March 2026 chemo starters

Pleased for you @wibbles . Best of luck with it tomorrow :crossed_fingers:

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@2kittens I absolutely also have the worry of it coming back and it’s like now the safety blanket of treatment is over and it’s back to ā€œregularā€ life it’s hard not to think of it constantly. I totally get it! x

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No not so far :thinking:. I’ve checked it for the lat few days and all ok but will speak to them about it when I’m in again xxx

Had a bad couple of days with my tummy but I think it might be in relation to one of the tablets they’ve given me. Anyway - changing a few things diet wise as it seems that dairy is the trigger right now (which I’ve been eating quite a lot of in different forms) Managed to keep some food in me - yay - but on top of a lower than normal Hb count I’ve just been wiped out. Each cycle is so bloody different !

I’m so happy to hear you’re cleared to go @wibbles. The transfusion seems to have done you so much good which I’m so happy about - good luck with it all.

Well done @katie91 - just the last lot of SEs to get through but it must feel a relief to get that one done. I assume your iron levels were ok then so whatever you were doing worked ! So happy for you. Mine is due 30th June. I’m looking forward to being on the other side of it but I hear how others are also feeling that a safety net is removed when this happens so I’ll be prepared for that to hit me too. The emotional impacts are as all consuming as the physical aren’t they. Big love to everyone - I wouldn’t have got through without this forum I know - it just made me think what I’m experiencing is normal with you guys when it’s so hard for anyone else to understand xxxx

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@sam1204 and @clarabelle1
Thank you so much, taking it easy this morning before heading in later today.

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@katie91 Fantastic news - you did it!!! :partying_face: Give yourself plenty of time to rest and recover. Totally agree about what a great supportive community this forum is. Makes it feel that bit more bearable to know we’re all going through this together. :sparkling_heart:

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Well done!

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Another one bites the dust - that is me done with chemo! Head down for side effect city, then off to center parcs to really regroup for a week. Congratulations to finishers and near finishers, and big cheers to those still going!!

Also I saw plastics this morning - if I do need a mastectomy it’ll be a delayed reconstruction, most likely a TUG (so tissue from inner thigh) rather than DIEP. Up to 12 months to wait post radio but I am cool with that - long term thinking. So back to see the breast surgeon next Weds for a final decision on lumpectomy or mastectomy, then I’m in the diary for surgery on 28 July. Despite end of chemo it feels like the road to the next phase has just unfolded in front of me…

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Congratulations on finishing @felineoptimist :tada::flexed_biceps:

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Congratulations @felineoptimist

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Thank you @sam1204!! So far so good so I’ll definitely be having a little celebration over weekend!! Thank you for all of your tips along the way, my 2nd to last round my Neutrophils were down to 1.50…after 3 weeks of organic cocoa in my morning coffee they were up to 12 yesterday for my last round!

Hope you’re doing well too!! Xxxx

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SO…today was via cardiology for an urgent unexpected echocardiogram as oncologist wanted to check last weeks bloods had not impacted by heart. Thank all that is good my DD warned me this might be needed. thankfully blood taken prior to chemo showed my gut feeling I was now on way too much magnesium supplement proved bang on. Oncologist has now reduced Ìt to the normal one horse tablet a day to offset the impact of carboplatin. Fetched up at oncology 2 hours before due as there was no point trying to head home as it would take me over an hour plus each way. Oncology nurses squeezed me in early, nurse who lives with anaphylaxis was ready and waiting for me plus a proper abraxine line. the ward sister from last time who kept back the single left abraxine connector managed to blag a few more through purchasing even though the chemo unit is not authorised to buy them. she argued they had patients like me who were allergic to the carriers in the taxels and that human albumin refuses to go through the filters they would normally use.She has promised to hide one for me for hopefully the last time as the hospital objects to the cost pose on top of abraxine and I am currently the only one who has real abraxine to replace the usual taxels.
Due to allergies no one in pharmacy purchasing wants to risk trying to give me anything else - thank god- previous forays into generic alternatives for patented drugs have not worked out well for me as that atopic tendency has become even more reactive thanks to chemo.

