Evening KB. I so hope all goes well with your chemo. It is a daunting thing to face at the beginning but somehow the time rushes by and you get to the other end, battered and exhausted, but through it. I had FEC and Tax just like you. I joined the Starting Chemo in August group on the forums....it was the best thing I could have done. To be in contact with others who were having the same drugs took away my fear. It was so reassuring to know the taste and carbohydrate yearnings from day two were normal! What day the "Tax Truck "would hit the body ( about day four) and when normality (if you could call it that) would return. Ten of us met in April at a hotel and were able to put faces to names. It was a lively occasion and the chatter rattled on into the night. Ten Ladies looking like Judy Denche!!!! The hair loss I hated but I had super wigs and got used to them.
As for lymph node positive .....I had a 5cm Grade three tumour with 6:24 nodes positive and vascular involvement. It took time to get used to, but then I remembered all the patients I had known in my time as a nurse who are still alive and kicking ten , fifteen, Eighteen, twenty years, down the line. You will not get many replies from the survivors because they are back to normal and no longer need the Forums.
If I had a blip I would phone the Helpline. ....they were superb, and brought me back to normality. In fact two of the Helpliners had node positive Breast Cancer eighteen and over twenty years ago.
I went to hospital with a friend who has a 1 cm, grade one, node negative tubular tumour last week. Her oncologist was so much cup half empty I could have screamed. Some people have poor communication skills and don't realise it.
So hold on in there , use the Forums and Helpline when you need to, and a big virtual hug from me
Cackles xx
