New to this.....

Firstly, it has been my experience (finished chemo 5 months ago, radio 3 months ago) that I actually feel less moody and more calm than before! I am on tamoxifen and have not had many side effects. I don't know if this is luck or what I have done to help myself. I have challenged negative thoughts and also found that exercise has helped to minimize the side effects of treatment. I am so sorry that you are facing this and it is certainly not an easy time ahead of you but it is not all bad. I had 2 different lots of chemo (FEC and Docetaxel) and found one not too bad but struggled more with Docetaxel. But the time went really fast and I found I recovered pretty quickly afterwards. Radio was much easier and as I mentioned tamoxifen has not been bad at all. I have found this network an absolute lifeline as despite having terrific support from family and friends they do not always understand what I am going through. As far as chemo is concerned they have excellent drugs to help with the nausea and I was quite surprised at how normal I felt after each session. If you take your medication, keep a diary of the side effects so that you can let your oncologist know about them and get advice from the ladies on here you will be fine. I found I had a yuck few days, then came good about day 6, then you have to be careful because of low immune system for a week, and the third week I felt good. Please let us know how you go and we will do our best to help you through. You will be surprised at the strength you will find within yourself and how fast the treatment goes. Let others help, they will really want to. Take care. Deanne xxx