Chemotherapy

Hi Monica, So sorry to hear about your diagnosis but clear margins and no node involvement is good news. I had 4 doses of CT chemo last year. Let me start by saying it wasn't as bad as I expected. I thought I would be bed-ridden and throwing up for months. It wasn't quite that bad but it wasn't much fun either. I found that I felt worst on days 3-5 after each treatment - very, very tired, horrible taste in my mouth, achey muscles, slight temp. I did spend some of those bad days in bed, reading, dozing, surfing the net on my laptop. After about the 5th day you start to feel a little better and  you can carry on with life pretty much as normal, although the tiredness and lethargy never completely goes until chemo finishes. And after each successive treatment it's a little bit worse.One of the worst things for me was losing my hair which unfortunately you can't avoid. I bought myself a nice wig for going out and a few hats to wear around the house. There's no getting around it - baldness sucks. But obviously dying would suck a lot more. My hair is growing back slowly but nine months later I'm still wearing my wig cause I hate my hair really short. Just gotta be patient I suppose.The other thing to be aware of is that your immune system is suppressed by the chemo - it kills the white blood cells. So you have to be really careful about germs and infection. If you pick up a bug it can be very serious on chemo and you can end up in hospital. I was lucky to avoid that. I used a lot of anti-bacterial sprays, hand sanitiser etc. plus I had to give myself an injection in the stomach after each treatment to boost white blood cell production - a bit confronting.There is a post on this site which I think is called "What helped you on your journey" with lots of helpful hints on getting you through chemo.  I gues what you need to keep in mind is that everyone's body reacts a little differently. There is a frightenly long list of sides effects that you might develop. You probably won't develop them all but I think you need to as prepared and aware as you can be for what could happen. Good luck Monica. There is a lot to take in at the moment. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to get your head around it all. Hope it goes as smoothly as possible for you. Janet :)