How difficult is Chemo?

ninel · July 2008

I'm 33. I have 2 young children (a 5 year old and a 10 month old). We live in Tampa, but my husband's and my family are all in NY. And on top of that my husband travels 100% for work so I am all alone with my kids (they both are in school during the day).

I'm going to be starting on chemo within the next 2 weeks and I really need to know how bad it will be. Will I be able to get out of bed and take care of my children? Will I be vomitting all day long? How bad can it be?

Ninel

Yogi70 · July 2008

Ninel,

What is your treatment plan? Mine was 4 treatments of dense dose (DD) A/C (Adriamycin/Cytoxan) and 12 weekly tx of taxol (of which I've done 8) and a year of Herceptin because I'm HER2+++. When I did A/C I did pretty good until the 3rd and 4th tx after which I stayed in bed for 3 or 4 days but once that passed I was fine. Taxol is easier to tolerate. There are plenty of side effects but everyone is different. There are some great meds for nausea out there, I never vomited. I think for some the hair loss is the most truamatic. From what I hear chemo is not as bad as it was in the past and I believe it because for the most part I've been okay. I'm sure you'll do fine.

ellie123 · July 2008

Hey Ninel-

Everyone reacts differently to chemo but I can tell you my experience with A/C/V/M x 4 and Taxotere x4 (Herceptin chaser too) that all happened last summer. A week after my first treatment I flew out to Montana for a planned (before BC) family vacation. I hiked, rode, fished and had an awesome time. I credit my onc for having me on the top of the line anti-nausea meds and my NEVER skipping a dose. I kept up my busy summer schedule with my two teenaged boys. Once I started my second round I was working in a school with young special needs kids and while it was tough, it was doable. My husband also travels a ton for his job but his clients and bosses were fantastic and really encouraged him to stay home for those weeks. I felt a little funny with basic strangers knowing my medical condition but they were so supportive and DH's need support too! It's also time to call in those favors and learn to accept help. Chemo does NOT last forever and your friends and family feel like they have some control over this beast when they can help.

Check back anytime....lots of good info on this site and wonderful "sisters"!

Ellie

Annabella58 · July 2008

Hi Ninel;

You don't say which one you are getting, A/C chemo or the CMF chemo? CMF chemo you don't lose your hair, tho it may thin a bit, you prob. won't be too nauseaous, if at all (I was only briefly, never needed meds at all), and you are only "down" 24-72 hours once every three weeks. You may want to see if you can have this type as opposed to the A/C as the AMC society has deemed it to be "as efffective as A/C standard" in the long run.

Ellie is right as well, everybody is different, and you are so young, you'll prob. breeze thru. Pace yourself, but we are all here to help.

I am 52, overweight, asthmatic, and I kept a very jam packed schedule. Carol on the CMF site, worked the entire time, in fact she was training for the cancer walk! She is our poster girl.

Others stayed busy, in various degrees, it can work for you, it isn't fun, but yeah, it's quite doable if long.

good luck to you sweetie.

xoxo

annie

Rosygirl · July 2008

I don't mean to be the voice of gloom and doom but I really encourage you to find people you can depend on to help you. I got very ill after the first tx, and really needed my husband to take care of me. Now, I like Annie am a lot older the you are (52, and over weight), and I also developed a really nasty breast infection unrelated to the chemo. Hopefully you will do fine with minimal discomfort, but be prepared for anything. I have lots of people praying for me, I'll pray for you!

irishdreama · July 2008

Hi Ninel

I had AC then taxotere. I have a daughter, she was 9 at the time I was going through chemo. I went to work (full time) most days-had to be out when my oncologist pulled me out for low white cell counts. I had NO nausea at all. I did get mouth sores, some headaches, and really tired with the AC and a lot of joint and muscle pain, sweling, and shortness of breath with the taxotere. But Ellie is right. Chemo, like other medications, react differently to everybody. I think it helps if you try to keep a positive attitude. Good luck to you!

mason204 · July 2008

Hi Ninel:

I went thorugh chemo when my girls were 4 and 6 years old. I had some strong stuff back in 2003 and I have to admit that it was rough. I would plan to get some help with the children "just in case". You need to be able to rest and I found I needed help with transportation (getting my daughter to kindergarten), meals and general house upkeep. My husband is a musician and he's often not home often. I can laugh now but the biggest issues were sound, light and noise. There's nothing like a 3 year old who likes to jump on top of you when you're recuperating in bed or hearing loud cartoons on TV when all you want to do is sleep.

