Donna, I’m right with you on the ‘you’re half way there’ pants remark… Right up there with you’re such an inspiration in my books… Ggggrrrr,… Xxxx
Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, i can taste it, but why did i have to eat the tub to make me realise it,
heathly eating … my a*** 
no really jacket potatoe for tea,
now im just being silly
Cheryl… can i really choose, im not really in a fit state of mind, tell you what ill bring one of each,
you know when harry hill says, fighhhhtttttt, i want to shout chocolateeeeeeeeeeee
see im going crazy
Donna
WEll - The retail therapy worked! Wore Marilyn (the blonde wig) felt great shopped 'til I dropped- almost literally!Enjoyed large lunch as well! When I complained to oncologist and BCnurse was told in no uncertain terms to forget about weight gain until all this si over - but I’m going to try to stick to a healthier eating plan!
Will find out on Wed when fec 3 rescheduled.
Think I’ll have a wee nap then light supper then join you at the JM!
Margaret X X X
Mary Grace you are prob right!I still have the odd wiry whisker, leg hair which I don’t have the heart to shave so was greatly embarassed on admission to hospital last week and have not yet had to wear sparkly JM- but am as bald as a coot!
OMG, weight gain, merkins, LG, am i gonna get all se’s at once, is this the calm before the storm, should I hide in Frnce, anywhere the se fairy cant find me! feel so isolated, i just want to get on with it. orderering things for my head but so many styles of bandanas, zandanas, scarves already tied, buffs, sleep caps, i wont know where to start, please can someone rescue me only on FEC1 post 10 days, long way thru woods yet and the TAX I will get some good non chem nail varnish in for that!
Shar xxxx
keep reading that hair coming out in clumps, please how do u cope with that, finding it, seeing self in mirror is it ok cos u are expecting it? not like if not chemo girl, then it would be scary cos outa blue if u see what i mean… Shar x
I’ll see you all at the JM after choir/orchestra practice tonight. I’ll probably be dropping by then, so keep the cushions fluffed.
Cheryl
Shar, my hair came out in single strands at first then big lumps when I washed it in the shower. It didn’t all come out but there were more bald patches than hair. My 16 year old son and I agreed that it made me look more ill like that so we clippered then shaved it off and I immediately looked and felt so much better.
Donna, I had my most serious wobble after FEC3. I didn’t care that I was half way through, I still had such a long way to go. I managed to give myself a kick up the backside and recovered within a day or so but it was pretty miserable while it lasted so you just go and shout, scream, cry all you want and we’ll all be there for you holding onto the rope to get you out of the swamp.
Love to all,
Jane xxx
Alto, thankyou so much… i will shout and screem and moan and winge and continue not to be able to spell,
i dont want to play no more, had enough
i wonder if 3 fec will be enough? i may ask my onc and see what he says…
wish i was a drinker,doobie doobie doo
get them darm cushions plumpt up im coming through… der dum remember the jaws theme
Donna
xx
ya got to laugh
Please can I reserve a nice comfy cushion in the surgery tent for tomorrow evening please? Having my Hickman line in tomorrow and really not looking forward to it. I know it’s very low down on the operation scale but it’s the fact that it’s done under local anaesthetic that’s making me shudder. I don’t think it’ll be a whole lot of fun.
Still, at least it’ll mean no more stabbing. Got to have bloods done again first to see if the WBC fairy has graced me with her presence so that I can have TAX 1 on Wednesday. Come to think of it, do I really want to have a good WBC count or would I rather have an extra week of feeling human? Probably better off not to ask
One of my friends has suggested bleaching some of the red cells. Do you think that would work? Or maybe someone in the craft tent could knit some little white balaclavas for the RBCs to fool the phleb nurses…
I’m now suffering from a serious eyebrow famine. My left one stops halfway along and my right one has a horizontal bald stripe along its length - a bit like having a mini badger sitting on my face. I bought the Clarins eyebrow kit today and the lovely lady filled in my badger stripe for me then gave me loads of little freebies as well - cleanser, toner, moisturiser, eye makeup remover - result! Cancer card strikes again!
