Hello

Hi. Whilst I don't have lobular, i had a 6cm tumour removed by mastectomy (January this year) and full lymph clearance under same op (14 removed with 8 effected and extra capsule spread). I had chemo in March til June and now onto radiotherapy til August. Usual hormone meds after that. Apart from yr op gave you not been given a treatment plan? Good luck.

meeting with oncology later this week.All 32 nodes removed of which 19 were positive and somewhat large. What a journey eh. Anything you’d advise for the chemo or wish you’d known beforehand. Is starving a good idea? I’ve had radiation for b/c other side last year. This pleomorphic was a new one! 

Hi Cicely24, sorry you're going through this and that you're still waiting for your treatment plan.

I just wanted to say that when I was going through chemo, I read various people suggesting starving beforehand and I personally don't think it is a very good idea. Chemo is so tough on your body you really want to be giving it a lot of nutrients so that it can repair. As you go through your cycles it becomes harder to recover and you really want to stick to your treatment plan dates rather than having any delays because you're bloods aren't recovered enough or you're not well.

The side effects aren't great, but you will have your own reaction to it and as my oncologist said, the side effects show that it is having an effect - which means it is destroying those cancer cells as well as your own.  If you try and stop the side effects from happening in the first place (I think this is what staring aims to do), then it seems like you're stopping the chemo have such an effect.

Most side effects can be managed with other meds (also drinking plenty of water and trying to go for a walk every day).  It does seem like you're spending your life taking a lot of different things to counteract the original thing that you took, but you get through it and your body returns to normal.

I found chemo tough but I bounced back relatively quickly and I attribute that to forcing myself to eat healthily throughout. You don't always want to eat so sometimes eating and drinking anything is better than nothing, or having a little bit, but I don't think starving your body when it needs fuel to repair more than ever, is a good idea.

I'm not medically trained so maybe one to ask your oncologist.

Hello Beatthebreast

So sorry for my late reply but wanted to say thank you for replying.  The oncologist agreed with your view that it’s better to have a healthy diet throughout. Assuming my next 3 scans are ok, I will start chemo on 10th which I’m glad about as because of healing delays I was beginning to feel I was in egg timer with the salt rapidly slipping away. All sorted now. the NHS staff are so so good. I can’t thank them enough. 

I’m jumping on this thread because I will probably be having preventative chemo, speaking to oncologist next week to find out more……had mastectomy 4 weeks ago and thought hormone meds would follow, but following oncotype result now chemo suggested…..so, starting to feel a bit anxious about that….so it’s handy to read of other people’s experiences and suggestions.

Good wishes to all x