I've had lesser chemos since then and was able to function normally during treatment. I guess it all depends what type of chemo you're on and how you metabolize it.

The best news is that my daughters are now 9 and 11 years old and when I was first diagnosed I never thought I'd see them turn into lovely young ladies. We've had some great years since diagnosis and I hope the same for you. The treatment was well worth it.

Best of luck to you.

Cheryl in Toronto.

myheidiscrapbooking · July 2008

Hi there, I know everyone is different. I personally had a hard time with the first part - 2 months of Adriamycn and cytoxan. If you are doing that, it can be very fatigue-ing. I was anemic and had NO idea of this until I was on this chemo. I felt literally bed-ridden and like lead. I know this was due to the anemia. They tried every week to give me boosters, try diff. dosages and they did get it right - unfortunately on the last week of treatment. I could not imagine having to take care of children at that time. I could barely get out of bed. NOW, the other part of chemo (just finished!) was for 1 1/2 months of Abraxane/Herceptin and that was a breeze for me! no side-effects at ALL. SO?? My dr. told me that the first part would be hard. It was - the 2nd., no problem at all.

If you are going on AC, I would get some help set up for your children. Again, everyone is different but I do hear that although you may not be anemic, that this is a very fatigue-ing treatments.

Good luck to you and pls. keep us updated if you feel like it. We all care and are hear to talk. I found this board a godsend thru it. I can't even tell you!

Best of luck and big hugs,

Heidi

mthomp2020 · July 2008

I did 6 dose dense A/C (every 2 weeks), followed by surgery, then 6 Taxol/Herceptin every 3 weeks. The A/C wasn't that bad for me, just some mild nausea, and my fingernails got crappy. Of course, I lost my hair. I never had fatigue. The Taxol was actually a bit worse, had joint pain and my fingers had some numbness - made picking up small objects difficult. My husband travels 100% on his job, so I was home alone. I never had any problems, drove myself to and from my treatments.

Everyone is different as to how the treatments affect you.

Anonymous · July 2008

Hi Ninel,

I was 31 at diagnosis, and my son was 15 months old. My church made a sign up sheet for people to take care of my son every 1st 5 days after my treatment (during the day). They'd go home at noon (I'd be sleeping in our bedroom while they played with my son in the living room all morning), I'd get up and feed him lunch. He'd go down for a nap immediately after lunch, and I'd go back to sleep.

It worked beautifully. My son would wake up shortly before his Daddy would get home from work, and I could handle an hour or so without fatigue.

Please PM me if you need more thoughts on chemo with little ones! It is sucky but you get through it. PS-your kids will be ok. I thought my son would become horribly emotionally distraught from this, and he is fine. He sings Doodlebops songs, plays bad guys and climbs on everything. He's fine!! Your kids will be too.

nash · July 2008

My kids were 5 and 9 when I went through chemo. I had FACx6, which is AC with 5-FU. I was very sensitive to the 5-FU, so it may have made my experience a little different. I was horribly nauseous, even with Emend on top of the other anti-nausea drugs, but never threw up. I got chemo on a Thursday, felt somewhat crummy on Friday, but well enough to drive, then was useless on Saturday and Sunday. As in, sit in the recliner, drooling useless. But my DH was home, so it was OK. By Monday I was OK enough to drive, which was good, b/c in addition to my two kids, I had to cart my stage IV bc mom to all her onc appointments, scans and chemo sessions as well. So, really, it was only two days a cycle when I really couldn't function.

One word of advice--I tried to push myself through everything after my first chemo session--lept on the treadmill, did housework, etc, and ended up much sicker than I would've been if I'd just sat there, which is what I did for rounds 2 through 6. So don't try to be Super Woman--at least plan for help the 2-3 days after the infusion if you are going to be on AC. Like the others said, Taxol is a bit different, so it will depend what you're on.

I will also qualify all this by saying I was 39 years old while on chemo, and in very good physical condition, with no other underlying health problems other than the dang cancer.

How difficult is Chemo?

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