Oncology appointment No.1

A long appointment – 2 hours to be exact! Meet with the Oncologist – well her registrar (who was younger than me ~ I must be getting old!). Physical check up all fine, no problems with scar. It all seems a bit of blur now, but between her and then the chemo nurse after, the following was established…
My first of 6 treatments will be on Wednesday 25th March (the first available appointment!!!) and every three weeks after that – as long as blood count back up.
Treatments 1 – 3 will be with FEC, the standard chemo in the UK, possible side effects include: temporary reduction in bone marrow function; complete hair loss*; sore mouth & ulcers; nausea & vomiting; diarrhoea; red urine; cystitis; tiredness & lethargy; dizziness & hot flushes; cramp in (injection) arm; dryness of skin & a tendency to sunburn(!); temporary taste changes.
Treatments 4 – 6 will be Taxotere (Docetaxal); this requires a premed of dexamethasone tablets 24 hours and 12 hours before treatment to prevent an allergic reaction to the chemotherapy. Side effects as above (except cystitis/ red urine/ dizziness/ hot flushes) plus fluid retention; pain in joints and muscles; skin and nail changes; allergic reaction.
Won’t have all the side effects (phew!) but won’t know which ones until after first treatment and 4th treatment.
*In order to try to prevent hair loss I have the option of wearing a ‘cold cap’ – rubber cap attached to a cooling machine: - 5!!! Worn 20 minutes before, during and 2 hours after chemotherapy. 50/50 chance of not loosing all my hair.
Hmmm, what else….
Herceptin – now not having Herceptin with Chemo, well not FEC as the hospital are in between trials and it’s also not compatible with FEC. I may go onto a trial and have it with Taxotere, don’t know yet. The latest I would start it would be after chemo, it’s administered once every 3 weeks for a year, I won’t even begin to go into side effects today!
If all goes to plan I should finish chemo 2nd week in July and will begin a 3 week daily course of radiotherapy 3 – 4 weeks after that. So, hope to be done with the nasties by the end of August.
Probably the most scary info that I received today was linked to the importance of avoiding picking up an infection at all costs, particularly around days 7 – 10, when my immune system will be practically wiped out, the seriousness of this came at the point when the oncologist said 1% of people die from picking up an infection during chemo – 1 in every 100 seems rather high to me, but I won’t be taking any chances!!!!
So, 2 weeks of freedom before the next phase of this battle. Seem to be making steady progress so far. Plan to continue to recharge my energies and do some fab things in this time… any suggestions/ ideas welcome. I’ll let you know!
Anyway, still feeling positive, again a big thanks to those of you that have text/ phoned during recent days, like I said before very much appreciated and definitely the best medicine. Lots of love XXX