Good luck with your appointment today @mrsjelly , and completely get the angst for the next few months ahead. We are all here with you on this journey xx
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Hey @salbert yes I think Prince was great, true legend and love his music. Can’t wait to feel in the mood to party again 
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Happy New Year ladies - let’s hope 2025 is an improvement on 2024 …
@salbert I’m glad to hear you are out partying ! As I’m currently unable to see my family … I feel I’m going to live vicariously through you !
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Happy New Year!
I’m having my Hickman line out on Friday then I have to look forward to another CT on the 3pth January. I’m still having Phesgo, Exemestane and blood thinning injections. My bloods are OK for surgery which will be after the CT. My neuts are only 1.21 though as the antibiotics affected them.
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Happy New Year to you all - wishing everyone a 2025 with improved health and lots of happiness xx
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Evening all!
@pennyp @arty1 and @purple_rain thank you for your wise words.
Yesterday was a long day but a good day.
The morning appointment was a positive experience. Very pleased to share that my CT scan showed no evidence of ‘it’ being anywhere else. Such a relief. Discussed and consented to treatment. I’m going to have a PICC line and I’ve decided not to bother with the cold cap. My hands and feet are usually like blocks of ice so a -5 degree head has no appeal at all especially if it does not guarantee that I’ll keep my scraggly greying hair!
The afternoon took us to Northwick Park. Journey there and back was trouble free. Around 90 minutes each way. I liked the Brutalist architecture though the hospital and grounds looked tired and rundown - much like me! The MRI guided biopsy was a surreal experience. I imagined I was in a sci-fi film set. Boob was sore when the local anaesthetic wore off. Feels twice the size today and very tender and bruised. I’m not worried about the biopsy results. If it’s a case of ‘it’ in two tits then so be it.
The latter part of 2024 was rubbish so I am glad the year is over. Whilst 2025 will be full of other challenges, I feel more positive, more in control and more hopeful. I’m plan to focus my energy on get through it and keeping out of the rabbit holes. Xx
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@mrsjelly what a relief for you, I am so glad your appointment was good news and now you can start planning g for your treatment.
I also chose not to cold cap and for me that allowed me to prepare for the hair loss.
I arranged my wig before my first chemo and also got my eyebrows permanently tattooed (I think that’s what it’s called)
All the best with it and er are here right beside you xx
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@galdiolus I got the feeling that the cold cap was in demand so might affect timing of appointments. I’m planning to book an appointment to look at wigs this week whilst I’m on annual leave… Been thinking about eyebrow options. Can you get them done before they fall out and if you can’t, is it a no no during treatment?
@mrsjelly I’m so pleased for you that the scans showed no further spread … that’s a huge weight off your mind I’m sure x
I personally didn’t bother with cold capping , I’ve had two lots of abraxane and I’m
Completely bald but bizarrely my eyebrows are clinging on !
Apparently you can get eyebrow stencils and that can work if you are good with a pencil but I know a few people had them micro bladed before treatment
I started getting wigs before chemo started … it’s the only thing that’s been remotely “fun” about this absolute disaster movie … having fun with different hair …
here’s a pic of me minus hair and one of my wigs (excuse the posie wig pic it was for my business insta )
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I cold capped twice then stopped as it made my body temp drop so low it made me feel worse than the chemo. I know that many on here have used it with great success though. For me it was just about taking control of a decision. I think it’s just doind whatever feels right for you- whether that’s cold cap, wigs, embracing the bald, turbans, scarves - there’s lots of options.
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@mrsjelly yes you get your eyebrows done before you start. It is a no go once you start. Mine have been brilliant. My eyebrows and lashes only started to thin at cycle 4 (inhale my last one - 6th) next week. I am really glad I got mine done. Xx
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You look fab!
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Fear I’ll be too late for eyebrows. They may cling on like @arty1
I wear glasses so without them on I’d struggle to draw them on though my glasses do hide my eyebrows. Could just get massive frames!
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@mrsjelly you couid just wear wigs with a heavy fringe if you’re eyebrows start to thin ?
I have very dark thick eyebrows so I just didn’t keep them in check before I started chemo and let them go a bit wild … so they’ve thinned enough to look fairly neat now !
Anyone else had terrible scalp itching ?
