Decision Time

Hi Samantha. It is hard when the doc tells you something you're totally not expecting. I am 39, have Grade 3 TNBC, lumpectomy, node clearance on left side and total left mastectomy as lump was bigger than first thought, turns out 6 nodes involved. They said hit me hard with chemo too, I had no choices offered, but quickly accepted it was what was needed, I figured it was harder than what they would give a 60 year old. I am 16 weeks into chemo, 7 to go, had 4 x fortnightly now on weeklies. Chemo sounds horrible at the outset and while different people respond differently, I found all the anti nausea drugs work great, though you do feel unwell, I haven't vomited yet! Weeklies aren't nearly as bad, I have Carboplatin and Taxol week 1 then 2 weeks of just Taxol. Taxol alone is by far the easiest to deal with. I think previously they gave the whole dose 3 weekly but patients handle it better to have same dose spread over 3 weeks. I feel lucky as my side effects have been more annoying than anything, Fingers crossed nothing more serious happens. I wasn't offered FEC, don't know much about it. I have a port, it uses a needle too, but if they can take your blood through it, perhaps less needles. With 16 chemo treatments it made sense to me, especially as I only have one arm they can use due to the lymph clearance. It does require day surgery to put in and take out though, but putting it in didn't cost anything for me, thanks to the health fund and docs no gaps. Chemo is tough on little arm veins and sitting in the chair with 2 hands free is better. I am a private patient, I have only had to pay the excess from my original hospital stay for surgery. I sign the forms every chemo as technically I am admitted for the day but apparently the excess from Feb transferred over to the cancer centre. I have never had to pay for chemo meds, only the odd prescription for tablets, eg $16 for 5 or 6 scripts so far, not much. Check with your health fund but talk to the cancer centre, or breast care nurse if you have one. It is hard to decide some of these things, my advice is to look at it like the docs are giving you recommendations and take their advice, they know what they are doing,