Does anyone have or know of any tips towards feeling half human after finishing chemotherapy? I have hardly any hair, no nails, eyelashes and eyebrows gone, skin the colour of a ghost and I just feel generally pretty disgusting.
I am getting a lot of feedback regarding eating well and changing my lifestyle etc but I have always been healthy and fit so I’m just not sure what I’m meant to change or do. X
Hi sbee sorry you are feeling so rubbish. I finished chemo 6 weeks ago. I am trying to be positive but its hard. I dont know who i am when i look in the mirror. 2mm of white hair, one hanging big boob and lymphodemia in my hand and arm, made worse by this heat. A few friends are still asking how I am but a lot are not understanding that its going to take time for me to feel myself and be able to do the things i used to do like long dog walks. I wish i knew how to quicken the process of feeling better too. Eating well and being with people you love helps as you think youre doing something positive but all too often what we have been through creeps into my head and brings me back down again. I hope we all start to feel happy in ourselves again soon. X
I understand and feel exactly the same - totally lost and I haven’t had surgery yet. People dissappear too. Xx
Hi @sbee
Sorry to see you are feeling so rubbish 
I am nearing a week since I finished chemo and am not really sure how I feel,I was expecting to feel all kinds of elation once finished but just feel a bit deflated and “meh” ,Along with some internal pressure I seem to have put on myself to be now doing things in the time that I have before surgery-But I also then can’t be bothered and have no motivation at all!
I started to loose my hair pretty quickly following my first chemo session so am used to seeing myself bald,I now have a dusting of white fluff appearing,I am naturally fair haired,But kind of resemble myself as a baby at present.
My lashes have somehow managed to cling on through treatment,But my eyebrows become more sparse each day,I may start to use some rosemary oil with a carrier oil in the new few weeks to see if that helps.
I have gone from being really active in my normal life,I have an active job and am normal constantly on the go. I have not been at work since I started chemo,So being at home with minimal exercise(walking rather than running etc)and eating things I wouldn’t normally as they have been all I could taste/didnt upset my stomach etc has meant that I have put on some weight,I am probably the heaviest I have been at present!But I am trying not to let it bother me-Although it does at times as once I build up my stamina the weight issue will improve.
I think the only tip I have is try to be kinder to yourself,Which is easier said than done-
I am very good at not taking my own advice 
But we have been through a LOT! And if it was one of my friends had been through all of this I would offer this advice to them…
“Be kinder to yourself,Take all the time you need,Be proud of how far you have come”
Sending Love 
Thank you so much @rainbowbrite10.
I’m wide awake with the pain of a uti - the final treat from chemo it would appear. I have antibiotics so I’m hoping it clears ASAP as it’s agony. Anyone else been there?
X
Oh No!
Hopefully the antibiotics will set to work quite quickly and the UTI resolves soon.
I didn’t have a UTI,But some sore skin following on from chemo on occasions which made going for a wee horribly uncomfortable.
Yeah, I guess it could be that too. How are you doing? Xx
Had it first round and gone by using antibiotics
No uti but flare up of diverticulitis. Antibiotics now. Apparently months after finishing chemo the intestine wall can be weak and if you hace diverticulitis it can make you more prone to a flare up.
Hope you are feeling OK @dkc66 - I’m currently in a&e the pain has got so bad. I’m so so fed up with this, no one should have to live this way. X
Take care @sbee hope you get the help you need
How are you now sbee? Im much better but today watching the tennis final my mind keeps wandering to recurrence and how after chemo, apart from a yearly mammogram on the remaining breast, why we dont get offered anything else like ultrasound, 3d mammogram or blood tests.
I’m hanging in there somehow @dkc66 - thank you for asking. I’ve been given more antibiotics, i didn’t know impacting the vj etc post chemo was a thing! & I’m emotional today (like most days tbh.) i am meant to have surgery next, have you finished treatment now?
I understand that feeling, I still can’t believe this is happening. X
Sbee i had a single masectomy and lymph nodes all removed before chemo. Now on letrozole for 7 to 10 years. Finished chemo 7 weeks ago and starting to feel stronger but mentally i still feel in the thick of it. Ive already been back for an ultrasound as i felt a lump but thankfully it was a cyst. Cant get my head around how you are meant to carry on without worrying daily. I am sorry you are struggling. I hope you have good support. Though even then its hard not to keep over thinking.
