HER2+ and need some buddies

@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 Iā€™ll be too late for eyebrows. They may cling on like @arty1
I wear glasses so without them on Iā€™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 youā€™re eyebrows start to thin ?
I have very dark thick eyebrows so I just didnā€™t keep them in check before I started chemo and let them go a bit wild ā€¦ so theyā€™ve thinned enough to look fairly neat now !
Anyone else had terrible scalp itching ?
Mines been itching violently since cycle 2ā€¦

@mrsjelly , so glad your appointments went well and you are on your way to starting treatment. Glad the MRI wasnt too bad, but iā€™m not surprised you are sore. I only cold capped once and it wasnt very successful so didnā€™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. Iā€™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 didnā€™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 didnā€™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 Iā€™d have recovered more quickly if not on Phesgo, but there are some things one just has to accept weā€™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 donā€™t know, thatā€™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. Itā€™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. :smiling_face:

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Yes @kartoffel . That why I have posted in many threads about Paxmanā€™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 doesnā€™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 youā€™re interested, clicking on the patient tab takes you to coldcap.com website.

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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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 ā€œOh fantastic news! Mrs Jelly is clear!ā€ 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 itā€™s such a relief to hear that it hasnā€™t spread. So itā€™s on with the whacking it with treatment phase next. You can do this. Weā€™ll be cheering you on. I did cold cap and it didnā€™t work great for me, if Iā€™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 Iā€™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. Youā€™ve read all this thread so youā€™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.

Itā€™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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What a relief @mrsjelly with your CT scan results, Iā€™m so pleased for you and hopefully your road to treatment and recovery is right around the corner.

I think cold capping is a v personal choice. I had 12 inches of my hair cut and donated it and had a short bob. I decided to cold cap and I whilst I have lost a lot of my hair Iā€™m glad I preserved as I was worried about the potential permanent hair loss with taxol drugs. So at the moment I am sporting a wiry grey roots thinned out bob :grimacing:.
Interestingly I had thought it would be in demand but itā€™s hasnā€™t been each time I have been in and Iā€™ve been there 8-9 hours each time there is probably 1-2 people and me that are cold capping and my unit is a fairly big one. I also thought of it as part of my treatment that mindset has helped me through but thatā€™s just my thoughts and this is all v individual.

Check out you @arty1 i love both your looks and you pull off the wig colour so well.

@salbert your get up and on the go attitude inspires me so much and I love hearing you are out and about!

I had my fourth cycle yesterday, two to go then surgery in March hopefully.

Take care everyone else and take care over cold weekend ahead xx

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I had my Hickman line out today. It came out easily and I just had a local but no bleeding or stitches. Itā€™s only been in a month though. I can shower tomoz but need to keep a dressing on it for 3-5 days. If I need a line again I will have a Hickman line again as I had a DVT.
So I can get my strength back until my CT/op which are next on the 30th Jan/op afterwards.

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Sat here in tears , Iā€™ve got a false front tooth , a bridge which is attached to the tooth next to it . I had to have it taken it when it snapped six years ago and became so badly infected it nearly killed me . Well this evening . Bit into some food and the tooth itā€™s attached to , broke and the bridge came out with the metal bonding attached complete with the bit if broken tooth ā€¦

Triage line ā€¦ useless ā€¦ just said call my dentist but first itā€™s shut till Monday and second ā€¦ I was told I canā€™t go to the dentist for dental emergencies but to go to hospital ā€¦ I also just want to out a bag over my head now as I look horrific ā€¦ bald ā€¦ one boob and a missing incisor :sob::sob: Iā€™m worried it will became infected over the weekend

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Oh no you need to ensure you donā€™t get an infection. There must be a way to sort this. Maybe the dentist can help or the oncologist. Can you call the oncā€™s secretary?

