I need a couple of answers please if possible.

Hi Sue

The nurse on my 3rd of 6 treatments took 4 goes (in fact she gave up after the third and let someone else do it) to get my line in. When she lined up at my 4th treatment I politely asked if she was confident of getting it in, so she decided to get another nurse to do it and she got it first go. In her defence I probably had not drank enough that morning as it was quite a cool day and I didn't realise that plenty of fluids helps the veins plus they usually put a heat pad on the arm before putting the line in. I felt rather awful about questioning the nurse but the previous time caused too much distress and the position they ended up putting it in was quite uncomfortable for the chemo duration of 3 hours. So basically I recommend plenty of fluids on the day. Best wishes, Di

Hi there Susan, I'm sorry i can't help you with advice re your chemo side effects as my results after mastectomy ruled out the necessity of chemo/radiotherapy.

i do feel for you though, I can't think of anything more uncomfortable than your body trying to acclimitise itself to the "foreign" chemicals being forced into it.

Read the advice in the previous posts, these girls have first=hand experience of what you are going through and are only too happy to help you.

Re the lockout - is it possible that when you are closing the program you are hitting the green "logout" box in the top r.h corner of the page?  If this is being done, the next time you open the home page the computer will have forgotten you and you have to log in all over again. I did this a few times and was really cracking the sh...ts until I realised what was happening.

When I am finished now I just close the program, then when I want to come back I'm already logged in.

This may help .... lets look for the simple solutions first .....

Hope things improve for you .... make sure you don't  overdo things, listen to your body and get plenty of rest.

Thinking of you

Cheers ... Shirl ..xx

Hi there Susan, I'm sorry i can't help you with advice re your chemo side effects as my results after mastectomy ruled out the necessity of chemo/radiotherapy.

i do feel for you though, I can't think of anything more uncomfortable than your body trying to acclimitise itself to the "foreign" chemicals being forced into it.

Read the advice in the previous posts, these girls have first=hand experience of what you are going through and are only too happy to help you.

Re the lockout - is it possible that when you are closing the program you are hitting the green "logout" box in the top r.h corner of the page?  If this is being done, the next time you open the home page the computer will have forgotten you and you have to log in all over again. I did this a few times and was really cracking the sh...ts until I realised what was happening.

When I am finished now I just close the program, then when I want to come back I'm already logged in.

This may help .... lets look for the simple solutions first .....

Hope things improve for you .... make sure you don't  overdo things, listen to your body and get plenty of rest.

Thinking of you

Cheers ... Shirl ..xx

Hi Susan....I too have a port inerted and it's wonderful..was placed in under fairly heavy sedation (but not a full on anaesthetic)..makes the job easier for oncology on the day and they are the ones who normally take bloods b4 any dose so not many arm pricks for my good arm..only really CT and scan requirements (dye/radioactive fluids etc). I have secondary cancer so my treatment is indefinate (but thankfully not on the 'hard' drugs right now) regular 3 weekly herceptin doses..started feb 2009 (along with 8 doses chemo initially)..so the port was really the only option to "save" my veins. Chemno drugs can make veins necrotic at the insertion site of the needle, which then makes it harder to access those veins as u continue thru treatment, so i would recommend a Picc or Port.

I can't help u on those drugs (mine were diff) but that truck hitting fatigue, just go with it.  Allow others to do whatever they want to help you (it makes them feel better & and u can use the rest!)  Just always remember that it won't last forever and life will return to normal (or some level of that) at some stage...

Try and avoid picking up any other illness/cold/flu as these can really know u around too (even once u feel better between each dose)...hope some of this is helpful....Good luck..look towards the end of treatment and stay positive

Hi Susan -- I'd like to help you sort out what's going wrong with your password and login.  Are you still having problems?

Hi Susan -- I'd like to help you sort out what's going wrong with your password and login.  Are you still having problems?

Hi Sue,

I cant help you with the first drug - the name doesnt ring a bell.  But the second one you are going to have, Paclitaxel, is the one that I had for my second round of chemo.  I found this drug to much 'nicer and kinder to the body' than the first course.  Like you I had it weekly for 12 weeks.

My first drug which was 4 x 3 weekly was Ok until about treatment no. 2, then it started to knock me around.  By the 4th treatment I felt like I had been run over by a truck!  The treatment and the side effects do get easier (or maybe we just get used to it!).

I had a Port inserted into my good arm during my mastectomy, so I receive all my IV treatments, including Zometa bone strengthener, through this.  Apparently these ports can stay in site for many years (talking to a lady during treatment the other day and she has had her chest port for 7 years!!!!!), and are a bit more gentle on your veins.  However, whenever I have blood tests, (NOT through the port, as only oncology nurses can access the ports due to the risk of infection), the nurses always tell me my veins are small and awful to access.  I dont know if this is from the chemo in general, or just my veins.

All the best with your next treatment and I hope it makes life easier for you!

Di

Thankyou Sarah for getting back to me, well I wasnt sure about the Pic line, I have seen a couple of women with this, sounds as though from what you said may be kinder in the long run,

I will discuss this with the oncologist in a week or so, its so much better getting this info from people who have been there at least you get the actual idea of what happens.

Thanks again and best of luck to you as well in the future.

Sue  

Hi Sue

I had trouble with my veins when it came to my 4th chemo I had 6 treatments every 3 weeks. On my 4th one I was quite dehydrated as had to wait to see the specialist before the treament and they had 7 goes (I insisted) and then went home without chemo, drank gallons of water and they got the vein first time (by an Xray specialist) the next day. However did have a PICC line put in for my last 2 treatments and although I didn't want it I realised it was actually a god send they also did my blood tests from it. One of the oncology nurses said it would help me in the future if I needed cannulating as obviously my veins have been "damaged" by the chemo and would preserve the ones I had left.. So with you needing to have weekly chemo in the future don't be surprised if they discuss putting a line in. It was done in Xray under a local and I didn't feel anything.

I had different drugs to you so can't help on the drug question but am sure some one can!

Good luck with every thing

Sarah x