Thanks Maryland, will give the bands a try. I tried crystallised ginger when I was feeling sick & now can’t face it, but like Little Chick I found banana good to take my tablets. Also ate homemade bread toasted with Manuka honey for the first few days and that really helped even if it took me a long time to eat.
The sharing on this thread really is great, glad I ventured in.
S x
I have FEC 3 on Wed, and to be honest, I am beginning to feel sick at the thought of it. I might try the ginger tablets and biscuits though, and if I can get hold of a travel band I will try that as well. Thanks Maryland for the tip. Sucking on a ginger sweet after eating also seems to help if I feel sick. I have been given some tranquilisers to take beforehand, so maybe they will help. I am actually looking foward to Taxotere because the doctor said nausea is nowhere as bad on that.
Really hope all those getting chemo this week do okay, and I hope those who had it done recently continue to feel better and improve. Take care x
Little chick,
Glad your back in service! As you know we are being FECEd on the same day and like you I struggled with sickness but nowhere near as bad as you. My ONC has changed my anti sickness tablets to suppositories and I know I have gone on about it but they were soooo much better than the pills. He has also advised me to front load with these in the morning before chemo and at lunchtime when I get home. The dose is also bigger. Perhaps that might be a way for you to keep your sickness at bay because I now that once it starts it’s difficult to stop. It was the domperidone that got changed. I was also given som really hefty stuff that basically knocks you out so you can’t be sick but fortunately I didn’t have to take these.
It’s worth asking
Vannsx
Problem is I don’t get to see the oncologist until the day of the chemo, but I have a few cyclizine left and might just take one in the morning and keep quiet about it! I don’t have any confidence that any of the drugs will help though. Every few years I get bad vertigo attacks and gp thinks I have the start of menieres disease, I suspect it’s contributing to the sickness. I’ve always suffered from travel sickness and have also had vomiting reactions to other drugs, did warn the onc all about it but I get the impression they dont really take me seriously. Honestly, we are the ones who know are bodies best aren’t we? They way I see it, if the chemo works and shrinks my tumour it will be worth the SEs, I will just put up with it. At least they will go away eventually.
I’ll be thinking about you on Wednesday and good luck to everyone else this week.
P s thanks so much for telling me how to log in. I’m in bed with hubby fast asleep and it’s great to be able to have a chat!
Good morning bunnies
Just a quickie as am about to head off for work…
Lovely to see the warren filling up again and great to see you back little chick.
Yesterday i had my bloods done and they were really good so full steam ahead for FEC2 tomorrow, good to know Vanns, Little Chich and Southpool will be with me in spirit if not in the next chair.
Am off on holiday next Tuesday so do hope I pull round in 5or 6 days, last time, days 2 -5 were horrendous but started turning the corner day 6.
Chatted with the chemo nurse yesterday whilst having bloods done about the different regimes. She said at my hospital, stage 1, grade 2 node neg get FEC 75 for 4 cycles and grade 3 get 6 cycles. Positive nodes get FEC100 plus tax. She said other factors are whether it is neo-adjuvant and the type of bc, inflammatory gets something different. Find it quie enthralling.
Off lecturing until 1pm and then being treated to lunch by girlfriends. Shall have something gorgeous as know after tomorrow everything will taste like a rusty bucket for a week!
Much love to all, tell the SEs to “FEC” off.
Pixie xxxx
It’s FEC2 for me today. The dreaded SEs finally caught up with me. I was feeling a bit ropey with a sore throat last week, then my temperature started heading in the danger zone, so last Wednesday I was admitted to hospital and was attached to IV antibiotics for 4 days and discharged on Sunday. My blood counts were very low, so this time I will get an injection which should prevent the levels falling quite so much.
Anyway I have taken up the Edward Lear limerick challenge. Hope you don’t mind me borrowing your name, Pixie!
There was a young bunny called Pixie,
Who found herself feeling quite myxi,
She said “I knew I’d be FEC’d,
But I didn’t expect,
The chemo cat to be so darn tricksy!”
Good wishes to all the warren,
love
Hyzenthlay xx
Lol, pixie I told the onc, pharmacist and chemo nurse about telling the cancer to FEC off and it made them all laugh, it’s great and I use it a lot in my head when I’m having a hard time so thank you. Bloods for me this afternoon and I’m nervous.
