Hey there Daisy, 

Thank you for your kind, helpful response, I am so sorry you are having to having to go through this too... especially with the added stress of Covid 19. 

That is such great news that the tumour is responding to your treatment, I hope you have been keeping ok!!  Have you had any side effects to the paclitaxel and carboplatin?  

Will be thinking of you too, sending many kind thoughts and positivity your way!!    It will be lovely to hear how you are getting on Daisy, iwhen and if you want to.   

Thank you again, it is so good and helpful to hear others having success with similar issues. 

Take care, stay safe. 

Warmest wishes

Angela x

Hello, I just saw your post and wanted to let you know that having chemo before surgery is very common especially for bigger tumours and if there is lymph nodes involved. I am about 6 months ahead of you in my treatment. I was diognosed in Oct last year 4.5 cm lump in breast with one confirmed lymph node. I’m HER2 positive. I had 4 rounds of EC chemo followed by 4 rounds of docetaxol. After the first two infusions my lump had reduced to nearly half and the lymph node no longer looked cancerous under ultrasound. After 6 rounds the doctor could no longer find the lump on ultrasound. I won’t lie the chemo is tough and because it’s accumulative the side effects get worse the more you have ( well for me they did). But chemo is so worth it and will kill any microscopic cancer cells in your body. I had a lumpectomy mammoplasty on the 22 April, just 3 weeks after my last chemo. I’m still a bit sore and tender. still have a few side effects from chemo. I have an appointment with oncologist next week to talk about radiotherapy and I also need to start have herceptin again which is the target drug for HER2 + which I will continue to have for a year.

There is lots of information on here to help you through it. If you have any questions for me  I’m happy to answer or help if I can. 

fishnchips 

Hi A

So sorry you are worried but this is totally normal in breast cancer treatment now days. I was diagnosed in december. 5cm tumour grade 3 and had chemo first. Because of covid my chemo was stopped half way through but they brought forward my surgery  and now I'm back on chemo. Having chemo first means they can get them wonderful cancer killing drugs into you and working asap. They can see that it's working by watching your tumour reduce in size.  It has made me feel much better knowing that after 3 sessions of FEC my tumour was half the size!!!  I start docetaxel on thursday. 

You've got this. Xxx

Thank you so much Louise, you are a real sweetheart!!   Catch up with you soon. 

Thanks again. 

Angela x

Hi Fishnchips,

Thank you for your helpful, frank honest and open response.   That is great news that you have had such wonderful results with the treatment... Well done for getting through all that.   It really helps to hear from others with similar situations 

Thank you, I will no doubt have many questions but, just now my mind is mush, trying to think what, if anything, I should  ask the Oncologist tomorrow.. 

I hope your recovery continues well, and you are not sore for much longer..  Take care and stay safe. 

Kind wishes 

Angela x

. 

Hi there, 

Thank you, for responding.... itis  great to hear that this is normal practice, and hear how the chemotherapy shrinks the rumours  .Before hearing from the lovely halpful people on here,(yourself included).... I had been very worried that this was not normal.

That's great you were able to get such fabulous results with your treatment... It must have been terrifying to have to deal with the added uncertainty on covid19..

Hope your recovery continues to go well, wishing you well for Thursday. Thank you again for your kind supportive words.

Take care 

Angela,x

Hi fish and chip

Do you mind me asking how you found docetaxel. Did you feel sick? Were you advised to paint your nails dark . Did you lose your hair? 

I'm due to have my first one thursday. 

Thanks

Hi,  a friend of mine had Chemotherapy before her operation, she's been 2 years clear now. She had triple negative breast cancer, and was on a trial to see if Chemotherapy first was better.

I had a lumpectomy 6 weeks ago and have been told I need Chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy. I'm new to this but it seems to me that everyone's treatment is different because it depends on the type of cancer, age, etc. Good luck. 

Hi 

No I don’t  mind you asking...

i had already lost my hair whilst on the EC chemo, it actually started growing back while on docetaxol which apparently is not uncommon. 

For me docetaxol side effects took a few days to kick in... people call it the tax truck!

My infusion was on a Friday and I would Start feeling tired on the Sunday evening then the muscle & bone pains all over would kick in. Bruised feeling neck and shoulders. Prickly skin.Heart palpitations Heavy arms and legs. This would last 3or 4 days. I had to get some strong pain killers on prescription.

I also had digestive issues and diarrhoea. I occasionally felt nauseous but was never sick not like when I was the EC

Mouth would feel horrible with constant soapy taste which made everything taste weird. This has returned to normal now.

For me the docetaxol seem to dry everything out so my skin on my face would become super dry and tight. Sores in nose. Dry sore hands, my nose would spontaneously start running and I had watery eyes which was very annoying.

A few of my nails started turning white and were painful. Yes painting them dark helps although I’m not sure why!

For me the side effects got worse and lingered for longer the more I had due to the accumulation.

best advise is to start drinking loads of water the day before your infusion and continue to drink lots over the next free days. I also drink coconut water as it helps replace electrolytes and it great for hydration.

i still have aches and pains in my legs and back and get tired easily. 

So for me it wasn’t great, but everyone is different some find it easier than the EC or FEC. 

What treatment have you had so far?

Hope this helps, any more questions let me know. 

Fishnchips