Also just diagnosed
Hi all,
I'm 32 and diagnosed last week with a stage 3 infiltrating ductal carcinoma with a whole lot of lymphnodes involved.
I'm starting chemo on tuesday and I'm absolutely terrified. I think I might be sick just from stressing out and not the chemo itself. I know everyone reacts differently to chemo, but what were your experiences? Was it as bad as you thought it would be? How quickly did you recover? Was it easier the next time? etc etc
Cheers Sam
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Hi Samira
Firstly let me say welcome to this wonderful site full of wonderful women. I am not happy you have joined us, but I can assure you there is an abundance of support here for you.
I am 34 and was diagnosed in July last year - have been through chemo and now doing rads. Like you, i was petrified at the thought of chemo. But i have to say, I really didn't find it too bad at all. No nausea or fatigue, food generally tasted ok (although I went off a few things), and worked through most of it.
Best advise I can give is to exercise - even if it's just a long walk - every day. My Onc advised this, and I was already doing it prior to getting BC, but I really do think it had a big impact on how much chemo affected my body. My body remained strong and healthy despite the drugs going through it. It also helps your mindset, releasing those good endorphins.
Best of luck with it all - feel free to ask any questions.
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Hi Samira
Firstly let me say welcome to this wonderful site full of wonderful women. I am not happy you have joined us, but I can assure you there is an abundance of support here for you.
I am 34 and was diagnosed in July last year - have been through chemo and now doing rads. Like you, i was petrified at the thought of chemo. But i have to say, I really didn't find it too bad at all. No nausea or fatigue, food generally tasted ok (although I went off a few things), and worked through most of it.
Best advise I can give is to exercise - even if it's just a long walk - every day. My Onc advised this, and I was already doing it prior to getting BC, but I really do think it had a big impact on how much chemo affected my body. My body remained strong and healthy despite the drugs going through it. It also helps your mindset, releasing those good endorphins.
Best of luck with it all - feel free to ask any questions.
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Hi there,
Sorry you have had to join this club but what a group of girls to call your friends! There is so much good advice that can be gained from this lot!!
I had four rounds of chemo and each one was very different. The first one wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, I felt nauseous (was never actually sick through any of the cycles), was very tired and had an awful taste in my mouth for about a week afterwards but I made sure that I took my anti-nausea tablets early so that the nausea wasn't a problem and coped ok. My only major problem was constipation which made me feel pretty bad for the first few days!
My second round was probably my worst, with the third being a breeze and the fourth very similar to the first. You don't really know how you will react until you go through it so there is not much point getting worked up about it if you can help it. Some girls breeze through it all and others have a hard time. Just tick off each treatment as one closer to the finish line and think of it as a good thing - killing off all the nasties that could still be lurking in your body
Good luck and make sure to check back in with us if you need any tips,
Louise x
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Hi there,
Sorry you have had to join this club but what a group of girls to call your friends! There is so much good advice that can be gained from this lot!!
I had four rounds of chemo and each one was very different. The first one wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Yes, I felt nauseous (was never actually sick through any of the cycles), was very tired and had an awful taste in my mouth for about a week afterwards but I made sure that I took my anti-nausea tablets early so that the nausea wasn't a problem and coped ok. My only major problem was constipation which made me feel pretty bad for the first few days!
My second round was probably my worst, with the third being a breeze and the fourth very similar to the first. You don't really know how you will react until you go through it so there is not much point getting worked up about it if you can help it. Some girls breeze through it all and others have a hard time. Just tick off each treatment as one closer to the finish line and think of it as a good thing - killing off all the nasties that could still be lurking in your body
Good luck and make sure to check back in with us if you need any tips,
Louise x
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Hi all,
What a great bunch of ladies!! So glad I joined this group.
Thank you all for your great advice and tips. I had a very busy day today with work appointments, heart echo and I also got a port implanted. SItting now at home with my sore neck from the little surgery reading through your posts again and mentally 'preparing' for tomorrow.
I have to say your comments have helped me to stress less about tomorrow and I'm trying to look at chemo as a more positive thing. Doesn't really make sense to get all worked up about it anyway - i'll just have to go through it.
Up till now I regularly went to the gym and cycled. I hope I can keep up with my exercise routine - maybe i'll just take it a bit slower. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes.
Thanks again for all your adivse
Cheers,
Sam
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Hi Sam,
There is an awesome post/thread on here ' what has helped through your journey' that has great advice. The unknow is always scary stuff. I have found the support and humour on this site to be great.
Best wishes to you. X
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Hi Sam
Wow. I haven't been on this site for at least 12 months and I am sorry to read about all the young ladies who have had to join our club. It's a great club, but not one you would choose to be in if you could avoid it.
Sam, I too had stage 3 BC with a whole bunch of lymph nodes involved. I find that really hard as many of women you meet are lucky enough to find it earlier. My mum survived BC 13 years ago with 14/15 lymph nodes involved. She just says that those lymph nodes obviously did their job properly by catching all those dodgy cells. I am coming up to 2 years since diagnosis and I am doing great. Chemo wasn't that bad. I agree, keep exercising (even if you do a little vomit in the gutter on your worst day or run home before you poo your pants.... sadly a possibility) and get out as much as you can. I had a 3 year old and an 8 week old baby to keep me off the couch and I think it actually helped.
My advice is to take all the anti nausea drugs the whole way through, as prescribed. The dexamethazone keeps you awake so I convinced my onc that I didn't need as much for round 3 as I wasn't feeling that sick from chemo. Boy, did that bite me on the arse!
You'll stop feeling so sick with worry once you feel that poison pumping through your veins. I bet the cancer cells hate it too! And you feel like you are doing something to get your life back.
I too am here if you want to talk. Probably best to stalk me on Facebook as I check there more often.
Claire Stanley
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Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all the adivse.
I'm now 2 weeks past my first chemo and i'm feeling really good. I was only nauseaus/sick for 3 days. I had quite a foggy brain for a week and also a very annoying oral thrush, but that was it. All in all, I think I did pretty good in regards to chemo. My hair started to fall out and I shaved it off last night, but that doesn't bother me. Worst part was probably that coffee didn't taste good while I had the oral thrush!!!!! Can't live without coffee!
Unfortunately my life has been turned upside down in the last week and I'm struggeling mentally a bit. I'm here in Australia (with my partner) as an international student and have been told last week that my health insurance doesn't cover the costs for chemo (or basically anthing other than hospital and doctors costs) and I'll have to leave in order to get treatment. We have been living here for 5 years and are thinking of Australia as our home and are very very sad to leave our life and friends. So yes unfortunatley, we'll have to sell/give up everything here and I'll also have to discontinue my studies (would only have 3 months left) which is all a bit stressful. But i'm sure I can cope with that as well - just need a bit of time to get used to it.
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Hi Sam
Glad to hear that you haven'y suffered too much from your chemo. I used to have nausea for about 10 days so 3 days would've been great for me!
So sorry to hear about your insurance problems. What a terrible thing you have to deal with during chemo. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and is sorted quickly. Just think, at least you'll be around to finish those studies at some point down the track. Try to stay positive.
Best wishes
Shannon
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