I think the soles of my feet were / are slightly swollen. Not sure exactly but I think they were. The wide range of side effects is baffling!
I just had my radiotherapy planning scan. It was fine, no tattoo for me, just pen marks. It’s my right side so no need to hold my breath so that was good news. Then I had a post-chemo blood test, and then I had some updated medical photographs taken of my boobs and tummy for the plastic surgeon. This afternoon it’s flu and Covid injections for me! Getting it all done today!
Then I have an appointment on Friday with my onco nurse consultant to catch up on chemo side effects and talk about hormone therapy. I still have the fingertips / feet nerve damage, nausea, watery eyes, fatigue/ weakness, and my right forearm still aches - probably the veins. I’m sure everyone goes into that appointment asking when we will feel better and I don’t expect her to have answers. Just be nice to find out what’s typical / average and I hope we are all on the right path to recovery.
Its been a nice to read this morning all the many happenings, big smiles to those just finishing chemo or close to it. Well wishes for the radiotherapy ladies may your skin stay smooth and the faigue be minimal.
The team here wont discuss plastic surgery yet for balancing the boobs…i really find it fasinsting the differences in trust procedures or resources.
@runnerjen hope you get some good input of answers for your body recovery.
Sorry if ive missed any imprtant news from anyone else, i do think of you all so highly and so grateful.
My update, i returned to work yesterday, wig on more effort make up wise etc than normall just for cinfidence, it went well,very ver tiring and all i mainly did was walk back and forth between buildings and sit with IT getting back on. I have an extra day off this week,no way i would of managed 3 full days so grateful to my manager for that.
If anyone is able to get or are due to have a blood test, it may be worth asking if they will check all levels like iron vit b vit d.
I go tommorrow for a lesson on self injecting- not looking forward to this. I will ask for causes of the results recently, hope to get more than its just chemo related.
I start ovary supprussion Thursday and onc said instant menopause- im really not sure what to expect so i will roll on the wave.
I requested all my hospital records relating to this. Not thst much will make sense i just wanted certain results in my hand and understand when i have asked and got a blank stare back. Ha.
Any hoo i have rambled far to much. Look after yourselves today be kind xx
Hello. Good to get everyone’s updates, good and not so good.
Five radiotherapy sessions down, ten to go! No skin issues yet, the odd twinge of slight pain but very very tired.
I started to lose my confidence about my ability to hold my breath (left sided people), but the staff were brilliant and explained there’s no wrong way to do it and that really helped.
I’m going to observe a Teams town hall style meeting at work this afternoon, hoping it will help me get my head round going back in a couple of weeks. @trix1 I think a reference to having completed some big steps in your treatment with more to follow is important when speaking to colleagues. @runnerjen it is a full time job sometimes, isn’t it? @jenny4 it’s brilliant that you have a group you can go to. There is a group local to me (not breast friends) so I’m going to see when the next meeting is. I do have a gap in face to face contact with people who have been or are going through similar. Met nice women at a Look Good Feel Better workshop last week but was too shy to ask for numbers!
Morning all, lovely to read your messages - the good and the not so good. Congrats @twinks77 on finishing chemo - my veins were knackered too - the joys. Chemo finished for me on Friday so still in recovery mode. Feels wired doesn’t it. Really appreciate the radiotherapy messages - I won’t start it for a while due to full axillary clearance this month but really good to hear of your experiences. How do the initial appointments work? Do you meet clinical oncologist same time as planning meeting? Do you have ct scan at the planning meeting?? How many appointments before the actual radiotherapy starts? @Jenny4 Breast Friends sounds really good - gutted there isn’t one around here. Look Good Feel Good workshop sounds good too @nelly1. Glad all ok back at work @trix1 - re writing emails or cards etc, I have leaned on Chat GPT whilst under the influence of chemo brain! Never thought I’d say this, but to be fair it can churn out decent messages. Needs must. Re going back to work, agree making people aware that treatment continues is important - I find people think chemo is over so treatment is over/back to normal - I quite often find myself emphasising that letrozole/abemaciclib means active treatment for 10 years.
