Phew nit just me and my crazy brain then!
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No they dont. Its really a crevice your walking up with bolders rolling at you. Im tired of explaining to people that too. Its draining mind body x
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Great to hear othersā feelings about returning to work and how time has warped this year. That really resonates with me too.
Nearly 3 weeks on from my last chemo the fatigue is a lot better than a few days ago. My eyes and skin are still really bad though. I saw my optician at the weekend and she thought that the chemo induced dry eye (which oddly leads to excessive watering) & blepharitis had worsened recently as my eyelashes have fallen out so my eyeballs dry out while I sleep. She recommended night gel to help with that and massaging (gently!) towards the eyelids after using the warm compresses to try to get the trapped oil to seep out before using the eyelid wipes to remove it. Iām now away for a few days with no access to a microwave to warm my mask but plan to try this when I get home.
@trix1, Iām really sorry to hear about your nails-that sounds so painful. How did your group session go?
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Hi, I have my first radiotherapy session this afternoon and Iām nervous (although the radiotherapy team have been lovely and very reassuring). Has anyone started radiotherapy yet and do you have any hints/tips/positive experiences to share?
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Good luck this afternoon! I start mine on Monday so donāt speak from experience but have been promised itās a breeze compared to chemo as you just have to lie there and it only takes 15 mins. My team gave me some flamigel to use twice a day which they said works really well. I know others have found aloe Vera or aveeno really good.
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@nelly1 good luck! I start next Thursday. Had my planning appointment on Monday & canāt believe how much stress I got myself into about the tattoos beforehand. They are absolutely nothing 
can barely see them.
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Oh thatās good to know @brox ! Thanks for sharing, I have got mine on 3rd. Hope we all get on ok with the radiotherapy, we deserve it after enduring 4 tough months of chemo!
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Good luck @nelly1 !
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Oh Im glad the tattoos arenāt bothering you.
After much jiggery pokery with the port, pac #6 has been squirted into my veins. 3 more to go.
The unexpected news of the day was that the oncology team have decided that they are not giving me radiotherapy. Not completely sure how I feel about that but I had a simple mastectomy and no spread to nodes so I think I am happy. It also makes further surgery quicker and easier to plan. This is the first time that a progressive plan hasnāt been worse than the one before. Hormone therapy consult after Christmas.
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Morning.
Radiotherapy update (I know some people are starting soon).
Iāve had two sessions so far, first one was longer because they explained things again and had to make sure all the measurements and so on were right. It was all painless. The second session today took fifteen minutes. Feeling fine so far.
So a good thing for me for today is that the radiotherapy is going well.
Had a chat with our occy health department yesterday. Iām so glad for this group because when we were talking about phased return I knew they would say two to three weeks at half time then back full time after Christmas. Given I havenāt worked since January, that seemed a littleā¦scant. I made it clear (thanks to comments on here) that I would probably need that flexibility after Christmas and Iād need to see if/how the letrozole affected me too.
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Ladies I have finished my chemo! I had my final session this morning. It took 4 nurses half an hour to find a vein but luckily they got one. afterwards I rang the bell while the nurses all clapped. All feels very surreal. Obviously Iāve still got my 5 days of injections to do which will end next Wednesday, planning on having some sparklers in the garden to celebrate that. And Iāve got to get through the side effect feeling shitty days. But at least I wonāt have to gear myself up for chemo again. Hopefully never ever ever again!
Had a good conversation with my oncologist on Tuesday. My next steps now are seeing my surgeon on 10th Nov to discuss my re-excision and presumably heāll give me a date for that. Then Iāll be starting radiotherapy around 4 weeks after the surgery, so in the new year, and tamoxifen can start at the same time. Then Abemaciclib after radiotherapy.
Hope you are all doing ok x
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Congratulations on your last chemo! Such a good milestone! Sorry it was hard on the veins, I had similar on my last one too. The veins can start to recover now. Love the idea of sparklers to celebrate the last injection!
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@twinks77, congratulations on finishing chemo! I hope the final round of side effects isnāt too rough. Sparklers to celebrate is a lovely idea!
@nelly1, thanks for the update on radiotherapy-Iām glad itās going well. Iām glad you were able to advocate for yourself with occupational health: going back to full time hours in two weeks would have been way too intense for me. I canāt remember who said on the forum to halve what you think you can manage but Iāve taken that to heart to manage my colleaguesā expectations that Iāll bounce back to how I was in Mayā¦
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massive congrats on finishing chemo @twinks77 and lovely to hear about the sparklers too. Someone mentioned noticing all the small milestones, it really does make a difference.
I turned my bad ankle again today, fell down a drainhole! But Iām very gradually feeling a little bit better every day as long as I dont overdo it - or behave normally!
That said Im hobbling off to the Pumpkin Patch in my volunteer capacity tonight as I completely forget about cancer and all the associated aches etc.
Im also really hoping to retire soon. Iāll do more volunteering and continue to run our AirBnB for income (not sure how Ive kept that up all year but I do have great support) but I really need to be released from the day job as its all just too much.
Great to hear of experiences of radiotherapy, mine doesnt start til 19 November which seems ages away. Im both glad to have the extra time to recover and bummed that its ages away. Theres honestly no pleasing me at the moment lol
xx
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Iām the same! Pleased I have until 17th to start radio as I hope to feel a bit stronger by then but annoyed itās not sooner! Honestly no pleasing me either!
Thanks also @nelly1 for the update on radiotherapy - having you guys share how itās going makes such a difference to me. Getting back to full time after two or three weeks sounds far too much too soon, I agree. Iām pleased you felt able to speak up on that and hope you can reach an arrangement that suits you and is flexible.
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My last chemo is 19th November so Iām telling myself itās just round the corner. All about perspective I suppose.
So glad to hear lots of positive comments about future treatment. Letās hope none of us have to ride this train again
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