1st chemo next week

Hi Teri,
I was 37 when I was diagnosed in Nov. 2001 with invasive ductal carcinoma with 2 of 19 nodes positive. Your treatment regimen will depend on the pathology of your tumor - size, aggressiveness, any markers that may be present. I had an aggressive tumor, although it was small (one 7mm, two 5mm), and I had 4 treatments of Adriamycin/Cytoxan followed by 4 treatments of Taxol. Then I had 34 radiation treatments. I personally was glad to have the more aggressive chemo, since hopefully I would like to do this only once. With the AC, I felt lousy for a few days after treatments, then gradually better, until by the third week I felt pretty normal ( I had treatments every 3 weeks). With the Taxol I just got achy for a few days. The radiation made me very tired, but not until the 5th week or so. The treatments were not fun, but it was not nearly as bad as I had feared. My kids were 5 and 8 when I was diagnosed, and it was hard sometimes to find the energy to do as much with them as I would have liked, but we all got through it. You will get through the treatments, but learn to accept help from family and friends - it makes it a lot easier. I also depended on my faith to bring me through. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any question or just want to talk.
You'll be in my prayers!
Lisa

Hi Teri,
I'm 32 and finished treatment in September for invasive ductile carcinoma. I had 4 rounds each of A/C and Taxol. The chemo was no problem and I was back playing ice hockey after the third session. I was only very slightly nauseous the first time, but I think some of it may have been psychological. I had 30 sessions of radiation and got some fatigue about 2/3 of the way through, but not enough to keep me off the ice. Luckily my whole team was very supportive(one player had breast cancer a few years before and another had colon cancer the year before) and they let me sit out as many shifts as I needed to so that I could still play.
Everybody's response is different, but I firmly believe that a positive attitude makes a huge difference. With the anti-nausea drugs they have now, you have a very good chance of having little or no reaction to the chemo.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

Hi I will keep you in my prayers that all goes well for you next week. Yes the age seems to be getting younger. I was 41 at diagnosis and had stage 3 invasive lobular cancer. I had 4 rounds of AC 4 of taxotere, mastectomy, followed by 6 mos of 5FU and then 34 radiation treatments. The AC knocked me out, the taxotere just made everything taste salty and the 5FU was pretty easy to manage in the beginning, at the end I got tired. The radiation was not too bad. I burned at the last 3 treatments. I went to a pretty local place so I think that is why I did not get as tired. God Bless. Sandy