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Posted by PamL on 11/26/2001 from 128.101.50.67:

In reply to: Starting chemo posted by Jae on 11/22/2001 from 152.163.207.49:

Dear Jae,

First of all I want you to know that you're in the thoughts and prayers of every breast cancer survivor. It's not a club we would chose to be in but we all know what you're going through and our hearts are with you.
I was 38 when I went through my cancer treatment and that was over 2 years ago. I also had a mastectomy followed by 6 months of chemotherapy and then 6 weeks of radiation. The treatment and the side effects aren't as scary as you would think. I experienced some nausea but there are a number of anti-nausea drugs that your doctor can prescribe for you. I had to try a couple of different ones before we found one that worked for me but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the drug that worked. Compazine was the name of the one that didn't work.
I'd been told that almost all the people who get adriamycin will lose their hair. It happened for me about 2 weeks after the first chemo. My head started to itch and was sore to the touch and then my hair started falling out in clumps. A friend advised me to shave my head when it started falling out and I'm glad I did. Get the shock over all out at once instead of having to go through watching it fall out over a period of time. I wore a wig to work but felt more comfortable with hats and scarves at home. One thing that I never would have thought of had I not gone through this is that my head got really cold when I went to bed so I got a flannel night-cap from my local chapter of the American Cancer Society - great place for resources and support.
I continued working through my chemo treatments. I scheduled them for Fridays so that I would have the weekend to re-coop from any effects and then went back to work on Monday or Tuesday. The chemo drugs will compromise your immune system so get plenty of rest, eat well (stay away from spicy or greasy foods) drink lots of water (my taste buds were effected by the chemo drugs too and water took on a metalic taste - so mix it with tea or lemonade;anything to make it taste better) and try to stay away from large crowds of people where the risk of catching some virus is higher. Ask your doctor about getting a flu shot too. I did and I think it made a difference.
And just this summer I went through breast reconstruction. I opted for the expander process - it was less invasive and required less time off work (I was told by my plastic surgeon that the stomach surgery also included taking part of the abdomen muscle and tunneling it up to the breast area to form the breast mound and that this procedure required me to take 6 weeks off work in addition to being in the hospital for 1 week). Ultimately I opted for the least painful of the two options I was given. The expander process required two same-day surgeries - one to put the expander in and then after 10 weekly saline injections to expand the tissue - each injection took about 10 minutes - another surgery to take the expander out and replace it with the permanent implant. I'm very happy with the results.

Whatever you chose to do be good to yourself during this time and know that each treatment you get through will bring you that much closer to being well and getting your life back on track.

Good luck and God Bless

Pam from Minnesota

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