Oncologist appointment tomorrow - what questions should I ask?

After being diagnosed on 18th January and going through all the various test, I finally get to see the oncologist tomorrow. Would like to hear from anyone who has any suggestions about what questions would be good to ask. 

Also what are your experiences of how long it took for treatment to start after first oncology appointment. As my breast cancer is grade 3 and fast growing, I'm worried about it spreading, before my treatment even gets started. 

Was it suggested you have a PICC line or port?

  • Oh good luck for Friday and will be keeping everything crossed that your liver is playing ball, If not maybe they'll just reduce your dose a little or push it back a week to give your liver time to recover a little. They said to me they would be surprised if there wasn't a week or two when they had to delay by a week so although frustrating i think it's very common. Let us know how it goes on Friday

    My hair has been totally intact...but i would say today is the first day i've noticed a few more strands coming away..barely notieable but wonder if it's the start of something more drastic??

    Yes was up early...actually worrying about my dog as she ate an Easter Egg yesterday while my husband came to collect me from the hospital. She woke up at 3am pacing around and retching so I had to watch her..needless to say didn't get much sleep after that but more because of the dog rather than the chemo and steroids...she seems to be ok today though and acting pretty normally amazingly, took her out for a nice long walk and she's been eating and behaving normally...assuming she has a stomach of steel...hope she's ok.

    Not feeling so nauseous with the TC vs the EC i had last week so really hoping that lasts..just the weird taste in my mouth and my food tastes pretty odd! Tired and a bit jaded today but have been up and about and cooking and ferrying my kids around so doing ok so far!...start my injections tomorrow though..dont' like those!

    Hope you had a good day today! xx

  • So glad to hear that you're doing so well regarding your hair. Finger's crossed any loss will be minimal. I have a friend who's hair only thinned a little while using the cold cap. Very unfortunate that your dog eat an easter egg, hope she'll be OK. It's good to gear that you feel less nauseous on the TC, hope the injections don't give you too much trouble this time. Xx

  • Offline in reply to Pippin24

    I hope you’ve had a wonderful time with your daughter and grandkids. Time is so precious.  I’m very excited as my first granddaughter is due end of May.   The hair loss is not too bad.  It slowed stopped shedding around time of second treatment.  2 weeks on its shedding a bit again. I guess this will the pattern. Whilst it has thinned I still have a full bed of hair - no bald patches yet.  I bought a curly hair piece that I clip on as previously I wore my hair up a lot so it seems quite natural.  Equally hair on my arms etc started to regrow between treatments 

    my consultant advised I may find my hair grows again when on Docetaxel so we will see

    either way I’ll continue with cold cap as so far working for me.  

    goid luck tomorrow with bloods.   Keeping everything crossed things go smoothly for your next treatment.

    xxx  

  • Offline in reply to Greeny80

    Morning Greeny 

    how is your dog doing ?   They are as much a worry as children at times eh ? 
    hope you continue to do well with minimum side effects xxx 

  • Offline in reply to NGS

    Hi NGS, yesterday was such a lovely day, it makes me so happy to have them around. Congratulations on the upcoming arrival of your granddaughter, so lovely to have something to look forward to. So pleased for you that the cold cap seems to be working for you. Hopefully that will continue for the rest of your treatment. Interesting that the consultant has said hair can start to regrow when on docetaxel, hope this is the case. I lost a little more hair this cycle, but not much so far. Although, I only have a fine covering now, as lost a lot on first cycle. I still have arm and leg hair at the moment. I stopped bothering to shave legs thinking it was going to fall out, but it hasn't lol! Also still have eyebrows and eyelashes at the moment. Good luck to you also next week, hope all goes well  xx

  • Offline in reply to NGS

    Ah she's doing ok thanks, thanks for asking...eating and behaving normally so clearly she has a stomach of steel...but yes you're so right, just as much worry as the kids!! There's always something or someone to worry about!! But i guess i should be grateful for that alone!

    Ah that's so lovely about your first grandchild about to enter the world! Lovely, happy news!...and yes something lovely look forward to and hopefully distract you a little from your treatment. Good that you're not losing too much hair..i have also heard that Docetaxol might not cause hair loss...but then have also heard it can cause alopecia so who knows! My oncologist definitely advised to continue with the cold cap though and so far so good...glad you're coping well with yours

    haha Pippin, i was hopeful i wouldn't have to shave my legs or armpits either but no such joy!!!  Thought maybe i could benefit from one of the side effects!

