Posted by April on 5/25/2012, 10:28 am, in reply to "Info on chemo"
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Hi Amy
Welcome to the club , that noone wants to belong too, we have all been in your very shoes, felt the same way you have felt and can share in your experience.
Chemo is different for everyone, some skate through with little to no side effects and others (like myself) get every darn one! With that being said it is all totally completely DOABLE!!
Prepare yourself for hairloss, yes it sucks but that everyone gets, unfortunately, buy wigs, scarfs etc whatever you will be comfortable with. If you have a decent amoint of hair you will probably want to shave your head around day 13-14 after chemo-Hair hair begins to fall out from day 13-19 depending on the individual but it will and when it does it comes out in clumps very messy, so it is better to just shave it off
Most likely your treatment will consist of A-Adryimicin - T-taxol or taxotere or C-Cytoxan as these are the most common BC drugs and are HIGHLY effective in zapping & killing off any lingering cells hanging around
waiting to set up shop at a later date. Chemo is like an extra insurance policy, once we have our surgeries we are technically, cancer-free, so chemo just is the mop here, but is very important, and while noone wants chemo it is a true blessing that we have these wonderful drugs that saves millions of womans lives daily!
There are 4 Million BC survivors walking this earth at this very moment and you are now 1 of them, and will remain so for many many years
You can get through this and 1 year from now it will all be over and feel like a distant memory, for now you must take care of this, and you & your doctors will and you will be okay!
When you start chemo, have these things on hand:
Something for your tum - Pepcid AC/Tums
Alcohol Free Mouthwash/Toothpaste
Advil - Joint Pain
Claritan - Bone pain helps but we dont know why?
Thermometer - its important to take our tempature daily
Lubricating Eye Drops - eyes can get very dry some medicines are very drying.
Something for constipation
Something for diarrhea (can go either way)
Generally the day of and for about 1 or 2 days after your treatment you will feel okay, normal maybe some tum issues. The full side effects if any will start around day 3 thru 6, again this all depends on the individual but its fairly the norm. Plan on relaxing and laying around on these days, if you plan to work try chemo on Wed orThurs as hopefully by Monday you will be feeling decent and it usally does kick in for a couple days so your down time will be on the weekend. Its very important to drink drink drink the day before (NOT LIQUOR LOL) day of and the days after it helps to get that garbage out and you feel better, also dehydration is kinda common with chemo drugs and that leads to bad headaches etc. So drink up!!!!!Whatever you can stomach.
Well thats all I can think of for the moment, I'm sure some other gals here will chime in, these ladies are great!
Id suggest posting on the newbie board it gets ALOT more action..HUGS!
You will be OKAY!!!
April
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