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Cathy - living with breast cancer

CathyW
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Hi my name is Cathy I was diagonised with breast cancer in June of this year.  Quite a shock to me as my husband has had cancer (multiple myeloma) for the last 6 years and we have been dealing with that.  He has been going down hill since Christmas as he’s on dialysis 4 times weekly for the last 6 years lost the use of his kidneys though a stem cell transplant in 2012.  

Well anyhow I’ve been through surgery, and 3 cycles of chemo called EC just by chance googled my 4th cycle called Docetaxel (Taxotere) tonight and found this site.  The thing that caught my eye was chemotherapy and being scared.  I like other mothers on this site decided that I’m a rock and my family will see how brave I am, until now I have to admit I’m scared stiff of this 4th cycle tomorrow.  My first 3 cycles 21 days apart were not to bad, sick 1st time lost my hair after 10 days, 2nd time more nausea and indigestion, 3rd time really bad Indegestion for longer,  then took a reaction to the flu and pneumonia jab and ended in hospital on Iv anti biotics for 10 days.  I’ve recovered now and am due in tomorrow for the 4th cycle which is something completely different than the first 3.  I’m told it’s worse have to stay in for 6 hours observation then on the next day I start this injection that lasts for the whole  year every 21 days called  Herpectin (trastuzumab) I have to do 6 cycles altogether then the injection for the year.  I have to say the treatment I get at my local cancer unit is amazing feel so cared and looked after.  This is the first time I’ve tried talking to other patients on line hope you all feel as cared for like me, but can’t help feeling scared and trying to be brave so my children (all grown up) don’t see me so vulnerable.

  • I noticed no-one had replied to your post yet CathyW so I thought I'd quickly stop by and welcome to the Cancer Chat forum :)

    I'm sorry about your breast cancer diagnosis but I'm glad to see that for the most part you've been coping quite well with your treatment. I know you were a bit apprehensive about the 4th cycle of your Docetaxel so I just wanted to check how it went. Quite a few of our members have had this as well as herceptin and hopefully you'll hear about some of their experiences soon.

    In addition to some of our regular members such as [@Chriss]‍, [@Jolamine]‍ and [@TwinTwo]‍ a fair few of our breast cancer members can be found chatting regularly on 'the good and the bad' discussion so just click here if you'd like to have a look through and get involved.

    I hope this helps but if you have any questions about your cancer journey then do give our nurses a call on 0808 800 4040. Their phone lines are open Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m

    Kind regards, 

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

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    Hi there Kathy. .

    So sorry I missed your post, so thank you mod Steph for tagging me ... 

    Welcome to our little chat haven, where we can share all our thoughts and anything goes ... and different opinions too ... but one thing we all have in common is trying to kick cancers butt ... I've got a great tea shirt with a picture of a lass with pink boxing gloves on ... saying cancer touched my boob , so I'm kicking cancers *** ... love it ...

    Well there's lots of us breast lasses on here. . So your deff not alone .. trouble is this time of year, everyone is so busy, so there's not as many answers as normal ... l had a grade 3 breast cancer... and a masectomy July last year...  

    At first l did what you did ... l tried to to do things on my own, but I've been amazed just how sharing tears, hugs, and talking about feelings with loved ones, means wer all here holding on together ... and you know admitting wer all scared helps everyone to know it's o.k to feel like that .. they all held my hand through everything ... esp my son ... and I'll be forever thankfully I let them in ... and in saying everything, I found a strength I never dreamed I had .. 

    So any time you want a chat, I'm here most days ... so you get yourself a pair of vertual boxing gloves and get in the ring with us lot ... well get that cancer running scared ... Chrissie

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    Hi Cathy,

    Sorry I missed your post.  Thanks [@Moderator Steph]‍ for flagging it up to me.

    Totally get why treatment scares you, especially the change of chemo.  It's weird when you've had time (in my case 9 weeks of FEC) adjusting to it and just getting to grips with the symptoms, then it's all change again.

    You'll have had the 'T' (Docetaxel) now, how did it go?  I don't say this to scare you (as will become clear) but I had theoretically a very bad time on it, even though it didn't get me down.  However, I had a very, VERY easy run of the FEC (I had the F as well as the EC) and the nurses did tell me that having had an easy run of it there was more likelihood the T would hit me hard.  In saying that literally only 2 days of the 9 weeks were a struggle for me, overall my symptoms were debilitating but quite humorous in a sense.  The reverse is apparently true as well, so if you had a bad time on the EC you should cope better with the T, so you will hopefully do quite well on the T :-)

    One of the weirdest things about it is how it all looks like a long journey ahead of you with the chemo, and then in reality you blink and chemo is finished!

    Just an FYI, I lost my hair very quickly with the FEC too, it started growing back as soon as I started the T, I wrongly assumed it would be gone till all chemo was over.

    My mum's last breast cancer was HER-2 positive (mine isn't) and she did very well with the Herceptin.  She's coming up to 9 years all-clear.

    So sorry about your husband.  That must be so hard to deal with, especially now that you are going to be rundown by treatment too.  I hope you have a good support network and that you make use of charities in your area who can help you.

    Give us a shout and let us know how yesterday went, I really hope this is a good chemo for you.

    Best wishes,

    LJx

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