Good afternoon everyone
Hi @millie7 we’re here to support you. And agree with @fancyhooves brilliant advice. The first chemo was all much better than I had feared and the hours flew by with the support of the nurses, food and drinks and trips to the toilet with my drip stand. I was dreading the injections at home too but also easier than expecting. I am also not cold capping and got my wig today. The hospital provides them free here. I’m quite pleased with it but will get my hairdresser to trim it closer to my usual style. I also got some other hats and scarves etc
Congratulations Erica - two down but sorry to hear about the spots hope it is just temporary. Also looking forward to that one!
Will be interesting to know if your second cycle is similar to your first. Sending a hug!
Ha ha this made me laugh. Me too!. So I have IBS and I generally follow a very specific healthy low carb gluten free diet. Very healthy, smoothies, berries, you name it :).But now I’m craving all sorts of weird things that I didn’t even know existed.
Hash browns is a new discovery I’ve just made, I’m absolutely obsessed with them. I’ve been adding dill and yogurt to literally everything I eat. And I had a whole baguette of garlic bread (which I normally dislike) for lunch yesterday.
I try to have a spinach smoothie once a day to ensure I’m still getting vitamins. Lol
Hey hey. So I guess the questions you really need to ask are: how much do you love your job? Why do you do it? How much do you really need to work? And how much do you want to work?
I’d say, if you love your job, and it gives you some sense of achievement, reward, or a sense of fulfillment, then I’m sure you can muddle through it whilst on EC. Otherwise, don’t do it.
I work in a pretty intense, high responsibility role, and the moment I got told I need Chemo, my thoughts were: ’ there is absolutely no way I’m going to work whilst dealing with this’. My oncologist thought otherwise, and it took some discussions… but we got there in the end…
For someone who’s employer is not understanding, or someone who really needs to work for financial reasons - yes they probably could work. But if you can afford it, then why put yourself through having to question every morning whether you are feeling well enough to work? Or wonder whether you’ve forgotten to do something?
Also as much as people do ‘understand your situation’, the reality is that if you’re there at work they will still expect you to be or well at least 90 and sometimes you may not be…
There is of course the emotional aspect of what do you do with your time if you don’t work? I’m not going to lie, I have been questioning who I am a few times. I’ve also been questioning whether I should go back to work, because I feel pretty well and I’m sort of feeling this guilt… But upon reflection: I don’t think I would have been able to work the first week after EC. The first two days I was very hyperactive and could not even concentrate to read an article, then I crashed for two days, and only now on day 7 I am starting to feel more like myself again. I do expect the next two weeks to be pretty normal though.
Tbh I’m the same as you. I have booked appointments at my doctors for the nurse to give it to me. I just couldn’t bear the thought of it ( I’m a wimp !)
I’ve been reading these forums since I was first diagnosed and they have helped me so much! Everyone is a warrior .
I had therapeutic mammoplasty surgery in January and then a second op to try and get clear margins in March. Unfortunately since they are not 100% clear I have to go down the chemo route and I had my first treatment on 19 May.
I’ll be on EC for 4x2weekly and P for 4x2weekly. I’m HER- and ER/PR+.
I managed to cold cap on Monday and even though I know I’ll lose part/all hair, I’ve heard it can help with growing the hair back quicker after sessions? Does that sound right? I have an appointment with wig specialist on Saturday which I’m not looking forward too, but after seeing that hair loss can happen as quick as treatment 2 I need to get organised. I also need to see about head coverings, I’m overwhelmed with the amount of places online so any website recommendations will be great fully received
I felt okay the day of chemo and the following day, however started feeling lethargic on day 3 with a loss of appetite. Yesterday I was in bed all day with a headache and feeling nauseous and only managed two bananas. I had my first Filgastrim injection on Wednesday night so it could be from that? Also, I’m a coffee drinker and I didn’t have any yesterday so could have been caffeine withdrawal too? How have others managed that side of things since I think caffeine is not recommended? .
This morning I’ve decided just to just have a coffee and see how the sore head is today and hope it helps with my appetite too. I’m writing how I feel in my ‘all my chemo shit’ journal, with the hope I can see a pattern during cycles and know what to expect after sessions.
Hey millie good luck with your first treatment today!
