Starting Chemo 2020 January

I am starting chemo on Monday, January 6. TCH. I’m looking forward to chatting with others who are going through chemo at the same time.

I start chemotherapy on Jan 14, 2020. I am terrified. I suffer from anxiety to begin with, so this is really adding to it. It’s the what if’s and the unknowns of the side effects. I had a lumpectomy on my left breast, stage 1 and removal of calcifications on right breast stage 0. One week after surgery, I had radiation (savi) 2x a day for 5 days. We thought that was the only treatment needed until the results from the Oncotype DX test came back. My recurrence number was in the high range. The oncologist wants me to have 4 treatments every 21 days. It’s the unknown that scares me so much. I know everyone’s cancer, treatment and side effects are different. I look forward to learning and sharing with all of you. I pray for strength, comfort an peace during this time for all of us.

Sunrisefish,

Thank you for your support and encouragement. It means so much to me. I’ve been checking out some of the earlier threads and taking notes I see the oncologist tomorrow and have more questions since reading others experiences.

My worst fear is the nausea and vomiting. That’s actually a phobia of mine, so it makes this even worse for me I’ve been dwelling on it. I shared this with the oncologist. She is going to run an anti nausea drip the day of my chemo and called in anti nausea medication. My treatment is Taxotere and Cytoxan. The day after I have to get the shot of Neulasta. In speaking with others, that shot is what gives the bad joint pain. They recommended me taking a Claritin the day of the shot. Some people said it helped, others said it didn’t

The three meds she called in are Dexamethasone, prochlorperazine and ondansetron. I know one is a steroid, that I take the day before, the day of and the day after. The other two are for the nausea. Are you familiar with these meds? I’m someone that doesn’t take meds other than a multi vitamin and vitamin D My primary physician called me in a low dose of Xanax when I was diagnosed to help me sleep since my anxiety was over the top.

Thank you again.

Tallbev, so sorry you're going through this all without health insurance! I know it's all very overwhelming and confusing at this point, not knowing yet all the details of your disease or lingo everyone uses on this forum.

Because you're hormone positive and HER2+, that makes you "triple positive" (I am too) and I HIGHLY recommend you also join the triple positive group here, as many of the regulars there (like SpecialK) have been around for years and are HIGHLY knowledgeable and helpful.

As far as what stage you are, you won't know a pathological stage until surgery reveals exactly what's going on in there, but a medical oncologist can give you a "clinical stage" based on size of main tumor and how much it has spread within lymph nodes or elsewhere, after other scans like MRIs take place. Staging can be complicated, but this site has a great page explaining it

https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/st... And be sure to check out the other info available here, there are moderator-provided links in the "just diagnosed" that can help guide you.

The Dr who is being so generous with you, are they a medical oncologist? Do they have a plan for treatment and have they explained the process of where you go from here? I'm assuming they've decided on neoadjuvant (pre-surgery) chemo for you since you started this Jan surgery group. Feel free to private message me with any questions- I also am triple positive and had a larger tumor with lymph nodes involved.

Good luck with chemo everyone! I finished neoadjuvant chemo at the end of Nov, and it can be hard, but you'll get through it!

I am on day 3 now after the first infusion. I am feeling pretty normal still. I am i am heading to work and plan to go to the gym this afternoon. I did not get the Neulasta because the oncologist said my blood count was very high and he thought it wouldn't be necessary. I'm thankful and hope that it was a good decision.

So far the worst is the steroids. I gained 7 pounds in the first two days of taking them but have lost 2 so I am hopeful. My blood sugar is up too but I can adjust my meds for that. I started feeling a little nauseated last night so I am taking the anti-nausea pills they gave me.

Bottom line: so far this is very doable. I hope and pray that it continues like this and that each and every one of you has as good as experience or better!

My understanding is that the steroids increase your appetite and cause you to retain water which both will affect your weight. I haven't had too much trouble sleeping but then, sleeping is my superpower, lol. I do seem to wake up at about 4 every morning and stay awake for a couple of hours. I attribute that to the steroids.

The chemo effects did hit me last night. I went to the gym and just walked on the track. After 25 min I started feeling hot and weak so i left. I got something to eat then laid on the couch and slept. I was sooo cold! The night was kind of rough. Nausea, cold, and just blah feeling. I had weird dreams about feeling bad. Feeling better this morning but I am going to take it easy on me today.

I hope that Jlue is doing ok and will soon let us know how it is going for her.

Bkerber - sending lots of good thoughts! You've got this! You are a week a head of me.

Hello All,

Starting TCHP this week. Any tips would be helpful..... Thank you.

Days are up and down. The worst so far was the constipation (fixed) and the mouth pain. Swallowing is horribly painful. My doctor called in a numbing rinse that is amazing. It has xylocaine, benedryl, and maalox. I gives me peace and a feeling of normalcy.

Welcome to melmcbee and g123!

bkerber the mouth issue started in my throat I think. I had a sore throat all along but that is normal for me (allergies/sinus). It turned not normal on Day 7. The pain in my throat was much worse and the top of my mouth, under my tongue, and sides of my tongue felt like fire when I tried to swallow. Day 9 I started running a low fever and when it got to 100.5 on Wed I called the doctor. They have given my antibiotics and I do feel a bit better today.

I do the rinses and have from the start but I wasn't faithful in doing them after every meal. That may have prevented this. I am glad to see we are getting the same information.

To all of us: Take care of YOU!!

Morning of day 3. I did not sleep too well last night. Killer sinus headache. My brain feels a bit foggy this morning. My Leunasta shot went off yesterday so we shall see how the aches go. I have been taking the claritin and advil so I hope it at least helps. I can only take it once a day, so Im going to fill in with my regular 4 hour sinus medication which I need most every day anyway. I did notice last night that food was starting to already taste a bit blander than normal. Maybe a good thing because I am quite puffy. Had to take my rings off just in case. I am drinking a lot of water and peeing it out, so hopefully it will taper off soon.
Thank you all for keeping us posted on your progress. It helps to know what is normal and what isnt.
Take care.

I had not had a flu shot and asked if I should get one. They said if I wanted to get one they could give it when I came in for my infusion.

Hi, I am popping in to let people new to chemo know how much a brief semi fast or fast can help to reduce SEs from chemo. The doctor who has developed this is Dr Valter Longo at USC. There are human trials happening now. But in mice, the uptake of chemo was better after fasting. A brief fast tells your healthy cals to hunker down and makes your cancer cells very "hungry" right before the chemo hits.

For me my worst SE was constipation, and having very little food going into chemo day helped enormously.

The basic gist of the Fasting Mimicking diet is 5 days, 1200 cals the first day and 800 for days 2-5. Day 3 is chemo day. The foods you are allowed to eat is about 1/2 fat, 1/2 carbs, and a small amount (10% of day's calories) protein. What this looks like are 3 250-350 calorie "meals," Largely salads, bone broth, veggies, nuts, light soups.... and one small piece of fish or hard boiled egg as the "protein."

If you prefer, 3 days of water fast works the same way, with chemo day as the middle day. I found the light eating for 5 days a lot easier.

I had a consult from an Integrative MO who had me on a very clean diet, an exercise program including interval training, and other measures. There are things we can all do that improve the SEs and possibly even the outcome of chemo.

Wishing all the best to everyone on this thread! Keep walking, keep resting, and keep showing up. You will be out of these woods soon!