Thankyou crazy times for your advice…im really torn still as very little left now shaven but the thought of shiny bald seems more severe again …i asked my chemo nurse today who suggested that if all falls out all grows back together and not bother but still bothers me losing my stubble…ill have to decide by Friday x thanks for support
Thanks fel70 and firestar and others that have welcomed me to group and cold cap advice soo appreciated.werent sure how messges post I didn’t realise .
Just to say starfire you are not alone with your headaches throughout cycle .I too feel I can’t cope with any thing stressful or concentrate on anything. I did find drinking 2litres of water a day helped slightly . …But nothing stops the feeling of my brain feeling like it’s being twisted. My chemo nurse says some people work throughout chemo! I couldn’t believe it and feels like im a wuss when I report my symptoms. So im not alone in feeling this crap!
Though just keep thinking nearly halfway done x
Hi moo moo, you are not a whuss, lots of us didn’t work through chemo, it always amazes me the ladies who do manage to, they have their 3 weetabix of a morning ?the main thing is that everyone gets through safely ???
shi xx
Hi Ladies
Been burried in Cheno fog, I seem to experience soome low mood funk thing a few days after where I just like Starfire says dont even have the concentration to type anything!!!
I did better on the FEC than the T deffinately…its not as brutal for me at least.
CT I saw the breast surgeon yesterday and after what felt like an hour of him pondering my breasts and giving my cancer boob the odd little wiggle we said he still thiks although my tumour has grown just over a cm in the last 2 months that there is still not any majot skin involvement so they have given me a plan which is…
MRI on Wednesday and then they will hopefully look at it that afternoon they said, if no improvement then in for the double mx with reconstruction and resume tx after. If there is marked improvement then finish chemo before surgery as planned…so its all waiting for next week.
So sorry ladies been rubbish support buddy this week but hopefully Starfire this reassures you a little about this weird chem fog thing!! Im even struggling to type all of this today…
There was loads of other stuff I wanted to say but mind is blank!!!
Oh welcome MooMoo
Be back when mind and fingers combine as one and I can type and think at the same time
Keep swimming lovely brave ladies xxx
Remembered what I meant to say…
Starfire I think the steroids play a part in the anxiety. Every session now about 4 or 5 days in I have the most dreadful night, where I cant sleep properly and feel anxious and disorientated. It always falls the night after I finish the steroids…Hope that helps xxx
Well I have spent 4 hours on the chemo ward this afternoon - had 5 people look at th top of my leg which is apparently an unusual place (errmmm having a boil is unusual for me) and had five different opinions on my boil (even the word is gross) so been swabbed to check the infection and now have to wait and see what the outcome is. Plan is to try and get rid by Tuesday if not I will have to delay the chemo. The joy of chemotherapy. This is now ruining my good week hmmmff
Forgot to say prefer getting my boobs out to dropping my pants ???
O shocked how annoying ! At least it’s not on your undercarriage like mine but it sounds like more of a pest than mine !
Crossing fins that it goes by Tuesday x
Shocked…I cant believe somoeone said gross!!! I hope its not too painful but gutted for you its ruining your precious good week…Im always so damn happy on my normal week, just being able feel like everyone else. I know there are thousands of people going through this and we’ve all got our families and each other but there is a real feeling youre seperate to the real world…cant really describe it but I have little pangs of envy when I see normal folk doing normal stuff!!
Has you OH been better for you this week?
Aliand, Im having the double because Ive got a rubbish family hx. I get my genetic test which is at the end of the month but they will still do the double regardless of the results. Quite frankly I am more than happy to go for it, if Im going to have fake boobs Id rather they were the same. I have to pass this phsychological testing thingy which is really basic stuff to check your level of crazy…Im so sorry yours isnt shrinking either. Its so frustrating and scarey. Mines been really swollen since Chemo and solid but but but Im hesitant to say last night and today it doesnt feel so heavy and looks more normal so Ive got everything crossed.
Have got my wetsuit on for todays swim waters a bit parky!!! xxx
Hi shocked, were you aligned under an onc at the start? They do usually have staff under them that see you at some points during chemo, my onc saw me at first app, then 3rd app and 6th app and I got his staff in between, but my onc was keeping eye on things during it all. For your eyes, try viscotears liquid gel, I also used drops for dry eyes and irritated eyes, not all at same time but found alternating them helped ?? you usually go for rads planning between 5-6th chemo or between 7-8th chemo depending on how many you are having, have all your questions ready for the planning session so you feel prepared and in control. You can read our Feb 2018 Radiotherapy thread and see what a party ???We are having (it’s us ??gang from Oct ?) on there and other ladies who are ???With us too. So get your party dresses ready and dancing ? ready for when you swim to the rads bar in your pool, ladies who will be having ops after chemo first will swim to massage bar in the pool then onto rads bar, then you can all meet up at the vip cocktail bar for big ??? you are all doing amazing and keep chucking each other the rubber rings when you need too ???shi xx
Hi shocked sorry to hear you are delaying treatment. I’m absolutely gutted myself as my 3rd fec due tomorrow was cancelled this am due to snow situation. Im absolutely gutted you pyche yourself up for it and I’m so disappointed mine’s not goung ahead just because of a bit of snow surely there should be back up ways to get essential staff into work I know id make sure I could get there! Now I have no idea how this will effect my plan they cant tl me when ill have it and they are so busy I just hope im not left until my next 3 week slot…im so stressed out as feel like the cancer isn’t being treated and effecting my outcome and extending my treatment time it was my half way goal! Now gone . Nothing seems to stop me from feeling so frustrated and down. But it’s all out of our control! Wish I could learn to chillax! Hope your infection soon clears xx
MooMoo so gutted for you any delay is horrid…all your plans and countdowns.
