Good luck everyone with chemo today!!
Kai is at home with me all day today. First time for ages…we have had the day together. Just hope the stomach cramps keep away today!!! But…intend to have lots of silly fun and do absolutely no housework!!!
Lots of love,
Gailxx
Hi Gail
Whats housework???
Andie xx
Hi everyone
Good luck to Andie & Bright on their chemo today,do let us know Bright how you get on with the cold cap…
Gail- As Andie says what is housework??? My hubby seems to do it all since i started my chemo…hes a star…
Jo- I would like to see you on the Tuesday that your at the hospital,I’m sure i will be more with it by Tuesday after the op on Monday afternoon.
My boxer dog has a tumor in her mouth, its not cancer…She will have her op on the 3rd Feb so we will be recovering together…
Where is Caron???
Hugs
Shell
xxxxxx
Hello everyone,
Just writing to say that I survived first chemo FEC100 plus cold cap (it was cold). But feeling stranger by the minute - undertones of nausea, a bit tired and almosr wonder if I am experiencing a drug addict’ s drugged state. Need to lie down for a bit.
Write later - hope you are all well.
Bright xx
Bright, you’ve done well to post after your first FEC. I usually come home and get straight into bed because i feel so drunk then am sick for a few hours that night! I always feel much better the next day though!
Shell,you’ve got my fav dog in the world, I’m boxer mad! Poor thing hope he’s ok, he’s coming out in sympathy with his mum!!! C U on the Tuesday after your op then!
I just wanted to say that I love this chat room, it’s a lifeline at times, but I’ve gotta say, today I really wish I hadn’t logged on. I start 3 lots of taxotere soon and now after what I’ve read I’m absolutely beside myself about it. It sounds absolutely horiffic. One poor lady finished it 3 years ago and her hair has never grown back!!! I’m gonna beg my ONC on monday to keep me on FEC for remainder of treatment as I’m so terrified. Can anyone tell me any positives aboutTAX I feel bad enough on FEC but side effects of TAX seem a million times worse!!!
Takecare everyone
Jo
X
Hi Jo
Not a long post I had my last tax today and my bed is calling BUT to reassure you. I lost all my hair on the AC which was my first lot of chemo. I have just finished 4 lots of tax and my hair started to grow back between tax 1 and 2 . It is sparse but definately growing.I will tell you more about tax tomorrow but it is doable
Night night
LOL
Andie xx
Jo,
From my sofa - cannot quite drag myself up to bed… lady next to me in hospital hair grew back but only patchily two years on from tax. but need to way up its fight against cancer or hair loss. No alternative to life - but at least there are wigs.
Bright x
SORRY I am here ,
I have been scanning some photo’s and the scanner is soo slow ! and I had to start again cos it never saved them ! I still have a bag of photo’s to do !
Glad your 1st Chemo went well today Bright.
I seem to be sweating alot today ( my head ! ) anyway apart from that every thing is ok.
Shell I said I was tired still cos I had just got up I seem to be getting up later & later !.
I will put another recipe on tomoz, glad you enojoyed your cake ( lovely isn’t it )
I think it was bad me looking at all the photo’s I was writing the kids names on the back so they would know who was who ! ( if I wasn’t here ! ) but I shouldn’t be thinking like that.
I knew Ulrika ka ka would win CBB !! ( I think she deserved to ) right I am off now it’s late I will write tomoz love Caron x
hello all ,
Steve said I was radiator in the night ! we are having the steak chestnut mushrooms with cracked pepper sauce tonight .
here is the recipe as promised
CLASSIC TREACLE TART
serves 8
225g / 8oz plain flour
150 / 5oz chilled diced unsalted butter
1 medium egg yolk
15g 1/2 sugar
1kg / 2lb golden syrup
250g / 9 oz fresh white breadcrumbs ( made without crusts )
finely grated rind of 3 unwaxed lemons
4 medium eggs beaten
put the plain & butter together ( rubbing in method ) make into fine crumbs
add the egg yolk sugar and 3-4 tbs cold water make into a firm dough.