Jane xxx
Who has let the InappropriateComment Monster into the woods?? How can so many of the warriors be insulted and fed up in one day? It’s a conspiracy!
BevHills (I love that!) Who was that person talking to you? Are you sure she was a nurse? I’m presuming she was a svelte size 6 and only ever ate carrot. Next time maybe thank her for the advice about weight gain is in danger of causing re-occurance and give her some advice of your own. This being that unwanted, thoughtless, insensitive comments are in danger of causing a swift upper-cut to the mush!
Troy - so sorry about those pesky WBC. I have a terrible feeling that they had invaded me on friday as my sore skeleton was obviously overloaded. They are not with me now but if i see them unzipping my tent i will shout.
Donna - That half way thing! GRRRR. It would be alright if there were no such thing as SEs that last potentially 3 weeks. Hang on in there, get to the Yurt and I’ll get you a duvet. It’s totally rubbish but its another step forwards. It was on FEC3 that me and SB started an escape tunnel under the JM so we know how you feel!
Shar - i shaved my hair when i started pulling out strands when straightening it, it didn’t come out in clumps. I actually looked at my bald head yesterday and was amazed how i was so used to it. You are doing really well. When you first came on the forum you didn’t think you would cope with any of it but look at what you’ve done already, you have had first one and admitted it wasn’t as bad as you had thought. YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS. Anyhow - how can you think you’re alone? Can’t you see the flashlights ahead and the campfire?
…And i hate to inform you but the healthy food wagon is no more 'cos i torched it.
Eat Cake! Drink Beer! Slurp Wine! F**k Cancer! (well not literally that bit could be messy)
Am hoisting the 2-fingered salute higher.
Endeth the rant.
Hi, just a quickie to Alto! I had a hickman line in last week. Was dreading it! I took the option of a bit of sedation, well a lot actualy! Dont remember a thing, line is fab nd stress levels for bloods nd chemo now!! So, ask for sedation nd have a snooze!! S Xx
Alto, a portacath is even more of a procedure and I had mine done with local and sedation. It was fine, and just think how grateful your poor veins will be! It’s a positive thing (oh god, am I going to get beaten up for inappropriate comments here?) to save your veins, so, as my very inappropriate son would say, “man up and grow a pair!”
Seriously though, I’d agree with Sadie. Wimp out and ask for several tons of sedation please, then just snooze while they slice, sometimes it’s much better not to know what they’re up to. I vaguely remember a mask on my face to breathe through, and them turning my head to my left shoulder, and I think they even put a cloth or something over my face (very kind, it kept the light out of my eyes and helped me sleep better). I have vague recollections of a bit of prodding and poking going on but I wasn’t bothered enough to do anything about it at the time…
Shar, it does feel really weird getting ready to be bald when you have a headful of hair, doesn’t it, but if you arm yourself with a few soft jersey sleep caps to wear under hats or scarves or in bed, and a couple of £3.50 scarf thingies with the elastic at the back from annabandana, you’ll have enough to be going on with. The biggest difficulty I had was deciding on the colours!
Have you seen a wig lady? You might want to do that before your hair goes, so you can get something that you feel comfortable with rather than having to get something quick. And I agree with Alto, you sounded in a complete funk when you first joined the forums but you now sound a lot more able to cope with it all, now your treatment has started and you’re out of the Waiting Room.
Don’t worry CM, I fully intend to be a total wimp given the chance!
And I’ve now made a Key Lime Pie to have later on tomorrow to cheer myself up. Some might say it was just an excuse to lick the empty condensed milk tin… they might be right!
Jane xxx
If anyone’s within a reasonable distance of the Bristol area this Friday, I’m meeting norberte for lunch. I suggested others might want to come along, her reply was along the lines of “the more the merrier”.
