Hi,Iam new to forum,although i have been looking in since i was diagnosed with bc on 9th may.Have had masectomy of right breast.started chemo 3rd august,off for second dose of fec on thursday,a week late due to going into hospital with temp and low white cell count.Trying emend before chemo this time,hopefully stop me being so sick this time.I have being told that i will have to inject myself in tummy for a week after chemo,to keep my white cells up?any of you ladies had to do this?I have lost all my hair on my head,hate my wig and just wear scarves.Body hair starting to go too.You ladies on this forum have kept my spirits up and to know there are others going through the same really helps.excuse any spelling mistakes etc.i dont facebook and can just get by on comupter.
Well done for finding the forums. And what a cool name!
So pleased you’ve got Emend. That was most definitely the saving of me. Having been really sick on first FEC I got Emend for the other 5 and other than sleeping for almost the whole of the first week after poisons, I felt human.
There are threads for those who are going through chemo at the same time as you that you might want to say hello on, I found it so useful to have others who understood what I was going through to talk to.
I had to do the injections for the last FEC - my WBCs stayed good enough for most of them that I escaped the needles. I did it myself rather than getting the district nurse to do it, as I felt it gave me a bit more control over my life and didn’t have to wait around (or tidy up!). Get the nurses to teach you how to, and it will be fine. Some people get achy bones with it, but I didn’t notice any SEs at all, hopefully you’ll be the same.
Hi Tigerpig!! Yes I have had to do the injections all the way through, I have had & cycles (10 doses) so far of chemo. I do get a bad abck with jabs but heat packs and ibuprofen (after taking temperature) helps.
Emend really helped with the sickness so thats good.
My hair is already starting to grow back and I habvent finished chemo yet but you are without it for a short time whatever your regime, embrace the bald I say!!Wigs never worked for me.
Hope your journey is a decent one and the tip to link up with people either having chemo same time as you, or the same regime or in the same area is a good one.
hi tigerpig , i too had to inject and it did the job, emend also helped with the sickness good luck xxx
Hi Tigerpig, I am also new to the forum although I am having my last Tax next week! I have had 3 FEC and having 3 Tax, rads and tamoxifen. I was a bit late to jump in on any of the forums with the girls having chemo at the same time as me but I read their postings and I feel I missed out so please jump in on one of them they seem like a great help! I was really ill on 1st FEC and Onc gave me Emend and it really does help, still had nausea but not as bad. I found some of the other anti emetics made me woozy. I have the DN inject neulasta the day after each chemo and I find it gives me flu like symptons, mainly achy muscles for 2 days, my onc said to get pain killers into my system well before and the benfits out weigh the SE’s. Its a bit difficult to know what is causing what symptoms at first as you just take everything they give you but you will find things that suit you best! Hope your SE’s are a little less on Emend
xx
Hi lancashire lass,Have had a look around site and have found ladies sarting chemo august.Thank you.You are way in front of me with treatment,cant imagine having last tax.Feels like a million miles away.Tiger pig x
Dear Tigerpig,
Welcome, I am celebrating my first year of this breast cancer malarkey, and had filgrastim injections for the white cells. Didn’t like them but they did the job after the first cycle. I live in the sticks and the district nurse didn’t want to come out regularly so my husband did them for me, except when he got an infection when I had to squint through my varifocals and do them myself. Didn’t have Emend but had another very effective anti emetic Aloxi from the beginning, and my great dread of days lying about being sick just didn’t happen at all. If you are still sick with Emend, let your chemo team know, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone say it didn’t work for them.
Best of luck with it all,
Lavender
xx
Morning Tigerpig, I did see that you have joined in with the ladies on chemo in august, you will all get each other through this! It’s nice to get honest answers about SE’S and when you complain they won’t just give you the ‘poor you’ face! I won’t rub it in about my last Tax but I will say I am well ready to draw a line under chemo! You will be better to inject yourself to be honest if you can because sometimes I was waiting for the DN to come and was desperate to go to bed! Good luck with your 2nd FEC. xx
Lavender, it’s encouraging to hear from ladies who have finished their treatment as it reminds you that it will finish at some point and keeps you focused on the end game, I feel like I have been doing this for years. I have got 1 tax,rads & tamoxifen to go but I can almost smell it!!
xxxx
Hi all
Im also relatively new here, only posted few times then have trouble finding my posts…duh! lol
I was diagnosed 16th august with 1.8x1.5 tumour grade 3, lymph nodes not involved.
I had a lumpectomy and sentinal node last thursday 1st and am now resting up, wasnt as bad as i thought but dressing is driving me nuts with itchyness so hoping that may come off tomorrow at my gp appointment to check wound.
My consultation is 14th sept where i assume i will get results and more info on next step. I think chemo is the next step but not sure what to expect as been taking it one step at a time. I was ok about the op but am rather worried about the chemo but will try and remain strong
Hi Clare?
what makes you say chemo if your lyph nodes are not involved? do the doctors know something from the tests before your op?? Or have you just thought that is the normal next stage. Many of us are lucky enough to just get a way with radiation.
anyway yes you should get all the info on the 14th. There is a very good publication on here called your pathology report and what to ask. If you cannot find it to download you could ring the helpline. It is very clear and takes you through all the different tests they will have done on your lump and what the results mean.
in the mean time I hope you are doing your excercises to keep the arm and shoulder mobile. If you have not been given any then they are important, you ae supposed to start on day one, so again you can download them from this site or ring for a dvd.
hope you continue to recover. it can drive you nuts waiting for the next set of results but once they are in everything settles down and even if it is chemo the people on this site are here to hold your hand every step of the way. But lets hope, like me, all you need is a course of rads. I bit time consuming but you can be lucky and get away with minimal side effects.
so come back and let us know how you are getting on
Hi
The doc told me at the diagnosis that lymph nodes werent involved, i had a biopsy and sample taken from node via injection/ultrasound type thing before my diagnosis appointment so i assume they knew from that. They initially had a question mark next to chemo but after speaking to my bc nurse she said it was very likely i would have chemo probably about 6 treatments. Do you think there may be a chance i wont need then? maybe she was painting the worst picture so i didnt get my hopes up about not having chemo.
