Young mum going thru treatment

Dear @Pinkcloverss and @youngdogmum,

from jennyss in Western NSW

Offers of meals, playdates and cleaning are the best.  I wasn't able to work during my AC-T treatment but many can.  Being in education, you may want to check out your Super scheme for income protection or trauma insurance, as if things aren't tolerable, it's good to know what is available.  Whichever path you take, just remember not to try to do everything.  Take away pizzas are there for a reason and you're just building up your kids immune systems if the house isn't clean.  Keep your energy for important things.

Hi @Pinkcloverss me again! I was 37 when I was diagnosed and had a 4 1/2year old and a 1 1/2 year old. I’m a teacher too. I worked 2 days a week during treatment. I did chemo on Tuesdays rest day Wednesday and worked Thursday Friday. I tried to keep routines as normal as possible. Take offers of help whether that is dinners being made or kids being looked after etc... A local support group sent in a cleaner once a week which was magic! It’s doable if you take care of yourself! You need to be the priority during treatment if possible! Good luck xxx

@kezmusc thanku for sharing! I love hearing positive stories related to cancer and chemo- gives me so much hope and positivity. Ill def have to play it by ear and see. 

@JoeyLiz - you didn't have this combination,  but you had a toddler. Hope you're doing ok 

I had a different cocktail of drugs. My worst days were usually 3-10. I'm older, so no toddlers. Worked most of the way through, with the odd sick day, in a busy medical practice

Hi @Pinkcloverss,

Welcome to the rollercoaster lovely.  I had the same chemo as you, it's one of the standard cocktails of choice.  I am a bit older and no toddlers but I had 5 teenagers at home at the time and sometimes well, they kind of act like toddlers :)

I went back to work (part time) 5 days after my 2nd AC.  You get into a bit of a routine after the first one.  Mine was day 1 written off, they say exercise straight after it, I tried that once, it wasn't doable for me. Day 2 and 3 were pretty good with the steroids buzz. I had huge amounts of energy and got heaps done, day 4 was crash day and then back to good again till the next one.  I found the AC acumulative.  The 4th one took longer to recover.

Taxol I found quite easy compared to AC. I drove myself there and back and it really wasn't too much of an issue.

I had next to no fatigue the whole way, worked, ran my farm, did most of my usual stuff, kept my hair with the cold cap organized a lot of social events at the time and had a great time at all of them.
I work in a public hospital, did not take the injection to boost your immune system and never caught any bugs or got sick.

It's all quite variable person to person but after the first one you'll have an idea of how you'll feel.
Some days were crap but there was a lot that weren't.


All the best.

xoxoxoxo

If you have a good GP you can always discuss this kind of thing with them.

During your low white cell time some face masks might be useful as well, especially if your class is particularly germy. And lots of hand sanitizer. K xox

@Pinkcloverss So many of us on here have had this combination but I don’t think any of us have had the same side effects. My first AC was worse than the next three. I felt like I had really bad flu plus extras. My last AC left me exhausted for six weeks. I had no probs with taxol until week eight, then a little peripheral neuropathy until week ten when I just felt blah for the remainder. Other people fly through both without any SE and then there are those at the other end of the spectrum. I got most of the SE that they say are possible, but mine were not generally extreme and quite doable. My few extreme SE were dealt with by lovely drugs. Just remember, IF you get SE’s there are drugs to help you. If, like me, you do not like chemicals in your body, just remember it is short term. Once chemo starts you tend to relax a bit.

Would love to hear anyones experience with AC and Taxol for chemo treatment?

@kmakm oh and yes very fortunate to have lots of family. Son goes to day care tues to thurs and plan is to get my infusions on tuesdays so i have a few days to recover. Hopefully come weekend I wont feel as horrid.