The meds kinda scare me more than the cancer, crazy...i know

I know how you feel. It is counterintuitive to poison your body with chemo to get well. However, I had another unrelated GI cancer 6 years ago. I had surgery, chemo, and radiation.  Ironically, and sadly, I was told that I was most probably cured of that cancer a year ago. The chances of recurrence for that cancer after 5 yrs. is are very, very low. Now, here I am a year later with Breast Cancer. Horrible. I don't want to go through chemo again. I will tell you that my body handled the last chemo very well. I was told I would have a 90% chance of losing my hair and I did not. It was no day at the beach, but I got through it. I don't want to do it again. Haven't decided yet. I have been using complementary approaches. Diet, diet, diet. I bought and read the AntiCancer Book, 2d edition. I highly recommend it! It will give you the cancer fighting foods and foods to avoid. Also, I bought "Super Immunity" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. He also has a cookbook. He gives the science of immunity boosting foods to help your body fight cancer. Once you start treatment, you should discuss diet with your oncologist because some foods interfere with chemo and others assist the chemo to kill cancer cells. I highly recommend both books, but especially the AntiCancer 2d edition. The author is a doctor and a cancer survivor.  

May 13 was my one year anniversary of finishing radiation teatment. I had chemo before the radiation.  I didn't feel sick all the time on chemo; I felt tired most of the time.  Sometimes thoroughly exhausted.  But I had enough energy to keep working. They say it takes a year or more to recover from chemo and I still have some side effects, Neuropathy from the chemo, and lymphodema from the radiation. Still, I don't regret either.  I had two tumors and was also stage 3, IDC. There were nodules in my lung on my initial PET scan and I attribute the chemo to eliminating them. I'm rambling, but all I know is that when I told my primary care ( whom I consider a friend, she's been my doctor for 17 years) that I was diagnosed with bc, she looked me in the eye and said, "you have got to fight. Take every treatment they offer you and you can come through it healthy".  And that's the advice I would give to you and any other cancer patient.

nspired36 said:

Thank You!

I appreciate the advice. It is just overwhelming right now. I am sure that you understand. I had my MRI today. I made it throgh like a champ (I am super claustrophobic), so that was a big deal for me. I just told myself that this is "just the beginning" and to be strong. I meet with my oncologist tomorrow and hope we can come up with a treatment paln  that does not make me super ill. I can somewhat deal with being tired, even exhausted. I just need to be able to work and try to maintain some level of normalcy. Will the Neuropathy and Lymphodema eventually go away? My mom has Neuropathy and handles it pretty well, some days are better than others.

Thanks again!

 

You are doing great taking it one step at a time! I am so glad that you have a good oncologist that you have confidence in. Hopefully, some of your pressing questions can be answered tomorrow. It helps to have a plan. good luck tomorroW!!

Hi Nspired, Chemo is no picnic.  I had 8 rounds 2 weeks apart.  The cycle was pretty predictable for me, ok on chemo day (Thursday) and the day after.  By Saturday I was was feeling pretty poor.  By Tuesday I was feeling much better and usually returned to work by Thursday and would work until the next chemo day.  Each cycle was a little more difficult because you have a gradual decline.  However, if necessary I would do it again.  I am 4 years out from surgery and about 3.5 from end of treatment and I feel just fine.  I ate a health diet as recommended and avoided artificial ingredients.  I used the cream recommended during radiation therapy. I avoided negative or scary movies, books etc as recommended and focused on funny and positive ones. Get the pain killers and use them if you need them.  There is no need to be a hero.  I wish you the best of luck on your journey.  P.S. you can never minimize the importance of a good support system.