How to survive AC chemo
I'm 4wks post bilateral mastectomy following my bc diagnosis. I had a grade 3, IDC with no lymph node involvement, with a strong hormone influence too. As if surgery alone wasn't enough to endure my ...
Forum Discussion
Hi @Trussy ,
Welcome to the forum lovely.
Chemo scares the hell out of everybody and the first Oncology appointment I think is the most daunting.. For some reason our brains like to conjure up the most awful things. I pictured myself getting every single side effect on the list but the reality was nowhere near what I had imagined.
Chemo does suck and we'd all rather be holidaying in the Bahamas, but they wouldn't recommend it unless they thought it was going to give you that extra protection to keep that nasty thing gone for good.
I had 4 x 3 weekly AC and then 12 weekly Taxol.
AC I found cumulative. The first two, i got a huge buzz on day 2 and 3 from the steroids so got heaps of work done. Crash day was day 4 then got better from there. The last two rounds took a little longer to recover from but by then, you're nearly done.
I worked through pretty much all of it, ran my farm, rode my horses, renovated my dining room etc etc,
It was a very busy social time for my family that year. Formals, graduations, 21st birthdays, christmas and the like. I organised all of them in amongst treatment and had a blast at every one.
I kept my hair with the cold cap, had very little fatigue, never got any colds, bugs or high temps, no mouth ulcer problems.
I just tried to keep my life as normal as I possibly could.
Worst side effects were hot flushes of an atomic level, light headed and a bit dizzy at times for the first couple of days, and nothing tastes the same. (add salt to everything), I think I ate my body weight in fruit tingles and peppermints.
One thing they don't tell you is that there is very little time between needing to pee and actually getting to the loo. I think they should warn you about that one and AC makes you pee red for a bit. A good tip is to paint your finger and toe nails as they can discolour and the polish protects them. Mine were fine.
Ask for the good drugs (ondansetron I found worked the best). The stuff they gave me at the beginning was pretty average.
Are you having taxol as well? I found this one pretty easy going compared to the AC with only a few minor side effects.
Sure, there were some crappy days along the way, but there were a whole lot that weren't, I took a lot of photos and videos of all the good things I did throughout treatment and made a video out of them when I finished.
Six months sounds so long at the start but once you get started you'll be checking off the weeks and before you know it you'll be at the end.
You got this. We're all here for you.
xoxoxoxo
Welcome to the forum lovely.
Chemo scares the hell out of everybody and the first Oncology appointment I think is the most daunting.. For some reason our brains like to conjure up the most awful things. I pictured myself getting every single side effect on the list but the reality was nowhere near what I had imagined.
Chemo does suck and we'd all rather be holidaying in the Bahamas, but they wouldn't recommend it unless they thought it was going to give you that extra protection to keep that nasty thing gone for good.
I had 4 x 3 weekly AC and then 12 weekly Taxol.
AC I found cumulative. The first two, i got a huge buzz on day 2 and 3 from the steroids so got heaps of work done. Crash day was day 4 then got better from there. The last two rounds took a little longer to recover from but by then, you're nearly done.
I worked through pretty much all of it, ran my farm, rode my horses, renovated my dining room etc etc,
It was a very busy social time for my family that year. Formals, graduations, 21st birthdays, christmas and the like. I organised all of them in amongst treatment and had a blast at every one.
I kept my hair with the cold cap, had very little fatigue, never got any colds, bugs or high temps, no mouth ulcer problems.
I just tried to keep my life as normal as I possibly could.
Worst side effects were hot flushes of an atomic level, light headed and a bit dizzy at times for the first couple of days, and nothing tastes the same. (add salt to everything), I think I ate my body weight in fruit tingles and peppermints.
One thing they don't tell you is that there is very little time between needing to pee and actually getting to the loo. I think they should warn you about that one and AC makes you pee red for a bit. A good tip is to paint your finger and toe nails as they can discolour and the polish protects them. Mine were fine.
Ask for the good drugs (ondansetron I found worked the best). The stuff they gave me at the beginning was pretty average.
Are you having taxol as well? I found this one pretty easy going compared to the AC with only a few minor side effects.
Sure, there were some crappy days along the way, but there were a whole lot that weren't, I took a lot of photos and videos of all the good things I did throughout treatment and made a video out of them when I finished.
Six months sounds so long at the start but once you get started you'll be checking off the weeks and before you know it you'll be at the end.
You got this. We're all here for you.
xoxoxoxo