I got really good results from the hospital yesterday, which together with the sun shining in London today has really lifted my spirits. Maybe there is a light at the end of my tunnel.
I have decided to abandon my wig - now it is getting warmer and my hair is beginning to grow just a little bit I am finding it a real nuiscance, uncomfortable and itchy. From today I intend to be just me, a person who has lost her hair through medication but whos hair is just starting to grow again. If I pluck up enough courage I will get a photo taken and show you.
Andie,
that would be lovely if you took a pic of your new hair, it’s not worth me taking a pic of mine as there is still nothing to show.
I was crying this morning as my throat is really bad and not getting any better!!!.
I have now been persuaded that it is probably a streptococci infection, so I am now having anti biotics and the difflam rinse.
Trouble is all this time I have had the difflam and not used it as I thought it was just for a sore mouth ! it was only this morning when I said (well croaked)I wonder if that difflam is for sore throats !
So all this time been in agony and I could have used that to numb it.
We have just rung up about Marble they have taken her stitch out now and we have to ring up at 4.30 if she has a motion she can come home,but I bet she wont!.
Bright hope you are feeling ok after your last FEC?
love Caron xx
Bright hope you’re picking up after FEC and hickman, you’re very brave I was dreading having that!
Caron, I did homemade chicken Curry on Monday, and the same thing happened to me, Michael woofed his down really quickly and said it was average hotness and it nearly took the roof of my mouth off, took me ages to finish but i was starving so perserveered (don’t know wot’s happened to my spelling)!!
Well, me and this TAX aren’t getting on at all well. I’m on day 11 of my 2nd TAX and I woke up this morning absolutely covered from head to toe in the most appauling rash. Not 1 bit of my body is unaffected.It looks like chicken pox! So now, I’m not only fat and bald, but fat,bald and spotty! and very very itchy, it’s driving me crackers! This evening knuckles, knees and ankles swollen as well and very painful! I’m feeling really sorry myself! I’m back on the wretched steroids and antibiotics and antihisthamine, and now pain killers. Probably won’t be able to have the last one as i’m one of the 5% of people who react this way!
JO do you still feel ill at all???
I thought I was starrting to get a bit better but no it was all an illusion! woke up in the night dripping and couldn’t swallow (again)
went to have some difflam then took my temp it was 38.2 so I thought see how it is in the morning as it might be time to ring them, took it this morning 37.1 (normal)
I don’t know if you have this throat thing? but the best thing to have is a cold drink with ice in.
Now my eyes are hurting like I’ve got a head cold ive got blood in my phlem (very nice I know! sorry for too much info).
We couldn’t get Marble as she had not done anything, I remember last time they ended up letting her go home with us as she wouldn’t do anything, so hopefully they will let her come home?
Bright how you feeling now???
Andie are you still ok???
Katemate how are you???
Gail hopefully you will be home soon ??
my voice keeps going is this what they meant by flu symptoms?? cos I think I’ve got the LOT !!!
love Caron xxxx
Caron Cats will only do their own thing. It is possible that Marble is waiting to get home to perform the necessary.
I am OK and recovering from the operation really well. The seroma which has built up under one of the scars is still having to be drained. I feel caught in a catch 22 situation. I can do nothing to stop the fluid building up and it has to be drained. The oncologist wants me to start rads ASAP but can’t do it until the seroma is dealt with. I can do nothing about all this - it is down to this body of mine to sort itelf out but I feel under pressure to start the rads. The situation is out of my control and that makes me weepy. Poor old OH has had to mop up so many tears in the last 8 months.
On the up side we have booked a 4 day break in Dorset from the end of next week. We had to cancel our holiday last year so it will be good to get out of London and get some sea air into our lungs.
Gail I hope you are OK and maybe even home from hospital
Those of you suffering from chemo SEs keep smiling it will all be finished soon
Andie, whereabouts in Dorset, that’s where I grew up. I’, a Surrey girl now but my heart will always be in Dorset. My mum still lives there so go there regularly.
