Hi everyone
I have been diagnosed with TNBC and had my first chemotherapy of FEC , which is a combination of 5-Flourouracil, Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide . Just wanted to share how to be more prepared.
The process itself is not scary at all. It’s just like having a prolonged intravenous injection. The nurses are brilliant and well trained and they take good care of you during the whole session. Make sure before you leave, you ask them to give you anti emetics oral and injectable , pain killers, constipation relief medicine, mouth washes, antiacid medicines and anti-diarrhoeals.
Once you are home, start your meds straight away as nausea can start quite quickly. I had a banging headache for the first 24 hours which was relieved by taking the Dexmethasone tablet , but this tablet can cause acid reflux and I had pain in the pit of my stomach radiating to my back, so do take antacids with Dexamethasone. The taste of my mouth changed and I had sores / ulcers both in mouth and throat. Benzydamine mouthwash helps in this case. Rinse and gargle and use Bonjela gel if needed. Drink lots of cold juices, water, ice cream whatever you feel like in the first 24 hours. If you are having acidity avoid orange juice. Rest and sleep as much as you want to. Listen to your body and you will know when to rest.
I hope and pray that everyone going through this process heals completely and has a complete recovery. Good luck.
Hi TNBC50
Thanks very much for taking the time to write such a detailed account of your experience with chemotherapy. I'm sure lots of others will find it very useful.
You might also like to post it in this month's chemotherapy thread in the main breast cancer group. If you'd like to do this you'd need to join the group first and post to the thread. I've created links to both the group and the thread.
When you have a minute, it would be great if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
All the best
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
