Breast Cancer Now Forum

I thought I would give you all my account of my chemo journey, now that I have just finished it. I can’t truthfully say it has been a good experience but I have got through it and out the other side and want to let the ladies who are having to go through it at the moment that no matter how good or bad it is, it always comes to an end at some point and is worth doing. My side effects were no picnic and there were times when I really thought I could take no more. I had to force myself to go for my 6th FEC. The one thing I kept telling myself was that this was the last one. I am a stubborn person at the best of times so didn’t want to think I had ‘given up’ on it. These side effects included: •Sickness – bad for the first week of FEC1 but given Emend and Cyclizine for further chemos, which helped enormously. •Nausea – again for the first week of each chemo but steroids really helped. •Gastric discomfort – I have a hiatus hernia, which didn’t help but had Mucogel, which coated the tubes and really helped to calm down the pain. •Constipation – mainly caused by the steroids, so went off after the first week. •Diarrhoea – Caused by the Filgrastim, given for neutropenia every time since FEC2. •Frequent hot flushes – have had hot flushes since menopause but made a lot worse by the chemo. •Breathlessness – got worse with each chemo session but eased off by week three. •Fatigue – builds up during the course of the chemo. Overwhelming at times but better by week three each time. •Bone pain (again, from the Filgrastim injections) •Mouth problems – horrible coating built up but prescribed antiseptic mouthwash, which helped. Baby soft toothbrush and frequent brushing also helped. •Taste alterations – couldn’t taste salt and food began t to taste like paper. Found sweet tastes better than savoury. •Daytime drowsiness – could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Found my eyes closing frequently during first weeks. I think it might have been the Cyclizine. •Insomnia – when taking the steroids, couldn’t sleep most nights. Found the radio a God Send. Radio 4 Extra and TalkSport were my friends. •Vein damage – Damaged on FEC2. Given Hickman line, which made everything so much easier. •Hickman line infection (septicaemia). This happened during FEC6 and I ended up in hospital with IV antibiotics for three days. •Hair loss (completely bald over all of my head and body) – Bald as a coot is not a good look! Now I have a head full of bum fluff. Looking forward to being able to use a brush again soon. •Weight gain. (even minus one boob!) This was probably from all the sweet stuff I ate. Comfort food and sweets got me through a lot. Decided to cut down on all of them now and gently take off the weight over a period of time. Hopefully the swimming and exercise will help with this. This isn’t to say that you other ladies will have all of these or even any of them, we are all different and hopefully you will have a much better time of it. Of course there will be some that have as bad, if not worse but we have to keep an eye on why we are all doing this and the advantages it will give us. On the good side, I have found out what a gem my OH is! He is a big softy and I wasn’t sure he could take the flack and be my rock. He has been that - and much more. He has taken everything in his stride and come up trumps. I love him to bits and thank him so much for his strength and love. Also, my youngest son has been wonderful. He has travelled across the country to come to be with me after my chemo for that first awful week. He has cooked my meals and even hoovered and done the washing. When I was hospitalised during my septicaemia episode, he stayed with me every day, as OH had to work. I am so proud of him. It is his 25th birthday tomorrow and he will most certainly get a brill pressy. I had my last Filgrastim injection yesterday and today I took all my medications and potions back to the Pharmacy. I have cleared every reminder of the chemo from the house and I feel wonderful! Time passes and even bad times have to end. Hopefully, all I can do now is get better and better. I intend to start swimming again and taking frequent walks. My garden has been neglected this summer but I have lots of ideas for how to improve it. I have made an appointment with my GP for tomorrow, to talk about the Anastrozole tablets I will be taking for the next five years. I hope I can get her ‘on side’ so that she can help with any problems that crop up in future. Well ladies, I hope this hasn’t worried you too much but I have always thought that the truth was better than ‘gentle lies’ and that once armed with knowledge, you are better equipped to face whatever comes along. Good luck to you all and may all your side effects be little ones! Sue. xx ... View more

Hi Ladies, I am due to have my sixth and last FEC on 08 August. I have found it increasingly difficult as I get very breathless on the slightest exertion and seem to have no stamina. I wondered if this was just a side effect of the chemo and if it will get better after the chemo has finished? If so, how long does it take to feel more normal? I used to be so active. I know I am not a young un (58) but up until January I was seemingly fit and well and could walk for miles. I am still bald and I am hoping my hair will start to come back along with my fitness. Thanks for any info you might have. Sue xx ... View more

It seems that it is easy to get caught up in the conveyor-belt grind of chemo/rads and the unrelenting background worry for the future with BC. Sometimes, something happens that happily jolts you out of this new 'norm' and makes you feel like a human being again! I had one of those moments yesterday. It was my 8th wedding anniversary yesterday but both me and my wonderful OH had become ground down by the chemo (I'm on to my 5th a week on Monday) and needed a bit if a filip. Unbeknown to me, he had arranged for us to have a meal and see the show 'We Will Rock You' at the Hippodrome, Birmingham. He rang me at 3:30 yesterday from work to tell me to get my glad rags on be ready to go out. I hadn't a clue, as I thought we were going to have a quick meal in a local pub and come back home. Instead we had a quick run up the motorway towards Brum. He let me do 20 questions on the way there. The Show was outstanding! We clapped, danced in the audience and totally forgot our 'troubles'. I wore 'Kylie' (wig) for about the second time since getting her and I put on the make up from the LGFB workshop. I actually felt my 'normal' self for the first time in months. BC was completely forgotten for the hours we were there. The cast were outstanding and the whole performance uplifting. I cannot say how this little 'surprise' changed my whole mood and gave me the strength to get through the rest of my 'sentence'. I would just like to say 'THANK YOU' on here to my fantastic hubby, who is going through this with me and managed to find just the right thing to do to give me back myself for a while. ... View more

Hi All, Hope you are all doing well. I went for my FEC4 yesterday. I have been finding that the quicker the nurses transfuse the poison, the worse are my se's. I asked the lovely nurse yesterday to do it slowly for me and to make sure there was a good amount of saline going in also. She was really nice and made sure the chemo went in very slowly. All of a sudden one of the ONC Sisters came and tore her off a stip in front of everyone because we had taken two hours and they only allow one hour for the whole process. I told the Sister that I had particularly asked the nurse to put it through slowly and the Sister told me that 'that's only anacdotal, with no scientifc basis. I told her that it worked for me and when another nurse had pushed it through really fast I had horrendous se's. She did say that she would have my anti-sickness meds altered but she seemed to be threatening me with altering my appointments in some way if I were to insist on it going through slowly. I would love to hear from any of you that might have an opinion on whether the rate of transfusion affected your se's? Thanks. Sue. xx ... View more