Mines been itching violently since cycle 2…
@mrsjelly , so glad your appointments went well and you are on your way to starting treatment. Glad the MRI wasnt too bad, but i’m not surprised you are sore. I only cold capped once and it wasnt very successful so didn’t bother any more. It prolongs the time in hospital as well. I was very pleased with my wig, it gave me a great deal of confidence when going out. I’m a bit reluctant to give it up now my hair is growing back quite grey. It was only at the end of treatment my eyebrows gave up, but as i wear glasses you couldnt really see much difference. Good luck with PICC line.
@arty1 fabulous pictures, love the wig.
Penny
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Hi @caz591 once I was on just Phesgo, I didn’t really have any side effects of significance. Everything kept its steady return to as near normal as possible from hard core chemo: hair growth, taste came back, neuropathy in my feet & fingers improved but didn’t go altogether, energy levels got loads better. I thought the Phesgo was giving me diarrhoea, but turns out now that was more likely the letrozole I was also taking. I do sometimes wonder if I’d have recovered more quickly if not on Phesgo, but there are some things one just has to accept we’ll never know. I was back full-time working and just had a few hours off each time I needed a trip to the hospital for a dose.
Hope this helps.
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Phi @jeml I had a complete response to chemo (neo-adjuvant) , it was sort of good news, but then I really had to trust that surgery, when there was theoretically nothing to see to take out and radiotherapy were really necessary. I always knew they were with my head, but my heart was a bit more all over the place about HER2 treatment with lymph node involvement meaning the kitchen sink is thrown at it! Hang on in there: for me doing chemo first really did get the worst part behind me early on and I wonder if I managed better because I started from a position of strength rather than when in symutgery recovery mode. I don’t know, that’s just thoughts I have had since. Sending pink love.
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One thing to be aware of with regard to the cold cap is that if your treatment plan involves a taxol (docetaxel or similar), there is a the possibility of permanent hair loss as a side effect. It’s something that is not well communicated in pre-chemo intake appointments, so I post about it a lot when people are making the decision on whether or not to cold cap. 
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Yes @kartoffel . That why I have posted in many threads about Paxman’s website www.coldcap.com, I found a link where you can put in your regime and it gives you stats. Also www.cancerhaircare.co.uk
I found the oncologist was very supportive of cold capping but found the nurses on the ward less enthusiastic as they are the ones applying the cap and the extra time you have to wear it. I had one nurse who said it doesn’t work with taxane, which is not true as I kept most of my hair with two small patches and some shedding.
Efficacy & Safety - Paxman. This is the efficacy and safety information if you’re interested, clicking on the patient tab takes you to coldcap.com website.
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Hello lovely ones
@mrsjelly I was out walking somewhere between Beaulieu and Bucklers Hard this morning when I saw your CT scan results were good. I shouted “Oh fantastic news! Mrs Jelly is clear!” My husband knew exactly what I was on about, even if the men working on their boat looked at me askance. We all knew exactly what you were going through and it’s such a relief to hear that it hasn’t spread. So it’s on with the whacking it with treatment phase next. You can do this. We’ll be cheering you on. I did cold cap and it didn’t work great for me, if I’m honest. I carried on until the end as one of the nurses told me it protected the hair follicles so I may as well see it through as I’d gone so far with it. I hated it. It was the worst part of chemo for me, without a doubt. However, I LOVED my wigs. You’ve read all this thread so you’ll know I ended up with masses. My hair is looking like a very unattractive curly Norman helmet now and I permanently wear a hat so I think I may get them out again.
It’s interesting that you say you have been depleted for 18 months. I was working in sales for an IT company (still do), teaching Drama and Musical Theatre on Thursday evenings and Saturdays locally and had taken on the position of LAMDA teacher at a local prep school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Add elderly parents and a teenage son into the mix and no wonder I was running on empty. I have vowed not to go back to being as frenetic and overstretched as I was as I think it unsurprising that my body got sick. If you can cut back your hours or stop for a while then I think you should. Especially as nursing requires so much from you mentally and physically. Being able to work from home just doing the sales job was a godsend.
@arty1 I LOVE YOU! Your pink wig is phenomenal and so is your glabrous goddess pic. My dear friend Jeannie who got through breast cancer only to suffer a stroke in her sleep earlier this year, was helping me through a year ago. She said that to her, any woman who lost her hair through breast cancer treatment was beautiful, shining with an inner strength. She was 100% correct there.
@purple_rain Prince was amazing, I agree. I saw him at Wembley Stadium but he was so far away that I watched most of it on the screen. Glad I went though. He was a very huge part of my teenage years.
Anyway, a HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
Love Salbert
xx
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