So if you’re up for it, please post on this thread:
breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=30428
I was supposed to be doing a PB session this week but my girlie has an appointment while I would have been away (silly moo, I hadn’t made a note of it in my phone and the clash of dates just didn’t register) and I’d rather not abandon her for a couple of days at the moment, so I’ve had to bail out of the PB course. Shame, but I wouldn’t have been able to get the most out of it if I was worrying about what’s going on back at the ranch.
So as consolation, tomorrow will be a trip to the beach with the dog and the barbecue and the sausages and the portable gas stove and the coffee (and there might be a cheeky bottle of beer or two in the cool bag) and the other half. How life has changed that a day in West Wittering is the star attraction.
Will be in Cornwall Thurs/Fri so can’t meet for lunch CM - but have a good one x
I would like to say that having read BevHill’s fb links, I know that the nurse with the cracking weight advice was a short, obese woman with a mars bar on her desk. Apparently she even waddled when she went to get Bev an exercise sheet. I would have crammed mars bar AND exercise sheet somewhere where the sun didn’t shine on her, and then suggested she get crocheting a merkin because I was going to illegally inject her with TAX. Thank god my onc laughs in the face of weight gain, advocates going out for a drink and tells me not to worry about quitting the fags just yet. If I’d been to Bev’s hospital I might have come away thinking I was ill, or something.
xxx
The most suitable response seems to be a very concerned look on the face, accompanied by “yes dear, obesity greatly increases your chance of getting it in the first place, you must be SO worried!”
The only thing is you cannot smirk or grin when delivering the line, practice the concerned look in the mirror first, and for an added flourish, a gentle pat on the back of the nurse’s hand.
There, that should do it!
My nurse told me, with a straight face, (and she is fab, so I don’t want to be mean BUT), that PREVIOUSLY they had advised women to eat as much as they wanted, but her manager had been on a COURSE about it, and now the advice was to NOT put weight on AT ALL! It left me with the impression that last month I could have been as fat as I wanted, but now, lips were going to pursed in disapproval as I gingerly mounted the scales…
CM - the ‘gentle pat’ has just completely undone me, now have tears streaming down my face… YES YES YES. That would be perfect.
Tracey - you see? All these courses, all that money, and it’s all utter crap. Anyhow - obesity has only been linked to bc in post-menopausal women, or women over the age of 50, so (with a couple of worthy exceptions) most of us on here can be as fat as f*ck with no worries, imo.
xxx
Quick, I need a drink! Although the orchestra for tonight’s rehearsal had some individual good players, the overall effect was pretty dire in places.
I like the idea of ‘tactfully’ expressing concern at the other person’s risk factors.
Alto, when I was worried about the PICC, my friend who had had a Hickman assured me that the process was painless, and the PICC insertion certainly was. I was a little dizzy after I sat up (slowly), which is apparently common. The nurse watches a scan, and I’d recommend looking at that rather than at what she is doing, or anything else, really. But if you are seriously anxious, ask for a sedative.
Shar, you may find that a stocking cap helps when you start to shed hair, simply because it will catch a lot of it and then you brush the cap out into a bin (or put it out for birds to line their nests with). And see the wig lady while you’ve got enough to match the colour. Then later on if you want you can go for something cheap and funky as well to cheer yourself up. You can always get more hats or scarves later as well for the same reason. I’ve just ordered a second instalment.
Now where’s that drink?
Cheryl
My onc told me, when he asked if I was eating properly and I replied “A cow sandwiched between two bread vans on a regular basis” -“That’s good you have some taste buds and are still enjoying your food” - a VERY nice man.
I’ve got my WBC to 0.9 and got to get it above 1 by Thursday, anyone got any ideas as I’ve been told rest but exercise??
The saving grace is it’s better than 0.03 which is what it was 3 weeks ago.
XXHXX