Hi, this is my very first post!! Hi Cybele the pic of you is great I too was wondering what the cold cap looked like. I hope you have a good night.
I have just had my oncology appointment today - chemo to start 27th… had mx and reconstruction with LD on 19th Nov.
Was definatley thinking of having the cold cap, dreading the hair loss, more so because I have 2 youngsters (Boy 6yrs / Girl 3yrs)
They know I’m poorly, but I have yet to tell them about the chemo.
Would love to join the Crackers…
hi cybele, you have given me hope. Im also getting treated in outer london. I have given up my job as it is stressful so hopefully this will help me get through chemo without having some of the stress related physical ailments I usually get. Good on you for doing the cold cap.
Wendy, you will be fine - it sounds as if you are having chemo first and then the op? I have coped , just. I understand your concerns. When you are diagnosed - it feels as if 1. you are on your own and feel quite isolated and 2. it plays with your mind and you have some very extreem thoughts. Good luck for tomorrow.
@Lilly123, @Caroline60 am very glad to hear my experience helped x
@Lilly sorry,am wwriting this on my new Kindle fire and can’ t work how to turn off the predictive text thing. it keeps changing
your name. re PICC LINE, it goes in the upper part of your arm. and it’ s a REALLY good thing to have one, as the toxicity of the chemo can make the veins in your arms very sore. having the chem . today was really easy in that sense - they just clip the drip onto the Picc line and away you go. no more injections.
can’ t wire baby more, it’ s too slow with this keyboard
Morning Crackers,
Welcome to Snodby and TraceyLJ
Lolly - as Cybele says, PICC line goes in upper arm, somewhere above the elbow depending on what veins they find. The line itself then goes inside your vein all the way into your chest via your armpit so it protects your veins from the chemo, bit wierd but you won’t feel it inside you. As for wigs - ask BCN or at chemo unit for them to get you an appiontment. Without coldcap your hair will likely fall out in week 2 - 3 so ask them to fit you in.
Cybele - well done for not running and getting one done.
Caroline - keep eating crisps. Healthy eating is just one more stick to beat ourselves with. I was a healthy vegetarian but it did me no good. I have bl**dy cancer so if I fancy crisps then I will have them.
Up early today to go to chemo unit to get some final tests done and then I am starting GemCarbo tomorrow. At least that is the plan, as they had to take out my Hickman line to do my mastectomy so we do not know if they can find a vein or I will have another delay and another line. GemCarbo not so hard on veins as Taxotere so fingers crossed. Don’t want to do it at all but, since I have signed up, really want to start this week so that xmas will be week 3.
Keep on keeping on girls, xxx
Hi All
I dont know if any of you are on Facebook but there is a group that has recently started up numbers are growing each day it is called “younger Breast Cancer network (UK) secret group” you request to join then have to friend accept Vicki Manchester who will then put you on the group. The messages that you post and read are only available to members so none of your other facebook friends will see or read what you post on this. It is very helpful there are women out there like us who are going through this and some have young children. Give it a go you can always delete if you dont want to be in it or not post anything yourself xxxx I think I need all the help I can get it is nice to talk to someone who is going through the same as you or if not the same has the same worries as you, my hair will always be an issue until it comes out xx
Snoddy-You and I are a day apart treatment wise. My next one’s on the 20th. I had similar symptons to you so will be following your posts closely!
Cybele-Love your pic. You look like one of those bobsleighers just about to head down the run!
Hi all just back from onc appointment. Very confused again ! Biopsy showed negative for hormones assume he meant TN as it was last time.
he is not sure about chemo first as would prefer surgery so back to the mDT meeting my case goes. Another appointment on 21st to discuss ct, bone scan and snb results and what they have decided at MDT meeting.
He had decided on what chemo to use but whilst asking medical questions my hubby piped up you do know she has had breast cancer before? He replied no it’s not in the notes good job you told me as the chemo I had planned would probably have killed you as can’t have the A in AC chemo twice in a lifetime !!! Help. I will be having TC chemo anyone else know about this one. 4 cycles if no spread and 6 otherwise
So chemo booked in for 31st dec so still with you on this thread unless they decide on surgery first I hate this shit. Dreading more results on 21st
Wend x x
Hi Tracey, and welcome to the thread x A lot of people hate the cold cap, and I’m usually a total wimp, but for some reason I didn’t mind it at all - possibly latent masochism. Also, it served totally to distract me from the chem odrugs going in, and i was really surprised when the nurse told me they had finished!
And welcome to snodby xxx
@shellebelle sounds like your friend has being having a really rough time - let’s hope we can all get through without being readmitted to hospital *fingers crossed*
My first night passed off uneventfully, andIi even slept, eventually. Nausea, but perfectly bearable, and no vomiting.
