Fingers crossed for as few side effects for tomorrow Granny Ali x
Good luck for your 2nd FEC Granny Ali! I am just back from mine and am wiped out. So tired today. Good luck to anyone else whose treatment is tomorrow. Think Robin yours is tomorrow, we were chemo buddies last time, but am back to Tuesday this time. Hope you don’t get the sickness fingers crossed. love and hugs to all. yawn xx
Beedot
I only had aches on the first day after the G-CSF jabs so you may be lucky
Mooney - all OK? Hopefully you’re fast asleep!
Robin - hopefully you wont be bitten by the pukey bug this time
Today’s victory - only had a mini meltdown as opposed to a full blown hyper ventilating meltdown when getting PICC line flushed today. A small step in the right direction. By the end of this I’m going to be so bloody brave! Not looking forward to the daily injections again. Blood test Thursday (meltdown territory) and chemo Friday. Meeting with onc first. Hopefully she’ll say the lump has shrink and it’s not just wishful thinking on my part.
Good luck to everyone else this week no matter where you are on the journey
You’re all so lovely. Thank you and I face timed the new family today, although Dylan slept through it.
So yes, 2nd round tomorrow. I’ve worked a full day today, & most of yesterday, training at the Treasury. Although I’m knackered it was really good to get it under my belt. I wasn’t sure whether to mention the cancer, but I did, because I’m not really loving my wig. So I’ve been wearing wraps, which look slightly eccentric but very colourful.
I had a different oncologist at clinic yesterday so he couldn’t tell if it had shrunk, but I think it has. He also said I don’t need to go to clinic next time because I’m so well. I’ll have bloods but no need for an oncology appointment. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Possibly paranoid that they are bored by me!!! I can phone up and get added if I feel worse this time. Anyway I’ll let you all know how it goes. PICC line going in at 11, chemo at 1.
I’ve got two novels saved up for the rest of the week. Almost worth having chemo. Almost, but not quite.
Hope everyone who’s had treatment feels not too bad. Good luck to everyone for the rest of the week
Ali xx
Quick question - is having gcsf the “norm”? Or only if blood counts fall?
Hi Egg,
It depends on your hospital. I’m at Guy’s and I’m not getting them. They do bloodcpibts and will only prescribe the injections of the white cell count falls. But lots of people are getting them as a matter of course.
Ali x
Hi
I’m in Durham and we have the G-CSF jabs as a matter of course.
Good luck with PICC line Ali. As you know, I’m a complete wimp and I managed it with no probs. Makes chemo a doddle and the nurses love them and think everyone should have one as a matter of course.
Hi All, knew it I am now awake, shattered but awake. In Lincolnshire we get gcsf injections 7 days as a matter of course. I took loratadine, didn’t have any problems with bone pain, it’s difficult to know if that is the reason, but there is a research paper which discusses the benefits and I read somewhere that some the American ladies get it as a matter of course.
Scotty you are amazing, I think the PICC line is so the way to go. I had a portocath which is done under local and not a walk in the park, and they still have to stick a needle in to access it. 3x they tried today, so it’s Emla Cream for me next time. It is easy though when in and if you feel so inclined you can swim in it and shower, it sits under the chest.You will be able to do anything after this and no longer classify yourself as a scared cat!!
Ali what books are you reading. I can’t seem to get into anything? Have the Maya Angelou biography sat by the bed and have hardly picked it up, can’t seem to concentrate, must have something else on my mind…
Good luck this week everyone- may your SE’s be little one!
Hugs Mooneyxxx
Hi everyone
Foggy horrible day, if you fancy a giggle look at the December 2016 thread. Just scroll down a bit and you find the boob scarf. Just tickled me, but could be my sense of humour. Am having a duvet day today following chemo yesterday. Feel shattered still. Threads a bit quiet hope everyone is ok? Hugsxx
Hiya Mooney
Loved the boob scarf. Post op present to myself maybe??!!
How’s this one treating you compared to the last one? I’m planning a cinema trip to see Lion tonight before chemo on Friday. Heard good things about it so I’ll give you my review tomorrow! Take it easy and snuggle up x
Hi Scotty
Feel a bit cxxp. Not one ounce of energy today. Holed up inbed hubby fielding calls, think I have felt so well these last 10 days bit of a shock again.
I said in my last post think you are amazing and you no longer need to give yourself the title scaredy cat! I still have
to have a needle to access my portocath and they tried 3 x yesterday. Plus it was difficult to put in. But can shower and bathe as under my chest wall.
HAve lovely time at Lion. Lovely to hear how it goes and great to get out and be normal!:)You can be our get outer, and feed back normality to those of us holed up.
love and hugs Mooneyxx
Keep going everyone who’s just had 2nd chemo - just think of how its a dreary miserable day and by the time the long light days come we should all be towards the end of our chemo. I know its easy for me to say as I am in the ‘good’ third week before hopefully 2nd FEC Tuesday. 2/6 is already a third of the way though.
Had a lovely make up session at a large Boots near me yesterday, they are Macmillan trained and the service is free for anyone going through cancer treatment. We are going to a big flash party in central London tomorrow and the beauty advisor said to come back tomorrow afternoon so she can do my make up! I don’t know if I will but it was nice to pick up tips about eyebrows and lashes etc .
I get GCSF for 7 days as standard here although I don’t think our technique was very effective and some of it seemed to drip out - I guess the blood tests will tell whether it was enough or not.
