hi everyone
fec 2 on thurs after a 6 day delay because i.ve changed hospitals. Started on my high fibre diet today, it seemed to work well for me last fec - no constipation at all.
My 17 year old boy has recently got himself a new girlfriend. The other night he was bringing her round. He said to me ‘mum i’ll take her upstairs to watch a film, i know you wouldn,t want her to see to see you looking like you do’. Charming. Do you think he may have had ulterior motives.
Maria x
Maz - spluttering into my coffee!! That’s a really good new one to get a girl upstairs fast!!!
My son brought a friend (male) round the other day, who I hadn’t seen since they left school, as both boys have gone on to different sixth forms, and I completely overlooked the bald head thing… I’ve got so used to assuming all their friends know… until after about an hour I realised that this usually chatty friend wasn’t looking me in the eye, so I had to say ‘you did realise I have cancer?’ and the look of relief on his face that someone had said something… after that, normal service resumed!!!
Sophie xx
Loving the baldy comments!! My 8 yr old said the other day at his brothers birthday party… ’ you should see my mummies party trick, she can pull her hair out in handfuls!!"
I jokingly posted on facebook this morning that I would don a long pair of eyelashes, sing “nothing compares to you” and upload it on YouTube if I could raise a grand… Already have £150 pledged… B****r, bet learn the words then!!!
Xxxxx
Go Sinead!!! Lmao… looks like you’ve dug yourself a lovely hole there! I can send you some great long false eyelashes… bought them in a random moment, but will never wear them… any good!!!
I was captivated by how my hair pulled out, when it first started… and delightedly showed the kids my new ‘party trick’… kids were fine with it. Then went out to show OH what I could do, and really, really upset him… oops!!! I was just so intrigued that so much hair could come out without me feeling a thing, that I never considered how much it might have hurt him to see it! Never mind, he wielded the clippers, and later the razor, so got his revenge…lol.
Sophie xx
I know, we spend all our time worrying how we are going to feel, but we are the ones who actually have control over it. Easy to forget how it all affects our nearest and dearest… Eyelashes would be great!!! Xx
Baldies rock! I have just made my 10 week old grandson giggle by taking my hat on and off. Mind you, he’s as bald as me. At least we can entertain our public.
Mine’s still falling out gradually from a very sensitive scalp. No way I’m pulling it!
I’m just taken aback by my exhaustion. Not sleeping well hasn’t helped. I’m supposed to have a heart scan tomorrow, but unless I’m dramatically better, I’ll either have to get a minicab or the OH will have to take some time off. I can’t drive even a short distance like this.
Cheryl
Sarah, pm me your address and I’ll stick 'em in the post - much better that they go to a good home than languish in a drawer…lol. But, you have to tag me on your fb singing so I don’t miss it!!!
Cheryl, the fatigue is a shocker, isnt it? Don’t you dare drive tomorrow unless you feel dramatically better… and the thing with chemo is that you might! Get your OH to take you xxxx
Sophie xx
Janipi - lmao - love that image! A friend of mine took photos of me with her five week old son… he has more hair than me! (and less chins, alarmingly…)
Oh good heavens, I have in theory already raised £180… Don’t these people realise I have a singing voice like a strangled budgie!!! Perhaps I could just mime it to sineads voice actually singing???
5 yr old now screams very time he sees my shaved head so am being forced to wear a beanie hat at all times… “I don’t want a new mummy!!!”… Going well then…LOL… Must endeavour to maintain a sense of humour at all times…
Sophie, will send you a message with address, thanks for that, they are going to good use, can’t quite believe I am doing this OMG… Well I never really was one for running marathons to do my bit for charity.
Fingers crossed for blood tests on Thursday so can have fec 2 on Friday, moving hospitals so I don’t have to travel 50 miles to get there, nice little cottage hospital in Tavistock, oh goody, smart shops there…easy parking, will be soooo much easier than trekking to the tardis of a hospital in Plymouth.
I believe strangled budgies are the latest Youtube sensation!
Speaking of charities, a group of my friends from work are doing the Pink Ribbon walk, so go Team W-ONE-der Bra! (We produce some software called “One”).
Also another group of friends are putting on a concert for three cancer charities, one of which will be BCC (as chosen by me!) because they had so many friends involved with local am dram groups who’ve had cancer of one kind or another. My diagnosis was the catalyst to get it going.
I don’t usually go on stage - I’m usually behind the scenes or in the band (I’m a drummer!) but my DH is often a Musical Director and my daughter has acted and sung on stage many times. However, I will be on stage singing for this one (FEC3 permitting), in all my headscarf glory.
It’ll be on March 11th and 12th in Turvey Village Hall, Bedfordshire and I’ll publicise more details when I have them. It includes songs from Les Mis, Rent, Spamalot, Jack the Ripper, Sweet Charity and many more.
Been to rehearsal tonight - singing is wonderful exercise and great therapy!!!
Jane xxx
The concert sounds wonderful, Jane.