Home from chemo after four hours and thirty minutes instead of having to spend a whole day there because the so called nab paxitaxel filter would be fine for Abraxine. The filters in the generic version block the human albumin carrier so the drug will not go through and then the line collapses from negative pressure and my blood then enters the line.

DH heating up tine of vegan Tom and basil soup with two pieces of Swiss Dry bread cheese biscuit roll things. There is no way I want anything heavier as chemo tends to hit my stomach then my guts. Could not bear the thought of more chicken soup as I pretty much lived on that after the fourth round and Dh does not get why that might have put me off the stuff. Going to try and eat ā€˜sumo’ style broth as much as I can using a variant of the recipes in Cancer made eat in the tips section.

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Thanks @clarabelle1!! Yes just get through these last side effects and then I’m really hoping to get back to some form of normality (after 19 radiotherapy sessions with a side of medical menopause :joy:). I think I will definitely think to the future more than I would of but I’m really trying to live in the moment and not being or in front of me (easier said than done I know), but I’m not willing to let this take over my life to the point I’m worrying so much I’m not living!!

I totally understand how lots of people feel that though once treatment is coming to an end, I’m just focusing on my next step ahead and eating as healthily as possible, exercising as well as holistic mindfulness etc and the way I see it is the rest of it is out of my control :heart:

And blood counts had shot up this week, the nurse was surprised because it was my last session, but I’d been following a mainly Mediterranean style way of eating and a small teaspoon of organic cocoa in my morning coffee which seemed to do the trick!

I’m so excited to virtually cheer you on over the finish line on 30th June :tada::heart_hands:

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Just catching up sorry for the long post haha :heart:

Hey @2kittens it’s good to hear from you. My last chemo on Thursday also, hopefully. If my bloods come back ok they are going to reduce the dose for me as it definitely hit harder the last time.

In regards to your bowel cancer, the chemo for breast is systemic isnt it so it sweeps through your body, surely it’s attacking that also? I know it stabalised, how brilliant would it be if it has shrunk a little bit also. I don’t know if that’s how it works but here’s hoping thats the case.

The worry of reoccurrance will definitely play on my mind but at the moment I’m keeping the focus on active treatment. Just keep things one day at a time. We can’t look back and there’s no point looking too far forward.

@wibbles really glad you are cleared to go ahead! It is a strange relief isnt it considering what it brings. But we have all said it before, these horrid side effects mean its getting the job done :slight_smile:

@katie91 you beat me to the finish line :slight_smile: Well done I’m so happy for you :heart:

@felineoptimist another finisher wow! I feel you on the quick preview for the next stage! You don’t get much time to catch your breath do you. Keep that rollercoaster going though. The sooner things are decided the sooner the end is in sight!

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12!!! That’s amazing!

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Thank you so much @m1sty.george!! I’m making sure I get more rest than normal in so I’m fit and well to get radiotherapy done and dusted in 3 weeks :heart_hands:

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Thank you @twink1 :tada::heart_hands:

Congratulations @felineoptimist - you did it! :partying_face: Fantastic news. Rest, recuperate and be gentle with yourself. :sparkling_heart:

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Ahhh well done @felineoptimist for getting to the chemo finish line!!

I know what you mean, although I already had surgery for most of us chemo isn’t the complete finish line, I still have 19 radiotherapy sessions to go and then hormone therapy BUT I am definitely glad to put the chemo part of my journey well behind me :joy:ohhh centreparcs sounds a lovely little way to celebrate finishing chemo!! Have fun :heart:

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That’s brilliant @felineoptimist. We’re knocking them out of the park this week with people having their last chemo. I’m so pleased that this is done - i know there are still the SE’s to get through and of course all that comes next but I know when we start it feels like we’ll never reach this point so it so good to hear that people are xxxx

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