I start chemo tomorrow. I'm not coping so well today, I think I am going to scream if I hear anyone else tell me how important it is to stay positive! Today I'm having a picc line put in, chemo education and an appointment with my onc this afternoon. I also have an appointment with the hairdresser to cut my long hair short. I am feeling really overwhelmed. I have read many of the post from you ladies who have bravely gone through chemo. I guess I fear the unknown but am so concerned about the list of side effects (which I know are different for everyone). My onc says that she thinks I will do well through chemo but obviously there are no guarantees. I didn't fare so well through surgery, finding out that I don't tolerate opiate pain relief well and that many of the nausea drugs didn't help when I was on IV antibiotics for axillary infection. I think this is adding to my anxiety. Sorry, I just needed to vent as my husband and teenage daughter, although caring, just don't understand how I'm feeling today.

You know your biggest anxiety will be that hair cut? It was for me, all my lovely long locks gone. Over a year later and I am still not used to short hair so it is my mission to one day get it long again.Stick to the Panadol for pain killers. It works fairly well and keep up short walks as the exercise does your bones good. Perhaps you could look into the Ginger seasickness tabs to help with nausea? After your first infusion you will probably be thinking what all the fuss was about. Good luck with your treatment. <3

I so feel your pain. I'm hanging in there also. Good luck with your treatment. I don't have much to advise as I'm also at the beginning and start chemo in May. My husband also says to stay positive ad can't understand why I have moments of tears, but I have told him to have a diagnosis of cancer and see what it does to your psyche! Thoughts are with you x

Feel free to check out my blog about getting through chemo... https://carlysfighttowin.wordpress.com/

Hey Piccme, vent all you want that is what we are here for. It is surreal at the start, especially when we don't feel sick. The thought of chemo is scary. It is overwhelming, but even if it is hard you WILL get through this. I never thought I could do chemo but I did. I had a lot of complications so it was never a walk in the park but I did get through it. Once treatment starts you will calm down a bit. It is more the unknown that gets us so worked up. Whatever you need we will be here for you. And yes, it really got to the stage where if another person had said to me to 'stay positive' I really think I would have punched them!!! They just don't know what else to say. Come on here any time if you need some encouragement. Having this network available 24/7 when I was going through chemo made a huge difference. Sending you hugs, Nadine

Hi Piccme My name is Laura, I'm 37 and have 2 small children at home. I was very scared about my first chemo, which was on the 7th of April. Was so worried about what side effects I would get and how could I look after 2 little ones if I got all these symptoms etc.... To be honest it was a major anticlimax! I went in got hooked up into my port, sat in a very comfy chair for bout 3hrs drinking tea watching tv and then it was over. That night I slept really well and the next 4/5 days I felt what I can only describe as symptoms similar to morning sickness or a wine induced hangover. Fuzzy head and nauseous! I rang my oncology nurse and she got my oncologist to write me a script for better anti nausea tablets and life was good again. Apart from that I was fine. I am 11 days post chemo and feel back to normal apart from metallic taste in my mouth and 2 mouth ulcers. Next treatment on the 26th. Don't be scared you can do this. Whatever symptoms you get your team will help to manage. Just focus on the fact that chemo is clearing up and getting rid of the cancer. Each session you do is one less and you will be cancer free after its all done. You can do this. The fear of the unknown is the worst but just breath and try and have a good sleep tonight it will all be fine xx

1st Chemo help | BCNA Online Network

bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
Oh great lol chemo screws up the bowels lol to explain! I am a paraplegic and my bowels are ny biggest enemy. Regular coloxyl tmes two twice daily. Movicol every night and even then when we suddenly realise its day 8 no go, drastic measures are needed. Crap i hope i dont need chemo. And u r right. Endone does suck and it doesnt work AND it blocks u up even more. Whinge whinge. Had mastectomy thursday so am temporarily allowing myself to whinge lol. Meant to just have sentinel node same time but took a "bunch" as looked suspicious. Convinced myself sentinel node would be neg but then again i convinced myself that despite knowing damn well what a cyst felt like, that i would no way have anything malignant going on! Either an optimist or blind fool lol. Invasive grade 3 idc. Still convincing myself, despite having so many taken as looked "suspicious" that will be at least lymph node neg
Zoffiel
Member
8 years ago
Don't stress @redflower , cancer brings its own language, which we have to learn. Between 'WTF did they just say?" and bloody autocorrect, it's surprising that anyone gets anything right. Ever.
redflower
Member
8 years ago
um have i said the wrong treatment.. fair chance... radiologist visit after second chemo to get that all sorted out.. work out a plan and what its called then... sorry..
Anonymous
8 years ago
It's really weird, however a boiled egg used to help with my nausea at times, whether it's the protein or what it is, but it helps. I used to have a bowl of freshly cubed melon, watermelon, cantaloupe and rockmelon in the fridge, keeps your mouth moist and it's nice and cool. Sips of water help too. Hoping that you're managing ok
Cuddles, Trace xx
melclarity
Member
8 years ago
@Piccme How are you going? I found none of the Nausea meds worked at all for me, so I muddled through with Ativan and tried to sleep as much as I could. I couldn't eat alot and drinking was a problem too, hope you sorted some things out with your Team. xx Melinda
au0rei
Member
8 years ago
@redflower what is radium treatment? I have not heard of this before. xxx
au0rei
Member
8 years ago
@piccme I had fluid retention with cycles 2-4 and each got worse. My legs are the ones affected. I sleep propping my legs up. Drink plenty of water even though it sounds illogical with all the fluid already in. It helps to flush and a pee marathon. I did that and early morning the retention would clear. For the last cycle the fluid retention was worse and yup affected my mastectomy site and i had to massage a lot to relieve the discomfort. xxx
Piccme
Member
8 years ago
Thank you everyone for your kind words and advise. As I feared the nausea has kicked in so will speak to my team today to see what I can do to remedy that. I also have quite a bit of fluid retention, I am stressed about this as it is worse in the arm that runs the risk of lymphedema. Spent the night doing arm exercises on and off. Another topic for my team today.
socoda
Member
8 years ago
Hi @Piccme, just sending you a big hug Xx Cath
Di
Member
8 years ago
@Piccme Hi, hope your first day of chemo well., it is very scary and you do feel anxious of the fear of the unknown. The best thing is not to listen to any stories people tell you coz we all react differently.
On my first day of chemo I was so anxious I couldn't sleep. I found that after the 4 hours of the infusion I was waiting for something terrible to happen . The anti nauseous drugs they gave me worked amazing I found it very hard to sleep as the steroid drugs I had been given kept me awake. I can't remember the exact name of the ginger stuff I had. I was fortunate enough to have my niece who is a naturopath who gave me advice and natural remedies for the nausea. I always took the ginger before my chemo . i had chemo every 3 weeks over a 6 month period and found the middle week was my toughest and third week was great then back into it.
People always told me to stay positive but I think it was because they really didn't know what to say to make me feel better and I understood that.
When you are confronted with all these things at once you are entitled to be anxious , I really did work on the power of positive thinking and always made sure I wore nice bright clothes to chemo to cheer me up. That was me and you will find whatever suits you .
My husband and I went to a Look good feel better class before I started my chemo which was very good coz we were both very frightened of what was ahead for us.
It made me think about how I was going to get through it and out of it I decided that when I was out in public I would make sure I continued to wear my makeup and wear bright clothes like always and this helped me..
mad your journey goes along you will learn to get rid of the negative people and do what is right for you
Good luck
Di xx