@fairycake hi, I was on exactly the same treatment, I found the 1st and 2nd cycles hardest as after that my meds were tweaked and things did improve, although nausea and fatigue were still there. Let your team know all your side effects, they should be able to help with them, fingers crossed for you. You can do this 
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@fairycake i was the same i had chemo on the wednesday then i just lay in bed all day friday saturday and sunday i couldnt lift my head of the pillow, just listen to your body and rest, after 10 days my energy started to come back, you will get through this sending you lots of love and hugs x
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As others have said, docetaxel is brutal. I didnāt even complete x2 cycles on it (had a reaction during second cycle do they stopped it mid-way, third cycle where they reduced it and gave it slower had to be stopped shortly after starting cos of another reaction). That first cycle though I remember being knocked sideways and even though I didnāt have the full dose the other two made me really sick. After I switched to nab-pacitaxel I didnāt feel as bad (still felt dreadful) so knew how powerful the docetaxel must have been.
It played a part in helping me get good margins through so I canāt completely begrudge it.
Let your bc nurse know as you might need a slight reduction, they have to tailor it to your specific body so need to know exactly what itās doing between cycles.
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@sez Thank you for your message. Iām struggling so much.
Iām feeling extremely emotional, overwhelmed with fatigue, & struggling to eat. Iām only on my first cycle. I truly donāt know how I can get through this! I telephoned the nurses this morning & they just said to eat little & often & what Iām feeling is normal, to listen to my body & rest.
Please tell me it gets better 
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I have definitely had my appetite altered (I was an utter hog before and now only eat recommended serving sizes).
I would speak to your oncologist or if you canāt get through immediately your bc nurse and ask them to prescribe you some fortisip or meal replacement shakes. They really help. If your mouth is sore you can freeze them and make them lollies or ice cubes.
As others have said hang in there, I hope it gets better swiftly but wonāt lie, it IS rough. If your body says you need sleep please listen to it.
I feel like I spent the latter part of last year hibernating and only in the last couple of months (since returning to work) functioning near normal.
Your job is to listen to your body, report everything to the clinicians and try to get as much good fuel in your body as itāll tolerate (and if you canāt get āgood fuelā then whatever your body will take). Some days you may only be able to eat ābadā food as your tastebuds may be playing up or you feel nauseous, my oncologist said you need to give yourself permission that cheap fuel is better than none. If youāre not allergic antihistamines help with the bone pains and even if you donāt like taking pain relief please at least ask for it/take it, you donāt know if/when youāll be desperate and you donāt want to have to wait for someone to have to prescribe something.
Donāt hold back from telling clinicians (be they nurses, doctors or whoever) EVERYTHING youāre feeling, even if you think youāre over sharing. They want to help and there may be something to relieve something you might not have thought of. Take whatever they offer even if youāre not sure youāll use it. Chemo brain is real and your mind will be all over the place, thatās completely normal.
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@fairycake It certainly got better for me as I got further on. You may get on better with some tastes than others. To my surprise I found bits of melon and mango both tasted quite nice and slipped down easily. Donāt despair just experiment with little bits.
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Morning all, Iām losing some hair, not loads, but definitely more since I finished chemo. I cold capped all through and my hair has stayed, so it feels strange for more loss now chemo has finished! Anyone else lost more hair after treatment?
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Hi @sassy3 I am still mid-treatment (2 cycles to go) and have been cold capping fairly successfully. Iād guess Iāve still got 50% of my hair but quite a bit comes out consistently every day and it hasnāt grown at all (I know this because I havenāt got grey roots despite the last colour going on in early June!).
So although I canāt offer experience as youāre ahead of me, I am fully expecting quite a bit of loss after chemo finishes, just because I figure that the hairs which are clinging on will just continue to gradually and consistently shed, in that they are hairs which have reached the end of their growth cycle so theyāve got to drop out sometime, and thatās likely to be before thereās much in the way of new growth.
Will be interested to hear from others whether that assumption is correct.
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Well done on ticking off the first infusion. Please be kind to yourself. These drugs are very powerful, they attack the good and bad cells. I tried to walk 10 minutes every day on 12 weekly Paclitaxel but there were days when I couldnāt especially after the Herceptin injections every 3rd week.
Taxanes (Docetaxel and Paclitaxel) can change your sense of smell and taste, so eat what you want to eat. I was advised to try fresh pineapple as it can stimulate the taste buds. Otherwise plain white food, bread, pasta etc. cake was always popular.
@sassy3 I successfully cold capped and still had some hair fall out after finishing. The charity www.cancerhaircare.co.uk are really helpful if you contact them.
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Hi All,
I saw my surgeon this morning,Was just expecting him to check my wound and that but He came in with the Breast Care Nurse,And I thought āoh here we goā
He has given me my path results-
Lymph nodes were clear,And there was no cancer remaining in the tissue,They did however find a further small grade 1 tumour that was ER positive!-This was on the opposite side of the breast!So will now need to go on anti-estrogen tablets also.
I am so glad I opted for a mastectomy over a lumpectomy as they wouldnt have known that was there!!!
Has anyone else had 2 tumours with different receptors?I dont understand how this happens?!
Am still waiting to see the oncologist to find out when the Phesgo injections and further tablets start.
But no radiotherapy/kadcyla needed!
I think I am a bit in shock with everything,I wasnt expecting to be told today that I am currently cancer free!!!
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Hello everyone
@fairycake - I also remember wondering how I would get through chemo after a bad reaction to steroids after my first one. As others have said, make sure you tell your team everything as regards how you are feeling so that they can mitigate bad reactions. Itās 3 drugs in one go so itās a lot. The fatigue is real so listen to your body and take to the sofa. I had to do that a couple of days after each EC chemo. I was told to make me my project and I liked that advice. You come first right now. If you can get out and move then great, if you canāt then be kind to yourself and cut yourself some slack. I also get emotional when Iām exhausted and ill so know that itās ok. Just give into it for now and you will climb back up again.
