Hi to everyone on this thread. So reassuring, thanks to you all. I had a first cycle on Tuesday and was very nervous about it all, so no you are not a baby Charlie. I still am quite nervous in a way because both my husband and I misunderstood the drug dosage for the anti-emetics. I keep asking myself, were we just particularly stupid that day; but I don't actually recall being given instructions and the label on the box was ambiguous. So Tuesday afternoon and evening massive vomiting. Got it clear the next day so am over the worst now - just queasy really and hope to avoid that when I go back for round 2. Just hope the cancer cells feel as rotten as I did! And there's no way I could have been in work! GP has been great about saying take all the time I need and school have as well. Mind I was ill for all the school summer holiday when we wouldn't have been in anyway - not till the last week when it all starts up again to be sorted before the children arrive.

All the best, keep us posted. You are just a bit ahead of me.

Hi everyone havnt been online for a while , went back to work on my 50th birthday and only lated for two weeks, have been off of work since have felt very low and tearful and sick. Going back to work on the 29th september just for 3 days a week, doctor wants me to go back she thinks it will be good for me. Really feel like giving up but know it will be better for me in the long run if i carry on but i still have 21 treatments to go it just has taken over my life which i didnt want it to, but i will carry on.

Hi Charlie

21 treatments is an awful lot to have ahead of you. I don't wonder you feel low. Hopefully you will find yourself regaining energy as the treatments progress. I know I found it difficult to accept the need for more rest than usual, though I should have been pleased. I've finished my 8 cycles and feel great, which you will. A scan did find a small lump on a lymph node in my groin. A sample was teken and I will hear the results on Monday. If it the worst, I will have to have more chemo and I confess I feel very depressed at the prospect. You can be brave about one lot but I'm not sure how positive I'll be about another.

Hi Susanlynn, good luck with results you said you were getting today and let us know how you got on. Eyore

Thanks for asking, Eyore. Thank goodness , the growth was only a benign inflammation not malign. I feel very lucky. Now I am a month out of chemo, I feel better than I have for ages.- no longer totally exhausted by 7p.m. Keep thinking about this and I so very much hope the chemo time will pass quickly.

An afterthought, Eyore, re swimming. I'd listen to the surgeon. Swimming pools are so full of infections inspite of all precautions and you are vulnerable. Depends if your wound has totally healed. Even now, though mine has healed after 9+ months the skin is still very thin.

Hi susanlynn, so glad to hear about biopsy result. What a relief for you. I'm sure recovering cancer patients are terribly worried by any little abnormality. I feel that I shall always have that fear with me.

For anyone else coping with chemotherapy sickness. The advice I had to start taking anti-emetics the day before did help a lot. I was nauseous and shaking but not actually vomiting. That was just with domperidone. The oncologist said take dexamethasone the night and morning before as well so I am hoping round 3 will be better still.

Hello everyone,

First Susanlynn, congrats and phew, wonderful news that your biospy result was benign.

Thank you Eyeore for your anti emetic advice, when I was given mine by the pharmacy I was careful to write down everything they told me. I was given Odanisitron for 2 days morning and evening and Dexamethasone also for a couple of days after food. I was also given Domperidone incase I still felt sick after my 3 days of chemo were over. Luckily I havent felt at all sick and havent needed to take the latter. My anti ermetics were to be taken on days 2 and 3 of my chemo.

As regards swimming, I have a Hickman line in so have been told not to go swimming because of the possibility of infection. If your medics tell you it is ok to go I should do so, it will also help to lift your spirits and get back to normal but be careful. I asked my surgeons if I could go swimming a few weeks after my op,(but before chemo) they looked at my tummy scar (keyhole) said it was ok - it just so happens I didnt go, but that wasnt planned, then they gave me the Hickman and I am not allowed to now of course.

When I was online before I said that I had already done a wrong thing, getting my Hickman wet, well apparently it doesnt matter that much so long as you dry it all well and make sure it is clean.. I did think it a bit odd, having something coming out of your body that you cant get wet but have to have for 6 months!!! The only prob is the dressing falls off! However I have now got changes of dressing so when this happens I just change the dressings and all is well again.

How are you Charlie, do you feel ok about going back to work now? Your doctor probably thinks it a good idea. I think, and a lot of people in these forums seem to think so too, that everyone needs an interest when you have cancer so that you dont get too absorbed in the illness. Also for you, being quite young (I think I have probably decided to retire! - I am old enough to -but have lots of interests) you need to keep an interest in, and keep in touch/abreast of your work, also the social side of keeping in touch with your colleagues and friends. Will your employer be reasonably sympathetic to your situation and ok about your needing time off if you need it (besides the appointment days of course) ie if you feel unwell?

One thing I am missing and may have to say goodbye to is scuba diving. Princess, I have spent many happy hours down your way Swanage and westward, Lulworth, as far as Falmouth diving. If I dont go back to work after this I shall have to say goodbye to diving. Hey ho, will have to wait for next year and see! - a few years ago I was a member/friend of Yoyo Divers of Southampton! - as I didnt live in Southampton. I lived in Bristol but used to dive with Yoyo as I was friends with the couple who started up the club and the Mikes Waterfront Warehouse shop. They have since moved.

Anyway positive thoughts to you all, all the best for now,

Hello everyone,

First Susanlynn, congrats and phew, wonderful news that your biospy result was benign.

