I saw a pharmacist practitioner today (as my doctor was fully booked up) and he was really helpful.
I told him that the nausea had continued for a long time last cycle and he is going to get me two more kinds of anti-emitic (levomepromazine and cyclizine) to try in addition to the other three (metaclopramide, ondansetron and aprepitant). He said 'play with them' and see what works best! I was previously taking the anti-emetics just long enough to get through the wretching stage (3-4 days), but this time I think I'll take them for longer, and try these new ones, to help me cope a bit better generally.
I also asked him about the next stage of chemo as this is the last FEC dose and cycle 4 will be docetaxel. The good news is that nausea is not nearly as bad with docetaxel, normally. Also my veins shouldn't react so badly either without the epirubicin. (My left arm has been painful ever since cycle 2 because the epirubicin has damaged the veins.) Docetaxel does cause aches and pains and taste changes, however.
Herceptin treatment starts the day before cycle 4 too. I was under the impression that my first dose would be an infusion over 6 hours, but this is not the case. It is a single subcutaneous injection in my thigh and I just have to stay in for 6 hours to be observed. Adverse reactions are very rare, so hopefully the worst thing about this is that it will be boring!
The children came with me to this appointment. I was glad to be able to show them the hospital and involve them a bit and they were interested in everything, and good as gold, even when we had quite a wait to get my bloods done. (Worked in a bit of maths with the girls working out how many turns we had to wait until number 122 came up :-) )