Pillow absolutely covered in tiny hairs this morning. Won’t be long til I’m completely bald at this rate. Looking very mangy with bald patches. It’s not bothering me nearly as much as I thought it would.
Hyzenthlay, love your limerick it really made me lol! Good luck with FEC 2 today. Xxx
Good Morning Bunnies
Just a quick post from me as I am at work and shouldn’t really be browsing the BC website, lol. Well my hair has all been shaved off and I have either been wearing a headscarf or my wig or just parading around in my baldness. My hairdresser is also a good friend and she was really good with me. We started at a number 4, then a number 2 and eventually just went to a nothing all over and she didn’t charge me either, people are so kind. Work have been really good, I actually went bald yesterday and didn’t mind it, felt quite comfortable around my colleagues and I wasn’t treated any differently.
I get juiced again this week, TAC 2 will be occuring on Friday and bloods are being taken tomorrow. I shall be thinking of all the bunnies being juiced today/tomorrow and I hope that the dreaded SE’s keep at bay for you. I wasn’t so bad last time so hope that I get a repeat performance. I can cope with it all if it doesn’t get any worse but I know that the further on we get, that could become the case. Oh well, deal with it when it gets to it.
Welcome to all the new bunnies in the warren and I will catch up with you all properly later.
Have a great day and love to all.
Natalie xxx
Hi everyone
Hyzenthlay I love your limerick but I am SO CROSS (only joking) because I was already well on the way to a limerick using pixie and myxi!!! I was stuck on the last line - still am but will give mine a whirl with the current last line …
There once was a bunny called pixie
Who cared for her friends who had myxi
She made them all laugh
Even when they wanted to barf
And led them to a spa o’er in Dixie
I’m still working on the salt line - tricksy was a good choice of word to rhyme with myxi and pixie.
Hope everyone is ok today. I’m thinking of those moving on with sparkly stuff this week and not looking forward to mine next week. I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday. My hospital set up offers complementary therapies to people having chemo so I was booked in. After an hour long consultation to get my medical history down, the therapist put her notepad to one side and asked me how I am in it all. Don’t know if she had sensed that my upbeat exterior was not truly indicative of how I am feeling inside and of course as soon as she asked me I began to barf. It then all came out about the hand/paw and how unhappy I had been with the nurse who did my last feccing few and her poor technique. The therapist said I must talk it through with my onc and also let the key team of nurses know. She said it is my right to refuse to have that nurse doing my chemo and also said she would have a quiet word with the main nurses on my behalf. You can imagine how all this helped. We then went on to the therapy. She recommended reflexology with a bit of reiki to start with. Wow. I was an hour on the couch and felt fantastically relaxed afterwards and lots more at I can’t find the words to describe. Last night I slept more soundly than I have for years. Brilliant. I am seeing her again next Monday and apparently can keep seeing her through tour chemo and rads - until she feels I am ready to be signposted on elsewhere. What a wonderful service.
I see my onc tomorrow, bloods next Tuesday, fec on wed. Yesterday morning I felt myself for the first time properly since my last fec and I’m going to make the most of this week. I think we are beginning to understand our own cycles now a bit better, but all know things can change especially with the change from fec to tax or whatever else any of us is on. Pixie, interesting your chemo nurse didn’t mention tax when you were asking about different regimes yesterday.
I’m horribly bruised from the cannula from my ct scan, both where it wouldn’t go in and whereit did go in. I look as if I’ve been in a bit of a fight. I think the chemo is affecting my body’s bruise-ability. Will discuss tomorrow.
As always I had planned to respond to some of the specific comments on other people’s posts but can’t now recall exactly what … Oh except to say to little chick that I liked being called a perky person!!! I try!!!
Lots of love to all bunnies and keep smiling whenever possible.
Margieteexx
Must have mistyped ‘last’ as it came out as ‘salt’!!! Should retread before sending, not after!!!
Oops, now re read all the way through and there a lots of other typos … Sorry!!! Hope you get the gist. Margieteexx
Hi bunnies,
Great to see the warren so full. I just love the fact that while some of us are only able to look at the posts because of our treatments, others are able to post perky ( or non perky) messages that keep us all going.