Great tip about the Boots advisor Slowski- I didn’t know that. I’m not the best at make up and girliness in my normal life so I’ll take all the help I can get! Not much hair left but annoyingly it’s still growing on my legs.
Mooney - you’ve given me such a confidence boost! Trying to make the most of these last few days before it starts again. I’ll be hiding behind your coat tails to see what’s coming next! I thought the port was supposed to be hassle free?! Going to try really hard not to panic too much for bloods tomorrow. I’ve found it makes such a difference having a more experienced nurse. The one who flushed the line yesterday had it all done in the blink of an eye whereas one of the younger ones made it hurt and feel uncomfortable. Trouble is you can’t guarantee which nurse will be on as they rotate them on 2 different sites.
Glad you’ve got hubby there. Take it easy x
Hi Mooney
Just wanted to say hang in there, you’re doing great and we’re all (virtually) with you! I’ve my second FEC next week and have finally managed to read a whole book. Wahey! Normally I read every day but, post chemo, I just couldn’t! It was a mixture of lack of will and a complete inability to concentrate on anything much more taxing than a whole episode of Homes Under The Hammer! I’ve just downloaded a few books for this time around and have stayed away from complex thrillers or big involved sagas and gone down the feel good, easy reading chick lit route! Paige Toon, Carole Matthews, Sophie Kinsella…
I’ve also bought a jigsaw… :smileylol:
Suze
xxx
Hi All,
I hope everyone is doing well, Mooney you sound very tired today. It’s interesting to see the rhythm of how it goes over the 3 weeks and then back to the next one. I checked out the boob scarf (thinking of offering to share it with the person who said she needed one bigger than the other!). I don’t like to read too far ahead in that thread on what’s coming, just the next step. I was like that when I was diagnosed, I didn’t want to talk to anyone else or read the forums as I didn’t want to know how bad it might get. I have finally accepted now there is no quick and easy way through this and I now found this group a great support.
Day 3 and I feel alot better this evening. The flushed face is gone,tiredness getting better and no aches so far from GCSF - mine is once, the day after each chemo session. I still can’t face much food and drink yet though.
i did have flashing lights around the perimeter of my vision this morning, I think that was steroids. I stopped work and looked at curtain fabric samples instead, much less taxing. Off to get my wig tomorrow in case cold capping not a success.
Hugs to all
Beedot x
So Suze, Homes under the Hammer is my guilty secret. I have 22 episodes saved up for my post-chemo binge tomorrow and Friday.
Hope you’re feeling a bit better Mooney. And Scotty, you were absolutely right about the PICC line, which was fine. It’s a bit achy now, but the relief of not worrying about my dodgy veins is huge. I hadn’t realised I’d be getting a visit from the District nurse every week, to change the dressing.
So second EC done, halfway through that and then onto the T plus targeted therapies. It’s good to tick them off. It was fine. I have a tiny headache, much less than last time. No other side effects, apart from the bright pink pee of course. I’m watching telly with a cashmere blanket and two cats on my legs, it’s a bit hot!
Have a good evening all, I’ll let you know how things are tomorrow.
Ali x
Beedot that reminds me. I asked why we don’t get GCSF at Guy’s. I was curious, not whiny. The nurse said it was essentially a resource choice (which is fair enough), but he said “Don’t worry, if you get so ill you have to go into hospital, they’ll give it to you then”. I told him that was “very reassuring”. ?
Ali x
Hi All
Thank you for all your good wishes, felt a wimp today. So tired then realised I forgot to take my steroids this morning! Remembered about half one. So took them with lunch and will start again tomorrow morning. They are by my bed. Don’t want to take my seconsteroids dose before will never sleep.
Thanks Suze for the book list will try those, hope I can get into something.I am booked into the look good feel good workshop next wednesday really looking forward to that. Better be well. Ali pleased the PICC line went well and hope the SE’s remain good for you.
Beedot keep going- ×we are all doing so well, think we are all such strong courageous women, we have down days but that makes our courage even more inspiring.
Hugs
Mooneyxxx
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Hi ladies
Sorry I hope you don’t think I’ve been ignoring you all.
I got myself in quite a state in the week leading up to day 14 bloods preparing for the worst from the scan results and didn’t sleep the night before at all.
As it turns out the results weren’t there…so after a good chat with my partner, I took myself of all internet/social media and had what I can only describe as a fairly normal week (I’m not sure normal exists but as close as)
I had caught a cold from the 3 boys and of course my partner went back to work last week so it was nice to just be Mum and not think about anything else.
I had my second lot of my 6 FEC-t today and so far all good…we bit queasy. They have struggled to get a vein so I’ve a rather attractive bruise up my arm where we failed to get one.
Results from scan where in and they were mixed. The bone swelling on my hip is nothing just the General make up of me and only noticed because I had a scan…they assume I obtained it during an accident years ago but is nothing to worry about.
The liver MRI they still don’t have 100% results that they are happy with. The oncology team are in decided and so I’m now off for a liver ultrasound. They think it’s possibly blood vessels which again I’ve probably always had but the MRI wasn’t clear enough…so still not out of the woods for secondaries yet although my consultant did say that the bone results are much better than he had thought so he was pleased for me.
Hair came out in bucket loads yesterday…this hit me quite hard but my sister was on hand with a variety of wigs which we tried on today. I also got my silicone prosthesis which is much better than the cushion although I have to say I wasn’t overly bothered by the one boob shape.
Anyway I hope all you ladies are doing well. I’m glad to be back online again but I definitely needed a wee break.
Hugs xxxx