Hello to you all!
Thank you so very much who shared their experiences of chemo, particularly how it affected their appetite and tastebuds. I had my first cycle last week, and at the pre-assessment, I got chatting to a very helpful woman who patiently answered my questions too. While my memory is now so engulfed with brain fog and I can no longer remember her name, but if one of you has beautiful short hair and was at Bart's last Wednesday PM and spoke to me while you were trying to find out if you would be able to make your last cycle of chemo AND your radiotherapy appointment, thank you so very much. You advice was both practical and a great reference point.
I have largely confined my chemo research (and cancer for that matter) to as much 'official' research regarding treatment and side effects. As you might have noticed, I dip in and out of this thread and preferred to speak to individuals personally with regards to their experiences and how they might relate to what I might expect. Also, given my genetic mutations, I have been told chemo would hit hard and could be difficult, particularly the first 72 hours, so I prepared myself for this.
However, while I appreciate it was my first session, I was really surprised that a little peripheral neuropathy and mild-nausea, the latter of which the pills easily quashed), the only real side effect so far is somewhere between feeling like I have I have drunk the alcohol, done all the drugs, abd eaten all the sugar to the degree that as my afternoon in the chemo ward progressed, I found myself having a bit of a manic episode. This lasted for almost 72 hours after my treatment finished. Weirdly, I am sleeping well. Thankfully, the manic moments seem to have faded into the distance, I feel surprisingly great. I must also thank this fit of mania for making me do more cleaning, sorting out and recycling than I have done for years. My house is now immaculate with almost a dozen bags of old paper work and other odds and sods finally disposed of.
I particularly love the chemo notebook they give you and am using it to keep note of these symptoms along with any thing else i notice. Will talk to my team at my next pre-assessment as the mania was worrying. But, thankfully, I was able to contain it. It makes me wonder how the next cycle will hit. Who knows, it's a lottery it seems.
Will try to catch-up and read the bits i have missed, so hope to write more later.