turn out on a lightly floured surface and bring together into a ball , wrap in clingfilm & chill in fridge for 30mins
roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, and use to line a 31cm / 12 inch loose bottomed tin ( or round tin ) prick the base with a fork.
preheat oven to 180c ( fan oven 160c ) gas mark 4 , heat the syrup gently in a pan until runny ( make sure you don’t let it boil or over heat when adding eggs or they will scramble ) If it becomes too hot allow to cool slightly , Remove from heat and stir in the breadcrumbs , lemon rind and beaten eggs until combined.
place the pastry case on a baking sheet and pour in the filling.
bake for 45 / 50 mins until set and golden brown ( filling ) .
This recipe is quite easy and it’s very nice can anyone remember those golden tobacco that you used to eat???
well I have got a recipe for that I will see if I can find it Shells kidsmay like it cos I don’t think you have to cook it ?
love Caron ( hope your feeling ok today Bright ? )
Forgot to say Bright I was thinking about you saying that your having 3x3 and I am having 4x4 maybe they give you it on the size of the tumor? cos if you read some posts some people have more than 4 I have seen some of 6 ( I dont know if that was 6x6 but I know it was 6.
I couldn’t sleep last night can’t get away from my brain ! ( thinking ) I wish there was a button and you could choose what to think about !!!
Love Caron
Shelly 9 more sleeps to go !!! xx
JO just read your post … you have to change to a different chemo to try and fool the cancer ( incase it gets immune ) thats what my BC nurse told me , you’ll get through it , I have read some posts and quite a few say that TAX is better than FEC so don’t worry ( why try not to ) .
My Mum’s just rung she is full of cold so she is not coming today and I DON’T HAVE TO GO FOR MY COFFEE TOMORROW !!! lol x
SORRY ( again brain not with it ! ) ANDIE hope you are feeling a bit better today !
Hello all,
Just going out and will write later. Feeling more or less back to normal except for slightly ongoing feeling of nausea and a little tired - though could attrivute that to lack of sleep this week (worrying about the chemo). Have my hair now in a hairnet (not touched since comping home) and just put on my wig with a couple of clips to secure it for now. Does look like the real thing.
Hope everyone is well.
Caron - now torn between lime and honey chicken and the steak. A request - can you put up a daily post of what you are eating for dinner - plus the recipe. Think we could compile them for a charity booklet “how to eat well during breast cancer” - or perhaps something more catchy
Bright xxx
Hi
Im glad all the ladies are doing well after their chemos, you should remember to rest though…
Jo my Boxer is a girl called Fizz or Fizzerela…depends what mood I’m in, i love her to bits. As my house is male dominated (hubby & 3 Boys) she is so loyal to me,follows me everywhere. Shes a bit lazy though,will sleep all day and all night…and she snores…Lol…
Do you have a boxer dog? or d you just like them?
I have been taking out all my sons clothes out of the wardrobes today as we are buying him new ones and decorating his room,the ones in at the mo are fixed and looking a bit shabby.We are going to order some free standing ones.Hes 13 now and knows exactly what he wants…black if we were to let him…No way…
Am going for a bath now for a soak and then put my feet up as hubby is going to make a stir fry for dinner, yummy…
Take care all.
Shell
xxxxx
Hi Shell, no we used to have one, when I was a kid, Mr Biff was his name. We,ve always said we’ll get a boxer pup one day, but when the kids are a bit older don’t think i could cope with that as well as 3 littleuns coz Boxers are beautiful but very bouncy. We live on the edge of a common, dog paradise so we really must one day, perhaps when this nightmare is over it would be a good thing to get a dog and make me go and walk every day and try and start feeling healthy again! although don’t know wot Mercedes Benz (my Cat) will have to say about that!! Give Fizz a lovely slobbery kiss from me. I can’t pass a boxer without going all unneccessary!
