Hi everybody,
well at last i have my start date for my chemo treatment…this Friday 7th June 2019 for TNBC…
Carboplatin for one day every 3 weeks for 4 sessions.
Paclitaxel one day every week for 12 weeks.
Am i scared ??? You bet…its the unknown, what side effects will i get, how will i cope with them…
quick answer is i dont know until i start treatment…
anybody out there maybe starting around the same time ??
good luck and big HUGS to all. ??
Mini Mad - welcome to the best friendliest place ever! We’re all here to help each other along. 2 years ago - I was in your shoes - worried about the chemo treatment I was on and just about to change to a second type - now those days seem a lifetime ago. My best advice would be to join one of the monthly chemotherapy groups - I guess there must be one for June 2019. I was on the May 2017 one and it was a life saver! We became life long friends, we have a facebook page now and we met up after on the anniversary of our chemo treatment starting!
Hope all goes well for you x
Hi Mini Mad
Love your attitude. Remaining relatively ignorant and not catastrophising is a good way to approach chemo because we all react differently. I finished at the end of April. What I can reassure you about is that they do everything they can nowadays to minimise unpleasant effects (like nausea) so each chemo session will start with a 30-minute pre-chemo session, with steroids, anti-nausea drugs etc. The steroid, if it’s injected at the normal rate, will probably make you feel like you’ve sat butt naked in a nettle patch - uncomfortable but amusing and it’s only for about 3 minutes!
Chemo sessions themselves are really quite ok. You can just sit and chat or doze or whatever makes you happy, drink cuppas and eat hospital sandwiches if you’re there at the wrong time. What you can’t do is use your hand if that’s where your cannula is placed because it interrupts the flow of the drug and you set the bleeps off every time - so no knitting, no writing if it’s your writing hand… I certainly never experienced anything alarming and I’m queen of the wusses. Do expect to spend several hours there. The weekly Paclitaxel (I was told was quicker cos it’s just one drug) sometimes took 4-5 hours because it required a blood test first - then you have to wait for the results, then the pharmacy makes up your treatment based on the results, then you’re off… You learn to be patient.
What follows is different for everyone. I was told I’d lose all my hair by week 3 of Paclitaxel. I didn’t, though it thinned a lot by the end. However, I did have other side effects, particularly after my course of treatment ended, which surprised me. It’s worth reading the hospital leaflets on side effects at least so you aren’t caught by surprise and, more important, so you know what to report back to the oncology team each week. With some side effects, they will adjust your dosage or give you supporting drugs IF they know. One piece of advice - make sure your thermometer is accurate and have a back-up. Checking your temperature if you feel poorly is essential, as your oncologist probably will have informed you. S/he is right.
Good luck with the chemo. It’s not nice but it’s worth it. I’m sure a June chemo group will establish itself if it’s not here already.