@sassy3 I lost most of my hair during EC despite cold-capping so I shaved it off but it started to grow back during Paclitaxel. However, my eyelashes and eyebrows all fell out about a month after finishing chemo completely. @hedgehog your assumption makes sense. My hair and nails were very slow to start growing again but now, over a year after chemo finished (14 months), my hair growth has finally picked up but is still uber-curly.
@rainbowbrite10 Wonderful news that your lymph nodes were clear and that you had the mastectomy and got shot of a further tumour. I appreciate itās something of a shock but, like you say, thank goodness you are rid of it. Iām absolutely sure we have had other ladies on here with tumours with different receptors and hopefully you will hear from them before too long. For now, have a celebration today. Really fab news.
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Hello lovely people. Trust you are all well and moving even closer to being the happiest and healthiest version of yourselves. Just catching up on all the posts and once again in awe of what a fabulous bunch you all are 
Last time when I posted here, my partner and I were navigating the hospital appointments to get my partnerās elbow pain checked out. Thankfully we got an appointment after a lot of back and forth and also got an ultrasound done and all seems well. The doctor suspects it may be a mild case of tennis elbow and the pain should ideally subside in a month or so. My partner feels much better now and the pain isnāt something that cannot be handled for now. So thats another thing out of the worry pool for now. But in other news, Kadcyla is playing a bit with my partnerās liver enzymes so the team delayed her dose by a week ( the intended dose was scheduled for last Thursday). After a weekās wait the blood test from today morning showed a better liver profile but not within the ideal range. We are yet to hear from the chemo unit if they will be going ahead with the dose tomorrow or maybe want to wait it out for a couple of days to let the liver profile come down even further. My partner has already had one dose reduction somewhere around the 4th cycle and we are now waiting for the 10th dose tomorrow. Wondering if anyone on the Kadcyla team has had a gap/ delay of more than a week and if it is okay/ normal practice to so. The doctors donāt necessarily want to reduce the dose once again ( as they told us last time) just yet because my partner has 5 more Kadcyla doses to go, so we are just wondering if anyone has had any similar experience with regards to a gap of more than a week between the Kadcyla doses?
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Iām not feeling as bad today. I just feel so weak. Getting up & going to the toilet is hard work & Iām feeling quite dizzy.
I couldnāt get out of bed yesterday so today is a bonus.
Iām wondering if itās the lack of food/appeitite? Still struggling to eat & keeping hydrated. I tried weak diluted juice yesterday, but ended up being sick afterwards & water is just so bland.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Itās so helpful š©·
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Hang in there @fairycake it will gradually improve and youāll get better at managing it. Carry on eating and drinking when you can, glad today is slightly better and hope tomorrow sees another step up.
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Hi there Fairycake - I had the same chemo treatment as you, which finished a couple of weeks ago. Although I got progressively more tired with each cycle and needed to rest more, I found that the other symptoms I had stayed pretty much the same each time and followed the same pattern each cycle. On good advice I kept a symptom diary which was really useful, because I could more or less predict which day I was going to emerge from feeling awful, as it was usually the same day of each cycle. It helped when I was feeling horrible that I could look back and know I only had to get through another couple of days before I felt a lot better.
Psychologically I found the first cycle the absolute worst because I didnāt know what to expect. Every new symptom terrified me and I was constantly on the phone to the helpline.
Subsequent cycles were so much easier because Iād been there before and knew what to expect.
I found sparkling water easier to tolerate on bad days.
Glad to hear that youāre feeling a little better today - onward and upward!
Thinking of you x
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Thanks so much for this post! Yesterday I just had my post surgery results and one of my lymph nodes was positive so I have to have Kadcyla for 14 cycles.
While Iām grateful to be able to have it, at the moment all I can think about is putting my life on hold again for months. Reading your post has really helped me think that maybe itāll be doable. Iād be grateful for any tips you have
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I was told initially I was her2 positive and hormone positive and I had one affected lymph node. I changed to a different hospital after initial chemo and the new team felt that if I was her2 positive I only had a low amount- her2 low. (Never knew that was even a thing!) Long story short after surgery they retested everything. Residual tumour and node were both thought to be her2 negative but borderline. They then did FISH testing and decided tumour was her2 negative and node was her2 positive. My onc said that they had either always been different or the chemo had wiped out the her2 bit of tumour so only the hormone positive bit remained. So I have two different tumour profiles and have a myriad of adjuvant treatments going on now to act as preventatives.
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Hi @fairycake. Are you still taking anti-sickness meds? I couldnt eat without them. Could only drink bubbly spring water. And do you have daily Filigristin injections from day 5 for your white blood cells? This helped treat my weakness. I had so many side effects with my first chemo dose that they reduced the dose subsequently. Think of the first one being their standard blast from which they can gauge how much you need going forward. All our bodies are different so keep daily notes to report back for informing next dose. Try the Careology app if easier then a notebook.
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@jayveebee,
Yes still on anti sickness meds which are helping. I am injecting myself with the Filigristen for 5 days. Iām hoping that hasnāt given me a false sense that Iām slowly recovering from my first session & after the 5 days I slump again. Thank you for the advice on logging info to tell the oncologist at my next appointment. Xx
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Hello lovely people. I was just scrolling through the internet and I came across this news regarding fast tracking of the HER2 vaccine within the FLAMINGO trial by the FDA. I am no medical professional but I think this might be hopeful and good news for some. Just thought of sharing this here because donāt we all need some positive news! FDA Fast Tracks Vaccine For Some With Breast Cancer
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