I’m new to this forum but I’m due to start chemo on Monday 30th July. I only had the phone call on Friday telling me about Monday, oh well less time to worry about it! Due to have 6 sessions.
I’ve already had surgery, lumpectomy and full node clearance. In someways I just want to get started but in other ways feeling extremely anxious and worried about what the next few months will bring.
I think I will also look at joining the August forum as I will only be a couple of days outside the start of the month.
Welcome Sunflower ? to the gang , I remember the name from another thread when we were diagnosed, hope your surgery went well and you are ok and recovering well.
It was decided I would have chemo first so on cycle two and it’s not that bad when you start it’s the anticipation of it that’s worse than the actual treatment. Don’t get me wrong it’s up and down days but some have little side effects and even when we do the days pass and we get there ??
Lal I am on the same situation with the damn patchy hair it’s driving me mad, rocking an almost Bobby Charlton , nothing at the front and growing round the back and got bloody dandruff and little spikes digging in ?. Using coconut oil at night and Weleda hair tonic in the morning which has helped, tip from a friend who has psoriasis.
Good luck to Fran and Georgie this week, another step onward and upward , although it feels like backwards and sideways sometimes we will all get there.
Away to Norway tomorrow for a week to the Fjords , Dr isn’t best pleased but I will be sensible, got my antibiotics, antiseptic spray, thermometer, sick pills etc what could possibly go wrong ?♀️… Next post , Karen stuck in a hospital in Norway with neutropenia thinking why the hell did I do that … ??
Morning all!
Windy and very rainy here in Manchester but a welcome relief. Day 9 of cycle 1…nearly in double figures! Still good and grateful for it! I tried the cold cap so will soon see if it helped the hair loss. Dr said about day 14/15 things might start to itch! Had breakfast in bed made by my second eldest ?. He is doing a good job of looking after me.
Hope holiday goes well Karen and no complications. By Wednesday (Day 6 - feel like I’m living through an episode of Big Brother) felt like I could get on with living and not waiting for the axe to fall!
Sunflower, everyone reacts differently. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Right, family coming round for a cooked breakfast so I need to move my backside!
Happy Sunday everyone.
Becky xx
Thanks for the welcomes, it’s **bleep**ty to go through this, but great to have found all of you. My first chemoday was fine, cold cap not as bad as I feared. Day 2 after my first chemo was fine, day 3 in the morning not great, much better after two hour sleep in afternoon. Continued my anti- nausea medication. I am a dietician and reviewed the science of the fasting around chemo carefully, decided to give it a try. Semi fasted 48 hrs before chemo and 24 hrs afterwards (only veggies and plenty of water). Replenished on nutrition over the weekend: had shrimps, steak, salmon, homemade chickensoup, eggs, chicked and mussels over the course of Fri-Sunday. Needed much more sleep than before this all started. Kids are all away, so could take the time for myself. Will have a bowl of yoghurt before going to sleep and a big breakfast if I am up for it and than back to the 72 hours semi-fasting. Afternoon naps have turned into 2 hours deep sleep, do you guys recognize that? Will have a bowl of yoghurt before going to sleep and a big breakfast if I am up for it and than back to the 72 hours semi-fasting. And then two weeks of rest. Halleluja. Wish all of you good luck the week to come ???
I’m new to the forum and due to start my first chemo on 2nd Aug. I’m feeling really anxious about it all but I think and hope that this forum will be useful for me and help keep me calm.
I’ve done some planning already - headscarves and wig at the ready and I’ve got a shopping list to get the fridge and freezer filled. I’m going later today to have my hair cut a bit shorter - I’m opting to follow the style of my wig. I’m going to give the cold cap a try though from reading various scientific research studies that have been done I’m not holding out much hope given the regime I’ll be on - EC for 6 cycles - as this seems to beloing to a family of drugs that don’t respond as well as some others. However postings on here seem positive but not sure if that’s because people tend to post if positive rather than if it doesn’t work. My oncologist told me there was only a 1 in 5 chance it would be successful. Has anyone else on this regime tried the cap - and if so did it work?
Any tips / suggestions on what else I can do to prepare or questions to ask. I’m having blood tests tomorrow and then an appointment with the oncologist on Wednesday to sign consent forms etc. I must admit that upto now I’ve avoided forums etc as in the early days following my diagnosis I only seemed to find tales of doom and gloom and these just freaked me out - however I’m really pleased to find that these threads seem much more positive and supportive.
Sb:heart:Sorry you find yourself on the threads, the Bccf are loving and supportive, don’t forget the bccf helpline too, they can put you in touch with a someone like you to speak too. Your preparation is going well and you are keeping positive and ???and we are here to ??on the journey too. And tell yourself you will be the 1 in 5 that it works for my darling. Do as your team tells you and take meds, if antisickness don’t work ring the rapid response number, if you have temperature phone rapid response number if wee burns and no temperature phone rapid response, if you get thrush mouth phone your unit get there and ask for fluconzole. The main thing is to keep ???and keep safe my darling which you will and support on here and Will help you as much as we can. Keep drinking lots of water 6-8 glasses a day to help flush things through your system too ??shi xx
Hi there SB1610, sorry to see you here in the forum. It’s the place none of us want to end up but it is great for support, advice and a few laughs. I’m from the October 2017 thread and posting on here because I had fecx6 and I cold capped fairly successfully. They reckon fec is hardest on the hair. I can give you some tips as follows:
Have your haircut shorter. I have curly hair and had mine cut into a fairly short inverted bob. You may lose quite a bit of hair (I lost most of the top of mine and the sides and back thinned considerably too but weren’t noticeable to anyone else). The shorter hair will be less distressing when it comes out and may help prevent matting too.
be gentle with your hair. Only wash it 1-2 times a week. I washed mine once a week and also only combed it once a week but then you can get away with that when you have curly hair.
wash your hair in tepid water. I also used a jug to wash mine in the shower rather than the force of the shower head.
take 2 paracetamol 30 mins prior to cold capping as this can help. I found it was only uncomfortable for the first 5-10 mins.
