Newbie

Hello,

Firstly welcome to the site although of course you'd rather be anywhere else. 

We all understand how you are feeling now....shock, confusion, information overload but it does get easier as you get a clearer picture of your treatment and how it is progressing.

Weekly treatments are very common nowadays. It enables the oncologist to regulate the drug dose better. This technique was just being introduced when I had chemo in early 2016. The advantage is that the body reacts less violently to the smaller doses. The Taxotere drug can cause a number of problems which can take a while to disappear. Having it weekly means they are much less likely to develop in the beginning. It will make the treatment seem more manageable. So, actually, you will probably benefit from the regime you have been given rather than suffer from the frequency.  

I had triple negative tumours also. It is often necessary to have both chemo and radiotherapy because there is no future treatment. Having chemo first will probably shrink the tumour. A friend of mine had a mastectomy planned after the chemo but the shrinkage enabled her to have a lumpectomy.  In my case although there were three tumours, they were small so they were removed first. Everyone is different and treatments are more individual these days. Side effects will vary too. No one can predict how you will react but the fact is that many breast cancers are sucessfully treated now. You may hear the sad stories of the less sucessful on the media but these numbers are relatively small. Most people ( and there were 60,000 diagnosed last year) do recover and disappear, returning back into their previous lives.

I wish you well. Don't google your treatment. It's  notoriously inaccurate. Keep in touch. There is usually someone around to attempt to answer your questions or simply listen if you need to express your feelings. There is an Awake thread for chatting, day and night and a monthly chemo club....October at present....where you will find lots of people having chemo , some just beginning like yourself, others nearly finished who will empathise and advise.

Take care. Stay safe.

Love Karen

Thank you so much for your help. I actually thought I would be having the same strength chemo every week. These help forums are invaluable. 

You really have put my mind at rest. I hope I can be of some help to somebody once I'm on my journey with experiences behind me. 

Very kind regards fellow cancer warrior. 

We have all got this! 

Xx