The North Yorkshire Rat Apocalypse Revisited :
today’s post on chemonights.blogspot.co.uk/
Greetings from snowy birmingham. My husband went to get me a wig liner this morning (wonderful invention!) and couldnt get into the car for a while because it was frozen! He had to use 2 hot water bottles before he could get to the key hole!
Hi Maire in what ways did fec affect you? I’ve got one more tax then 3 x fec and I was told that tax was worse so was hoping that fec would be a breeze.
The ony way I can describe my left eye this morning is pixellated! Has anyone else felt that? x
Queendrama I had some chest pains with Fec. I found that when I was dropping off to sleep I kept having those ‘falling off a cliff’ moments where you wake up gasping. The onc thought that was heart spasms and didn’t want to risk it. I now wonder if I was being overly dramatic. Other than that fec just made me nauseous for 5-6 days then a bit under the weather, oh and I had loads of nosebleeds.
I’ve had chest pains with TC too so maybe that’s just me. Tc was awful for first week to ten days but I have had great days since. I would say with TC you get a much more immediate dip (a double dip even-maybe the 2 drugs kick in at different times) but when you recover it’s more rapid. That’s been my experience so far. One major plus is that I had absolutely no nausea and I think that’s the norm. The eye thing sounds horrible.
Cybele- Enjoying the rat adventure-no chance it could be a squirrel? One of my neighbours had a squirrel in her loft and manage to trap it. She then travelled miles, right across Glasgow to rehome it (not legal, I know). A few days later she discovered baby squirrels in her loft!!!
hello, my Sisters In Chemo.
Nothing much to report here, just the nausea…
Sand, I’ll be having FEC3 next Wednesday, January 23rd, so we are pretty much exactly in sync.
QueenDrama, I haven’t had Tax, but from what I’ve read on here, it generally sounds considerably nastier than FEC - although FEC of course, comes with Extra Added Weapons-Grade Nausea - it has for me, anyway.
If you are generally liable to nausea, it’s worth doing what I did, which is to demand intravenous Fosapprepitant upfront. It’s the gold Stanard of anti-emesis, but expensive, so they generally use it as a second line treatment, not a first line treatment, but if you have a known pre-existing problem with nausea, it is possible to get it from the beginning (I’m talking NHS, obviously)
Queendrama - I found Tax worse than FEC but a lot of people say the opposite. It made me sick, but most people say FEC was worse for sickyness. It really is true that it just depends and everyone is different. This is very frustrating cos we all want to know what to expect but chemo really is like a sh*t box of chocolates.
The vision thing - who said that? Chemo Brian has struck half way through writing this - I sometimes had the sensation of being stuck in The Matrix, with all sorts scrolling past my eyeballs. Luckily that tended to be short lived and most of the time I am just blurred and short sighted.
Today I have been and had my blood taken. If my neuts hit the (unknown) magic number I will be getting GemCarbo number 3 (or 2(a), depending how you count) tomorrow. Will be phoning later and demanding results. Not waiting until the morning. Also Kevin the door man is actually here, actually fittng the door. Looks quite nice.
xxxx
I phoned the unit and made them check bloods. I have passed and will be back to getting poisoned along with the rest of you tomorrow. Don’t know whether to celebrate or cry. 
Hi ladies, I need some advice. I had my first FEC today. I have taken my inti sickness meds (the cheaper version). But I have been violently sick. How sick do you have to be to ask for Emend?
I think being sick on the same day you have the FECin stuff certainly means you should be asking. I put up with being sick on Tax cos I thought it was inevitable, but it isn’t and I would not put up with it now. If you have just been sick once, then contact your helpline, but if you keep doing it then consider A&E. Don’t be heroic. Ask for help. Hope you feel better soon, xxx
Caroline-I think you should get in touch with NHS 24. If you are throwing up you won’t be able to keep anti sickness pills down. Your doc should come out and give you an anti sickness injection. Fingers crossed for you.
Marie’s right Caroline - get your GP to come out. Remember we should all get preferential treatment…
Hope everyone else ok…
i’m just preparing myself for 3rd FEC on Thursday…!!! ARGHHHHH!!!
They cant use my right arm anymore as struggling with veins…so have agreed to use left even though they originally said they would never use my left as on mx side…??? oh well and they dont want to do a PICC line (actually the little hosptial that I’m at dont do PICC lines!)
lots of love xxxx
xxxxxxxxx
Caroline - you qualify for emend - they should give you the intravenous version, Fosapprepitant, because you won’t be able t o keep p the oral version down. the hospital should give it to you, if you are near enough.
I went into A & E and got IV anti-emetics - if you’re throwing up, it’s ESSENTIAL.
In other news:
‘Intermezzo: A Positively Unromantic Interlude’
:today’s post on chemonights.blogspot.co.uk/
Caroline - how are you today?
Mandy - I feel a bit concerned that they “don’t do PICC lines” so they think you don’t need one. Do you live on a small island? Maybe you need to ask them to go over this decision and the risks again. I don’t know the stats, but I think if you “just” had a mastectomy with no sentinel lymph node biopsy or lymph node clearance then the risk of lymphedema is less, but I don’t think it is the same as a woman who did not have Mx. I remember when I had my Hickman line I was allergic to all the dressings except one; one day that dressing fell off the list of NHS prescriptions, and, all of a sudden, I didn’t “need” it any more. It seems we only “need” things that are available. If you are happy with the risk then I will shut up, but make sure they have not bullied you when you are vulnerable. You can go to another hospital if you want to. Sorry you have to put up with this rubbish - hope it resolves in the way you want. xx
Today is the day I try to catch up on chemo - appointment at 11.30. Corsodyl and Movicol at the ready…
Good luck to all having chemo this week and all living with the effects, xxx
Mandy , have only just noticed what you wrote about PICC lines - and having woken up rather cross this morning, that has moved me right up to enraged.