Today, much the same - a bit less woozy, slight headache, and the nausea continues at a low background level - I would grade the way I feel today as being like a moderate hangover.
Pretty tired , though, but that’s hardly surprising after the massive tension, adrenaline, anxiety and sleeplessness in the 3 days leading up to the chemo. Plus people constantly around. Now today I can just slump quietly on my own, and regroup, until my OH gets home from work.
Hope everyone else is feeling Ok - good luck to those having treatment and PICC line installations and onc appointments during the rest of the week xxx
And i’m a bit woozy, so if I’ve sent you each other;s messages by mistake, I’m sorry! Also must try not to reply to messages for Caroline60, as my real name is Caroline, and i keep thinking they’re for me! Cybele is the name of an ancient Anatolian fertility Goddess, and it has always been my internet name of choice…
1 DOWN 5 TO GO!
Aaaagggghhhhh. The feckin idiots have lost my notes. They can’t do my chemo without the notes. f*ck, damn, b*gger, sh*t.
Just needed to get that off my chest.
Cressida that is crap. I suggest a large alchoholic beverage.
Good plan Maire - care to join me?
hi i had my first chemo 20dec last year managed the panto on the 22dec did not feel to bad but was not feeling up to drinking,
the treatment slowly crept up on me, hay everyone is different any way i was 60 so it could effect me differently because of age
dont think about what could happen just carry on as usual good luck though this time next year you will be laughing
Hi Everyone
New to the site, Short history - diagnosed september Lumpecomy and SNB Oct resulting in grade 3 cancer but nodes clear. Starting chemo tomorrow so had waist length hair chopped on friday - sent length to Little Princess trust made me feel better to hopefully help someone else. Having four cycles of TC (taxotere and cyclophosphamide) and in panic mode - started taking dexamethasone today and have gone mad doing housework and putting decs up. Is great to know that am not alone and that you all seem to be getting through it.
Debs x
Rio-Glad to hear you’re back out the other end.
Cressida - cheers, clink!
Hi all, Iv had my oncol appointment today. As a result of my setback at the weekend, my chemo is now scheduled for or around the 9th of January instead of Dec 28th.
The oncologist advised me that my cancer was very curable. I cried and sobbed as I had not been told this before. I was also told my breast cancer was early breast cancer - which confused me - but realised the HER2 made my tumour grow to 9cms and I had the Lobular and DCIS - which was in 2 places in my breast. I asked my husband to take notes. Im having FEC and T x 3 + Herceptin.
Wendy I felt saddened when I read your blog. I think you should consume a very large glass of white wine (only because its my prefered tipple) tonight. Its so bloody frustrating with all the bloody waiting as it makes you think the worst case scenario. F and blinding or f - ing and jeffing on this site is recommended as it has helped for me.
Hi Caroline60 think I too willbe a January chemo lady got my appointment with onc Monday. My surgeon told me I had caught it early clear margins sn clear , found outl later I’m triple negative so defo chemo and radiotherapy . Well we’re going to need a name, any idea’s?
Lots of luck , meet you in January thread xxx
Cybele, your blog made me laugh, especially because I too am a Charing Cross chemo gal but on the September thread.
It helps with cold cap if you take a couple of painkillers before and drink a hot drink very slowly when its first put on. I’ve done it for 5 sessions now-yes my hair is very Andy from Little Britain but its still there. Good luck with your treatment and who knows we might cross paths and argue about who can have the last banana on 6 East x
sukiem, that is very cheering news about your hair. Am fully expecting to go bald, but it would be such bonus not to…
I did take some painkillers before the cold cap, but the hot drink never occurred to me - excellent idea, I will try it next time.
Today I am FLYING on the Dexymethadone, which is so weird, because i was expecting to spend the day lying on the sofa sobbing, and intermittently running to the bathroom to vomit. What I’d really like to know now, is what happens when the steroids finish? Will the nausea get worse? I have had Fosapprepitant, so it’s been not too bad so far, and I haven’t come near to vomiting, but I’m just wondering what will happen when it, and the other anti-nausea drugs, wear off. Or is the nausea only in the first few days.
I thought I’d got all this straight, but am now feeling confused again - it must be all these drugs…
It would be lovely to meet up and have a cup of coffee sometime, and swap war stories…
Glad you like the blog - applying myself to that is the only thing keeping me sane right now. Don’t know if I’ll manage to keep it up for 100 nights, but I’m going to give it a try!
Good luck Cressida will be thinking of you and hope it goes ahead I am sure they will sort it for you x x