay now day 10 of tax 2. Currently away in Dorset on family holiday and enjoying the change of scenery and sea air. Slightly sore throat and lips and also get small nose bleeds but nothing too bad.
Blue …Enjoy your me time, Ii is nice to be able to let your guard down and am sure very good for you!
Beedot…glad to hear you are doing okay.
Hugs to everyone xx
Blue - that’s exactly it - crusty scabby nose and then it all starts to bleed. Did it settle during cycle? Enjoy your tea in bed and your rest on your own. I am jealous!
Egg x
Hi Egg, yes, it did settle but it was one of the last things to. Probably not until the start of the 3rd week. I didn’t help matters though as I picked it (sorry!!!) and made it worse! After the 2nd cycle, I didn’t pick the crusts but blew my nose instead to get them out and although my nose bled a bit when blowing, it wasn’t as sore and healed a little bit quicker.
I’m glad you all covered the scabby and slightly bloody nose issue, I had it last night and was thinking I must ask if anyone else has it. Where else would you feel able to discuss such ladylike SE’s and picking your nose?!
Beedot x