Hope it gives you a bit of a release. You will be fine, and all the nurses are there to help you if you have any questions.
As for the injections, I was so frightened too I sat procrastinating for an hour and had my husband hold my hand. In the end I just closed my eyes and did it, and could feel nothing lol. It was the easiest thing. All that emotional build up for nothing … Hope it will be the same for you.
Once you’ve done it once you will know what to expect and it all will be so much less scary .
Hi Fione. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. And yes for the hair loss, I also read that cold caping can help with hair regrowth and health so planning to cold cap even if I lose the hair.
I’ve gone coffee free and have just been drinking green tea instead. Coffee gave me acid reflux and nauseous feeling
Hi @fione I have same diagnosis as you I’m HER- and ER/PR+. I’m also having same chemo treatment PAX and EC 4x2 weeks but the other way round. I had my first session on 20 May. I had a wig fitting at Maggies yesterday and was nicer than I thought it would be as thought it could be a bit emotional. They also sold some head coverings which I bought there and they also showed me how to use them. This is the site. https://www.buff.com/gb/neckwear.html?page=2 They are in fact neck scarves but made good head coverings but are much cheaper to buy at Maggies if you have one locally, hope that helps
you look fabulous there are so many amazing wigs no one can tell you might even get a bit of steroid finger on line shopping crazy too I did and ended up with coloured bobs, tinsel wigs the lot kept ordering wigs off Amazon Shi xx
Sorry you find yourself here, did one of the bcn nurses get back to you and did you ring your rapid response number too, always use your rapid response number that you should have been given by your team if anything isn’t feeling right even with no temperature. Just to let them make the call if they need you in to check you over. Sorry your antisickness meds didn’t work but your team will tweak them till they get combination right, hang on in there, everyone’s hot you, day at a time you will get through Shi xx
First chemo done not so bad very relieved it’s done know what to expect next time just the injections and medication to do tomorrow got very mixed up with all the medication had to get my daughter round to sort it out plus I have to do diabetes blood test 3 times a day plus temperature plus blood pressure plus I take 7 different tablets for other illnesses how are you spose to remember all that I am 70 with a frazzled brain blimey so much xxx
Hi millie7, so glad to hear your first session went smoothly and you didn’t find it too bad! If you don’t already, have you thought about getting one of the pills boxes with each day and timings on them? And maybe using recurring phone alarms to get in the routine of your blood pressure and blood sugar checks? Sounds like you’ve got tonnes on your plate but it will feel way less overwhelming once you have had a bit of time to get a little daily routine going. I’m still relying a lot on my husband to remind me of some doses I need to take
Hang in there Erica. For Headache I swear by excedrin migraine. I am out the other side of the cold cap now. I found it tough as it made me feel nauseous but I ended up taking a Xanax through it which was best thing. I was on ACT which is the harshest regime for hair.
Good news is I kept enough to not cut it and enough that no one knew what I had been through when I went back to work (4 months after finishing chemo). My hair is shoulder length. It has thinned but is manageable. I obsessed a lot about it and washed once a week during treatment. Towards end it felt light (I list about 50%) but has since filled in. I used Daniel Field products such as the hair growth active and his non toxic dyes which are great and long lasting. Appreciate cold cap not for everyone but it was so worth it for me.
Best advice is concentrate on the hair you have not what you are losing and it’s true that you have way more hair than you think.
My husband is rubbish at things like that so have put them on my phone and my daughter has aswell she will text me every morning to remind me. Yes everything went well just worried now if I get any side affect over weekend x
Im so glad you got through it and out the other side- 1 down. It sounds like youre doing all the right things, and have amazing support. If you get any problems call the number, weekend or not. They were so good at suggesting help and I always try to think they’re sat there on that weekend or night shift just for us so lets make sure they arent bored lol xxx
All good this morning hopefully this will last. Did my injection that was good didn’t think I would be able to do them but it was OK, took sickness tablets so all is OK did bloods for sugar which has gone down from 21 to 8 this morning so everything is going well hope everybody else is OK love to you all we are all strong let’s keep it up xxxxx
but sorry to hear about the spots hope it is just temporary. Also looking forward to that one!
or well at least 90 and sometimes you may not be…
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kept ordering wigs off Amazon 
everyone’s hot you, day at a time you will get through 
