Hi
Have just got back on the website having not been on since before christmas.
The chemo for me has been pretty rough. I am full of admiration for you ladies who carry on working or have young children to look after. I have only myself and the cat to look after and have struggled with that.
I have suffered badky from sickness had 7 diiferent types of anti sickness tablet (injections to) and none have worked completely. The last resort, offered last visit was suppositories, which i declined as have had lots of tummy problems as well which means ive got piles.(I cant believe the things we say on this site) As a result even with steroids have lost a stone in weight already as with tum probelms really struggle to eat properly.
Anyway the long and short of it is ive spent most of the last 3 months either in the bathroom or in bed but there is light at the end of the tunnel as i am due my last (day 1) cmf next week and my final (day 8) the week after.
After that i have Radio therapy and Herceptin. This is completely unknown ground for me and would like to know exactly what it entails. I get very frustrated with my oncologist and his registrars as they never seem to answer my questions to my satisfaction. I cant complain about my care in other ways, the nurses are brilliant but you dont get any continuity with the doctors, I think ive only ever seen the same one twice and i end up giving them an edited version of my past “prroblems” every visit.and virtually telling them what drugs i need to take home.
I was horrified on catching up on the threads today that some patients dont get automatic HER2 tests. I had a lumpectomy, no lymph node activity but was still tested which turned out positive. I am being treated at North Staffs hospital so maybe its routine there but good on the lady who has got her local MP involved.
Anyway would appreciate any info on Radio therapy and/or Herceptin
Chadders
x
Hi Chadders,
Radiotherapy is a doddle after chemo. You will have a planning appointment first, when they will decide exactly where the rads have to be directed. They will tattoo three tiny dots onto your chest so that the radiotherapy machine can always be lined up in exactly the same place each time. This doesn’t hurt, and the dots are so tiny that I find it hard to see mine now. No-one else would notice them. I was given all my appointments for the four weeks of rads at the planning appointment, and a tube of aqueous cream to moisturise the area.
The actual rads are fine - you don’t feel a thing. You lie on a table with your arms up above your head, the staff line you up, set the machine to run, it makes a noise but you can’t feel anything. The staff come back and re-set the machine to point at you from a different angle, and do it again. The whole process only takes ten minutes. The main problem I found was that they were always running late at my hospital, so you never knew from one day to the next when you would get home. That was very frustrating. It can also be quite tiring, but I think that is nothing to do with the actual rads, but is from having to get to the hospital every day.
As for herceptin, before you start you have to have a heart scan, as in rare cases herceptin can cause heart damage. Then you have further scans every three months to check everything is still OK. The drug itself is administered as a drip into the back of your hand, for me it always takes 90 minutes. The first time you will be monitored just in case you have a reaction - again rare, and if you don’t have a reaction the first time you shouldn’t afterwards. Some hospitals like you to stay for several hours the first time, others don’t.
As for side effects, they are minimal compared with chemo. I am still getting fairly tired, my onc says it is the herceptin. Also my nose drips (there is a separate thread all about the herceptin dripping nose), I find I get itchy skin for about a week after each herceptin, but if I use lots of moisturiser then it is OK, and my joints are a bit stiff - but I’m not sure if that is the herceptin or the tamoxifen.
All in all rads & herceptin are nothing to worry about. You’ve done the difficult bit, the chemo.
Best wishes
Dear Chadders
Just to echo everything RoadRunner has said. You really do have the hard part behind you now. Rads are easy, and I was very lucky at Barts where they ran early every time. Herceptin is fine too, and much easier to time than chemo, with none of the really ghastly side effects. Not so hard on the veins either.
Good luck with it all
Dilys
Thanks Dilys and Roadrunner, I suppose i just wanted a bit of reassurance that rads and herceptin would be easier than chemo which has been hell for me.
You have both helped to put my mind at rest
Thanks again
xxx
Dear Chadders
Oh you will be fine, really. Nothing but nothing is as bad as chemo, so if you have survived that you will tap dance your way through rads and herceptin. I always feel a bit guilty having herceptin only and watching others in the chemo unit getting the nasty stuff. Mnd you I did my share!
Let us know how it goes.
Love
Dilys
xxxx
Chadders you asked the very questions that were running through my mind. I am due for my 4th chem on 29th of this month and rather dreading all the treatment when I had finished chemo, but Roadrunner and Dilys have made me feel so much better. Thanks to you both and for Chadders for asking the question.
love and light
Judy x