I experienced quite a big shed of hair 20 days after my first cold cap when I washed my hair. If this happens stick with the cold cap. Lots of people see this and think it hasn’t worked. The loss will probably slow down just stick with it.
make sure you get a good fit with the cap. Mine didn’t fit well on the top of my head and that’s where I lost most of my hair.
I hope that helps. If you have any questions then you can pm me and I’ll pick them up. Cold capping isn’t for the faint hearted but it can help you keep a lot of hair and also it seems to grow back quicker. I finished my chemo in January and by April was told no one would know I had had chemo.
I should have also said there was only 2 of us on the October thread that successfully cold capped and both of us were fecx6, hope this gives you some comfort ?
Felt fine whilst having it, only took an hour in total
Then felt a bit fuzzy & sinusy. Travelled home, felt knackered went to bed to rest for a couple of hours & now feel nauseous, hot & sweaty
Took anti sickness tablet & put on sea bands!
Hopefully they will start to kick in soon!
I’ll update further tomorrow - good luck for Thursday
It’s was my nurse on my first chemo ( I am having it at home and she had a trainee with her so I learnt quite a bit) who said my E ( the red one) was lower only 75 instead of 100 - whatever the measure is . Not entirely sure why I am having 8 rounds originally onco said 6 or 8 depending how tumour reacts - keep getting told it’s rather large ( 6x 6 cm) but when it came to chemo he had written me up for 8. Not sure about the other drugs as we were discussing the nasty red one at the time.
Hair is bane of my life - i am describing it as action man style fuzz with bald patches - it looks a mess and I still leave a trail where ever I go - reluctant to do a full scalping in case of a) going too close and b) being more uncomfortable when it falls out.
Apart from being a bit more tired than usual every thing else is ok - back working from home and going into office tomorrow as it’s start of my "good ’ week before it all begins again. Have reduced my hours- only working on a pc but finding concentrating quite tiring.
Hi Willie
Not sure what Lal is having but when I had FEC-T I was having 8 cycles and it depends on your oncologist as to whether you have 6 or 8 and they take into account size of tumour node involvement the type of BC etc! I was Triple Negative first time round so my onc wanted me to have full amount of 8 cycles
After 5 cycles and a bout of neutrapenic sepsis my inc reduced the dose and I continued then with the remaining cycles
Hope this helps ?
Morning.
I sat in the garden yesterday for an hour and burnt! I burn easily anyway - curse of being a red head but not usually that easily.
Hope everyone is ok. I’m a teacher so currently on my summer holidays. I can’t imagine trying to work whilst all this going on so I take my metaphorical hat off to all of you still working.
Becky x
For those of you booked, or considering booking, or struggling to get booked on to the Look Good Feel Better sessions run in the Macmillan centres in our various hospitals …
On Saturday, I went to the No.7 counter in my local Boots as I heard they offer make up services for those in our select club. I booked a slot for Tuesday at the till and received an email confirmation. I went yesterday and was looked after by a beautiful girl. I explained that while I still had eyebrows now, they might not stay the course and I wanted some advice on replicating them when they go.
I asked if she is involved in the LGFB sessions but she hasn’t been able to get on the rota as the local co-ordinator here in Derby works in Boots (on the Clarins counter) and has lots of volunteers from the various cosmetic companies in the store. She explained that No.7 offer free no-pressure appointments, bookable online or in-store. If you feel self-conscious, they’ll take you to a private area away from the central shop floor. She encouraged me to come back whenever I wanted, appointment or not. She couldn’t be lovelier and there was no pressure to buy at all. She said she’d noticed me on Saturday but didn;t want to approach me as some people are very sensitive about it. I’d have been okay, happy even, but it’s nice that they’re so awake to it eh?
They have a handy gizmo that matches your skin tone to the most appropriate foundation colour and I have to say the base she used for me was possibly the nicest I’ve ever had on. Really nice, I’ll be buying it later I think. I did buy some Eyelure eyebrow templates to use if they do go, just to give me a head start at getting a decent shape, only £3.
I’ve managed to get a LGFB session booked for October - it wasn’t easy to get in, but that’s another saga. So if you can’t wait 6 months for an appointment, head to your local Boots. The girls all have MacMillan badges on.
Sorry you find yourself on the threads, the Bccf are loving and supportive, don’t forget the bccf helpline too, they can put you in touch with a someone like you to speak too. Your preparation is going well and you are keeping positive and ???and we are here to ??on the journey too. And tell yourself you will be the 1 in 5 that it works for my darling. Do as your team tells you and take meds, if antisickness don’t work ring the rapid response number, if you have temperature phone rapid response number if wee burns and no temperature phone rapid response, if you get thrush mouth phone your unit get there and ask for fluconzole. The main thing is to keep ???and keep safe my darling which you will and support on here and 