hello lovely community
I have three questions , pls feel free to reply to none , one or all of them!
I started EC yesterday and so far I don’t feel nauseous but I do feel a very strong ache / pain on my left side of my ribs. And yes the pee is definitely red! Ive been awake since 2.45 am so the steroids are already kicking in.. My cycle is every two weeks but everything i have read suggests 3 weeks is more usual which would give me more time to recover. I didn’t have time to recover with my previous chemo regime so im thinking of asking if I can move it to three weeks. Any thoughts? Any general advice for EC much appreciated too ;)
Docetaxel - I have completed 3 rounds of docetaxel , 3 weeks for each round. I was supposed to do four but I just wasn’t well enough and couldn’t get out of bed. The third round completely wiped me out and my oncologist gave me a five week break from Chemo until taking EC yesterday. On doxe I never experienced the third week peak, infact it was often worse than the second week, and so by the time third round came I was shattered. My muscles burned so much I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without feeling totally breathless and I had to get a wheelchair to my appointments. Am feeling so much better 5 weeks on but still fatigued and hoping that I will recover appropriately from EC. Just wondering if others experienced this level of toxicity and any advice on how to become stronger again? Am worried that EC will just wipe me out again
breast reconstruction: I had diep flap surgery in June , came out with drain . Had a further surgery in July for necrosis. The team said I should be fully healed by September. But I’m wondering what fully healed means!! I still have painful cording , the 'Breast’ is lumpy -especially on the left side and it feels like I have a pair of socks stuffed in my armpit. I also had my sentinel lymph node removed so it’s probably that as it’s painful and sensitive there too even if I’m just lying still. I was prescribed gaberpentin last week so hopefully that will stop some of the nerve pain and mean that at least I don’t have to sleep like Dracula in a coffin for the rest of my days. It’s also still a lot bigger than my right breast which was reduced and although I’m hoping fat necrosis and radiotherapy will reduce it further I’m just thinking that at the moment it looks and feels like a fat pancake and certainly not part of my body and I certainly don’t feel like I’m ‘fully healed’! I know I’m only 5 months post surgery but I’d be really interested to hear from others who have had a reconstruction and whether or not I’m just being too impatient.
I have a wonderful network of family, friends, community andI feel very lucky in that respect.. I just feel at times that this is so overwhelming and just as you get a little better with one thing another comes along and I’d like to find ways of becoming more resilient not less..Reminds me of that game whack-a-mole
So these are my EC-laced thoughts in the middle of the night , thankyou for reading and hope you are feeling that you can cope with whatever you are dealing with at this time
Cx
