Last week when I went to have my bloods checked, the nurse who had previously accessed my port told me she would be on holiday today, so, using a marker pen she marked the correct access point on my chest so that whoever saw me today would know where to aim the needle.
Well... it turns out that my port is quite mobile... and the place that had been marked was now nowhere near the right spot! So after one unsuccessful attempt.... one nurse held the port steady whilst a second nurse pushed in the needle. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to see blood!
So... it was my third and final FEC and it was the first time that my Port was used for a treatment. All went without incident. Another reason I was pleased was because in the last week the area of the veins in my arm that have previously been used for treatment started to feel sore. I wasn't sure if this was related to the treatment but when I asked today they said it probably was.
In the last week I have found that I have really sore eyes. I thought that it may have been because I have a bit of a cold and so have not been sleeping brilliantly but they said it was also probably a side effect.... oh well - I guess I had to get something more happening sooner or later.....
My next round of treatment will be on the 10th August and I will be switching to Docetaxel (Taxotere®). I am told that due to the nature of the drug you need to start taking the anti nausea tabs the day before so that you have had 3 lots before you start. I was also told the first 2 treatments are likely to take 2 hours :o( as it is a drip style of treatment and as I have not felt too sick with FEC, I'm likely to be quite sick with this one. Oh... so much to look forward to!!!
I'm not going to worry about it... I'm just going to hope that I can prove to be the exception to the rule (after all they did say if you were very sick when pregnant - which I was for 8 months of it - then you will probably be very sick with FEC - which I haven't been).
Anyway.... tomorrow is another day - and it is one I'm looking forward to. I have a meeting booked in the morning to help me move forward with my dissertation (I heard another nightmare story today about a Port being requested and refused - I really hope my work will help change this dire situation!), I'm then going to see a friend for coffee and some lunch followed by a 'look good feel better' make up session back at the hospital in the afternoon.
http://www.lookgoodfeelbetter.co.uk/site/index.cfm
What a treat !!!!!
Noj
x
FormerMember
It's a fierce one, but quite liveable with (I did 6 months of it). In addition to the 3-day steroid course, I had the district nurse come round the day after each chemo for a (painless) anti-emetic injection in the stomach, and had no sickness whatsoever. For what it's worth, I consider myself lucky (hmmmm....) in that I had a visible tumour which literally melted away within a fortnight of starting docetaxel: no messing around. The only downsides were minor possible side-effects (check out the info on the cancerbackup site):
- about 2 "duvet days" [flu-like muscle pain] per cycle where I hunkered down with paracetemol and dvd's - could be worse...)
- acne attacks for 3-4 days per cycle, got rid of them with pills from the gp;
- stomach cramps, also sorted out with prescription pills.
All hail the Pacific Yew tree, source of this chemo. Please pm me if you want to talk about your course. Wishing you all the best for a successful and minimally disruptive treatment (I went on holiday twice on this course with no probs other than indigestion which was self-inflicted).
I'm not great when it comes to make up but I must say I enjoyed this class. Some of the 'instructors' hadn't made it but it was still well orchestrated. They give you a mixed bag of cleansers, moisturisers and makeup which is lovely and you then use them with instruction... which is great because you get top practice.
The hints and tips they give you are helpful - but obviously it is not rocket science. I guess what I liked best was actually being in the company of people who were making no judgements - we were just having a nice hour or two to ourselves.... It had not occurred to me in advance that this would be such a benefit - but it was. It was very relaxing and yes - I did leave with a spring in my step that wasn't so obvious before.
I really hope your partner enjoys it as much as I did.
Thanks for the low down on what to expect especially as the cancerbackup data seems very similar to the generic FEC fact sheet. I know we are all different but it is great to have some first hand experience shared.
I've got a cold at the moment and I think that made my recent FEC symptoms worse than before in terms of the flu-like muscle pain - I did actually spend a couple of days taking it very slowly which is a change from the previous two rounds.
I am being invited for a job interview soon and because the next round of chemo for me will be something new I'm going to try to arrange it for the day before I get my bloods done - that way I should be as well as I can be and I don't need to worry at all about side effects that I have not yet experienced!
It is good to know you got help from the GP when you needed it.... I might well be in touch when I'm going through the first round so that I can check what might be a symptom eg. if I got spotty I probably would have just thought I was having a hormonal bad skin day - now I'll know to be a bit more vigilant than that.
