Morning ladies…I need some advice please following my 5th Fec which was really painful. I have suffered with my veins from the beginning and the chemo staff have continued to persevere without a line. My 4 th session was put through my op arm as they couldn’t find a vein, this was supposed to give the other arm a rest but was not ideal. At my 5th it took seven attempts to get blood the day before and that ended up from the op side in the end! After one blown vein they got in for the chemo but it took an hour and a half and was so painful. They now want me to have s hickman line for the last one …my arm looks like something from a horror movie and I really want to give up. Anyone else stopped early or am I being a wuss and leaving myself vunerable to reacurrance,
Linda x
You can ask your team what difference the extra dose makes statistically. This might help you decide if you will carry on for the final one.
Given all your problems did they not suggest a line of some sort earlier? Or did you not want it?
Thanks for your reply.I spoke to the bc nurse this afternoon to see if i could get an earlier appointment with the oncologist but shes on holiday so i’ll have to wait. The chemo nurses did mention a picc line after the 3rd session but seemed happy just to plough on they didn’t go into pros and cons so I just kept going not really realising it could get this bad. Why does it seem that there are no warnings given regarding treatment until something goes wrong? Linda x
Hi …please let me know what your oncologist thinks. I’m also on fec 75 x 6 and am worried about not finishing but my arm looks like something from a horror movie red and bruised veins all up it and the pain from the last session was really bad and left me feeling in a really dark place not knowing what to do. The thing that keeps going round my mind is that know one can tell if its worked anyway there is no test at the end so how do they know if 5 cycles are not enough? The more I sit in front of the oncologist the more I realise that there are no definate answers its all just based on statistics …perhaps i was nieve to think they were the ones who could answer everything but when I ask questions I get round about senarios and am left to decide how to proceed with my treatment…Linda x
Hi , Nice to know I not alone ! I have posted a reply to you in the may chemo thread, keep in touch and let me know how you get on tomorrow, I will be thinking of you, Hugs Linda xx
Hi, I really hope you manage to feel better soon round 5 has been the hardest so far, even after having 7 days of white cell boosting injections I still picked up an infection and luckily managed to bypass hospital by using the sneeky route of going to the doctors for antibiotics.I,'m more than positive if I’d rang the chemo suite they’d have had me admitted to hospital again ! Going to oncologist on Monday to discuss round 6, really don’t want it do i’ll see what she says.
How did you manage with your veins did you endure many attempts this time? Keep in touch xx Linda xx
The oncologist agreed that with the SE I have suffered- even after having cell boosting injections - that is wouldn’t be unreasonable to stop. I would have to have a second reduction in dose and wait for a line to be put in which would delay the chemo and after 5 rounds I would have had most of the benefit it could provide in my situation anyway. With this in mind I declined the 6th dose xxx