Caron, yes that makes sense I suppose about fooling the cancer but I feel so crap after my 2nd FEC I just don’t know how I’m gonna cope with the 3rd one on Monday let alone the tax 3 weeks later! Suppose I’m just going to have to!
Bright, thanks, I know you are right but I’m not a happy bunny at the mo with regrds to hair loss and wigs etc and the thought of it not coming back at all terrifies me more than anything right now!
Regards everyone
Jo X
Hi girls,
Had fab day with Kai yesterday…just like old times!!! Loved it!!! Felt like a proper Mummy again. We made our own playdough and got all sticky and messy.
Jo. I feel worse, but better on Tax. It’s worse in some ways because (and this is only after one) it had a more physical reaction for me. I had very aching limbs and back…almost like flu and took to my bed with a hot water bottle (2-3 days). I then also had a poorly tummy (cramps etc). It also seems to have left me with general fatigue - I can’t walk as far etc… BUT…I didn’t get the horrid nausea, sickness, emotion and fog I got with FEC. I seem to have coped better mentally with it for some reason, but this is only my first one… so who knows!!! I think I’m just someone that doesn’t cope well with the nausea and sickness side. It is meant to be stronger than FEC so it is good to get it fighting for us!! I was terrified too after reading through all the tax threads!!!
Steve is cooking his lovely cottage pie so I will eat well today!!!
Caron - I know what you mean about switching off my brain. I hate what I think about and how my brain tortures me.
Re: TV. Couldn’t believe Ulriccaaaaa won it. I loved Terry!! And Come dine with me this week…what a fab programme!! Never seen ayone fall asleep before. Fab TV!!
Much love to you all,
Gailxxxx
Dear all,
I have just come in from five hours in the outside world taking in a walk to Dulwich and a look at the shops along Lordship Lane. I glanced longingly at blue veined cheeses in the cheese shop, sadly now one of the foods I cannot eat, and spent ages in a place selling hair products for wigs. Writing of wigs - I am wearing mine for the first time today. As soon as I came in last night I put a hair net on my hair, did not brush it all, and then put wig on to go out in first time this morning. Rather than securing it with one of the three different adhesives I bought (21 day safe grip, 1-10 ultra grip, and wig tap) I found four hair grips seem to keep it firmly in place for the moment. I kept expecting people to stare at me but the didn’t. The wig is so good it even has a few baby type hairs at the front which look like new growing hair - as it doesn’t have a fringe. When I got back this evening I combed it through with a little water and a wide toothed comb and plan to leave it in place until the day before my next chemo - when I will dare to rinse my own hair in tepid water and gently pat it dry with a towel. Of course I may lose it but at least I can say I have tried everything I can to preserve it.
Jo what I would say - is that if you do still have any of your own hair it may be best to keep this even if it is patchy and you wear a wig over it. Reason is if taxotere does in any way hamper hair growth then at least if you have some of your own hair - there are few possible places for bald patches to remain.
All the writing of dogs makes me fearful. I have a real dog phobia (was attacked in the park when small by an alsatian) and have never got over it - despite counselling. I love cats though - they make wonderful friends and my black and white boy is just like a son.
Caron - I have gone for the steak and portobello mushrooms tonight served with courgettes. I am making a roquefort sauce for OH though of course will be passing on that myself (not just for the live cheese - but also as I do not want to put on pounds…)
Just thought I’d mention that I bought some cream today for chemo veins call Hirudoid cream - designed for superficial phlebitis. The lady next to me in the chemo unit recommended it where it is very popular in Australia. She is a doctor and seemed very sensible so I bought some. It is not on display but you can ask at the chemist for it. I paid for it - but you may be able to get doctor to subscribe it. It cost £5.99
Gail - I liked Terry too. An come dine with me - is my absolute favourite programme - I like the combination of the cookery, looking inside people’s houses, and seeing how the different guests interact with one another. Masterchef - I also find quite gripping.
