Hello Flossyanne,

Welcome to Cancer Chat and I'm sure members in a similar situation can reach out to you.

If you'd like more information on the side effects of cancer drugs and advice on coping, you can look here

I hope this helps,

Moderator Anastasia

My husband was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer last October 2023. He was give chemotherapy Paclitaxel and Carboplatin for 4 cycles every 3 weeks. The tumour started to shrink and he was doing really well, then the oncologist decided to put him on Immune therapy every 6 weeks. After 4 sessions he got inflammation and blood clots on both lungs so they had to stop the immune therapy.
what they didn’t tell us is that sometimes immmune therapy can cause this inflammation on a good percentage of people.  they put him on a high dose of steroids 16 a day to get rid of this inflammation. After suffering really bad side effects coming off the steroids for 8 days being sick and shaking (like a drug addict) they Have now after 6 months started a different chemotherapy called Docetaxel which is a strong one and at the moment he is bedridden and feeling very sick after just one session.  Has anyone else gone through this or is going through this treatment.? He has tried to remain positive but his mental health is declining now as the treatment does state that this can cause suicidal thoughts. I do my utmost best to keep him positive at all times and I often cry alone outside so that he doesn’t hear me. It’s hard and I feel very isolated all the time as my family lives 500 miles away and people who are my neighbours seem to have turned their backs on us and don’t keep in touch anymore. Please stay strong and know that other people are having the same emotions and try to stay positive.  Love and healing to you x

hey, Flossyanne, yes,  hit me this week, been going strong but after 4 cycles of the same I feel very low, considering counselling, lost my partner to cancer 2 yrs ago so live on my own, very lonely journey x

Hi, thanks so much for sharing your experiences, please don’t feel you have to struggle alone, apparently McMillan can support partners as well as patients. Reach out to every support group you can before it consumes you.

stay strong and stay in touch if it helps

x

I am so sorry to hear you are experiencing similar to me, I wish I had reached out for mental support right back when I started to struggle but I was always taught to pull my socks up and get on with things! and I unfortunately left it too long so seek help.

please dont be afraid to reach out for help now, Gp, and McMillan can be great places to start.

stay in touch if this helps

very best wishes and good luck

x

Thankyou. I probably will, so how did you get on mentally? More importantly, how’s your Cancer journey? Whereabouts are you up to now if you don’t mind me asking? How are you feeling? Sending love and support and positive vibes to you Xx

Hi again, I finished my treatment at the end of august last year after having 15 months of treatment, chemo & immunotherapy, op,  radiotherapy then extra immunotherapy. I have suffered with mental instability probably starting from 7 months into treatment and now I’ve reached a point where some days I don’t know how to carry on but can find strength to be me on other days, I am currently free of cancer which is amazing but that makes it harder to understand my mental state.

what have you got left in way of treatment?
Feel free to share if it helps.

sending huge buckets of support and very very best wishes 

Hi there, understand totally mine (very low mood) was out of the blue and unexpected. I wonder if it’s the side effects of all the cyto toxic drugs, you know a chemical reaction, because like you on the face of it I feel okay, but my brain well-being says otherwise it’s quite different from depression ive felt before it’s like I can see myself from outside looking in it is yours the same? I’m four months in just finished my fourth cycle of Carboplatin  and Paclitaxel every week. 3 weekly cycle. It’s been exhausting and I move onto epirubicin and cyclophosphamide Next for another four cycles and then surgery in May,  I’m hoping only a lumpectomy and then they say or chemo and radiotherapy because it’s triple negative I’m terrified of it spreading and coming back. Apparently the statistics are high? Thats my biggest fear. 
looks like I’ve got a long way to go yet, they haven’t been very specific about what follows surgery - I don’t understand, I suppose it depends on what they find - did you have lumpectomy or mastectomy and also the other thing is they haven’t actually staged me which I find concerning just graded me. I’m grade 3. But like you some days, I feel quite upbeat positive and able to look forward and on other days I feel quite frozen with fear I like I don’t know how to live anymore. So big pathetic and weird when I’m actually actually quite an optimistic and positive person. But I have no support having lost my partner and no supportive  family, so it’s all a bit weird.

So nice to meet you, Thank you so much for your replies. Feels like us triple negative breast cancer ladies are fewer and far between xxx

Oh my goodness, totally feeling what you’re going through and so similar to me, I was grade 3 triple negative, had right mastectomy and auxiliary lymph node clearance where they found that my 10cm tumour had shrunk to 3 cm and all my lymph nodes were cancer free following  the chemo immuno. They followed it up with radiotherapy and further immunotherapy, hopefully providing my best chance of staying cancer free. 

Like you I’ve always been a really positive person, able to cope with everything that’s been thrown at me but, like you, out of the blue some days I feel suicidal yet other days I feel like me again, apart from the side effects that remain, dizziness, hands have sensitivity to cold water and I constantly need a hot water bottle for my feet! I also have altered sensitivity to light and sound and very pretty blue light flashes from my right eye and infrequent white from my left both peripherally, this is becoming less with time though.

i haven’t had the out of body experience but I have had memory loss when I’ve switched into crazy lady mode! Which is such a new thing for me and quite scary.

im so glad you’ve reached out to me, please stay in touch, I might not always be able to respond immediately but I will as soon as I can.

let’s beat this, and find the strength to come through stronger than before

sending a huge hug 

x