How long will this go on?

Hi Dogmom1! I’m Sherri.

I have been treated for advanced BC for the past 8 years. I was ill and undiagnosed 2 years before that.

You will feel better. I swear. It takes time. Your body has just been through a wringer. I’ve learned over the years the power of our bodies to heal themselves and the strength of our life force. No special diets, simply basic good nutrition required.

It could be that you have some nerve irritation from chemo which will subside in time. I had been instructed to drink a gallon of water a day while on chemo. Can you believe it? I did. I had minimal nerve irritation which I attribute to all the water drinking. Your leg pain could be caused by any current med you are taking, but just as a possible help, you might trydrink lots of water each day for the next few weeks and see if it helps? It is unlikely to harm unless you have kidney disease or an electrolyte disorder. Ask your doc.

Did you take or are you taking a white blood cell stimulator. It’s usually given as an injection in the skin.These medicines can cause severe aches and pains. For me, it was my legs which hurt the most but also back, arms, pelvis. A woman I worked with was taking a medication for her type of cancer which she explained caused her legs to hurt so she could barely walk while on it. Ask your doc. Complain a lot to him/her. You deserve to be heard and treated for pain and to find the cause of your pain.

Treating the side effects of treatment is so important for functioning. Again, complain to your doc. If he/she won’t listen, get a second opinion or switch doctors in the practice. It’s your time and money, your life.

Delegate if you are able. While on treatment and during recovery being 50% on the ball is a miracle. You can’t be expected to be fully functional and yesterday is the time to enlist everyone in your life to give you a hand until you have recovered. If you are very independent like myself it is a real learning experience to let go and allow others to assist.

You will soon gradually begin to feel yourself and slowly forget what you have just been through. I’ve had so much treatment: surgeries, medications, imaging, blood draws, close calls, tests, biopsies over the years and I’m still here and feeling pretty darn good. So will you!

Fight,Fight,Fight!

Dogmom1.

I had a lot of weakness after treatment but I kept a mental tally of how long I could stand, how long it took to vacuum the house, etc. It will get better, have faith!

I agree with all of the above. You are only three weeks out. If you did TCHP, and it was every three weeks, you are in new territory. I remember having chemo every 21 days and, after chemo 6, I had Day 22. I had no idea what to do with it. All the other ones have stacked one on top of the other. Even with only Herceptin, it took me another month or so to get my legs to stop hurting. Almost six months out and most things are back to normal.

Take it easy, let your body rest (look at what it just got put through - regenerating and combatting all that stuff for four months). Write it all down. You will be surprised in a couple weeks or a month what side effects you are not writing anymore!

I had the muscle pain too. It showed up after round 5 and disappeared for a few days after round 6 (I think it was the steroids), but then showed up again and proceeded to get worse. I think the peak was around weeks 3-4. By week 5 it seemed like things had turned around. It lingered as minor discomfort for a few more weeks after that but eventually resolved. I also had a lot of swelling that made the pain worse, mainly in my legs, which was exacerbated by my job in a factory, standing on my feet much of the day. I got some compression hose and those got me through the worst times. I found the muscle pain and swelling were linked, and as one went down so did the other. Drinking lots of water, getting whatever exercise I could, putting my feet up at night, and avoiding salt helped flush out things out a little faster. Good luck!