Love Bright xx
Hi Girls
A further thought on tax. The hospital where I am being treated have only been able to administer it since September because of the cost implication (previously they sent you to Guys to have it.) When I asked how much this stuff costs I was told in the region of £4000 per dose. It is regarded as just about the best there is and although initially I sat in with my oncologist and wept that I really did’nt want it now I am glad that I took the opportunity that was bering offered to me. Further on from that conversation I was told that 1 years cost for Herceptin is in the region of £52,000.
At the moment following on from yesterdays tax although I feel tired and my taste has gone again, we did manage to get out this morning. My legs ache but I really don’t want to end up having physio at the end of all this because my muscles have not been used. Jo I have had no sickness at all on tax so there is one positive for you. And although I understand that you can have problems with nails I have taken other peoples advice and taken better care of mine than normal , in fact I really don’t like dark nail polish but I have persevered with the dark polish and nail oil and mine are still in place and even growing quite well. As you say tax is really a no brainer just hard to get your head round before you start. All chemo seems to render my brain and hands for typing incapable of coordinating. Or maybe as OH is quick to point out that is an ongoing problem I just now have a convenient excuse.
Yesterday at the hospital the nurse went off before she started to connect me up to sort out the cold cap machine. I was really chuffed because I wear a wig. If a nurse in the treatment suite was fooled it must fool most people. And mine was not expensive.
I finished my steroids today so maybe I will get a better nights sleep. Do any of you girls have an aloholic tipple of an evening while on chemo and does it help you sleep?
Hugs to everyone - if only we lived a bit closer and could meet up.
LOL Andie xx
Hi everyone ! just lost all my post AGAIN !!! ( so maddening ).
So this will be short now.
Bright Can’t believe you been out ! you put me to shame , but it was only my second one I felt sick on and that is the worst bit , also the bald patches that you were talking about , they are not small patches and they get bigger & bigger, we had our rump steak in cracked pepper sauce with stir fry veg & chestnut mushrooms & vintage cheese ( can’t move now & am not weighing my sen NO MORE ! lol ).
Alsations , I was walking down the street once & this Alsation wouldn’t let me move it just kept circling me & snarling I was bobbing mysen ! then this woman shouted at it and I shouted at her " get the f ing thing under control " but I have also known some really nice Alsations .
I got attacked by a dog it was like a spaniel type dog and we were having a water fight and this dog for no reason at all jumped up and bit me through my jeans !! I still have a scar on my thigh , I warned the owner but she treat it like a baby and she wouldn’t listen so about 6 months later it went for a little boy for no reason she had it put down after that .
Jordan has 2 girls coming tomorrow ( nothing new there then ! ). I have finished scanning my photo’s just got to name them all now !!.
Andie the nurse who did my chemo just said don’t drink when your having your steroids but other that that your ok if you feel like it.
Jo my last lot of chemo was bad too I know your having FEC and I am having EC but I think thet are more or less the same ? I too am dreading Wednesday and I feel sick just thinking about it but we know it’s got to be done !.
I might even be going on my own on Tuesday to have my bloods and see the chemo nurse as mam’s got cold and Steve at work but hey ho !
Shelly I hope you are conserving all your energy ??? take care Love Caron xx
morning all,
I had another nightmare last night ( I must be worrying over Wednesday ) I dreamt I was being strangled by a asian man !!! ( whats that mean ? ).
I dare not go to the toilet in the middle of the night so I just lay there hoping Steve would wake up !
Well hoping for a lie in this morning seen as I didn’t have to go to my mums! no such luck Jordan’s motto ONE UP ALL UP ! he started cleaning his bedroom cos those girls were coming !
Jo good luck with your chemo tomorrow !
Bright how you doing now?( gone shopping ?) lol
right thats me for now write later love me xx