I have loads of imaginary aches and pains today but I know it’s only because I’m worrying about FEC 2. Am going to try and keep busy and hope that there is lots of chat in the warren today to keep me going. I’m turning into a nervous wreck?
Vannsx
General question - For those a bit ahead of me, did you feel better or worse after second FEC? Does body get more used to it or does it get worse cos you are weaker?
Did my own white blood cell stomach injection for the first time today. I hated doing it and it aches much more than when the nurse did it last Friday.
I feel better physically but worse emotionally today - I feel a vague sense of foreboding without understanding what the fear is. Anyone relate to that?
Mary xxxxxx
Hi Everyone im feeling alot better still tired but alot better today going out for lunch tomorrow so really looking forward to going out
I cant understand each hospital is so different on which chemo you get im having FEC T i had tumour removed no node involvelment but was stage 3 they said i had to have fec t as i was young and stage 3 who knows
Emend thanks pixie im so glad i asked for this drug as i have not had no where near as much sickness after FEC 2 if you can get this drug it makes your chemo alot easier to manage
Mary i dont think Fec 2 was any worse than 1 it was a bit better for me as i wasnt as sick ive been alot more tired this time but i suppose that normal
Good luck to everyone getting sparkly juice this week Tracy xxxx
Mary, unfortunately it seems we all have individual reactions as we go through the cycles.
Obviously some people felt FEC2 was better for them, but for me FEC2 was far worse than FEC1. I had lots of side effects with FEC1 but they were manageable, whereas with FEC2 I felt really ill for the first 5 days. I’m fine again now, although still very tired. I really don’t know what to expect with FEC3 next week - could be better again. could be worse - who knows?
Hi Everyone,
Mary- Sara is right; everyone is so different that it’s impossible to predict what will happen. For me, the adjustment to my meds meant that I wasn’t actually sick after Fec 2, but it seems to have taken me longer to shift the SE’s and I still have bad acid tum now, on day 6. It’s probably best to try not to look ahead too much, as others seem to have been lucky enough not to have any increase/difference in SE’s.
Vanns- no, you are not turning into a nervous wreck, just doing what we all do- trying to avoid thinking about the sparkly stuff. Good luck with this week’s dose- may the SE louts not linger long.
Margietee- so glad you managed to talk about your stuff to the therapist, and that the session was helpful. I have one booked on Friday morning. Can’t wait! I trust you are using lots of arnica on the bruises- it worked for me.
Briliant limerick, Hyzenthlay and Margietee both. And sorry to hear about all the low bloods etc, Hyzenthlay- must have been horrible. Good luck today.
So, so impressed that you were able to go bare-headed at work, Natalie- says a lot for your working relationships. I am missing my work, so you are lucky to be able to keep it up.
Good to hear from you again, Little Chick- we had the same reaction to FEC1 at the same time, but you sound as if you’ve come to terms with the fact that you will probably have the sickness each time. Ememd is okay, but it has left me with other SE’s
Good luck too Pixie- you seem to have those medical bods all sorted with your knowledge. I meant to say before that I think a spa day is a wonderful idea when we are all more free of this stuff, but we could always try for an earlier meet-up somewhere central ( for tea and cake? or does that sound too tame? Could be posh tea and cake? Might be something to aim for as a mid-way treat and a bit cheaper than a spa day. Just a thought!
Anyway Bunnies, feel a bit better today- thanks for kind words. It does pass, it’s just shitty while it’s passing.
Take care all. Might take up the limerick challenge instead of cooking tea!
Love
Lee xxx
My blood count was ok today, so I’m in for FEC 2 tomorrow. Glad you like being a perky person margietee 
vanns I feel just the same. Scared stiff. Good luck everyone.
Sorry not been able to post for a few days. Infection on scalp not completely cleared up but really just a few spots on back of my head now. Antibiotics finished and infection on my arm is almost gone now too. Have been really exhausted. Anything I do just seems to drain me of energy and I have had to spend a lot of time resting. This is my 3rd week after my 2nd Taxotere and I haven’t really had any good days this time round. 3rd cycle due on Friday this week. My hair has not completely fallen out. It has thinned quite a bit and I had it clipped -loved the comment about the ladyshave! - but it is still growing!
Good luck to everyone who’s having chemo this week. Hope the SEs are not too unbearable.
Regards
Christine xx