Breast cancer / 6 month Chemotherapy

Hi Gillp,

Sorry to hear you have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The chemotherapy regime is tailored to each person.So impossible to sat sorry how many infusions etc you will recieve.I have triple negative breast cancer. So my regime is 6 months chemotherapy, operation then radiotherapy.I have 12 infusions of Abraxane on a weekly basis then carboplatin and immunotherapy on a 3 weekly basis.I will then have 4 treatments of EC 3 weekly,better know as the red devil,due to its colour.My experience so far is I started losing my hair after the second chemotherapy infusion.I chose not to cold cap. I'm now going for my 9th infusion and apart from some fluff my hair is fully gone.Side effects,nausea but anti sickness has sorted that,no sickness.I still walk my dogs each day for half hour.Sleep is so so part steroids you are given and part having to come off HRT so flushes. More fatigue as time has gone on but still managble.I wish you all the best on your treatment and remember always speak with your oncologist if you have any side effects.They are great with trying to minimise these with medication xx

The frequency depends on the type of chemo and on factors that are unique to each of us. 

Depending on the type of chemo and on our own bodies, some of us lose all hair, some of us lose no hair at all. 

Feeling sick is quite common, but again, not everyone experiences that.

There is no way to know for sure how long your own personal piece of string is, so to speak, until you experience it, but once you do, you know where you stand, which for a lot of us is a relief in that it takes away a good portion of the unknown. 

On a personal note, I've had two different types of chemo, and they were different in how they affected my body. One effect I was not expecting was that my preferences in food and drink changed completely. For instance, for the entire time I was on chemo I could not tolerate coffee, and coffee is normally a favourite drink for me. Once chemo was over, it took a while, but I am now back on my favourite drink.

Back to your questions: make a list of everything you need to know, and ask these questions next time you see your oncologist. They will be able to answer a good portion of it, although they too would not be able to say for sure whether or not there would be hair loss, but they would be able to say how most patients respond.

Thankyou so much, this is really helpful. I wish you all the best with your ongoing treatments.

Very helpful. Thankyou so much. Wishing you well, and continue to enjoy coffee ️ 

I’m having 4 x EC then paclitaxel x 4. I had EC three weekly and will have paclitaxel every 2 weeks. I found I felt nauseous on the day and evening and stomach cramps, constipation and fatigue which worsened as I had more cycles. I’m cold capping and started to shed around day 26 and have lost about 50% so far. 

Thanks for your honest response.