Waiting for chemo!!
Hi Everyone, I am new to this network. My name is Debbie and I was diagnosed with Invasive ductal carcinoma, grade 2, HER positive amplified, oestrogen and progesterone receptor positive, tumour 23mm,...
Forum Discussion
Hi all, starting on 24 August (one day after @dougal), I will have 12 months of herceptin, four cycles of TC chemotherapy followed by 6 weeks of radiotherapy and then 5/10 years of hormone therapy. 24 August is the Cancer Council's daffodil day, which seems strangely apt. My oncologist and his registrar were good and explained what to expect with chemo quite well. That said, it was a lot to take in. I am glad my mum came with me. I have a one hour information session with breast cancer nurses at the hospital two days before chemo starts, where I have been told they will go through things in a lot more detail, which I hope will help. My partner is supporting me on the first day of chemo.
While I appreciate that I need chemo, and that hair loss in the scheme of things will be temporary (and less debilitating than other potential side effects), I am bit sad and self conscious about it, as I have never had short hair. At least I know it is something that you, dougal, and others on this forum will be going through, or have gone through and come out the other side.
I have recently had two people try to help me by passing on "helpful" advice. In one case, a good friend of my partner's tried to pass on second hand information his wife read about people with cancer not eating meat, and it took a while for him to understand that I would prefer to follow the treatment plan I have decided with my doctors and research things for myself. I actually felt quite anxious when he was trying to tell me about it, and while I know he meant well, it felt like he was telling me that if I had a different diet this would not have happened to me. A male friend of a friend has twice tried to pass on information about fertility - despite me informing him that at 41 and with a 46 year old partner, we have already accepted that we will not be parents (other than to the three cats we currently have!). I think that if I had not come to terms with it, personal questions about having children would be quite distressing at this time. I have done a bit of research on what to say or do when people give unsolicited advice as I am aware that this is likely to continue to happen. Both of the people who have said things care about me and did mean well, and for that at least I am grateful.
While I appreciate that I need chemo, and that hair loss in the scheme of things will be temporary (and less debilitating than other potential side effects), I am bit sad and self conscious about it, as I have never had short hair. At least I know it is something that you, dougal, and others on this forum will be going through, or have gone through and come out the other side.
I have recently had two people try to help me by passing on "helpful" advice. In one case, a good friend of my partner's tried to pass on second hand information his wife read about people with cancer not eating meat, and it took a while for him to understand that I would prefer to follow the treatment plan I have decided with my doctors and research things for myself. I actually felt quite anxious when he was trying to tell me about it, and while I know he meant well, it felt like he was telling me that if I had a different diet this would not have happened to me. A male friend of a friend has twice tried to pass on information about fertility - despite me informing him that at 41 and with a 46 year old partner, we have already accepted that we will not be parents (other than to the three cats we currently have!). I think that if I had not come to terms with it, personal questions about having children would be quite distressing at this time. I have done a bit of research on what to say or do when people give unsolicited advice as I am aware that this is likely to continue to happen. Both of the people who have said things care about me and did mean well, and for that at least I am grateful.