It is your RIGHT to have a PICC line - and there is no way you should let them near your ‘bad’ arm, the risks are too great.
They’ve already fried the veins in your good arm with the poison- don’t let them start damaging your other arm, in which you have a life time risk of lymphoedema, which is a HORRIBLE condition, and very hard to get rid of, onceyou’ve got it, by all accounts.
You are not even meant to have blood taken, or bllod pressure done, on your ‘bad’ arm - WHAT ARE THEY THINKING, to suggest they start injecting chemo drugs into it. I hate to sound prescriptive, because it’s your decision, but I REALLY don’t think you should let them anywhere near your bad arm.
If they can’t do a PICC line, at your local small hospital, then demand that they send to the nearest place where they do them.
IT’S A NUISANCE FOR THEM, BUT THEY ARE NOT THE ONES WHOSE BODY IS BEING DAMAGED, OR WHO WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE DAMAGE BECAUSE THEY CAN’T BE A***D TO CARE FOR YOU PROPERLY.
I knew Cybele would be along to stick up for PICC lines. Go girl 
I actually came on here this morning to whine about how fed up I am with the whole chemo thing, but reading about what Mandy’s ‘hospital’ were proposing to do to her just made me see red.
Everything I have read about lymphoedema - and I’ve read quite a lot, because I had the choice beteen having all my lymph nodes taken out OR chemo, because i just had one micrometastasis in my sentinel lymph node - tells me that even if you’ve justhad one lymph node taken out , you need to be very, very careful with that arm for the rest of your life - because there is still risk of lymphoedema, but if you’ve had all the lymph nodes taken out then the risk is very high, and you must be uber-vigilant, but in either case, YOU MUST NEVER LET ANYONE DO ANY KIND OF MEDICAL PROCEDURE TO YOUR ‘BAD’ ARM, OR ANYTHING WHICH INVOLVES PUNCTURING THE SKIN.
So to me it is beyond belief they are suggesting putting chemo drugs into Mandy’s bad arm, having already ruined the veins on her good arm.
Of course, I’m an amateur, not a doctor, but it seems like a clear case of medical negligence even to suggest it. Maybe there’s someone on here who can tell us different, but if it were me I would refuse point blank, and insist on having a PiCC line put in my ‘good’ arm - the PICC line goes in the upper arm, so it won’t affect the veins that have already been ruined. Putting in a PICC line takes half an hour. It costs the NHS something, but it is a STANDARD procedure, not some exotic extra.
And if they refused I would demand a second opinion, or a medical ombudsman, or whatever authority you can appeal to.
An awful lot of really bad things happen to people as patients because medical staff are trying to save money, or just can’t be bothered to think about the potential bad effects on patients.
And I would say this to anyone on here who is uncertain about what’s being done t othem, and tempted not to make a fuss, and just go along with it: DON’T LET THEM DO ANYTHING TO YOU IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT IT.
YOU are the person who has to live with the consequences, perhaps permanently, if they inadvertently do you any damage.
You only have one body, and one life. And a bad case of lymphoedema can considerably reduce someone’s quality of life.
Sorry, I am ranting, but I feel really, really strongly about this.
Cybele - I would never suggest you stop ranting - I love it that you are passionately sticking up for your chemo buddies (and I include me). I am sure you don’t think I am having a dig - but chemo paranoia makes me want to make sure you don’t think that. xxx
No, don’t be daft, of course i didn’t think you were having a dig, Cress 
It would never even have occurred to me…
Anyway, I didn’t even see your post between writing my first post and my second post! i merely paused for breath after writing the first one, and the nstarted the second…
I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole business of veins and PICC lines, and standards of care, in the last week, and was planning to write about it on the blog, soon, so this whole issue is right at the forefront of my my mind.
I was just gob-smacked when I saw what Mandy had written, and how her ‘hospital’ - it doesn’t sound like much of one - was treating her. Am still FUMING.
Anyway, good luck wth your chemo today, Cress - let’s hope they do a bit better than the last inglorious attempt… xxxx
hi Mandy,
i have a Picc Line and my local hospital didnt do them either so i was sent to the Hospital that did, so if i where you i would ask the question of where you can have it done, i agree with Cybele dont let them touch your good arm, they must have somewher they can send you.
Hope you get sorted soon.
Lolly
x
Thanks lovelies for the heads up on Fosapprepitant - i had horrible nausea last time for my first FEC and it’s great to have a little insider knowledge, if a bit annoying for them, when i go back in on monday for round 2. The other thing that has come to light recently to me is the link between Hodgkins Disease and Breast Cancer (I had the former as an 18 year old) which has been known about for some time apparantly. I can’t quite believe my GP’s (i say plural being Armed Forces we move around a bit) hadn’t made the connection earlier and suggested i go for annual Mammograms and perhaps i could have picked my what was obviously quite an envitable ticking timebomb tumour up at the grade 1 level. Another case of ‘slipping through the net’ i fear. Oh well…
Now on to some good news - got my new wig, she’s called Tatum (after O’Neil I assume) and she’s rather foxy. Going sking at the beginning of Feb (chemo effects permitting) but i’m rather dreading losing too much hair and having to wear her and a ski helmet aswell and then removing said helmet and ‘Tatum’ coming off and all this happening right in front of a bunch of gorgeous French Ski Instructors called Xavier who have met for a drink in a bar in Meribel…oh yes, i’ve REALLY thought this through!
Hugs girls, keep the faith xxxxx
Mandy I hav a picc line - and wouldnt cope without it. There are other alternatives - portocath lines etc. If your hospital wont do it - demand to be sent to another one! This is the NHS !!!
Have a fab time skiing Alpal!
Good luck today Cress! x