Many congratulations on finishing chemo! Sorry to hear that you have an op looming-I hope that & your recovery goes well.
Re. Radiotherapy I kept my chemo oncologist. We met to discuss rads & potential side effects and for me to sign off on going ahead. I then had a CT planning scan with the radiologists after which my oncologist marked up the areas to be zapped. I’ve now had two of my five rad sessions-I’m on the dose intensive plan as I didn’t have reconstruction. It is an absolute breeze compared to chemo and the breath holding is fine too. I was told that if you breathe at the wrong point the machine cuts out so it’s not a big deal and it won’t zap your heart or lungs! I’ve been using flamigel each morning, night & after each session and so far my skin is fine. They did say though that the effects build and peak 10-14 days after the last session.
Like @nelly1 I’m really tired too but I’m not sure how much of that is still from chemo.
I’m going into work on Tuesday to discuss phased return. Given how shattered I am I’m going to ask for a pretty gentle reintroduction and will remind my (all women) team that I’m dealing with a crash menopause and will be on hormone & anti-cancer meds for years so they know I’m not back to normal & cognitively I’m not where I was…
Well done for finishing chemo! I hope you feel as good as possible for the next week or so, knowing it’s the last time should help you through it x
For me at 3 and a half weeks since my final chemo my eyes are almost back to normal, watering much less. After all the walking between hospital appointments/ departments on Mon I realised I can walk a bit now so had a half hour walk yesterday. My arms and legs still feel like lead but I feel like movement might help. Well, sitting on my backside for 3 weeks hasn’t improved it .
Hope you haven’t woken up today with any aches after falling over. It can sometimes feel a bit worse the day after, but fingers crossed you are fine x
It’s always a shock when you fall over. I have fallen twice in the mountains in the Lake District, both times I managed to walk back down off the mountain (broken coccyx once and a broken arm once) but it’s left me nervous of falling again. Now when we go to the lakes (at least twice a year) I tend to stick the routes you would take your disabled nan on and I let my husband and his daughter go skipping off up the sketchy looking paths together! Especially now, I’m not keen on falling on my next trip and ending up in a hospital again!
All seems to be well. I will phone it in later just so they know it happened. Just in case it is related to neuropathy but in all honesty I was just being stupid trundling across a rutted field in the dark with bad shoes. What did I expect?
Ok I might be imagining it, but I think I might be improving a bit. My eyes are definitely much better if not normal. I have managed to walk 2.5 miles today and - this is the best bit - I managed 4 short runs (from here to that tree etc) very slow but that would have been impossible last week.
Also think the nausea is easing off. Until now I have been taking the nausea tablet but still felt mild nausea every day, but that’s gone now - so I will try stopping the tablet to see if it’s really gone. I still have the fingertips problem and the fatigue is still there but it just feels like I might be turning a corner now. It’s 4 weeks since my final chemo so I am very happy to see some improvement! (I hope sharing this doesn’t demoralise those still in the thick of it, I don’t mean it to).
I really hope this is encouraging news but at 5 weeks post chemo I managed to play 90 mins of (gentle) padel tennis! Im so happy I could cry. I was drugged up on max pain relief to try to help my aching legs but I think the drugs and adrenaline combined to make it possible.
My legs didnt move fast and sometimes not at all but all-in-all it was a massive step forward. Im aching all over today but Im not sure any more than I usually am. I still feel fatigued and my brain fog is extraordinarily bad at the moment. Im sure I couldnt do a responsible job if I tried.
Congratulations to everyone who is or has finished chemo. I have found this last round has kicked my ass way worse than the previous 5 rounds. But every day I feel a tiny bit better.
