Chemotherapy - what days are the worst

I’m on adjuvant chemo post surgery for HER2+. My worst days are days 1 and 2, mainly because my sleep is impacted by the steroids so I don’t commit to much at all on those days

its a bit of a moot point for me as my employer told me I was going to be made redundant 2 weeks after I’d had my surgery (a whole different subject for debate!), but I’d be thoughtful about how much work is good for you. You will need a lot of energy for your recovery. Your oncologist will be able to advise you.

I’m having weekly treatment and there have been periods when I have been completely wiped out and reading on these forums I get the impression my treatment has gone pretty well

Good luck  Everyone finds the balance that is right for themselves 

Hi Skj01 

I think a lot will depend on what type of chemotherapy you have and how you react to it. A lot of people sail through but others are completely wiped out the whole time.

I started with 3 cycles of epirubicin and cyclophospamide, or EC for short, and fortunately got off fairly lightly. My main side effects were losing my hair and sense of taste. I had this once every 3 weeks and for the first 10 days I felt just a bit under the weather and slightly tired but for the rest of the 3 weeks I felt completely fine. However, I was retired and certainly wouldn't have felt up to working during the first 10 days.

After EC I then had 12 weeks of paclitaxel and just felt a bit tired for the first evening so could have worked, if I'd been working, during this time.

Hi

i had 6 infusions, first 3 were EC, given at 3 weekly intervals. The next 3 were docetaxel again at 3 weekly intervals. To begin with EC felt like a had a bad hangover for the first 3 days, ie slightly nauseous, headache and aches. Once that passed I felt relatively ok. I was given steroids to take for the 7 days after chemo so my appetite was enormous! The steroid crash on day 9 was awful. I felt weird, but then I felt much better and felt quite well in the days lading up to my next chemo. Docetaxel was a different beast altogether for me. I was fine for the first 4 days, then it took my breath away….almost literally. So breathless , racing heart , mouth ulcers, diarrhoea for 12 days, nosebleeds, oral thrush. Yuk. I had a dose reduction for chemo 5 and 6. The last 5 days before the next infusion were probably the best, but even then I did not feel totally well. Dose reduction helped a lot and my last session was not bad at all, side effects were reasonably mild compared to what they had been. It is really difficult as we are all different and respond differently. 

Hi SusanHB

Thanks for the advice. As it's all unknown at this time, I'll see what the treatment plan is on Monday.

Hi latchbook.

Thanks for the advice. 

Hi Lovely Louis

Wow  I take my hat off to you. You have been through the ringer. I must admit I hadn't thought about taking steroids, but I'll wait and see. 

Thank you everyone for you replies. It has given me food for thought and things to talk to my other half about.

Hi there, I worked throughout my chemo. I had 6 cycles of TCHP, every 3 weeks.  Days 4 and 5 were the worst for me, the steroids had worn off but the sickness was there then. In saying that, I worked from home and never took a full day off, but I worked very flexibly.   I did not schedule any calls until after 11am for the week after chemo, to give me a chance to sleep if I had a bad night.  I had chemo on a Thursday (I was thinking about weekend recovery like you) but thinking about it now, would have been even better on a Wednesday. Best wishes 

Hi Irishgirl6

That's very useful. I will be able to WFH and I hadn't thought about having a late start for calls but makes sense. 

Hi, I blogged throughout but you might find this one useful Chemo blog