I've been reading along because this may be in my future so i want the best first hand info i can find simply because i know from past experiences that's often the best ....
Some of you may know/remember just how much i suffer from fatigue/nausea/low blood levels/etc on chemo... i have one more cycle of carbo/doxil to go this round which after #5 has left me at the point of saying why in the world do i want to go through #6... because of my body and reactions to chemo i have to wait usually at min 5 weeks and usually 6 between treatments if that tells you anything about my recovery rates but anyways.... doc wants me to go on Lynparza after that.... he knows I'm hesitant...but I'm BRCA1 so he really wants me to do it... my concerns are (which yes I've already discussed with him and will do so again and again til I'm at peace one way or another but wanted to get y'alls feedback too)
1) low wbc/neutrophils I've had to have Neulasta EVERY SINGLE CHEMO treatment (both first go around and this one) due to neutropenia and knowing that can be a side effect of Lynparza...i don't want to have to rely on Neulasta constantly either...its a pain with all the bone pain i get from it ...cause i have to take Claritin for that every time as well...
2) fatigue.... i get packed red blood cells at min every other chemo treatment sometimes in between as well, as my body doesn't build quickly enough (my hemoglobin usually is between 7.0 and 8.2 but has been as low as 5.2 on a couple of occasions which gets the nurses asking how in the world are you walking...very slowly lol) which of course causes my extreme fatigue.. and I'm tired of being so exhausted and struggling to breathe walking through my house ...i want my LIFE back, not this existence I'm currently living with
3) nausea...if it wasn't for the acupuncture and most recently the lemonheads freeze dried candy idk how i'd have been making it through this rounds of nausea with the chemo...it literally has been a lifesaver for dealing with that...its bad when the thought of taking the compazine and zofran make you want to throw up.. but anyways i really don't want to have to depend on that stuff for the rest of my life simply because i'm nauseous all the time...i want to be able to enjoy food again
4) bruising... i've always bruised so easily anyways and while on chemo i bruise if a cat jumps on me...i swear half the time my legs and arms look like I've been beaten and the slightest little scratch has blood pouring...which obviously i can't afford to lose lol... they told me that's a common side effect...if it gets worse i'm gonna be walking around even more rainbow colored than i do now...
Anyways i just wanted y'alls thoughts on it... because I'm VERY in tune with my body, i cause the reoccurrence long before the docs would have even wanted to run a CT scan on me because of my numbers rising...so I'm not that concerned about that...I'm just curious about have y'all felt it was worth it, have the side effects been as bad as chemo etc...I'm really just not liking the idea of spending the rest of my life on another drug that's going to keep my quality of life crappy to put it mildly..