Need Advise

Lady Ann

This is my first time here. I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in June and am currently about halfway done with chemo. I was wondering if anyone has had the same issues as I have. The first part of the treatment was with cytoxin and adryamicin and I had terrible side effects, the sores in the mouth and instant onset of fatigue it seems that all I want to do is sleep. I spent one weenkend in the hospital and 2 weeks later was fighting hard not to end up in the hospital again because my immune system just went nuts even after the shot of neulastin my white cells droped to 1.1 and my red cells were so low one of the nursed said I am just a few percentage points away from needing a transfusion. My hands and feet are numb and parts of my hands turned purple and burned like crazy. My doctor said that this shouldn't be happening yet, and like well it is. Now my hand and feet are peeling like crazy and they are so itchy. It doesn't matter how much lotion I put on I have huge thick pieces of skin comming off. I can't think straight it takes me forever to pay my bills or do anything I have to constantly rethink what I am trying to do. I don't even drive anymore because it's to hard to concentrate on it. I had to put myself on a leave of absence right after my first treatment beause of the concentration issues and the wanting to sleep constantly. I am now on the second part of chemo with the taxol, my body hurts from top to bottom constantly, my hands and feet are still numb and I still can't consentrate. Since my last treatment a week ago my leg wants to give out on me when I'm walking causing me to stumble. My white counts now skyrocket during the first week and then drop but my red counts don't seem to be getting any better, Is this normal?
I'm so afraid of what will be left of me when this is all done. I aked my doctor if these effets will go away and he says that they hope so. Hope so, that's not a good answer, I want to know if I am going to be able to go back to work again or am I going to be a blundering idiot. Will my hands and feet get feeling back so that I can enjoy doing the things I like like sewing. The way my body hurts frightens me because some times it's difficult to walk I hurt so bad then that brings up a fear in my because my mother had myatonic dystraphy and I have the dormant gene, is chemo and these side effects going to possible cause me to have the same disease as my mother did.
I'm sorry I'm just frightened and it's causig me to be paranoid about all types of issues. I want to be me again.

lboyle819

breast cancer
I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 1997. I had a lumpectomy and chemo and radiation. I did not have the side effects that you describe. I had 37 days of radiation after. I worked through my treatments except for the days of chemo. I have been cancer free for 11 years and have no side effects now from the treatment. Just keep hope and faith to get through the treatments.

mmontero38

Lady so sorry you are having
Lady so sorry you are having such a hard time with your chemo treatments. I went through 8 rounds of adriamycon/cytoxan with few side effects. My worst being fatigue and nausea. I don't think there is anything you can do for the white blood cells counts other than getting neulasta shots, but before I started my treatments, my oncologist suggested I start a multi-vitamin which I think helped keep my red blood cell counts pretty high. You need to drink lots of water. Keeping your body hydrated helps flush out the poisons they are giving you. I would especially drink a gallon of water the day before, the day of and the day after treatment, to make sure all the toxins were flushed out of my system. Chemo brain, which is our concentration, affects all of us. I would say that almost everyone on this discussion board has suffered from it during treatment. Hard to concentrate on anything else when you are fighting the battle of your life, but the reason for this is that the chemo drugs attack all fast growing cells, so not being a doctor, I assume that there must be some fast growing cells in our brains, which are affected by this. I know some ladies on this site have had the peeling hands and feet and it does go away. Fatigue is normal and body aches are too. Give yourself a little more time, and remember to drink lots of water. Hope you feel better soon, Hugs, Lili