Jo
A mixed day for me yesterday - which I took as an official sick day though checked my e-mails from time to time. Felt sick again, but was not actually so. Went out to some local shops in the morning, as whenever I thought about writing OH a shopping list - every item of food that came to mind - seemed to repel me. Simplest I thought would be to go along to Sainsbury’s and pick out something which did not invoke that reaction in me. In the end I made a chicken, mushroom and leek pie with a piped mashed potato top with some creme fraiche stirred in. I actually managed to eat this and kept it down.
But… when I put on the programme about Wendy Richard - I had to rush out of the room as soon as they showed her being injected with Epirubicin - too much of an association for me.
Andie - good about your results, and sorry you seroma is taking a long time to drain. The rads though will be started and over with before you know it. Are you tempted to ask for a longer treatment time… just to improve your odds of it coming back?
Jo and Caron - do hope the Tax effects lessen - I’ve got three to look forward to - and just hope I don’t suffer as much as you two… hope you can enjoy at least looking out on a sunny day.
Shelley - thinking of you a lot and hope your appointment with oncologist offers something to go on.
Gail hope you are recovering.
Hope everyone else is okay or as well as can be expected.
Jo we are going to a hotel in Swanage on the cliffs above the town. We have been going there on and off for years. It’s the place we always seem to go to to recharge our batteries.
I have just come back from having this **** seroma drained again and the BCN has said that one wound looks a bit pink - to keep my eye on it there may be an infection. It would be so much easier if they just got a doctor at the hospital invovled rather than send you somewhere else. Unfortunately although my actual GP is a lovely lady getting to see her without a weeks notice is really difficult, and it’s the weekend so any problem will have to wait now until next week at least. Sometimes I just want to Scream!!
Bright You and Caron make me really ashamed of my lack of cooking skills. When you are suffering from chemo SEs how do you find the energy to shop let alone cook?
Caron re TAX SE’s, you really should just see a doc (maybe your GP) if poss to get checked before the weekend! I haven’t had the throat thing, but everything else it seems. You’ve just got to be careful and with your temp up last night and having sore throat, it might be worth while getting you’re bloods checked, you must be around day 9 now I think and this is about the time your neutrphils can dip. If they’ve dipped significantly like mine did last cycle you’ll never fight off sore throat by yourself. Especially as you said there was blood in phlem. Don’t want you to be miserable all over weekend, especially with it being Mothers Day on Sunday. Are you being taken out? Why don’t you give your BB nurse or Onc team a call and just tell them. That’s wot I do and they’re brilliant and getting back and letting you know wot to do!
Woke up this morning and am beginning to look a bit more normal. Spots from face have gone thank goodness and the rest of them on my body are fading fast so starting to feel much better. Doc said i can even stop steroids after tonight! Just goes to show how powerful this TAX is, hope it’s working as well on the cancer cells!!!
Andie, love Swanage. Hope the sun stays shining for you!
Bright. Sorry to hearyou,ve been feel so rough on this last FEC. is that your last one are you moving on to TAX next or still another FEC to go? Know wot you mean about watching the Wendy Richard thing last night. Kind of wishing i hadn’t watched it really, wasn’t in the right frame of mind especially like you said watching her have the red syringe reminded me of the really horrible prickly feeling which i hated so much on the FEC! Also, I’ve recently realised, that I’ve gone off red wine in a big way and I think it’s because of that red syringe!
Andie,
Shopping & so on I am really lucky and have a wonderful hubby !!
I do the list he does the shop (atm) he is even doing the cooking but he can’t do a simple thing (how it’s meant to be he tries to improve it only he makes it worse!) for instance yesterday I asked for a jelly simple enough you’d have thought? no Steve does the jelly then makes a strawberry whip to go on top of the jelly!, it wouldn’t have been so bad but they were both very different tasting strawbeery flavour (so never went together didn’t want to upset him so I said it was nice) but I drew the line today when I asked him to marinade chicken in honey& lime so he say’s " Oh I’ll put lemon with it !! ( NO PLEASE DON’T ).
love Caron xx
JO,
I am taking some antibiotics now and Steve has rung the doctors today (so they know the score) anyway he has given me some painkillers ( faint!! my doc gives nothing away!) and some more difflam (which has been a god send ).
