Thought I would start a new topic for anyone starting their Chemotherapy treatment in October.
I was just told today I am starting mine on Friday 30th September, so I consider myself an October lady (not sure about the description of Lady though!).
Feeling a bit aprehensive as I thought I would have at least another chemo free weekend before I commenced treatment, but it will be six weeks to the day I had my mastesctomy & reconstruction operation. I am going to spend the weekend buying all my chemo essentials so I can keep some of the side effects at bay hopefully
I am halfway through my chemo prior to having Mastectomy. I have had 4 x EC and now started on TAX, had my first one yesterday. I was told that the E in EC would be the drug to take my hair away and it did. What is the period of time between your treatments, mine were every three weeks and I had one week of needing more rest than normal, middle week was when my bloods were low and I tried to keep away from crowds, shops and generally places where there could be germs. I also avoided eating soft cheeses, pate, shell fish and bio active products during that time. By week three I was back to normal and always had lots of plans to meet up with friends and go out.
Good luck with it all and keep posting. Try reading up on some of the earlier chemo months postings - there is some good advice. Not everyone has a bad time - it just seems sometimes that the people who are breezing through chemo don’t tend to come and post on these forums much!
Hi Dizzycloud
I will be joining you for October! Ive just had a phonecall to confirm my first chemo will be Friday 14th October. I thought i would be starting sooner than that… oh well i will definately be able to fit in a few BK meals before then.
I will be having 6 x FEC/T. Not looking forward to feeling rubbish at christmas, i really hope i can still enjoy my christmas dinner
Debbie, hope I can breeze through chemo that would be great!. I have three weekly treatment cycles so will plan any outings for my “good” week. My chemo nurse is coming to see me the day before I start chemo, so thats good. I was hoping to get my wig sorted before starting treatment but I will speak to my breast care nurse tomorrow to see if I can get something organised sooner
Claire, at least you have a bit more time to plan, and have some nice meals out. I love Christmas, ans especially Christmas Dinner. Even if we can’t taste it, I am sure we will enjoy the family time. I have a feeling my mum & dad will want us to go there for the day (they live 60 miles away), but it will depend on treatment cycle timing. I much prefer to be at home at Christmas and tend to hibernate for the week, eating and watching family films and re-runs xx
Hey Dizzycloud, I’m on same treatment as you from 29th, although I’m on Sept thread I’m sliding into October, does it mean we’re on the cusp, or am I just a nosey mare!! To be fair, as Debbie says, I’ve picked up some great hints and tips from other months and been out today to buy stuff in preparation rather than being reactive and buying after the fact as it were!! Good luck for the 30th xxx
Debbie, thanks for the se and food tips and good luck with the rest of your treatment xxx
Clare, like you, I will be gutted if I can’t manage my Christmas dinner and treats as I’ve worked out one of my chemo days is the 22nd Dec, but hopefully we’ll all be lucky and our se’s will be miniscule!! Good luck with the 14th Oct xxx
Here’s hoping we all have some breezy days, Simone xxx
I use google calendar on the internet to mark out when my chemo dates in, and also when my bad and good weeks will be. It makes it so much easier to plan ahead. I got my wig prescription and sorted out the wig before I started the chemo. I also asked for and got a free parking permit for the hospitals that I have to attend, and applied for and got a prescription exemption card that covers me for the next 5 years.
Be prepared for things tasting differently, on my first days after EC chemo - even water tasted rubbish. Fizzy water was better. Cider and wine were awful but Guiness and mackeson tasted good! Bit like how I felt when I was pregnant! Same with foods - stay away from bio active yoghurts, soft cheeses, runny eggs and shell fish when your immune system is low (usually week two after chemo) keep taking your temperature and ring in if your temp goes above 38. Save your favourite foods for your good weeks or you run the risk of going off them for ever!!
If your chemo cycle stays on course it looks like you will be having your penultimate one on December 23rd - bit of a bummer for tasting Christmas dinner but perhaps you could have it earlier (dinner that is not chemo)
Thats very true Dizzycloud, i think i will appreciate the family time more this year :o)
Supertrouper - did you get all your dates from hosp? or have you gone by when you think they will be. I was thinking about this and i asked for it to start on a friday so hubby will be with me without missing work for at least the couple of days in case im really bad, bit worried about being alone and scared. Anyway mines every three weeks so will mine automatically be every third friday do you think?
Simone - yes please slide into the october, i was hoping we would be starting chemo around the same time as have read your posts with interest (not in a weird stalking way i promise)
I started my first Chemo on a Monday and was told it would be every third Monday. But I had to have a picc line fitted before my third chemo and because they were very busy that week my chemo date moved two days later onto Wednesday, and I now have it every third Wednesday. Sometimes people have their chemo delayed because their neutrophils count is too low.
So I think that what I am trying to say is that plan for every third week on the same day but be prepared to accept last minute changes to the plans!
Thanks Supertrouper, i was hoping it mean every 3rd friday but will bear in mind things could change if complications. At least you can make some kind of plan to do nice things just before next treatment i think this will help.
