Evie - sorry for the delay in replying re the nausea. From my side I found the meds I got for the nausea worked really well. The first night after chemo (Thu) was always the worst for me although I didn't actually throw up.
On the Friday I felt not too bad - sort of about a 4/10 on the nausea scale. Sat and Sun would be much better (down to about 2/10) and then I would have the steroid crash on Mon and Tue but nausea stayed at about the 2/10 level.
If I didn't feel hungry or just felt a bit yukky I had a Rich Tea biscuit - boring as hell but it did seem to settle my stomach a little. For me personally feeling hungry makes me feel a bit sick so although I didn't feel like eating I forced a biscuit down. Flat Coke also helped settle my stomach.
The other thing is to drink LOTS AND LOTS - the advice I got was to drink 2 litres the day before chemo and drink as much as you possibly could before having chemo on the day (again 2 litres was the recommended amount). Obviously it would be difficult to drink 2 litres if your appointment is at 9am but they told me to have as much as I could manage particularly as it helps plump up the veins for those of us without a line or port. Then keeping drinking the days following chemo to help flush it out.
Agarside - to prepare for T (bearing in mind that I have only had the one cycle so no expert LOL) I would ask about how you can pre-empt the mouth ulcers. My mouth was fine during FEC but this time round I had the full monty of mouth ulcers, oral thrush and mucositis. Any sign of a sore mouth and I would be asking to start the Nystin and Fluconazale before they recommend it.
Get your painkillers sorted before the aches and pains kick in - the morphine didn't suit me but paracetamol and codeine worked generally well.
I think the T wiped out all my nose hairs as I seem to have a permanently runny nose - anyone else?
I did have another day of feeling really sorry for myself on Sunday and couldn't stop crying despite my best efforts to put a brave face on things.
However, the aches and pains in my body have eased considerably and I went for a 30 minute walk which lifted me a little.
My hands/fingers are still really sore and look awful. OH has ordered me some Udderly cream which is apparently used by cattle farmers in Australia but has been recommended on various forums for helping with the sore hands/feet during chemo and I am willing to give anything a try. (Evie - did you find anything to help with your feet?)
And I have worked today (from home) but it has been a good day as I have had to catch up quite a bit with being out of action last week so it has kept me fully occupied and I feel quite productive. Luckily I can still type with my fingers although it is hard to use a pen.
Finally I have some hairs sprouting on my head although they are so sparse that it hardly seems worth it.
Best wishes to everyone and I hope all of you have had a reasonable day.
