Quail have you visited Derbyshire? Ashbourne, Buxton, Dovedale… Beautiful.
Skin glowing, hot, red, itchy…yeurgh…on my shoulder blade and back too. Tired…ah well, only two more rads to go. Fed up of this BC lark now!
Hang in there Ali, you’re nearly at the edge of the Woods, soon you’ll be a NEDDY visitor like me 
Thanks Nannabarb x
Only two more–Ali, it’s flown by!!! (for me, obviously) I, too, was shocked when I realised it had gone RIGHT THROUGH ME to my back. Yuck–makes it all too clear that they really are microwaving you! Soon that glow will have faded, and you’ll be streaming into Nedland.
Oh, yes, how could I forget Derbyshire? The first couple years I was in England we went to the Buxton Bookfairs every few months, and a couple of years ago we saw an amazing Carmen at the Buxton Festival. I really love the Derbyshire Well Dressing in the Summer–if you haven’t visited then, you really have missed something. I watched some women make some of the decorations one year with all the flowers and seeds–amazing–my favourite “Ye Olde Britain” tradition, I think.
We live about an hour from Ashbourne, so if we fancy a nice day out, or a bike ride (Tissington Trail), it’s not too far. We’ve got friends in Buxton too, so often meet them in the Opera House for concerts etc. love that part of the world! And there’s a fabulous cheese shop in Hartington. Lots of other fabulous cheese shops elsewhere, obviously
Youre right, it’s the visible proof that it’s going straight through, it seems barbaric somehow. However it’s technology I’m very, very grateful for!
Quail happy thanksgiving. You must miss your family at this time of year. I loveed visiting my cousin in Rhode Island. In my yourh I wanted to work in Boston. As a Woodie I still don’t know what part to play in the Benchland theatricals. Goat ,( I have the beard) camel ( I have the humps) or sheep ( my nickname is Larry…those of you above 60 might remember Larry the lamb!!!)
I think I will grab poor roasted Ali H and cool her fire down in the JM. I didn’t notice any reaction on my back but my head doesn’t face that way. As for looking in the mirror …I avoided it all the time while I looked Yoda from Star Wars.
Applesreet The Land of NED today was fraught with delays here in darkest Bucks and the great city of London. The weather was foul causing trees to fall on trains etc. Off to the JM to join Nannabarb Foxyferret and JCJ for a quick drink then to my nest to sleep perchance to dream etc.
Supertrouper remember the Bay of Biscay…mmmmmm mal de mare. Yuck. I would however come for that price!!! Scottish blood comes to the fore when bargains are about.
I am in a whirl tonight, I think I’ve had one too many in the JM. I’m making Benchland posts in the woods and Woodland posts on the benches. If I can find my way to my tent, I think I’d better go in and pull the covers over my head. G’night everyone!
Hello Woodies. Wandered into this thread trying to find something ( not really sure what!). Am on my second FEC, having daily tinzaparin injections and 10 days filgrastim and am so tired all the time I feel hopeless. Have also had a persistent cough since before chemo started. have seated myself at the JM and really feel like one of those sad bodies that sit at a bar all day.
I feel like such a whinger but just feel so awful and reading about all the experiences you all have had strikes a huge chord with me. The dream fairies, no sleep fairies etc reassure me that I am not completely loopy and not alone.
hope you don’t mind if park myself here awhile
Kay
Welcome Kay - we are all barking mad in here as you might have noticed. I will join you for a drink until the woodies who have failed to snare a sleep fairy return.
I must appologise for my dog’s interest in how you smell. Buggeritt can smell a newbie from a mile away.
If you have problems sleeping whilst going through chemo then I would suggest that you climb up one of the yew trees over there --------->. There are very comfy nests up in the higher branches.
Supertrooper - please look at BENCHLAND - Soddit and Buggerit can have parts as sheep in our panto, and that’s without auditions!!!
Will they be OK with cottonwool and glitter stuck onto their little hairy bodies?
I’m going on the Apprentice programme to succeed Cameron Mackintosh as the Best Impressario in the World after this panto - alternatively (and more realistically) I’ll just sit on the Cream Crackered Bench for a week…
grumpy
The wakenupearly so you are tired all day fairy has arrived. I will go and see if the yurt is floating in the Lagoon after last night’s rain.
Kayteeb I hope the night’s rest in my old you tree sees you less fatigued. It does get better I promise. Thinking back I remember the fatigue and lack of sleep. The mind whirls…that is why these forums are so good…you can haunt them all night!!! As for the cough, are you having anything for it? Just rest when you are tired and go with the flow. Before you know it you will look like Judi Denche rather than that bald creature from Star Wars. The JM can be noisy but they calm down after midnight. Perhaps you can chat Grumpy up into giving you a role in the command performance she is the one chatting to herself covered in glitter. .
Grumpy did my rendition of the old Wagstaff or Quivering Lance quote get me a part? The Bard remains in my mind forever.