    I'm feeling ok today..deifnitely better than the EC. The steroids I think have played havoc with my sleep as was awake again at 3am last night and then just couldn't get back to sleep and felt super wired so ended up reading my book.(very good by the way, it's called the Nightingale, sad, based on WW2 but very good)...so feeling a bit tired but think it's just that rather than chemo side effects? I would say maybe an underlying nausea but again think that may be because my taste has changed so i have a permanent weird taste in my mouth which makes me feel a bit sick but it's all very manageable and I managed to take the dog for a lovely long walk this morning and now my youngest has a friend over for a playdate...no rest for the wicked!!

    Will be thinking of you both for your next treatments and on Friday Pippin for good blood results. xx

  • Hi Greeny80, looks like things are going better for you this time around, which is great. I seem to get the odd bad night, while on the meds. You're probably right about it being the steroids. I have my oncologist phone appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I'm hoping the bloods will be available in time for them to see if treatment can go ahead. Will let you know how it goes. Xx

  • Hi all, what a lovely day today, hope you're all doing something nice. So, I went to the hospital to get bloods done through my port today. They wouldn't do them through port as said it needs to be after 10 days and it's only 9. They had told me at last chemo session it would be fine, that guidelines had changed to 7 days. A bit annoying as I could have gone to a closer hospital to have bloods done in the normal way. On the plus side, I asked them to talk to pharmacist for me about what gp can prescibe for hot flushes, as I've had to stop hrt. They suggested a suitable medication which doesn't affect hormones (as I'm pr positive, er positive and HER2 positive). I have a phone consultation with gp this afternoon, so hopefully she can prescribe this for me. Although receptionist did ask if the hospital were sending a letter (which they're not), so hope this won't be a problem. Also have my oncology appointment this afternoon, to see if chemo can go ahead on Monday. Off out for a walk shortly and out with friends for dinner tonight, which I'm looking forward to. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. Xx

  • Hey,

    Ah that's annoying they couldn't access your port for your bloods this week. Hopefully by Monday and then going forward it will work perfectly but sorry you had a slightly longer journey to make today. Let us know what the oncologist says later...fingers crossed for the go ahead on Monday!

    That's great news that the pharmacy has suggested some medication for your hot flushes! Let us know how you get on with that...really hope it helps.

    Sunshine is amazing today, makes such a difference doesn't it?! Just been out for a lovely dog walk too....definitely helps having chemo this time of year going into summer..definitely better for the headspace!

    I'm feeling pretty good today, weird taste still but not nausea, a little light headed maybe but all totally manageble and had a much better night sleep now i'm off the steroids!....my body definitely prefers this TC combo...although there is part of me that is still frustrated that my body couldn't tolerate the EC...I can't help but worry i'm not having the best chemo or the strongest one but i know i have to get that out of my head...and know that i have the next best thing and that my body just didn't want the EC so i have to ust go with it...but it does play on my mind a little!

    Have a lovely evening tonight and let us know if you're good to go for Monday! xx

    How's everyone else doing?? Sending love and hope you're all ok! xx

  • Hi Greeny80, I got the go ahead for cycle 3 on Monday. Apparently my liver function is almost back to normal, which is amazing. All the water obviously helped and they've told me to keep this up. Also spoke to gp who agreed to put me on recommended medication for hot flushes. She did say it could take up to three weeks to kick in, but it's better than seeing no end in sight. It's so good that any symptoms you have are pretty manageable this time and that the TC is OK for you. I wouldn't stress too much about EC being a stronger one though, I think different oncologists just go for different combinations. So many people with breast cancer, seem to have slightly different combinations of chemo and number of cycles. I was always under the impression that the docetaxel was stronger, as they up the steroids on this one, but who knows. My oncologist told be that as well as having the ct thorax scan on 26th, I've also been booked in for a breast scan on the 30th  (although I've not received a letter confirming this), they want to check progress after the first 3 cycles, to see how things are going. I was told they should have results for my next oncology phone call at the beginning of May, which I was happy to hear, so not too long for results thank goodness. I had a lovely evening and a catch up with friends last night, although pretty tired by the time I got to bed, I did miss my snooze on the sofa during the evening. Hope you have a lovely weekend. Xx