Hello Robbie
Firstly, can I wish you and your wife good luck and good health.
I was diagnosed in December with a 50mm invasive ductal carcinoma and infected nodes. I went straight into FEC-T chemo 11 days later. I chose not to bother about the cold cap as it can cause a lot of discomfort, but I know that if you do you use it, you can hang on to more than 50% of your hair, but may have bare patches. And by the way, yes 2 years is a very long time in cancer development. it might have grown to the stage it’s at now in just 6 months.
I found that after each chemo cycle there were maybe 2 or 3 days when I didn’t have the energy to do much, but apart from that, I was out and about each day, so no reason why your wife shouldn’t be able to exercise the pony regularly at that stage. Some ladies go running every day! The chemo does reduce your immune system but you have injections into your tummy for 5 or 7 consecutive days to build it up again so after that you are not at risk any more. You just have to be sensible. I did not pick up any infections throughout my chemo. They give you a break of at least 4 weeks after your last chemo session to enable the side effects tom ease off, so by the time you have the op, you feel fit again. Your immune system is also totally back to normal.
I can’t answer the question about the helmet as I have no experience of that. A wig has far fewer hairs on it than your natural head of hair though. And I’d also be slightly worried about the consequences of her falling from the pony - what if the wig and helmet both came away from her head? Make sure you look into that carefully.
I had a full mastectomy and axillary node clearance on 9th May, 5 weeks after I finished chemo. I was home from hospital the next day, and felt really fit, but stayed indoors until my drains were removed (for me, 5 days, but this can vary a lot depending on each hospital’s policy). However, I had to do physiotherapy exercises to get my arm working again as it is very stiff and sore where they remove the lymph nodes. You can’t drive for at least 2 weeks (as not covered on insurance), and you can no longer lift anything heavy with that arm ever again. You are also at permanent risk of lymphodema. I would think that she would be unable to exercise the pony for about 3 or 4 weeks after surgery because of these problems. However, the wound itself heals very quickly for most of us - a few have problems. I didn’t have any, luckily. It is now 4 weeks since my op and I am back to normal. Yesterday I went to hospital for the planning session for radiotherapy - they line the x-ray machine up and mark your body with tiny permanent tattoos to help align it in exactly the same position each day during treatment.
I am due to start 15 sessions of radiotherapy on 25th June. I do not expect to suffer any significant side effects other than maybe a tanning of the skin on the area being zapped. I intend to drive myself there and back every day. That should give you a good idea that by the time she gets that far through treatment, she will be back to normal.
I know it sounds scary at the moment, but hopefully hearing how it has been from an actual patient currently going through it will help you to see that it’s not that bad. I feel so healthy now. I’m out exercising every day, my hair is growing back and evryone says I look amazingly healthy after everything I’ve been through. I’m 48 by the way, and have been keeping house for my husband and two teenage sons throughout treatment.
If you have any other questions, please fire away. Try to reassure your wife though - breast cancer has the highest survival rate of them all, and the treatment is all so well tried and tested - they know exactly what they are doing. She’ll be fine x