HELP! no instructions of what to do or not do

I thought I must have received an email, or maybe my husband would have, but I have been given ZERO instructions from the clinic of what to do to prep (or what not to do) for tomorrow's chemo.

Its a wonder that I have written somewhere to be there at 8am.

Eat, not eat, not take vitamins, not assume iodine... wear clean underpants....

In addition to the extreme panic I am feeling, I also am enraged that the clinic has given me nothing at all except their fees.

And with all the holiday rush, it didn't occur to me to check last week.

If anyone can give me some guidelines, I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks

Wow. You got nothing from them, not even info about the drugs you'll be getting? My chemo cocktail was a bit different from yours, but I had to take pre-meds (anti-nausea and steroids) starting the day before. It's possible that you'll get the same thing but as an infusion before your chemo drugs. You'll want to have lots of water to drink during your infusion, and make sure you have someone to drive you home after. I was fine after mine, but you won't know how you'll react. There also are some steps you can take to minimize hair loss (cold-capping) and icing your hands and feet to prevent nail damage from the Taxol. There's lots of info about these steps in this forum. (I didn't bother with cold-capping, which sounded like a huge headache, and the chemo nurse gave me special cold gloves to wear to minimize fingernail damage. I didn't ice my toenails because my feet cramp up terribly if they get cold, and I didn't think the pain would be worth it.) Hopefully you'll have an information session before your infusion starts. And yes, wear clean underpants, but you'd do that anyway!!!

Hi!

During my first chemo, my nurse sat with me for over an hour, talking about my chemo cocktail, the side effects, how to use OTC meds to address them, and when to call the oncologist on call. Some chemo centers do this info session before chemo; mine did it during chemo #1.

I would assume that chemo #1 will take some time so bring something to do for several hours. I worked through chemo, so I wrote lecture notes during infusion sessions. Having a book, some knitting, or a friend will help you pass the time.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone!

I couldn't edit my profile for some reason, the drugs I will be taking are EC (like AC but the E is epirubicin)

On the note of steroids, I am following a diy version of the Valter Longo Mimicking Fasting Diet which shows steroids to be potentially bad while fasting because they cause a spike in blood sugar which isn't a good idea (and potentially dangerous) if the body is in ketosis.

My holistic oncologist suggested the diet, but left it as that --- read up and do what I want, so I haven't any true medical guidelines to follow up on how to address the steroid issue (I sent her a text message that was replied with a nice CYA reply).

My port is in my chest and was put in on Dec 19th. It doesn't feel quite right (should I still have pain in the area when I do certain simple movements?). I called the clinic last week to find out if they could look at it prior to infusion, but since dr. was on vacation I was told to wait and see what they want to do tomorrow.

In order to look at it's connectivity (uhhh like a usb?) they need to do an X-ray. Can I stop having potential harmful rays zapped in my body, please?!

Don't take vitamin supplements without checking with your onc, except for vitamin D (which is not actually a vitamin) if you take it. The oncs generally don't want you to overdo antioxidants as it is possible they could interfere with chemo.

I take an electric blanket..Best thing ever as I'm always cold