I had my radiotherapy planning scan yesterday. It was a breeze. No tattoos, just pen marks and a lot of technology. I found that clsing my eyes and imagining I was meditating/resting helped me to calm down and do the breath holding. I am wearing a mask literally everywhere at the moment to try to avoid the bugs as it will go straight to my chest and I wont be able to hold my breath.
I got my list of appointments through yesterday too - its LONG and a bit overwhelming… mostly I think because the car parking is so bad in Bath that its a stress on its own!
I seem to be doing ok on Letrozole, I ache all over but can’t tell if thats chemo or letrozole. Its manageable though. I also started something I cant spell this morning. Its the bone tablet that you take first thing with a big glass of water, then you have to sit/stand for 30 mins before breakfast. I know Im going to cock that up a lot!
Anyway, I just want to share my experience as I now reading all yours helps me. What a relief it is to be out of chemo… that alone makes me happy!
Oh Ive also had it confirmed that I will be having a mammogram AND an MRI every year for 5 years because of my dense breasts. Im relieved about that.
xx
It is so encouraging to hear how people are getting on a few weeks from their last chemo! It really gives me hope. I’m only on day 8 after my last chemo so still very much in the recovery phase and getting frustrated that my hair & eyebrows haven’t magically grown back or that I’ve suddenly got my energy back. I know it’s going to take ages but these positive stories really cheer me up. Anybody else feel emotionally a bit numb? Obviously I’m pleased chemo is finished but I don’t feel any different . Maybe it’s because physically nothing has changed. I’m still tired ect. I guess it’s early days.
Yesterday I did my last injection! And yes we had some sparklers in the garden. Today is my birthday Having a takeaway later with the kid’s & grandkids. Feeling so grateful to still be here cos as you will all know it gets scary sometimes and it’s easy to think worst case scenario.
Happy birthday @twinks77 and congratulations on the final injection! I was getting very fed up with it all (despite finishing chemo) but today I really do feel like I am on the mend. Small signs of improvement but they are definitely there! I know the radiotherapy will set me back again a bit but I’m expecting it and I know it will be just be a blip.
I’m also impatient for my hair to start growing too. That would be a lovely sign of the body healing. Hopefully soon for us all . Enjoy your evening with the family x
@twinks77 Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy celebrating with your family. My emotions were all over the place after chemo too-numb one day, sobbing the next and then furious. I think it’s going to take a long time to process it all and that’s hard to do when we’re still so depleted physically. @warmfuzzies it’s fantastic that you managed 90 minutes of padel-that sounds like huge progress. Thanks for the update on Letrozole-I hope it continues to be manageable. @runnerjen I’m so glad your eyes are back to normal and you’re back to running! Again, what an encouraging sign. My eyes are not quite there but the watering has reduced from a constant stream to a drip. @moomoo716 thank goodness you are ok after your fall. Breaking something just as you’re recovering from chemo would be really rough.
My energy level has taken a dip this week but that’s likely due to the high dose radiotherapy and effects of Covid & flu vaccinations as well as the chemo. Still, I’ve had my penultimate rad session and am fine apart from the tiredness. They suggested going braless where possible to reduce friction on the zapped area so I went out completely flat for the first time. I’d been dreading it but no one seemed to notice!
Has anyone started having hair regrowth yet? I have no sign of it yet and really want to have eyelashes again. I gave up trying to use the false ones as when I managed to apply them I found them uncomfortable and I looked ridiculous although they look great on others…
@jenny4 when I had my 4 week break from chemo I got quite a lot of hair regrowth. I got all my eyebrows back. Now on paclitaxel I’ve got some kind of hybrid loss and growth all at the same time in different places going on.
Strangely, after falling over I got more tingling in my hands. On the palms where I landed on them. I thought I’d made the neuropathy worse. But today, my fingers feel much better. Maybe smacking your hands down hard on the ground is the way forward?
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Having a takeaway later with the kid’s & grandkids. Feeling so grateful to still be here cos as you will all know it gets scary sometimes and it’s easy to think worst case scenario.
. Enjoy your evening with the family x