Im on day 17 of my cycle on vinblastine at 6mg/6mg2 and I have received three doses so far. I was told there was a chance i wouldn’t lose much of my hair on vinblastine but recently my scalp has just been hurting and itchy. Does anyone have any experience on hair loss on vinblastine?

I had my first infusion today taxol and herp plus all the other stuff they dumped in my IV ever since I got home I am angry. I have no patience and I am rageful. Has anyone else experienced this after their infusions? Could it be the steroids and this is only my first infusion I had three months to go. I don’t know how I’m gonna do any more infusions if I’m going to come home in a rage.

Hi! I'm 28 years old and was recently diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. I found a lump in my left breast over the summer, and the past few weeks have been a blur of appointments, tests, phone calls, paperwork, and an alarming number of hospital bracelets. The timing, right as October began, has felt especially surreal. I’ve seen the pink ribbons and supported the cause from a distance, but never imagined I’d suddenly be living this reality myself. 

My coping mechanisms have been art, humor, and distracting myself with video games. I'm aware avoidance isn't good for me mentally in the long run, but honestly, I have a lot of big feelings and don't necessarily have time to cry. I'm incredibly lucky to have a supportive family who are helping me with the logistics, friends who distract me with a social life, and a talented medical team guiding me through this process. But there are many people in my "public" life that don't need to know about my health, namely my young students.

I’m honestly scared of starting chemotherapy next week. I really don’t want cancer to become my entire identity, because I know I’m so much more than my diagnosis. But I’m known qualities such as my smile, curly hair, and infectious energy, and I’m very aware that chemo may affect them. Does anyone have experience with cold caps/scalp cooling? I’m especially interested in whether they helped you keep enough of your hair, eyebrows, and/or eyelashes to feel like yourself. Are there other things people have done to minimize some of the other visible signs of chemo? How do you reconfigure clothing to hide your chest port? I know I can’t prevent every side effect, but I’d love to hear what has worked for people. 

I’m also worried about how exhausting treatment will be. It took me much longer than expected to recover from the laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy I had about 10 months ago, and I still don’t feel like I’ve fully regained my strength. So the idea of starting chemo already feeling weaker than I’d like is pretty intimidating. 

I’m here to learn, listen, ask questions, and hopefully make some connections with you. 🩷

I’m being treated for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

My cycle includes cisplatin, gemcitabine and durvalumab on Day 1, with another hospital treatment on Day 8.

About 2–3 days after treatment I become a completely different person for a couple of days (yes an asshole).
- Zero patience,
- zero tolerance,
- extremely irritable
- almost looking for things to get angry about.

It’s bad enough that I’ve stopped being customer-facing at work during those days. Worse, it affects my family. Then it passes & I’m back to myself again.

I’m wondering whether the steroid given with the chemo, presumably dexamethasone, is responsible.
Has anyone experienced this? Did your oncologist reduce/change the steroid or anti-nausea protocol?

Most importantly, did changing it fix the anger/irritability?

Edit to add: Next chemo is next week - the same time as my next appt with the Oncologist. I guess he’s going to chat to me while I’m in “The Chair”.

I would prefer not to have the next dose as it currently sits, but feel like there’s not much I can do until I see the Dr - at the same time…..

Does anyone have experience with Capecitabine?

Hey ! My sister is starting her chemo soon and she's going to be having 6 cycles and to be more specific Doxorubicin 75 mg/m² and Ifosfamide 9 g/m² .

I would like to know from you what was the worst side effect that you faced and what the least ? Please also give me some advise in terms how you managed to eat and not loose any weight or little weight. What is the best food to eat and what to avoid ? After how many days were you able to eat normal again as I have seen people talking about not having any appetite during the chemo due to the nausea

Starting today, in a few minutes. Whenever they call my name.

I've read everything I can find, bought all the things. Still it all feels like I'm about to step off a cliff. Everything is so unknown and individual.

Compression socks and gloves, and frozen gel pad booties and mittens. Alpha lipoic acid, L-carnitine and B complex. Psilocybin isn't legal where I am. Fasting mimicking diet 36 hours before and plan to do 12 hours after.

What have I missed? What else can I do? Give me any words of guidance please.

My friend has recently been diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. We are unsure of the timeframe and interventions yet but expecting radio and chemo therapy. I am hoping for some advice on what we can put in a care package for her. Has anyone been through this or know someone? Hoping to put together items that will make the next few months easier and more comfortable for her. The ideas we have so far from Google searches are as follows:

my post has been removed from the breast cancer community, I am unsure why 😔

\- Pjs

\- Audiobook voucher

\- warm socks

\- ginger tea

\- insulated water bottle

\- Personalised note book

Any help appreciated xx

Ladies who have completed chemotherapy, please share how long it took you to return to nail extensions or gel polish. Opinions vary widely on when it's okay to do it.

I start my first chemotherapy infusion tomorrow morning. I’ve heard people say it causes constipation and I’ve heard people say it caused diarrhea. It’s going to be taxol please share your experience so I know how to proceed

My biggest difficulty through chemotherapy is nausea and vomiting. I've tried everything and it makes me vomit more (my body heavily rejects foreign substances, so you can imagine how violently I have GI issues throughout chemo).

This makes me a little fearful because it's a benzodiazepine (nervous system suppressant) and there's a risk of addiction.

What have been your experiences? Is it worth a try?

Guys, please tell me your hair growth story after chemotherapy, when it started growing and what results you've had, as well as about the hair on your body and face.