Grumpy, in the land of NED I do some voluntary work for a local park that is run by a private trust. The have a small herd of seven sheep that were shorn a month ago. They didn’t know what to do with the fleeces. Now Are you thinking what I am thinking??? Not quite sure how Buggerit will take to having one tied to his back but there is only one way to find out.
Hi Kay! No, you’re not loopy and no, you’re not alone 
The awful, draining, bone-weary fatigue was one of the worst SEs of chemo for me so I sympathise hugely! It’s not just physical tiredness is it, it’s mental and emotional exhaustion too. I was in hospital with neutropenia and had a chat with a Macmillian nurse who was studying chemo fatigue (for phd or something similar), and although she didn’t really suggest any ways of lifting it it was hugely reassuring to know it wasn’t simply me being a wuss! The thing that helped me most was yoga, not the exercises stuff because getting off the settee to go to the loo was as much as I could manage, but the meditation and breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques…and mindfulness (living in the moment) because it helped to stop me thinking ‘what if I feel as bad as this tomorrow?’ take it an hour at a time, a day can stretch forever. Does it lift a little for you after day 14? I used to have a few days before the next cycle of feeling much better, I hope you do. And, although it seems a long way off, it does go. My last chemo was late may, I’m back to yoga exercising and walking and concentrating and housework and cooking and going out…or at least till rads tiredness kicks in, but that’s just tiredness, nothing like the chemo fatigue. Hang on in there, it will get better! I wish I’d found this forum then, I wouldn’t have felt so lonely, there’s so much friendship and advice on here .
Thank you for making me laugh! I think madness is probably thevwaybforward through this! The yew tree was comfortable, probably helped by the fairy liqueur. Thank you Supertrouper, Cackles and Grumpy. I’ll try and pick up with the tired all day fairy ter on the couch. Buggerritt is very welcome, I used to have a dog just like him called Giveithere, always loved a game of tug with my earplugs.
Going to take the Grandkids to Kids World this afternoon, if that noise doesn’t send the wakeupearly fairy packing I don’t know what will.
have we got Twiglets behind the bar, if not i will bring them?
Grumpy, I can do a passable interpretation of the Gruffalo! Have an mpressive poisonous wart on the end of my nose ( well almost), am sure we can glam him up with glitter.
See you tonight, feeling more like a party already thank you
k x
Hi Ali H. Thank you for your such positive words. Think the isolation ( trying to be brave for the OH and the girls) is hard too. too many false smiles and private tears. on the first chemo I got DVTs around my PICC line and ended up in hospital for a week so not had a ’ normal ’ cycle yet.
i am interested in the yoga. I have an artificial hip and 2 artificial knees so find most forms of exercise difficult ( can’t get off the floor!) but I guess yoga is more about controlling how you feel. Will have a look at that.
so glad to hear you are out the other side and real life is coming back to you.
see you in the JM later, and thank you x
kay
Ok Kay, mine’ll be a large gin!
Find a good yoga teacher (registered with the Wheel of Yoga, check online) who will tailor her teaching to your needs, mine was brilliant and very supportive.
Have a fun day out today! X
Hi, I quietly pitched my tent on Herceptin Hill a few weeks ago without posting but it got washed away yesterday. If anyone finds it please could you return it to me? I am under the xmas tree with the foob with angel wings on top. Thank you.
Hi Squeakymouse! Ok, will keep an eye out for your tent. There’s room in mine, it’s got a chandelier and a whirlpool bath (just because I can !)
Squeekymouse, what a shame about your tent–this darned rain–I recommend a yew-tree-nest, so soft and comfortable, and puts you at the perfect height to lasso in a sleep fairy when there’s one about. That whirlpool bath sounds nice, though–never knew there was one of those in your tent, Ali. I’d have been dropping by with soap and bath towel.
Have you seen Supertrouper’s excavating work?–there’s a great view from the canal down to her winter wonderland. I believe it’s near where we planted all the flowers a few weeks ago; by the time we’re tired of Always Christmas, a few shoots should be poking up.
Welcome to you too, Kayteeb53. I made it through the horrors of chemo last summer, but don’t think I’ll ever forget how hard it was, and I don’t have children to worry about. Ali, you’re right about the fatigue. I spent day after day in bed listening to my audio books and feeling like I just couldn’t move.
Even now, when I only have one more Herceptin treatment, and an inch of hair, I love it here in the woods–it can be a bit scarey before you learn your way around, but HEAL and BUGGERIT are usually just a whistle away, and there’s always a fire in the fireplace in the JM and a ready bottle of GIN. Lately we’ve had a samovar filled with Winter Pimms, as well, and there are a few who just stick to a bottle of Bailey’s “No, no, no glass for me, thanks, I’ll have mine straight from the bottle”
Well Quail, it does save on washing up! 
Yes, I have a very glamorous tent, it’s a spa retreat combined with indulgence and sparkly things. Quite spacious too, room for everyone but not all in the bath please at the same time, or else we’ll run out of water. Lots of very fluffy towels on stand by!