They said you have flu symptoms so I guess the throat is included? anyway the antibiotics will sort that out, and my eyes hurting another sign of flu, apart from that I am ok except one minute I am aware / awake then the next I can hardly keep my eyes open!.
Yes I am 2 days after you thats why I know where you are in your cycle. Mind you I haven’t got a rash (and hopefully I won’t?)
what you on now your 2nd arn’t you so you was having 3 so what will they do if you can’t have any more? and why can’t you have anymore? cos of the rash ? what sort of rash is it? .
And I don’t know why you are still taking steroids now?? can you write this down why cos Victoria is confused about the steroids.
A day before my TAX I have to have 4x4 steroids, 4 in morning and 4 at dinner, also day of tax then day after tax .
Can you say how many you are having, cos they told Victoria to only take 1??? not 8 in a day for 3 days.
I thought it is all the same regarding the steroids?.
My temp is ok now I keep checking it though , I think it is 7 days after tax that your whites fall? I know it’s quicker that the FEC/EC.
Hope you have some GOOD news Shelly, after all your bob news!!!.
Andie thats why they let Marble come home last time only she still had the stitch in and she was in enormous pain , Ive never seen a cat pant through pain before thats when I thought she was going to die so she had to be rushed back to vets again (they thought she was on her last legs too) but it was all because he had done the stitch too tight and she couldn’t do anything for days,
Anyway when Steve rang up today they said ring up at 5pm cos she still hasn’t done nothing and it’s up to us if we want to collect her after 5pm weather she’s been or not (bet she hasn’t) so I think Steve is getting her today , so it will be 2 poorly girls together in my bedroom now !.
I was going to get up today but Steve won’t let me (or my Mam) they don’t want me to get up then exhaust myself ( chance would be a fine thing! I tried to put some washing away yesterday and I got told off!)
I watched Wendy Richard last night how brave she was couldn’t understand how 1 minute they told her she was responding then the next minute she had died!!!.
All take care love Caron xx
Hi all just a quickie. Just keeping up to speed on all your posts (caron did like the jelly )!!!what to cook tonight how do i boil lettuce any ideas wishing you all the best
may your god bless you all steve
Steve, if you’re anything like my husband Michael, he wouldn’t know the difference between a lettuce and a savoy cabbage so if you told him to boil the letuuce, he probably would!! Bless! Wot would we do without them???
JoX
Caron
for me steroids are usually day before, day of and day after chemo, 4 x 2mg morning and 4 x 2mg which I think is a lot and affects me loads, that’s why I hate them so much! But the reason why they put me back on these steroids yesterday was because of this rash! But now it’s starting to go she said i i can forget it tonight if i want as long as I keep up anti biotics! Usually any unpleasant SE’s are on 2nd dose of TAX but I was told my rash was quite rare, only 5% suffer so I’m sure you’ll be ok! Might get after effect of strawberry jelly though!!!
JO X
I had 4 lots of tax and every time I had to have 8( 4 morning and 4 lunchtime)steroids. The day before, the of, and the day after. Those 3 days I knew I would have very little sleep and for some strange reason they also made me nearly incontinent.The chemo nurses had never heard that one but it certainly happened to me. I had several very near misses.
All worth it in the end if it gets the Big C on the run.
It’s a bit like there’s an episode of Star Wars going on inside you! All those fierce chemo storm-troopers on a seek-and-destroy mission against the nasty little lurking cancer cells. Go, Han Solo - we’ve got Obi Wan Kenobi on our side - may the Force be with us!!!
There’s him (Steve) making out he can cook what have I got for tea?
lime chicken??? NO BURNT CHARCOAL !!! see what I mean? can’t understand why Im putting all this weight on (not on his bloody cooking!!) well burnt tea yet again for me . what are you having???
love Caronxx