I’m going to have to miss choir this week, I think, as I haven’t quite recovered from my crash. It’s better today, but I had to rest after breakfast and need to rest again very soon. My heart scan is this afternoon, so I should rest as much as possible first, I’m just desperately bored by a couple of days in bed. My OH is taking time off this afternoon to drive me, as he doesn’t want to trust me to a minicab. (I hope we can use my parking pass for this as well.)
The night before last I got up to go to the loo with some urgency and nearly passed out. In fact at one point I found myself leaning against the wall of the loo and not too sure how I’d got there for a few seconds, so I may have actually fainted, but fortunately while sitting. Ask any male members of the family to make sure the seat is down last thing at night! Wrestling it down while dizzy in the middle of the night did not help. (And then of course, I had reached the horrible chemical smell stage. Ugh.)
Back to bed for another rest. I hope things are going better for everyone else.
Cheryl
Oh Cheryl, poor you, you really are having a rough time of it… Rest up, every day that passes is a day closer to it all being finished and then we can all get on with the rest of our lives. Xxx
I tackled the 35 mile round trip that is my childrens school run this morning. We have to leave at 7.50, 8am I was still in my jammies!! Luckily I don’t have to do it this arvo too, kind friend up the road will bring them back. Now curled up on the sofa and needing a nap… I am turning into a small dormouse…xxx
Gosh, Sarah, no way could I drive 35 miles at the moment. Today is better, but I’m resting at least twice as long as I’m up, which seems to keep things ticking over. Time for my pre-hospital rest.
Cheryl
Hi all
The exhaustion seems to be hitting us all. I am still in jammies and not done a thing today. Fec2 felt better than the first but I am not getting excited as it seems to me that anything can happen at the moment. Week 2 was the best last time but I still had to rest in the afternoon, so any cooking etc had to be done in the morning.
I had cold cap again and still have my hair but my wig is ready for collection so will get that early next week. There is still no guarantee that I will keep my hair. I also have a 5 year old boy and I think he will be upset to see me bald (he gets upset at the sight of me wearing a small plaster!).
Jane - well done on volunteering at the show, it’s good to have a positive goal to aim for.
Take care all and remember to rest at every opportunity.
Den42
Good luck this afternoon Cheryl, hope it’s all fine for you xxx I know exactly what you mean by the loo urgency and chemo stink…yuk, that’s where I was at 2am this morning! It HAS to co-incide with the very point when I’m most sensitive to smell, ugh, I was gagging. Felt loads better this morning, so went to Tesco to stock up on larder stuff, half way round, had to abandon trolley and dash to loo - apologies to anyone who was in Tesco Amesbury today because it wasn’t pleasant!!! (I did leave it clean, tho…honestly!)
By the time I got home I knew for certain that I wasn’t actually feeling as ok as I thought I was… so back on sofa for this afternoon. Fed up! I am not a patient person… and this fatigue is driving me batty. Or it would, if I had the energy…<grin></grin>
Chin up girls, this too shall pass.
Sophie xx
I hate to say it but I’m so pleased everyone else is as tired as me… I thought I was being a wimp, wondering I could possibly have been tired every day for the past 3 weeks. How on earth do some people manage to keep working?? Anybody still working?? I have a relative who works in cancer research and oncology and she said to me, oh you’ll be fine, some people just breeze through it, might be a little tired sometimes…sometimes!!!
Since getting back from the35 mile school run this morning I have been totally useless, managed to make an omelette for lunch, now I’m going to scrape my sorry ass off the sofa and do something productive before the boys get home… It may just be making a cup of tea mind you but thats kind of productive isn’t it!!!
I suppose it goes to show how different we all are… I honestly thought LiF was going to be running a million miles a day all the way through - (and Val, I wish you HAD been able to, don’t get me wrong!), and make me feel utterly useless… but it just shows how hard chemo can be. I think, too, that there are so many variations of chemo, depending on what cancer you have, that the se’s can vary enormously from very little to utterly appalling. BC is a b*tch of a cancer, so chemo is too… in my book.
Yes, after first week of first one, and prob. all the way through second, I ‘could’ have worked, tho I’d have been exhausted, but this time around, uh uh, absolutely no way. And that’s nothing to do with what sort of job I do… I’ve had desk jobs, and I couldn’t summon the energy and enthusiasm to deal with customers by phone now, not safely, anyhow! I’m very glad some people can and do swan through chemo - but the rest of us have nothing to feel guilty about if all we can do is pull the duvet back over our heads. Though I’m not doing that at the mo, did I mention I STINK.
Hugs to all
Sophie xx
I know what you mean, Sarah. I expected to get on with my project on Monday, but couldn’t sit up and concentrate long enough.
Although I only had a short wait for the heart scan and was lying down through it, I feel ready for another rest.
I breezed through a WLE and rads two years ago–but I had so little pain with either, the rads tiredness didn’t build up until about half way through (plus I had a slightly reduced workload), and I probably went back a little sooner than I really should, so I didn’t take much time off. I didn’t drive the first week back, either. Having had more extensive surgery this time means I have more to contend with in terms of discomfort and low energy, even if we leave out chemo being a tougher treatment.
The point is that you can’t really generalise: two people having the same treatment may react differently, and there are variations in treatment as well. Having children is a tiring job all by itself, as I recall.
Cheryl