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Thank you for your comment! Glad you are doing well now. And im so glad you got the total responseā€¦ it does seem to be a common thing luckily with our type.
@salbert i had a bit of a wobble but i am bouncing back! I think its just a normality of life now i will have good days and then bad ones.
I went out last night with some friends of mine. I feel a bit naughty today because i did indulge in the odd drink, but i did not go too over board like i normally would. I had a bit of a dance. I laughed, cried once with a good friend of mine who i have not seen since may ( we both had a lil cry ) but it was the most normal i have felt since start of it all. I did my self up and wore a lovely dress, put in my lil fake boobies lol ( we kept joking all night on how my boobs was going to bust out on the dance floor ) made it back home in time before the snow started to stick! Then today i get a message from my mum asking to ring herā€¦ she got my lil girl so i got worried. She okay, but my dad ended up in hospital on a drip because he had arm pain and his heart was thumping. Anyway he home now and needs further investigations on tuesday so he needs to restā€¦ the stress saga continues! Felt stressed about it all morning. To top it off he had to walk home in snow because of no transport etc.
@mrsjelly so pleased to hear your CT scan was clear :pray::heart:
At least i had a good few hours yesterday forgetting things and a good lil boogie on dance floor too.
Happy new year to everyone! Im a little late saying it. Been a hectic few days.

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Thatā€™s really rubbish @arty1
I hope you get this sorted, would it be worth going to hospital and getting it sorted as you would be going by the advice given, it is out of hours and wasnā€™t a planned admission.

Big hugs xx

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@Linda_Corinne my dentist donā€™t offer an emergency weekend service so I canā€™t call them until tomorrow , Itā€™s the weekend so I canā€™t contact my oncologist or her secretary :sob:

@purple_rain trouble is Iā€™d have to go to urgent care who wouldnā€™t see it as an emergency and then Iā€™ll be sat for hours with the risk of getting a winter bug only for them to say itā€™s dental and they canā€™t helpā€¦

I actually have an appointment tomorrow with my oncologist as it goes ā€¦ in the meantime Iā€™m swilling my mouth with the prescription mouth wash but my temperature is creeping up to the cut off point of needing to call the line again so chances are they are going to have to see me anyway ā€¦ I can clearly see the tooth that my bridge was attached to has a bit snapped off and is decayed ā€¦ probably because I couldnā€™t clean it well enough with the bridge in place

@jeml you look amazing even if you donā€™t feel it x Iā€™m sorry about your dad though . Hopefully itā€™s sonethinb benign thatā€™s treatable x

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You look amazing @jeml and Iā€™m so glad you had a night out.

@arty1 what a mess, teeth are the worst on this cancer journey especially if you have bisphosphonates. But my dentist is so BlasĆ©, saying I have a lot of older ladies on it and they are all ok, whereas my oncology team say itā€™s different because weā€™ve had chemotherapy. Fingers crossed you donā€™t get infected and you get an emergency appointment.

:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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@naughty_boob Iā€™m not on the biophosphonates but I think chemo also weakens teeth :melting_face:

Iā€™m cleaning thoroughly and going at it with mouthwash ā€¦ temp is normal ā€¦ will ring dentist first thing and see if I can get an appointment for either tomorrow or Tuesday but itā€™s awkward as my oncology is tomorrow and bloods on Tuesday so I canā€™t change those but I definitely need a temporary filling in it ā€¦ Iā€™ll plead my case and hope for the best !
Itā€™s very sore around the empty socket where the bridge was despite it having healed up six years ago !

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I just been reading your comments about trouble with your toothā€¦ i really hope you get it sorted. I know my mums friend lost a tooth through chemo! As if we not got enough on as it is eh! I think 111 now do a dentist option if you want to give them a call, you might be able to get some advice and even be seen.
My dad is okay, they did tests and taken blood i know they take blood and test it for suspected heart attacks etc. Its been chaos with this snow up here, i live in Barnsley and we have had it bad. They said that they were going to keep him in however they let him out earlier as there was only one Dr and no staff barely because of the weather. So he was on a drip and heart monitor and they got his heart rate back to normal and he has to go back tuesday. So i told him to take it easy for now. The always seems be something! Im getting mega fed up lately of things getting thrown our way!

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