One down three to go

Hi Jules, The first chemo is the worst one as you don't know what to expect, and only have all the horror stories to go by, that those without cancer seem to need to tell you about. I finished my 4 rounds of taxotere and cyclophosphamide just over 5 months ago, and my experience was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. As Tonya said, once the first one is over, and you know you haven't had a reation, and know what to expect, it does get easier. I was lucky to only have very minimal side effects. I did however take all the anti nausea medication given to me, as the oncologist said, it is easier to prevent nausea than to cure it once it takes hold. Tonya is right about day 4 as well. That was my blobby day, and all I wanted was to be a blob on the lounge. It was always on a Sunday, so I blobbed out. I was still able to go out if needed though, but it was a good excuse to lounge about. I had bone aches on day 5, and again the oncologist said to take panadol 4 hourly and to start before it gets bad. That bit of advice was really good, and it worked well for me. One thing I didn't like was the weird flavour of water from early on. On the last cycle I worked out how to improve the taste, ( I'm very slow). The colourless,flat, lime or lemon flavoured mineral water in the pump packs tasted great, and I wished I had discovered this during the first cycle. I also suffered from a dry mouth after a week, and biotene mouth wash is great. In the week prior to my next cycle, my eyes were really dry, to the point of constant tearing. The liquid tears you buy from the chemist really helped this. I have dry eyes at the best of times, and have had for years, so the chemo did aggrevate this, but it always got better by the start of the next cycle. All the best for number one tomorrow, and be kind to yourself. Love Chris xxx