Hi @J_Nelly I am thinking of you today and sending lots of positive energy and thoughts your way 🌸🌻. Sorry for the experience you’re having to go through with your young son.
So many good tips above, this is a wonderful community of people whose insights are always useful.
My treatment and diagnosis was similar with 6 TCHP prior to a lumpectomy, radiotherapy and so on.
How are you doing with your first treatment behind you?
We can all relate to a few shared experiences but I realise some people do experience the treatments differently, mine was a bit “choose your own adventure” because different side effects emerged after each treatment, in sequence and thankfully not all at once! 😃
A tip: if you experience a burning or reddened skin like sunburn on your hands, face or feet take a selfie and mention it to your oncologist, in my case it led to a slight reduction in the dose. It’s also possible to confuse mouth ulcers with oral thrush 🙃 …
I lost my appetite and you might find that happens too. If you’re a meat eater bone broth was a help: very nutritious and a good base for soups, ramen and soba noodles.
I found a yearning for congee (rice porridge) - which a very dear friend cooked up for me ❤️- onigiri (little sushi like rice packets) and anything with mild saltiness, ginger and a bit of vinegar was appetising.
Lamb 🐑: I couldn’t stomach the taste of lamb: lamb pies, grilled or roasted - hilarious as my husband is a sheep farmer. In fact red meat was not something I could eat much of other than chicken. Pretty random!!
Porridge with brown sugar, two fruits and yoghurt, and Sweetened cooked apple with custard were also on the menu.
I think our sense of smell must be affected and if you cannot smell something it detracts from the pleasure of consuming it.
I found wine no longer enjoyable, still water or even tea or coffee (all “staples” prior to chemotherapy). I substituted lightly spritzed water and weak lemon ginger and peppermint teas to try and be companionable and to keep the hydration up.
I found the treatment days not so bad as the medical team do what they can to reduce the potential discomfort. The lacklustre and fatigue I experienced set in usually about 3 - 5 days after the dose. An afternoon rest really helped.
If you have not yet had a chemo “port” inserted it might be worthwhile if, over the long haul, your team will treat you with IV infusions on the dayward. I know of other triple positive “thrivers” who had their second series of Herceptin via injection, whereas all my 6 pre surgery chemo and 11 post surgery treatments were done by IV through the port. It was inserted in my arm under GA, a short surgery, above the elbow. It was an improvement on the hunt for a vein that happened for my first two infusions.
Mask up if you’re out and about and you can tolerate a face mask- I managed to get COVID between treatments and had to go in for a couple of nights.
Sorry for the long post, some of these suggestions might be useful down the track, as it seems to be the case that our experience evolves over the course of the 6 doses!
Big hugs and take care of you 🌻
