Chemo 1 - Day 3

Yesterday was better than the first day, stil feeling a bit sick and really tired but thankfully minimal retching. Sweating a lot at night though, which isn't mentioned as a side effect. My wee is no longer bright red/orange, which is good as that was a bit alarming (even if expected). No sign of hair loss yet but I think that takes a few weeks and no mouth sores yet (not sure when they are supposed to come).

For those who like to research and/or are interested in details about my diagnosis and treatment:

• Chemo is more frequently done after surgery, but in my case the tumour is large and a bit messy, so they wouldn't be able get it out with "clean margins" (healthy cells surrounding it) so the aim is to shrink it with chemo first, then do the surgery
• Because I haven't had surgery yet, I can only get a clinical, rather than pathological, diagnosis - meaning they don't know exactly how big the tumour is, how many lymph nodes are affected, etc
• The tumour has come up as estrogen receptive, meaning once the chemo is done I'll take daily hormone pills for five years, I think to try to stop it coming back [it was negative for progesterone and HER2 so I won't be having those treatments]
• My first three chemo cycles are with a combination of drugs called FEC - this website gives a bit more info on how it works and the potential side effects: http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/78/10888/chemo-faqs-fec/
• My second three chemo cycles will be with docetaxel - can't find a neat website on this one, but apparently it's a bit nastier than FEC

Because I am relatively young to get breast cancer, my oncologist has recommended seeing a genetic counsellor to see whether I had a genetic predisposition and assess the impacts if that is the case. I think maybe a double masectomy might be recommended to try to prevent recurrence in the other side but I am just guessing. On well, if that is the case then at least I would be even and could get a matching pair boob job :)