my best friend has breast cancer and definitely needs chemotherapy ?

[Diva In New York]

before they do anything else. they said neoadjunct therapy.
I want to be very helpful and supportive of her because she was just divorced and doesnt have alot of family and we been lifelong best friends.
I don't even mind doing nurse duties for her but how sick does chemo make woman ?
We are both in our 30's and this is sad.
I don't know what stage her cancer is yet. She is still in tests for staging.

[Jaded]

There are different types of chemo's and everybody handles them differently so unfortunately it could be a wait and see issue. I have seen people act completely functional while on chemo with no loss of hair and mild energy loss and I have seen the extreme, no appetite, loss of anergy, loss of hair, feeling sick all of the time. Good luck to your friend, she's lucky to have you around

[mommahen]

My very dear friend passed away at age 38 of breast cancer just last fall. She had a 25 month battle, and through it, she tried many forms of chemo. Some made her very ill; some did not.

One thing a group of us did for her was make her a 'chemo bag'. It had a picture on it of her group of girlfriends and her in happy times, all smiles. Inside, we put things like unscented lotions, unflavored lip balm (scents can make a person sick during chemo) 'girl' magazines, mints to suck on when she felt sick, a journal and fancy pink pen, tissues, a nail file, puzzle books, a soft little neck pillow... everything and anything we could think of to make her life more bearable during chemo. Then we all took turns sending her cards so that she got at least one a week to cheer her. (not really get well... more, we believe in you, we love you, that kind.)

She's going to need your love and support now more than ever. If she doesn't have family, I'm sure it would mean a lot if you would do some cleaning for her now and then, too. Chemo makes you really tired.

Just let her know you want to be there...