What a lot of places are doing are cancelling things in anticipation of people not making it. As a hardcore NHS worker I can promise you most people wiork very hard to just get there to do their job…my mate had to abandon his car on the way in this morning walk home, his first time ever he said.
i really hope you get it sorted quickly…
Shocked how’s the salt baths!!!?
Shi that was an awesome description made me chuckle…xxx
I’m really sorry to hear that some swimmers have had their treatment delayed, so frustrating when we just want to get it over with now! Before I started chemo they wanted me to have a PET scan and I wasn’t able to start chemo until after it, I remember the doctor saying that delaying it won’t make a difference to the outcome so I’m sure that applies to part way through. It’s hard not to worry tho ay?
Aliand, I had a boil on my under carriage when I was 22 weeks pregnant! Not. Fun. I hope yours has cleared up now?
All the best everyone and keep swimming xx ?
Hi shocked, I always used to go in prepared big list of questions and also big list of things I wanted, fluconzole x 14 days (I got mouth thrush every chemo) difflam mouth wash x 2 I found if you don’t ask you don’t get. Don’t be rushed off or dismissed, it’s your appointment and you should be heard by your team. You are ??? and put your Michael phelps flippers on and ???those answers out of them till you are happy ???shi xx
Shocked ??as long as you are ok darling ???shi xx
Evening everyone, day 23 after 2nd C
would you believe it, my 3rd chemo (2nd Abraxane and Carboplatin) delayed until next Wednesday because of the snow. Managed to get there yesterday an hour late and they could have fitted me in but then the school text to say it was closing so that was that. Yesterday I was ready to blow with anxiety and initially I felt relieved but today I feel stressed about it as it’s the second time I’m a week late and all my dates are now cocked up. So Shocked, moomoo and Fel we are now in the same boat!
For Shi… I second that… thank you for looking out and after us 
Shocked, sorry about that Boil!
Amy, what is your wig collection like?
Rosie, I’m on day 23 since my last chemo and quite honestly I have gone simple. I made a coffee today and put the water in the top half of the cafetière instead of the bottom half? Yesterday and today I have had to have a sleep at 4pm and I feel rough. I’m not taking any meds apart from a low dose antidepressant. I do actually feel at breaking point emotionally like you do around day 5 but I’m not taking steroids anymore so ?..
Aliand, thank you for advice on counselling. When I was diagnosed I had an anxiety state so was referred to a clinical psychologist at the hospital who deals with cancer patients. He helped me with mindfulness which changed my normal pattern of thinking which was to always focus on the future to focus living in the present. I am still able to see him but can’t muster myself to go to the hospital at this time and the mindfulness technique of living in the present kind of backfires when you feel so unpleasantly ill and bonkers now going through Chemo and the only thing keeping you going is the notion of a brighter future. All the best for your first T x
found this article which rings soooooo true and is worth a read if you get five minutes… in particular the reference to the living dead and the possibility of two sets of eyebrows.
How to get through Chemotherapy
Oh and has anyone’s periods stopped whilst on Chemo. I’ve been as regular as clockwork all my life and this month nothing. I wondered if this could also be causing some SE’s?
lots of love to all x
Hi Marie78
I had the sore tingling fingers and my chemo (T) round 3 got delayed last week due to this. I went to see my oncologist and I have neuropathy which if left untreated can become a life long condition. My treatment was rearranged for yesterday at a reduced dosage. I was supposed to have 4 cycles of T but the oncologist doesn’t want to chance his luck so that was my last T and on the 22nd March I am being moved over to FEC. I just keep putting loads of moisturiser on my hands, a nail serum to keep the nails and cuticles as strong as possible and wear a black nail polish.
Definitely mention it at your unit. I was struggling to help my little boy fasten his school shirts and push paracetamol through the blister packs. My feet also got really sore to the point where I walked on the bald of my feet for about four days but they cleared up quickly unlike my fingers which lasted two weeks which was why they were concerened about me.
Good luck - let me know how you go xxx
Good to see everyone else is managing to swim well xxxx ???
Hi Starfire
My periods stopped after my first cycle of T in January and I’ve been pushed into a very early menopause which they did warn me about. I was also asked before I started chemo if we had finished our family as it’s higgly unlikely we could ever conceive again ?. I had my son later in life (38) and he’s 6 now. We never thought we’d have him so he’s a blessing. No more we’re on the cards for us but to be asked that question in the midst of dealing with breast cancer kind of knocked the wind out my sails! But hey on the upside no more monthly’s and yet another cost saving each month to go with the hairdressers and the razors ???!
Hugs xxx ?
Hi Starfire,
You keep drawing the short straw on this journey, argh another swimmer delayed ?
I do really think you’d benefit from seeing the psychologist again. Maybe ask if he could do a Skype session or something?
I’ve only got the 1 wig, making do with beanie hats and scarves. Once I get my wig sorted I’ll post a pic too see what everyone thinks.
And can’t help with the period business as I’ve always been on contraception that stops them anyway.
Hope things get better for you soon xx
Ladies mai7 posted interesting link on May thread last night, please take a look if you get chance ???shi xx