EC & Docetaxel

Hi Hartley

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with breast cancer and that you need chemo.  In answer to your first question the 29th of August should be ok for you to get your bloods done.  As regards side effects they tend not to be too bad, you will be given medication to take to help with any side effects you may have so as long as you feel well enough you can work during chemo.  You will be given anti-sickness meds before your infusion and you will probably have to take steroids for 3 days after chemo so you should be ok for the first 3 days. After that you may or may not feel sick. You can do what's called cold capping to preserve your hair but it doesn't always work and it adds extra time on to your chemo cycle.

Drink plenty of fluids as that can help prevent side effects and continue to exercise everyday if you can even if only for a short while.  If you feel really unwell make sure that you ring one of the numbers they will give you as your oncologist can then adjust your medication and or chemo dose.  Make sure that you bring something to keep yourself occupied while on the chemo ward like a good book or a puzzle.  You could also download something to watch on your tablet, just make sure you bring headphones with you. Bring some snacks with you in case you get hungry during your chemo session particularly if you are going to be there over lunchtime.  Bring a bottle of water with you to drink while having chemo

Wishing you the best of luck with your treatment and hopefully the side effects will be kind to you.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Hartley, I too had EC and Docetaxel. My bloods we taken on the day I had chemo and I waited an hour or so then saw my oncologist when he had the results. All hospitals are different and a few days before treatment should not be a problem. 
Everyone is different on side effects, there doesn’t seem to be a standard. Keep a diary so after each treatment you can log how you feel. It will give you a good guide to how you feel and when you find you have your good days. I didn’t start back to work until my 3rd cycle of EC when I knew more how I would feel. I then found on docetaxel I had a week off after treatment then went back to work for 2 weeks before the next cycle. Anti sickness meds and steroids will be given. Take these as prescribed and don’t wait with the anti sickness meds until you feel sick, take them regularly as per timings given. If you find you still feel sick let you chemo nurses know and they can make a change to these and try some other meds. I didn’t feel sick and took meds at set times to help prevent it. 
EC is the harsh one for hair loss. I lost about 80% even with scalp cooling cap. Everyone is different and some don’t loose any on EC some loose a bit, some loose a lot and some loose all. There is no way of telling who will or won’t loose hair and who will be the lucky ones. The scalp cooling cap although yes it’s cold and the first 10mins are the hardest if you can persevere with it it will help protect the hair follicles and help with regrowth. If you don’t use it on your first cycle you won’t be able to use it later. You can always try and if it’s not for you you can just stop. It is a very personal preference and everyone has to make their own decision. I’m glad I persevered, I finished my chemo end April and now have a good covering of about 2cms all over. It does add some extra time to treatment as you have to start it about half an hour before then continue for about an hour after on EC. It is less for Docetaxel. 
My husband always took me and on chemo days we would right the whole day off  to chemo as it would take as long as it took. Some days were quicker than others depending on staff and quickness of pharmacy to get chemo drugs ready. 
If you click on my name you can read my journey so far. 
Wishing you all the best.

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Hi. In answer to going to work if you can't work from home then I wouldn't think your oncologist would be happy you going to work from an infection risk point of view. My oncologist only supported me working on condition it was from home. I felt surprisingly good through my chemo and was able to work reduced hours throughout. Work were incredibly supportive and if I hadn't felt well I could of called sick no problem at all. I was quite lucky my chemo was generally on a Friday so I had the weekend to rest. And I certainly didn't work on day of chemo itself when chemo was in the morning. 

As regards side effects and hair loss I agree with what others have said. Definitely if you can give cold capping a go. I did and while I couldn't cope with side effects of additional nausea and headache and gave up after 2 and a bit cycles I don't in anyway regret trying it. I've lost my hair but it's already back enough that I am confident enough to go out with no headscarf. 

And don't forget you have your red card team as well to help with queries, if you feel rough or your temperature goes above 37.5 (some say 38 but my team always said 37 .5). Best piece of advice nursing sisters gave me at my welcome to chemo unit appointment was if you feel so rough that you can't get out of bed then call red card team. Couple of times I did they referred me to hospital for additional blood tests. One time they showed I had sepsis even though my temp hadn't reached 38 so I was admitted to hospital the next time they flagged I had parainfluenza - didn't get admitted but had antibiotics at home.

The other piece of advice I would give is make sure if your go or breast nurse team try to give you antibiotics make sure you tell them what medication you are on at home to combat chemo side effects and make sure they check they are compatible with your meds. My team didn't check only asked if I had allergies. I took antibiotics home and decided out of interest to check them out on NHS website. The antibiotics could of interacted with my anti sickness meds causing heart palpitations. So red card team had to sort different anti sickness meds. 

Hope all goes ok xxx

Hi, Thank you so so much for your words of wisdom!

I really appreciate you taking the time to help!

Take care xxxx

Hi, Thank you so very much for your words, and for taking the time to reply!

I did read your journey, and I was very moved by it. I am so sorry that you have had so much to go through.

Your positivity shines through and I sincerely hope that you have the strength to keep on keeping on!

Take care

Lisa x

Hi

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, I really do appreciate all of your advice and words of wisdom!

I hope you too continue to stay well

Take care

Lisa x

Hi Hartley

i am sorry you find yourself here. 

From my experience

1. Bloods probably need to be closer to your appointment - my hospital requires them to be no more than 48 hours old. If they are older, they might not show a recent infection, equally your blood counts may not have had enough time to recover from the previous chemo (particularly important with weekly chemo, which I realise you are not having). I normally get mine done the day before treatment. 
2. I think everyone is different but whilst I was/am able to work, I would have found it hard to work full time and commute. If you can work reduced hours and/or work from home, it will be easier. If your job is desk based rather than on your feet, it will be easier. The cycles will have a pattern, so after the first time through on each drug, you will know broadly what to expect when, and work around that. 
3. I have never experienced nausea or sickness, it’s not a given. Many people recommend taking the antisickness tablets even if you don’t feel sick. I would caution against that, in the absence of feeling sick or previously having had problems, as the tablets can lead to constipation,  
4. If you are not cold capping, hair loss is pretty well inevitable on EC as it kills off fast growing cells. With cold cap some retain some, if you look up the Paxman literature online it has stats for different hair types and chemo drugs. Cold capping didn’t work for me. 

wishing you all the best. 

Hi, I am on same treatment, 3 cycles each, I have my bloods done 2 days before treatment, the hospital I have mine done at automatically send me appointments for my picc line flush and bloods so I don't have to book it myself. The side effects I have had is nausea and tiredness, on some occasions dizziness but normally if I have taken long walks, I have done cold capping and have lost about 50 percent of hair, mine was long and thick so has thinned so no bald patches as yet. Regarding work I work reduced hours, I don't work the rest of the week I have treatment on or the week after as they say that's the worse week and blood cells can be low and more prone to picking up infections, I work the week after and the couple of days before my chemo day. I do find.working can make me feel really tired after but I work in retail and on my feet all day.

Gosh you are doing well being able to work in retail. My oncologist told me I could only work through chemo if it was work from home.  However I'm lucky my work give us six months full pay sickness as a minimum so I have been able to work from home but reduced hours 

Yes my consultant said as long as I'm feeling able I can, so have learnt chemo week and week after I don't and then I work the week after that then chemo starts over again. I do get company sick pay but by working them odd weeks will extend it and have told them to still pay me holiday pay where I have booked them as I will lose them and again it prolongs the sick pay x