Waiting for my oncologist appointment is doing my head in
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It's a lottery @lady_with_green_eyes
As everyone else has said, don't over think it, take sensible precautions and hope for the best.
Some people get no side effects, some get all of them. Most are in the middle. Amazons fail and mice flourish. Or the other way around.
Cancer is a genetic and environmental mystery for most of us. It's worth observing how interesting the process is even though it's one of the last things you'd choose the do. MXX
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I had four children at school during chemo and I didn't get sick once. As the others have said, once you know what day of the week you have your chemo, you'll be able to plan.
Your oncologist will tell you when your immune system is at its lowest, when you should be most careful.
If your granddaughter is sick she wouldn't be at childcare I presume, so if you are able to continue collecting her (I didn't drive for a seven to eight days after my infusion as I didn't feel well enough to be in charge of a vehicle), just a bit of extra vigilance should be enough. You could put in a special request to have a staff member bring your granddaughter out so you don't have to step into a gajillion germs. You could use this time to emphasise hygiene with her, a teaching moment if you will! The importance of hand washing, covering your mouth when you sneeze etc.
It might be handy to have a back-up driver who could step in at short notice if you didn't feel up to it, or if your granddaughter needed collecting if she feels unwell.
It's somewhat unknowable at this stage because we can all respond quite differently to the same drugs. Ask your oncologist and be guided by them. K xox3 -
I was diagnosed on Monday and had surgery on Wednesday (yesterday). I'm thankful that the surgeon acted so fast but now I am scared he knows something I don't... like it was super urgent for him to get it out or something. I don't get my results until next Thursday but he did say if they come in earlier he will call me. I am honestly terrified about what is ahead but I do feel lucky about living in inner Melbourne and having local hospitals like the Women's and Peter Mac. I am such a ball of nervous energy at the moment.0
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Hi @CRM - that was quick for you.
I need chemo first — all treatments are different & my surgeon and oncologist have worked out what’s best for me.
Take care and I hope it goes well for you xxx2 -
All the best @CRM ... missing out on the long wait was a bonus, so try not to overthink the results until you get them.. Take it easy for a little while as you heal from the surgery, try and keep S busy as you an whilst waiting for the results and try not to use Dr google as everine’s case is so individual and the stuff on the Internet can often be outdated.
Once I actually saw my surgeon on the Monday ... I had the sentinel node test the next day and surgery on the Wed ..... with good results.
Take care and thinking of you xxx
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Two days between diagnosis and surgery for me too. 6 years and no evidence of disease. The waiting is agonising. Best wishes.0
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Diagnosed Monday, tumour out Tuesday. No special drama or extenuating circumstances; the surgeon had space on his list and it had to come out. The sooner the better as far as I was concerned. Hang in there. K xox0
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My surgeon only delayed a couple of weeks because I asked him to as I had a number of family events on that I really wanted to attend. Try to distract yourself as this is one of the hardest times.0
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With extra node involvement, I get that they do not want to be opening you up and running the risk of spreading it further. Chemo should shrink and or kill off parts among the nodes so that seems the safest. Getting a treatment plan does seem to take time but once you are in the system, things start to make progress.
Re seeing grand daughter you can take precautions. In toileting during chemo, make sure you close the toilet to flush. My chemo nurse said micro particles of chemo can be flung around during an open lid flush.
Suck on a Stepsils antibacterial lozenge before visitors and if they are old enough, make them suck on one while visiting too. Hopefully that takes care of colds and flu danger.
Carry a water bottle with you and obviously don't share with the grand daughter. I drank liters of the stuff to quickly flush the chemo poisons out of my body. You don't want your poor kidneys and liver working too hard and water can help.
At the chemo doctor or even while having chemo, ask for a councellor or a psychologist and see if you can have a breast cancer nurse to chat with.
My nurse got so busy she never got back to me and during the last 5 mins of my last chemo infusion they quizzed me with a performance review which I think may have had did you need a psychologist or councellor. I just wanted to get the hell out of there at the time and said no, no to everything. After chemo psychologically I fell in a heap and a psychiatrist diagnosed me with PTSD.1 -
@Brenda5 thank you
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