Forum Discussion

kazza4450's avatar
kazza4450
Member
10 years ago

Chemo delayed again

Hey to all you wonderful ladies :)

First chemo didn't start today. Infection bit worse last 2 days with temps between 37.5 - 38.1, so I made the call to postpone chemo myself and they agreed, then sent me back to surgeon today. 

Put me back on original antibiotics, plus she wants me to wear a bra. As first month, was so much swelling, sore wound etc, so I never wore one. Only been wearing occasional crop top with no support. Surgeon thinks that may go long way to helping the red inflammation area as its all accumulating at the base of breast. So got my new bra to start wearing tomorrow. 

Meeting with surgeon next Tuesday to reassess infection, Ive also asked to meet with the head oncologist as my feeling about starting chemo is wavering. 

My concern is this infection has been up and down, but always the base redness the last 7 or so weeks. 

So my questions to them will be, how can I comfortably start chemo with any redness at all. I feel them trying to push again to start next Wed/ Thurs is way too soon, unless the rednesss completely, completely, disappears. Going by the last 7 weeks that may not happen. I feel it needs more time and I'm not really willing to take the risk of going into chemo with even the slightest infection.

So praying a lot and hoping next week I have more clarity about if and when to move forward with chemo.

I'm still wanting the input with the oncologist, surgeon etc, but feel a serious discussion and risk assesment needs to be done first.??Today the radiologist I met with to discussion radiation therapy after chemo, said quite bluntly that I needed to weigh up the benefits of chemo with what has been happening with infection in the body.

The benefits of chemo versus the risk with this ongoing infection not 100% healed. Common sense is telling me to step back until it is clear, and not sure what the long term ramification of that would be if was postponed for more weeks to come etc. As each week they are saying, got to get you in etc. And as the radiologist said today, its not like your a high risk etc, my chemo is more preventative, to lower my risk from 11% to 7% which I was happy to do the chemo for that lower percentage. Just not happy to go into with my body being as sick as it is. I've also had another virus pop up in my body due to my low immunity last few days, plus the dreaded thrush down below real bad from 6 lots of antibiotics :(

Anyway, thanks for reading, and for sharing your thoughts with me. 

I have been reading all your comments, but been too wiped out to reply to each one. Tonight I managed to get on the computer as well, which makes replying and posting much easier than my phone, lol.

Hope you are all travelling well out there. Love & Smiles to you :) :) :)

 

chemotherapy

3 Replies

  • lrb_03's avatar
    lrb_03
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi Kazza, you've been in my thoughts a lot. I figured you were still unwell, when you hadn't made responses on your last post. I think you're being quite sensible in wanting to wait until the infection is completely cleared. Your questions are well thought out and logical. Just make sure you have it all written down to take with you. I saw my surgeon for review this week, half way through chemo, before surgery. I realised just before the appointment that I hadn't written down some of my questions, so I didn't bother pulling out what I had written. That, unfortunately, meant I didn't ask a question that was really important to me. At least I now have a tentative surgery date, so that feels good.

    hope you're feeling better soon

    Lyn

  • Jane221's avatar
    Jane221
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi Kazza,

    I'm sorry to hear that your infection is still causing you grief and hope you manage to get past this soon. I think you are doing the right thing by talking to the head of oncology to get a second opinion on when or if to move forward with chemo. It's really hard to know what is best but all you can do is weigh up the advice from your medical team based on what's reality for you right now and possible future benefit. Maybe your breast care nurse might be able to help guide you through the decision making process, or just act as a sounding board for you to explore the possibility of not going through chemo and how this might feel for you?

    Here's hoping you can get some clarity around all of this soon.  Best wishes, Jane xx

  • lisboy's avatar
    lisboy
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi Kazza

    I am so sorry that you are going through this. You are having a difficult time. I guess all you can do is weigh up the pro's and cons which you are clearly doing and trust that your medical team will give you the best advice on the way forward.

    I have a red inflamed area on my breast too since my mastectomy 2 weeks ago. In my case this is related to a seroma which I have to have drained. When they cultured it there was no infection  and i have no fever so lucky so far.

    I hope you get some resolution to this soon and that the antibiotics work to get rid of your infection.

    take care

    Lisaxx