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jaykay · 09-27-2013, 07:29 AM

Congrats!

1. How long did it take you to feel relief from TC and begin to feel better (fatigue is my real problem)?
For me, it was about a month. However, my feet/ankles were horribly swollen because my body was expecting the steroids after 3 weeks and didn't get it. Had to go on lasix for a while but it cleared up after a couple of weeks. You will feel better every week.

2. How long to get relief from neuropathy? I have a miserable and almost constant, visible to everyone, eye twitch and dead toes.
I did not have bad neuropathy, only my hands. I started taking B6 (100mg) and it seemed to help. There are other suggestions throughout this site, just search for neuropathy

3. How do you feel on just Herceptin? SEs? I want the fatigue to clear up.
Only side effect for me has been a runny nose. Truly, Herceptin alone for me has been very uneventful.

4. Radiation SEs? I start radiation on 10/21 for 25 txs.
Radiation is a grind because it is daily but a walk in the park compared to chemo. You may feel somewhat tired along the way and it all depends on how your skin reacts. I was pretty lucky. Only used aloe gel and didn't get really red until the last week. But my radiation oncologist was going for "crispy", so...

For me, surgery was easy, chemo was really a physical and psychological ordeal but doable and radiation the home stretch. I have 2 more Herceptins and my exchange surgery is scheduled for mid-October. It's been a long year and I wish my hair would grow faster, but I believe we come out of this stronger and with a better sense of what really matters in life.

Best
Janis

09-27-2013, 07:29 AM	#2
jaykay Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 646	Re: Final Chemo! Congrats! 1. How long did it take you to feel relief from TC and begin to feel better (fatigue is my real problem)? For me, it was about a month. However, my feet/ankles were horribly swollen because my body was expecting the steroids after 3 weeks and didn't get it. Had to go on lasix for a while but it cleared up after a couple of weeks. You will feel better every week. 2. How long to get relief from neuropathy? I have a miserable and almost constant, visible to everyone, eye twitch and dead toes. I did not have bad neuropathy, only my hands. I started taking B6 (100mg) and it seemed to help. There are other suggestions throughout this site, just search for neuropathy 3. How do you feel on just Herceptin? SEs? I want the fatigue to clear up. Only side effect for me has been a runny nose. Truly, Herceptin alone for me has been very uneventful. 4. Radiation SEs? I start radiation on 10/21 for 25 txs. Radiation is a grind because it is daily but a walk in the park compared to chemo. You may feel somewhat tired along the way and it all depends on how your skin reacts. I was pretty lucky. Only used aloe gel and didn't get really red until the last week. But my radiation oncologist was going for "crispy", so... For me, surgery was easy, chemo was really a physical and psychological ordeal but doable and radiation the home stretch. I have 2 more Herceptins and my exchange surgery is scheduled for mid-October. It's been a long year and I wish my hair would grow faster, but I believe we come out of this stronger and with a better sense of what really matters in life. Best Janis __________________ March, 2000: 48, Post menopausal (5 yrs HRT) Left breast, IDC 3mm/DCIS 1.6cm, ER+/PR-/Her2+++, mod differentiated, MIB low, lumpectomy, node neg via SNB, rads=33 Stage 1a June, 2000: Tamox 4.5 years,Femara for 5 years (end in Jan. 2010) Sept, 2012: 61, Via mamm, ultrasound, biopsy, right breast, 2.3cm tumor, ER+/PR-/Her2+++, poorly diff, KI67 60-70% BRCA 1 and 2 negative October, 2012: Bi Mast with tissue expanders, port placement Final Path: IDC 2.8cm, DCIS, 1/4 sentinal nodes positive (@#$%). Stage IIB Nov 29, 2012: Begin TCH/6x/every 3 wks, H for 1 year/every 3 weeks. March 14, 2013: Finished chemo April 9, 2013: Begin radiation 28x May 22, 2013: Finished rads June 1st, 2013: Started Aromasin for 5 yrs. July 15, 2013: Switched to Letrozole (Femara). Probably for the rest of my life October 16, 2013: Exchange surgery October 31, 2013: Finished Herceptin December 5, 2013: Port removed Glad this year is over!