Hi Mary Ann, I am Maryann from New York. I have been stage IV with Inflammatory Breast cancer (the worst of the worst - very aggressive) for 5 1/2 years. I was diagnosed in January of 2000. I have done Adriomycin (the red devil), Taxol and Cytoxin at that time. I took daily Tamoxifen for 4 1/2 years. I was in remission for 4 1/2 years. This past fall I had a relapse. I currently take Carboplaten, and Taxotere three weeks out of the month, get herceptin weekly and take Femara daily. I did not do the chemo you are doing, but can talk from experience. I would rather have taken all I take then let the cancer grow and take over. Everyone reacts differently, and I can't promise you will have an easy time of it. You need to drink LOTS of water before chemo and after. You should also ask for a prescription/samples of nausea med's to take for the following 2/3 days after chemo. You can request "Hydration" the following day or two after receiving chemo. It is a bag of IV saline and extra IV nausea med's. It really helps. Plan ahead. If you are working, schedule chemo late in the week so that you have the weekend to recoup (day 3 is always the worst for me). I plan on sleeping and take out for that day. I keep crystallized and pickled ginger on hand, string licorice/tea and hard candy. Chemo is not easy, but it is doable. I worked through my first bout of chemo and only missed one day. I am currently not working, but I am a single mother of teens, I cook, clean, shop, paint bedrooms (slowly), and I just sanded a bench to be stained. Now even though the cancer spread to my lungs and liver, I am now NED (No Evidence of Disease) and I credit, the chemo/hormonal's/adjunct treatments, my oncologist, my family and lots and lots of prayers! Please email me at
madubois63@aol.com if I can answer any questions. Good luck and God Bless.
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.Maryann -:¦:-´´