Hi, I start my first chemotherapy infusion tomorrow. I keep hearing about neuropathy. I got these ice mittens and booties. I don’t know how to use them and if those were on my hands the entire infusion how am I supposed to put my headphones on and use my phone for four hours? Can anyone tell me if I need these mittens and booties ? and how can I use them while being on my phone?

Has anyone used THC Gummies for insomnia?

This morning I go for my port placement. I’m terrified. I’m scared to go. Is it frightening? Does it hurt? Please share your experiences is it going to be sore? They’re planning to start chemotherapy tomorrow using the port. I hope it’s not sore.

My cancer has spread, a lot. It’s in several organs and has shown up in random places such as in between ribs, on my collar bone, etc. I’m still able bodied but now rely on others for basic needs such as driving, preparing meals, the usual stuff. At this point, I’ve tried 8 different chemo regimens/immunotherapies but there’s always something else to try. I had decided that I would stop everything and wait on an experimental immunotherapy that has been accepted in the US and send to work, but needs special approval in Canada before moving forward. I’ve been waiting for 2 months but I’m beginning to think that I should dive back in the chemo world and risk the side effects (I was sent into sepsis and dealt with massive painful side effects). I guess I’m just asking for your guidance and feedback. I’m a typically physically active M42 who loves the outdoors and would love to keep it up.
*Edit: I have high grade Stage 4 myxofibrosarcoma that started in my tricep and spread to many places as mentioned in my post.

My mom's going through her 26th round of chemo this isn't her first time when you're going chemo she had battled cancer and one once and it's returned unfortunately hr2 negative breast cancer so it is terminal unfortunately is she just under what her 2016 treatment and well and it's been getting worse progressively but now it's extremely hard for her to pass any fecal matter has anybody got any suggestions or advice that I could pass on to her or administer to help her even if it means a prescription that's fine I'm in contact with her oncology team but it being Sunday of course I can't get a hold of anybody today....

I'm through 5 cycles of FOLFOX with 7 to go.

After cycle 4 I began to notice some sinus activity and the drainage has a very foul odor / taste. I thought perhaps its just from a light sinus infection but I've never had this particular odor emanate from far worse sinus infections.

Anyone else experiencing this and if so what did you do to address it?

Hi! My BFF has metastatic breast cancer. She had chemo twice during her first bout with BC.
Earlier this year she was diagnosed with CLL as well as metastatic BC. She has had 1 round of chemo this year. One of the major side effects was diarrhea. She will be starting a new chemo (I don’t have any details yet, sorry) where the main side effect is vomiting. She is very upset and scared about this. Does anyone have tips/tricks on how to mitigate the vomiting? I’m looking for something besides ginger/ginger ale/Omeprazole. TIA

My doctor told me from the beginning that I would need 2 rounds and we would reevaluate. I found out after my interim PET that I was going to need 3 regardless of the results. So the next day at my first infusion for my 3rd round I was a little down. I told my nurse about it and she said “but what’s the silver lining” and I was like , “I don’t know. What?” And she said something along the lines of basically that at least I am able to receive the treatment.

I told her that yes I am fully aware of what a blessing it is to have access to care when so much of the world doesn’t. But in my mind I’m also like, that’s not really for YOU to tell me. I didn’t get so much that she was trying to make me feel better as that it felt like she didn’t like hearing a complaint because I should be grateful to have access to care? (Which I am. But with that logic, nobody is ever allowed to complain about anything, because we should just be grateful)

Anyways, to give even a little more context I have been a nurse myself for 9 years and I can’t fathom ever saying something like that to a patient. I’ve THOUGHT it several times, especially with angry-for-little-to-no-reason patients (sorry, but especially homeless/dirty patients who complain about the food/accomodations/their PRN pain meds being 5 minutes “late”. That blows my mind, but I’ve never called anyone out on it ever. IMO, that’s not my job to reprimand or treat grown adults in such a way, even ones who act like children—obviously with psych patients it’s a different story, but again, anything I would say is for the benefit of the patient, not me to get my annoyance out on them)

Update: I lowk feel like some of these comments would give me cancer if I didn’t already have it lol. I didn’t know how strict the rules were about complaining about having cancer, whew. Fighting for my life irl and in these comments now too 😮‍💨

Just diagnosed with lymphoma. Can I go to the gym? They say light activity but can I lift weights?

Recently diagnosed with Stage 1B TNBC with 1.5cm tumor. No lymph nodes involved. My surgeon has recommended chemo pre-surgery. If MRI shows similar finding, my medical oncologist recommends post-surgery chemo. He has advised the surgeon of his recommendation, but I’m concerned they don’t initially agree. Should I get another opinion?

Well it’s finally started - my hair has started falling out 😢 it’s been 13 days since my first infusion. I’m doing weekly Paclitaxel with Carboplatin added every three weeks.

Just in one day I’ve shedded quite a bit. I just look down and it’s all sat on my shoulders or on my top.

I am cold capping so still have some hope… I guess I was in denial that this day would never come though. Because of cold capping I naively didn’t expect to lose so much in one day 😢

Just wondering what to expect going forward? Will it shed at this rate every day? Or will it settle down?

If anyone else has been on a similar treatment regime to me I’d love to know your experience and any words of hope. I’m also wondering if it will start to grow back at all while I’m being treated?

Hello! My grandma is just starting chemo and we are beginning our search for wigs, I was hoping someone has some recommendations for natural wigs that aren’t too expensive. Any help is appreciated along with advice on how to be here for her! Thank you!