I have been diagnosed with breast cancer end of September - everything moved pretty fast after that. Had a lumpectomy October 13th (my lucky day) and during the surgery they’ve confirmed it has not spread to any lymphnodes (great news!). I had to have a second surgery because they did not manage to take out enough normal tissues around the bottom part of the tumour. Second surgery went really well. I have Stage IIA, grade 2, HER2 receptive breast cancer. So, apparently I will get the full monty… I was OK before the surgeries, but now I am really p****** my pants over chemo - what can I expect? Anything I can find on the web says ‘it depends on the person’. Yeah, depends on the person, but what do you feel? It is like a bad hangover? Is it like a flu, when you want to die? Share your experience with me, please. I am one of those people that has to know ! 
Hello
I’m glad you asked and i hope you get some answers because I’m about to embark on this rollercoster.
I’m waiting for the date of my op, i’ll find out on wednesday but then it depends on the surgery and if they need to take more out and then i’ll be starting as well. So I hope you get some answers cos i could do with knowing too.
Love fran
xx
Unfortunately it does vary from person to person and some people will have very mild side effects and others quite severe. I was lucky and had very mild side effects. I had strong antisickness mess from the start and never felt more than just a little queasy. Kind of like a hangover - and the only thing that made me feel better was stuffing my face!! The steroids they give you made me wired but tired and a bit up and down emotionally and I felt knackered - but just slept when I felt I needed to. Tax, for me, was even better - no queasiness and lots of energy - just the steroid side effects to deal with for a couple of days.
Overall it was a million times better than I thought it would be! I thought I would be bedridden for months with my head in a sick bowl!
If you have any nasty side effects tell your breast care nurse or onc as the majority can be treated. No awards for suffering in silence. My onc told me that they do all they can to make it side effect free for us.
Good luck!!
Hello scacredofchemo and leeds39
So sorry you have to join us here but you have come to the right place for support and info. Lots of lovely ladies on this site that have helped me so much thru my journey. I am on my 4th chemo and my experience hasnt been as horrific as I expected. I had a couple of hosp dramas on first one with infection but this doesnt happen to everyone and I was looked after very well. Do u know what chemo u havking yet? I did 3 x FEC and I felt mainly tired and spaced out for few days, heartburn and constipation were my biggest proiblems but some people do suffer with nausea and sickness but if u do tell the unit and they can normally give u more drugs to ease this and alter dose for next time. I have now just started TAX which ive heard can give u muscle n bone aches but im only two days in and just tired at the moment so waiting to see how it affects me
Please try not to worry too much and find ur inner strenght, u will get thru this, keep posting and we will all help u thru
Big hugs x
Hi ScaredOfChemo
Welcome to the BCC forums, I hope you will find them to be great source of support and information.
As well as the support you are receiving from the other users if you would like to talk your concerns through please do give the BCC helpline a call on 0808 800 6000. Here you can share your worries with a trained member of staff who will offer you a listening ear as well as emotional support and practical information. The lines are open, Monday to friday 9 to 5pm and Saturday 9 to 2pm.
Best wishes Sam, BCC Facilitator
Hi
I finished chemo in April (which seems amazing). I was dx last nov and had surgery afterwards (mx, full clearance and recon), followed by rads. Phew!
I was cra**ing myself, but as with most things the thought is worst than the event. I had one day of sickness but called for stronger anti-sickness drugs ASAP. I would probably describe the first 36 hours as being cometely ‘monged’ (do you use that expression?) there was a definite buzzing through my veins, which I liked to imagine was thd chemo whizzing thru’ and zapping everything.
I shaved my hair off after 3 weeks of the first session, it was slowly drifting away and so I decided to just get it done, I’d already had it cropped weeks before. I’ve had 2 haircuts since April, so it doesn’t take too long to return.
My tips would be:
Drink loads before, during and after treatment.
Ask for stronger medicine or medical advice as soon as you need it.
Realise that once your limited energy has been used up - that’s it! There’s no capacity to recharge.
Know that it will pass.
During chemo we went away, saw friends, ate out. I was still able to be a friend, a wife and a mother. Life changes but there’s still a life to be had.
Take Heart.
Xx
Thank you all for the comments! Since my post I have found the excellent tread in here about being in chemo. It eased my mind a little.
You know how it is - I can’t really freak out in front of friends and family, I think they have a bad enough time dealing with this without seeing me go to pieces.
But of course I do! I am Hungarian, who lives in Denmark but most of my friends are in the UK and all my family in Hungary and this makes it doubly hard for everyone to deal with my cancer. I am still firmly in denial land but think I need to move out from this comfortable place pretty soon…
I am not too worried about loosing my hair - yet! - but I am sure it will be a shock when it does fall out. I have short blond hair and thinking of getting long flowing black locks for my wig.
I can only add to what the others have said. It can be worse for some people & it’s not what u call pleasant for anybody, it does make u feel crappy some of the time but it’s doable and for me it hasn’t been too bad. I had my 5th FEC yesterday & so far the worst things have been constipation on the first cycle but i soon learnt to take preventative action rather than wait till it got bad & a bit of heartburn which some Omeprazole soon sorted out. I did have to go to hosp as my bloods were too low but make sure u take your temperature religiously as it’s a good indicator of any problems. I have been quite tired at times but have managed to work for four mornings of the last 2 weeks of each cycle. Bit queasy at times but have never been sick. Make sure u take all the sickness meds they give u and don’t wait till u feel sick as the meds are preventative ones.
You might also want to join one of the threads such as ‘Starting chemo in Jan’ if thats when ur starting. u can get a lot of support from people at exactly the same stage as u.
All in all,for me,the thought of chemo was definately worse than the chemo itself. It isn’t for everybody but hopefully it will be for u, good luck. x