Yes i have been given the excercises and have been doing them, normally do them every time i go to the loo a few times and also sometimes while im sitting in bed.
Thanks for the info about pathology report, i will have a look for that x
Hi there,
I am also new to forum, I’m very very late joining as I have had my lumpectomy, finished chemo and finished radiotherapy however 5 more years to go of Tamoxifen! I thought I may join as strangely it is now that most of my treatment is over that I feel I need the support. Its as if Ive been on a horrible rollercoaster ride and could not get off, and now its stopped I feel dizzy and sick.
Its good that your wound is itchy Claire, means that its healing well. I also had no lynf node involvment however did the chemo as I kind of insurance policy to blast any rogue cells that may have gone adrift.
Hi Tigerpig, well done on completing your first chemo. I also went nutroprenic after my first so had to inject 10 day after every chemo thereafter. Although the injections are horrid to do in the long run they are great as they will give you some protection by keeping your white cells up. I never had any infections during chemo and if I could give one bit of advice, always carry antibac hand gel where ever you go and if any family or friend has a hint of a cold or tickly throat keep well away from them.
Take care girls
Rach
xx
Clare,
I think they tend towards giving chemo to people with Grade 3, even if nodes negative, so keep it in your mental picture till they tell you otherwise. It’s not an absolute, everyone isa bit different and they do try to tailor it to the individual’s needs
Lavender
xx
Ah, lavender lass is right, I have just looked at the pathology document and it says grade 3 are normally offered chemotherapy, so it is best to have that in your mind.
I hope your scar looks good tomorrow when you get the dressing off itching is usually a good sign of healing.
Hi Tigerpig
Just to add to what the others have said, I gave myself the Neulasta injections 24 hours after each chemo session- six in all.
The syringes have to be kept in the fridge and a couple of tips I got from some of the other posters were
1 - take out of the fridge for half an hour before injecting (so that they are at room temperature or thereabouts)
2 - cool the area on the abdomen with an ice cube or, as was also suggested, and which I did, a cold drink can - sort of anaesthetises the area.
I found it easy to do and not painful and I didn’t really notice any side effects.
Good luck with it all and from now on may your side effects be small and few. x
Thanks for the replys ladies.
Ive accepted that i prob will have chemo and am worried about it but prepared to face it.
Its reassuring to know the itching is good sign even tho its driving me crazy.
OMG is the injections spoken about with all chemo? I have a bit of a fear of needles and really dont think i could inject myself, i have had numerous blood tests since i had miscarriage (just before diagnosis) which helped me overcome fear a bit but i always have to look away while they do it.
Hi Clare,
Sorry to hear about your miscarriage.
I guess by your name you’re another youngie? I’m 33.
I was terrified of needles to the point where I was always close to being sick/fainting when I had to have injections/blood tests - but after all of the pokings and scans after diagnosis and chemo etc I’m not as bad as I was. Some people get given the injections and some people don’t. I did and had to administer it myself at home. The first one took me about an hour and a half to do!! Every time I got it close to my skin I would just freak out! Got used to it now though - and it doesn’t hurt at all and makes your white blood count nice and high!
x
Thank you sandytoes. Im 37 so fairly young for BC i guess but its not particular in who it attacks.
Was devastated about mc as we had tried for 2 years to get pg then cruelly taken away but since finding lump shortly after and being diagnosed with bc i guess it was natures way. Have had some dark days about never becoming a mum as ive dreamed of for so long but trying to put all my strenght into fighting this horrid disease.
Im not sure i could ever inject myself so hope i dont need to, there so much to think about. Feel like BC is all my life is going to be about for a long while.
Glad ive found this forum. There seems to be so much support here which will definately help everyone on this horrible journey.
I am brand new here…about to have a biopsy to rule out Padget’s disease of the nipple. I have 89 of the 10 symptoms listed when I googled. My doctor says he thinks it is hormonal but when I look under hormonal breast issues none of these are listed and it keeps referring back to the fact it COULD be cancer. I guess maybe because this type is rare my doctor may have not experienced it before in a patient and is referring me to a breast surgery specialist…
Hi Clare37
Like you I had a small lump, 1.4cms,grade 3, no node involvement.
I also had a 5cm lump which was DCIS. If this lump hadn’t presented itself then I would never of known about the small lump and god knows what may have happened.
I have had a mastectomy and immediate recon.
I am hormone negative so cannot be put on drugs.
This is a very scary time, I’m so glad that I have found this site, I have been on it all night and this is the first time that I have felt calm!
I have been offered chemo as a precaution .
I am dreading it but from reading other people’s posts, it doesn’t seem as awful as I thought.
Good luck with everything.
Sarah xxxxxxx