Newly diagnosed, about to start AC
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Your story is very similar to mine. My mum had breast cancer and passed away at the young age of 55 but that was 20 years ago and a lot has changed. I was 46, 3 kids. 19, 16 and 11 when I was diagnosed. I went to the Pink Breast Van that visits rural areas every two years - yep tick that off. I am grateful for that Van tho as I may have waited longer to book myself in for a mammogram and then my story may have been a lot worse. I went to Perth to have the core biopsy on my youngest sons 11th birthday so will always remember that date and the next day I was given the 'not so good news'. My IDC was 2.5 cm with DCIS surrounding it so mastectomy was best option then the chemo, paclitaxel and Herceptin. Do you know the size and type of tumour? The first 4 rounds of chemo were quite difficult but I must admit that I was expecting it to be worse. Then the paclitaxel was so much easier although it was once a week for 12 weeks it didn't make me feel yuk.. Herceptin was easy - no side affects at all. I finished that in December 2017 so onwards and upwards with fingers crossed all the way. xx1
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This coming Tuesday will be my 4th round of AC before a three week 'rest' prior to beginning up to 12 X rounds of taxol. AC has been every 2 weeks since the middle of March.
I'm looking forward to that third week, and seeing if my mouth/taste buds recover enough to take my wife out for dinner and actually enjoy some food!1 -
Congratulations @des81. I don't know how anyone does 2 weekly doses of AC - I'm a week out of having had my 4th dose at 3 weekly intervals - that was bad enough. My favourite meal so far to cut through the dead slimy feel of chemo (and nice on the tummy) was spinach fettucine with (cooked) fresh cherry tomatoes, black olives, garlic and topped with basil pesto. The only meal that reminded me that I really did have tastebuds!4
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Hello, just looking through your post as I am nearing my last ac (I will have had 4 dose dense) and then headed for 12 x taxol after that.
some practical things I have found:
drinking loads of water is key. I also found coconut water or even Powerade quite helpful at times for keeping electrolytes or water with a splash of cranberry which is good for urinary tract health
exercise is key I have tried to walk a decent walk every other day no matter how crap I feel I always feel better afterwards
get yourself a gentle natural toothpaste as the mint might be too strong.. also rinsing with bicarbonate soda between meals helped
magnesium baths are soothing and help with aches and pains from the filgrastom
Simple foods are good for those days that you don’t feel like anything.. salada with avo and cheese has been a saviour and miso soup has been good.. in fact any soup is great and even better if someone else makes it for you
take it easy.. have a nap in the arvo if you need to
take mints and or fruity chews with you in case you need to mask taste whilst chemo is being administered
a cold pack on my forehead also helped with sinus wasabi burn from the doxycycline (not sure how many people get that though)
dont be afraid to go off anti nausea meds early - you can always go back on them and some of the side effects of these for me were worse than what they were supposed to be treating.
get some good books to read and book some treats to look forward to and try not to google too much...
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Hi everyone, thanks again for all your helpful suggestions prior to my first AC treatment, it was good to have some idea of what to expect and how to manage.
I'll be honest though - it was brutal!! I was counting the hours between anti-nausea meds and didn't really start to feel myself again for nearly a week. Good news though is that I do now feel pretty normal again aside from a mild undercurrent of nausea (which is gradually fading), regular headache (also lessening) and a bit more tired than usual. But wow, I was worried there that I was never going to feel better again...
I saw the oncologist yesterday and he is going to try stronger anti-nausea meds plus a sleeping tablet for a couple of nights next time as he felt I was sicker than he had hoped I would be, so it's good that they are happy to play around to try and make things more comfortable.
Meanwhile I've had my hair cut short and keep waiting for it to start falling out - apparently I have a few more days then it will be coming out. In some ways, as scared as I am about losing my hair, I sort of want to get it out of the way now. I've bought a heap of hats / scarves / beanies / bamboo caps and also have ordered a wig, plus I've splashed out on a bunch of new earrings just to make me feel better. I feel like the first chemo session was the first big hurdle, the hair will be the next big one then I'll just be along for the ride until surgery time. That said, I'm not ready to shave it all off until it actually does start to fall out. My hairdresser is on stand-by to come to my house as soon as I need her (a wonderful lady, she refused to let me pay when she cut it short last week and says she won't charge me again till it's grown back and we're ready to start styling again!).
All that aside, as I said, thanks for all your comments, you were all so quick to jump on and share your stories and it made me feel much less alone, I really appreciate it.4 -
Hey @Little Duck - I'm about to have my first AC on Tuesday next week and put up a similar thread to yours a couple of days ago - how awesome are the people on this forum??? Your write-up of your experience is also such a help - I realise that everyone has a different road and some are more bumpy than others but it's fantastic to have a wide range of all the different things that are possible to expect. Thank you! and all the best with your future treatments. xxx1
