Breathlessness during chemo

Hi there.

Sorry to hear your wife is going through this crap again. But welcome to the site, and hope you find all the support you need.

The short answer is, it depends. Which chemo is she having? If (F)EC, a degree of breathlessness is normal. But if she can't make it up the stairs for eg, then a call to your chemo line ASAP. If she is having any chest pain with it, please take her to A&E. No point taking any chances.

As for dealing with it. Break the day, and even tasks, into small chunks. Rest often. I worked full time, driving around servicing burglar alarms. But I had to take frequent coffee breaks, and quickly worked out routes that included garages with loos and coffee!!

On the good days, she should be careful not to overdo things trying to catch up - it bites back!!

Whenever the weather allows, slow gentle strolls outdoors can be very beneficial.

Hang in there mate, your wife has a good un in you!!

Hugs xx

Very sensible advice from toxophilite there. 

I would also say - is your wife on the steroid dexamethosone (not sure that is spelt right!) ? I was on it for a bit and it caused my breathlessness and cough (I have lung secondaries, so have these issues anyway!) to get much worse! My oncologist wan't convinced it was the caused but when I changed steroid, the problem improved immensely! I've just looked to see if this is an established side effect as I'm sure I have seen it written somewhere, but can't find it now!  

Might be running it past your wife's chemo team just in case. 

Wishing her (and you) all the best for the rest of her treatment!