Thank you Eyeore for your anti emetic advice, when I was given mine by the pharmacy I was careful to write down everything they told me. I was given Odanisitron for 2 days morning and evening and Dexamethasone also for a couple of days after food. I was also given Domperidone incase I still felt sick after my 3 days of chemo were over. Luckily I havent felt at all sick and havent needed to take the latter. My anti ermetics were to be taken on days 2 and 3 of my chemo.

As regards swimming, I have a Hickman line in so have been told not to go swimming because of the possibility of infection. If your medics tell you it is ok to go I should do so, it will also help to lift your spirits and get back to normal but be careful. I asked my surgeons if I could go swimming a few weeks after my op,(but before chemo) they looked at my tummy scar (keyhole) said it was ok - it just so happens I didnt go, but that wasnt planned, then they gave me the Hickman and I am not allowed to now of course.

When I was online before I said that I had already done a wrong thing, getting my Hickman wet, well apparently it doesnt matter that much so long as you dry it all well and make sure it is clean.. I did think it a bit odd, having something coming out of your body that you cant get wet but have to have for 6 months!!! The only prob is the dressing falls off! However I have now got changes of dressing so when this happens I just change the dressings and all is well again.

How are you Charlie, do you feel ok about going back to work now? Your doctor probably thinks it a good idea. I think, and a lot of people in these forums seem to think so too, that everyone needs an interest when you have cancer so that you dont get too absorbed in the illness. Also for you, being quite young (I think I have probably decided to retire! - I am old enough to -but have lots of interests) you need to keep an interest in, and keep in touch/abreast of your work, also the social side of keeping in touch with your colleagues and friends. Will your employer be reasonably sympathetic to your situation and ok about your needing time off if you need it (besides the appointment days of course) ie if you feel unwell?

One thing I am missing and may have to say goodbye to is scuba diving. Princess, I have spent many happy hours down your way Swanage and westward, Lulworth, as far as Falmouth diving. If I dont go back to work after this I shall have to say goodbye to diving. Hey ho, will have to wait for next year and see! - a few years ago I was a member/friend of Yoyo Divers of Southampton! - as I didnt live in Southampton. I lived in Bristol but used to dive with Yoyo as I was friends with the couple who started up the club and the Mikes Waterfront Warehouse shop. They have since moved.

Anyway positive thoughts to you all, all the best for now,

thanks for message and congrats. Yes, it was a relief.

You have masses of useful advice, which I am going to download to my hard disc.

Iwonder if anyone else had diarrhoea as a side of effect to capecitabine. Once it was really bad and lasted 10 days and I had to go into hospital,. Then they reduced the dose and while it was annoyingly unpredictable, it was manageable. Perhaps taking the **** look alike tablets before starting the treatment might have helped as taking the anti-emetic , domperidone, worked for some of you.

Good luck everone!

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Hi Susanlynn and everyone,

Thanks for your nice message, glad it was of use.

Isnt is strange how we all differ so much. I am up for my 2nd chemo tomorrow. After my first one, although I was given medication for diarrhoea, which seems to be the most usual from the conversations on the forum and the fact that they gave me anti Diarrhoea medication, I in fact was constipated! (for about 3-4 days) This time I am ready, I have have a large packet of prunes!

Cheers for now

Good to hear from you Carol D. I got the impression from the forum that sickness and nausea were the main problem. When I went for my sessions they always alsked about constipation. I think I would rather that than diarrhoes, where one has so little control. I hope the prunes worked. Just before I was diagnosed but obviously had something wrong, I had your problem and my GP prescribed something recommended for diverticulitis.- something you sprinkle on soup or cereal. It was effective but not violent.

Hi Susanlynn and everyone,

Mmm the prunes have only worked to a degree. I think perhaps I have been eating things that are too fibrous. Yes I am suffering from constipation again! I have taken orange juice as well as the prunes and also I think perhaps I should have been drinking more fluids so I have upped them and it is easing up. The constipation only seems to last for a few days, just until my body rids itself of the heaviest of the chemo I think and then seems to settle down. When I next go for chemo I shall ask for a medication to take for the constipation for those few days. In the meantime, today for example I shall eat pasta!

However I must admit that I am glad I dont have diahorrea as then I may have to stay at home all the time!

I think sickness and nausea probably are the main problems hence the anti-emetics. The medications prescribed seem to cover me alright (so far!) but do not do enough for a lot of people.

I suspect that I am really lucky too in that if I had to have cancer !! (none in family, nothing normally associated with cancer, so no reason to expect to get it) then the cancer was found through the new bowel screening scheme which picked me out long before having any actual symptoms. Though it is a bit odd not to have been ill. Apparently if we had waited until I had symptons, possibly another 3-5 years, it would be a completely different story for me and my cancer would have been much further on and much more invasive probably.

It must be so difficult to calculate the medications for us all. I dont think there are two of us who have exactly the same cancer problem or medications and even if we do, then we will have different body requirements (our general health, weight ,height etc). I think it is amazing that everytime I go for chemo that they take the bloods and from them (and the questionnaire on symptons suffered since last time etc) calculate what medications I need this time, and assuming they do that for every single one of us, it is some task! All I can say is a hearty thank you to everyone involved in helping us! and to all those fund raisers - Did you see all those people on the tv today who have completed the Gt North Run 1/2 marathon. Loads of them were running for us! Phew it all gets a bit emotional this doesnt it, think I'll stop for a while.

Cheers to you all - how is work going Charlie? Are you ok there now?

Take care all,