Hello, I am new to this…wish I had joined several months ago there are so many answered questions where I sat quietly worrying about things. I just finished 8 cycles of fec-d chemo and now I am waiting mx in a couple of weeks time.
Do you mean FEC-T? Unless you use D for Docetaxol? I had that chemo from December to April, then had a mastectomy and full node clearance in May this year. Then had 3 weeks of radiotherapy which I just finished last week.
If you are at all worried about the operation, I would like to reassure you. Leading up to it, I was anxious, and wondered how poorly I’d feel afterwards, etc. Well, I had to be in hospital for 7.30am on the day. Turned out I was the first op of the day, so after all the pre-op checks, I went down for surgery at 9am. I was later told that the op took about 90 minutes to perform. I woke up again at about 1pm, and a lovely nurse was sitting watching me in the recovery room. She asked how i felt then offered me a sip of water.
Well, within minutes, I was sitting up and she had ordered me a sandwich and light lunch plus a cup of tea. I felt wonderful! They soon wheeled me into a short stay surgery recovery ward. I stayed there overnight, and the following morning I was walking round the ward (carrying drains) helping the other ladies with things and chatting to them all. I went home after lunch. Kept drains in for 5 days, then had them removed at home, which was completely painless because the whole area was numb. The following day, I wore a bra and softie and went out into the village and never looked back. I felt so fit and healthy. The op didn’t make me feel ill at all.
I didn’t dwell on the fact that I had had a breast removed and now have a scar across my chest on the left side - I focussed on the fact that the cancer had been cut out of my body. I am now focussing on losing enough weight so that I can have reconstruction surgery next year, as I am currently obese.
Good luck, but the op really is a doddle. Get that cancer out of your body and then you can look forward to getting back to normality. x