Do you mind if i ask why you had to have the picc line, they mentioned about having one of these to me so its easier to do but i would rather not have it unless i have to. Does the chemo eventually damage the veins so you have to have this?
Hi Clare ask all the questions you want! I know I did, and still do. I had the picc line fitted because I have very fine veins in the back of my hand. I had sentinel node biopsy in my left armpit and the left arm cannot now be used for chemo or bloods or blood pressure because of the risk of lymphodemia. After 4 attempts to get the cannula into the back of my hand to administer chemo number 2 I asked my oncologist about having a picc line done. She agreed to it and I had it done on the morning of chemo 3. Makes life a lot easier as the poison goes straight to the heart without stressing out the veins on the way there. District Nurses come each week to flush the line and change the dressing. I made little stretchy covers to fit over my arm and you wouldn’t know there was anything there. I have to keep it dry but can wrap clingfilm around the site when having a shower although I cannot go swimming. The procedure for having it fitted took about 30 minutes - DO NOT go and watch on it on YOUTUBE.
And yes, chemo can damage your veins - it’s toxic stuff.
Hi ladies
New to all this too, I was due to start Chemo this week it was canc as my temperature went up after having a picc line put in, so despite feeling well needed to play it safe, trying again next wednesday 6 X FEC so alike you all Christmas and New Year likely to be fun this year. The way I am trying to look at it is its only one year and it may just give me my life back.
I have had my longish hair cut short back and sides and I hoped this would help my son’s deal with my hair loss and me to be honest, it was hard to do but I feel I will benefit from it in the end and I have bought a wig just in case I am not brave enough to leave the house !! Its a scary journey but its good to know we are on it together?
Lets hope its kind to us all eh? Best of Luck Girls xx Lisa
Hi Lisa. Liking your thought on it’s only one year, going to keep that in my mind. Well done you on the hair cut, hope it eases you and your family in gently. My hair’s always been short but really quite thick so thought I might give the cold cap a go and see if it works, if not hey ho I tried!! Fortunately for me I have skin like a rhino and have never had an embarrasing bone in my body with a shame factor that doesn’t even register! Although I am quite tempted to get a wig that is nowhere near what my hair looks like now, variety being the spice of life and all that and also I’m the owner of a slightly warped sense of humour (apols x)!! good luck with next wednesday xx
Clare, thank you for being such a good question askerer. When I’m on here doing a bit of stalking I always think ooooh that’s a good one I’ll keep my eye out for the answer. And then along comes Supertrouper as a really good answerer, loving your hints and tips xx
Got to keep positive everyone keeps telling me that Simone, I chant one thing to myself each day, Cancer is a word not a sentence, its getting me through each day. Whirlwind does not cover it located lump on 1st Aug, surgery on 16th August, breast and lymph cancer. Too young to die, kids need me so have to just get on with it, why me some ask, I ask why not me, the big man only gives us what we can handle eh?
I am a survivor, you all can be too its a scary journey but us girls we are stronger than we know, and only realise that when we have to be.
Thanks supertrouper, it does sound a lot easier to have the chemo when you got the picc line but im still hoping i will get away without it. Im a bit squeamish and hate the thought of that being in me all the time *shudders* when i had the canula for the op i kept harrassing for it to be removed lol such a wuss with that kind of thing. Also ive heard it can get infected easily which just freaks me out *shudders again*
Simone - i was always was the inquisitive type, knowledge is power hehehe. Hope the cold cap works for you im not bothering, thats the part ive accepted and have been looking at some nice head scarfes, i think im going to get a nice plain one too and get everyone to sign it…you know like you would sign a cast if someone broke a limb! Something to keep and look back on when all is well? or is that slightly weird? hehehe
Lisa - welcome, great attitude, one messed up year then hopefully life will be sweet as hey? Best of luck for wednesday, let us know how you get on, hope all SE are titchy and manageable xx
Hi October girls. I’m still waiting for my chemo start date as I have just come home from hospital after my mx and don’t see the oncologist until 7 October but I am presuming that I will be starting at some point in October. My BCN said to plan for every 3rd Wednesday but I feel a bit in the dark at the moment. I’m sure all will be revealed when I see the oncologist. I’ve got so many questions. My BCN said that I will need 12 months of herceptin too but I don’t know if this starts at the same time as the chemo. It is lovely being able to speak to others who are experiencing this sh*te. I think I will feel better when I know that I have a plan as everything seems so up in the air at the moment.
Lizzyxx
Hi Lisa and Hi Lizzy, sorry you are here but glad to meet some fellow Octoberers.
Simone, I am trying cold cap but getting a wig too, my 8 year old says it should be a long curly blonde one which is the opposite of my hair. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about the upstairs and downstairs not matching I suppose, I’d be glad if that never came back, save me fortune in bikini waxing
Clare, I am going to get some scarves from Anna bandana, and a night time cap to keep me warm. After chemo is finished I am going to burn the lot, because I never going to need them again am I !!!