Sbee, I found the worse part of tge masectomy was the drain you have in for about a week after. Its cumbersome and hard to sleep with. I didnt feel much pain which surprised me but the bruising was hideous, but I was told most people dont bruise as much as I did. I have accepted losing the breast but cant accept the other one hanging there! Im big breasted abd it looks ridiculous. I made the huge decision that i want the other one off so Im symmetrical. Im waiting to hear from my surgeon whether theyll do it. I will remain flat. I definitely dont want reconstruction, but i believe most people do have it. I hope ive private messaged you but im useless and may well not have done! Any questions please feel free to ask.
Good morning, ladies.
Sorry I’ve been so quiet these past few weeks. Since my Flamenco performance, my anxiety about the upcoming surgery went through the roof. I barely did anything other than work myself into the ground just to stop spiraling.
Especially after finishing chemo on the 10th of June — while my energy isn’t back to pre-chemo levels, it had slowly started to return.
I had my mastectomy with immediate DIEP reconstruction and a reduction on the other breast a week ago. My plastic surgeon said, “It should be your own material,” because I’ll need radiotherapy after, and implants tend to harden with radiotherapy. So DIEP it was — and luckily, I had enough for one breast.
To say I was scared doesn’t even begin to cover it. It also didn’t help that there weren’t as many appointments leading up to the surgery as I expected. My iron levels were critically low at the last minute, so I had to get an iron infusion on the Friday before my surgery on Tuesday. I was admitted on Monday. Surgery took the whole day Tuesday.
That first night was sleepless — they check your flap every 30 minutes. But I was up walking by Wednesday evening, in a bra on Thursday, and home by Friday. It sounds easy when I write it like this, but it really wasn’t. It’s nerve-wracking. I’m still not 100% sure it was the best decision, but once I’ve healed, I’ll reassess. Someone in another group suggested a Facebook DIEP support group, and the UK one has been very helpful.
I’m home now and bored out of my mind because I can’t do much. But I do see the positives: the surgeons did a fantastic job with the tummy tuck part of the DIEP. It feels like my intestines and stomach are nice and snug, and I’m not hungry most of the time. So honestly, it’s as good as it can be right now.
Morning All,
Hope everyone is doing as well as they can be whilst dealing with side effect and post surgery.
I have been plauged by a wave of negative thoughts over the weekend,And I have no idea why…I have remained quite positive during my journey so far but have spiraled into a sense of dread that my cancer has spread and I am constantly checking both breasts and armpits for lumps and bumps!
And am overthinking every ache/pain I have in my body!
Which really isnt like me at all!!!
I am unsure if its because I have finished chemo and will have no treatment until after surgery when I will restart on my phesgo injections,Or if its just a normal thing to happen in this situation?
I was due to have a telephone appointment with my oncologist at 4 yesterday-He finally rang at 8!-Which blew my mind slightly…I work in a clinical outpatient setting and don’t think my clinic has ever run over by 4 hours!
We discussed treatment options post surgery and what would happen in every case after they have had the results from the tissue and lymph node biopsies.
Whether I will continue on phesgo,Or will have to start kadcyla,
The one thing that has played on my mind is the possibility that I may still have to have radiotherapy after despite having a mastectomy,Which is something I wanted to avoid and part of the reason I had chosen a mastectomy over breast conserving surgery,I had been pretty certain about my surgery choice since diagnosis but now I’m not so sure and am questioning myself!
I know they have to cover all bases but it’s a lot to take on board at times!
Sending love and positive vibes
Hi @rainbowbrite10 hope you are ok. I feel the same way as you with me it’s even more so since I finished chemo. As awful as chemo was I think I felt kind of safe on it. I had my mastectomy without reconstruction last Thursday and felt really panicky in the night after about what they would have found. I now have to go back to surgery on Thursday this week as I have a bleed and haemotoma which needs sorting. I am expecting to need Kadcyla as I know on the scans there was still a lump. I am now dreading the results.
When is your surgery?
Xx
Oh Goodness!
Am sorry you are facing more surgery!
I’d not even considered kadcyla up until yesterday and it kind of threw me off a bit.
My surgery is the 14th of August x
I have only heard about kadcyla from the ladies on the her2+ chat my oncologist has never mentioned it.
Bet you will be pleased when you’ve had your surgery
Xx