My Story

Hi HLV

Well of course you are scared of the sound of chemo.  we all were, you mind thinks of bald sick people and that is very scary.

I had a mastecomy at the age of 36 because of the size of my tumour, and earlier this year I elected to have my other breast off and reconstruction.

I did 6 x TAC chemo once every 3 weeks for 24 weeks.  Chemo has come along way in recent years and the anti nausea medication helps.  Yes you will lose your hair (lost mine on day 18).  But there are some great wigs available.  People used to comment on my hair all the time and were really embarassed when I told them it was a wig.  My children were 2 and 4 when I went through chemo but I still took them to school, went out for dinner, to the movies with my husband, holidays and boring stuff like shopping.  Now dont get me wrong I wasn't whistling yippee do out my #$#@  but I had my chemo on a Wednesday and wednesday night I crashed out and slept.  Then I was ok (groggy probably best describes it, like a hangover) until the Sat.  Sat and sun were the worst days then i was up and about doing normal things.  It is doable, it is not fun, but I was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.

There are lots of things you can do/take to help.  anti nausea pills, suck on ice blocks, rest when you are tired and drink red softdrink (that is only my recommendation cause it worked for me, gingerale works too).

Just ask lots of questions here and you will be well prepared for what is ahead.  Information is power.

Sorry you had a bad experience with your surgeon. 

Good luck and feel free to ask ANYTHING.

Tanya  xx