Total newbie and totally scared.

Hi Ann-Marie

Many thanks for your welcome :))  As well as all the other ladies below!  Yesterday hit me pretty hard, symptoms wise, and after hitting send to my first post I had to lie down - fast!  It's now just after 5am the next day and I am feeling a LOT better.  

I'm kind of angry though that I was given absolutely NO warnings about what to expect apart from "you will feel pretty crook".  The blurry vision, palpitations etc are darned scarey when you are unprepared.  Thankfully lying down and napping on and off all evening has helped enormously. 

The beauty of this site is you are never alone.  You have no idea what a gift that is to me right now.  Thank you, everyone of you.  

Barb 

Hi Barb!

So sorry to hear that you are having a tough time with the chemo.  I have just Finished my 2nd round if TC chemo, every 21 days, and I too have suffered with achy body, loss of taste and netallically and sleeping problems. Panadol became my best friend but I have stronger stuff if needed. Go for walks each day too.  it gets better after about 5-6 days  Fruit tingles are your best friend, lemonade icy poles, plastic utensils, bi carb and salt diluted in water mouth wash all help with the taste thing,  mine taste starts coming back after about 10 days.   I have also headaches, constipation, oral and vaginal thrush and this round blurry vision.  There is medication for most of these side affects, just make sure you tell you oncologist or doctor everything and ask questions no matter how silly you think it is.  The hair started to fall out after two weeks. I hope the next round of chemo is much kinder to you.  Take care and rest when your body tells you too.

kind regards,

Sue

Hi Barb welcome to the group. There are lots of wonderful ladies here who are helping me through chemo. Today I had my second cycle of Docetaxal, Cyclophosphamide & Herceptin. Best thing I found for the horrible taste in my mouth was fruit tingles which were suggested by another lady on the network. Aches and pains are the worst! I talked at length with my oncologist about this today. Panadol Osteo helped but I wasn't taking it consistently as I was worried about staying on it for too long. She advised to be on it consistently for a few days so I stay ahead of the pains so I will be giving that a try. She also told me daily walks will help with the pains. Not sleeping is also a big problem for me. I sleep when I can and if that means day time naps then so be it. I'll be increasing my walking for this as well. I use diarrhoea relief from the chemist.

I know it's not nice but it won't be forever. Take it one day at a time and vent here all you like - it helps me.

Take care, Nadine

Hi Barb,

sorry you are here but you are in a good place to receive advise and just debrief from your treatment. Chemo sucks! But you will get though one round at a time. Just take the meds and tell the doctor everything no matter how trivial. It hurts but there is no choice but to keep going everyday and be thankful for modern medicine.

I am patiently (not) waiting for my hair to grow, it is a constant reminder that I am a cancer patient. If anything BC is making me address my vanity and impatient issues! Think how well rounded we will be after this.

best of luck, stay strong

Kim

So sorry to hear you are having such a bad experience with chemo. I have been worried for the opposite reason, I have had two doses of the same chemo as you and had very few side effects. I have been worried that this means that the chemo isn't working.

The metallic taste is yuk, can't face certain foods at all now but there are so many foods out there, so I am trying foods I never would have in the past. Chillis etc and very sweet treats, Choc mint slice biscuits, thanks to a friend. I can look forward to weight watchers once I've beaten breast cancer.

I think you are very brave when you have had so little time to come to terms with diagnosis, mastectomy and chemo with Christmas & New Year thrown on top. Be kind to yourself and I hope it gets much better for you.

Hi and welcome to the site. Please visit often there is always someone to chat or read posts. One down, take it one day at a time. Side effects are crap and we all suffer diffrentley take care

Hi Barb,

Welcome to the Online Network, my name is Ann-Marie and I am the Online Community Coordinator at BCNA. I am sorry that you have had to join this wonderful group of members but I am happy that you already feel better for being here.

Whether it be sharing what you are going through or asking questions, the Online Network is here to support you.

Let me know if you need any help finding your way around the website.

Ann-Marie x