Cressida-your farting comments have had me in stitches. My husband can hardly bear to sit down wind of me, while I am thoroughly enjoying expelling the noxious gases with added force. I can’t explain why I enjoy it so much. I just do.
I am slowly swimming through the post Tax fug. I’m feeling a bit better than on mean, sad days 4 and 5 but still got a fair way to go. Today’s highlight has been tramping through the snow (very beautiful, soft and powdery) with heavily bleeding nose (some sort of twisted Snow White Chemo tale). Of course I bumped into 2 people while holding splattered tissue to nose. Both looked a bit embarassed.
On the upside I’ve given myself permission to loll for the rest of the day reading (“Gone Girl” Gillian Flynn. What a book!). Now feeling post book wooziness. Need something to fill the void. Any recommendations for a good old page turner will be most welcome.
Cybele-I hope you are enjoying yourself on your chemo mini break. Remember to get up to some mischief and report back to HQ.
Mandy P and H144-I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you are both starting to plump back up after being steam rollered by Tax.
Qd-In my head you are now Mrs Titmouse. Will you get rid of the varmit?
As for you MX ladies. Good luck with the decisions. My sister had a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction in August and it has been a difficult journey. She has had a lot of back pain. Maybe she’s been unlucky. Her new breast looks good to me and I hope in the long run she’ll be happy with the surgery but it’s taken its toll. I’d just check out all the reconstruction options before deciding which one is best.
Had long and hysterical chat with oncology pharmacist yesterday about the dead thing in my stomach. I now have more anti-sick drugs (Cyclizine - anyone?). She kept warning me they would make me drowsy, despite my reassurance that I would like to sleep until the end of April.
Also spent most of chemo session sobbing as every nurse in the unit tried to get a vein that would work. I look like a junkie today, with my arm covered in bruises. I am “a bit aneamic, but not enough for a blood transfusion”. So you barely need to touch me to bruise me, let alone repeatedly stab me. I can hear some of you shouting about lines. I had one. I had 2. I have done it. I don’t want another. GemCarbo won’t rot my veins so I am going to be stubborn. Only 6 more stabs.
I realised today that cancer has had a year of my working life. I did a bank shift on the 13th Feb 2012. They asked me to come back on Friday, but I couldn’t as I had my hospital appointment… So I am on the “long term sick”. Do I get bonus?
Cressida-You need a guardian angel to come down and help you out. I’m not thinking wings and halos more like an avenging angel all black leather and machine gun. The needle bit is just awful. They’d 3 goes at me the last time and eventually the nurse decided she just couldn’t do it and needed to go off for lunch-which was fine by me. It is such a relief when the bugger finally goes in.
I really hope the new drugs work with the stomach. Then maybe you can gorge on some steaks to build up your iron (how much iron does horse have?)
Mandy-I hope you are managing to get out of bed. My first tax was the worse. The next 2 have been unpleasant but I’d say after 2 really shitty days things get very slowly better. Hope your mouth is ok. Mine’s is quite mothy but I’m hoping it’ll get better next week.
Oh and I mean shitty literally!!
Thanks Maire, I remember what it was like to be hit by the tax truck so you have my sympathy too. I can’t remember if you have done all your tax now? I am actually feeling better than I was, and I have flowers, so I am going to take the image of the avenging angel with me and try to go outside and see if that helps. Let’s hope I don’t meet anyone who says “you look well”…
I have checked on the horse meat - it is a very good source of iron. You need the dark meat though, as the lighter coloured stuff is likely to be foal, and not have so much iron. One word of caution though - too much iron will make you constipated. One portion of dark horse meat (no, I don’t know how big a portion is) will prvide about 28% of your daily requirement. So off to Tesco’s then…
At hospital getting my first Docetaxel now the EC is over with. Had slight reacton so more steroids and antihistamines given before restarting. Was fine after but had to wait another 2 hours after before I can go. Just waiting to be released now. Not looking forward to the side effects from what you ladies have described
Afternoon ladies. i hope all the tax suffererers are feeling a bit brighter. I am sooo angry today. nobody can do anything right.
Cress - what an awful experience. why cant they use a leg vein?
Maire- did you have nosebleeds on fec too? ive had one every time i had tax. they are scary. And no, Mickey mouse can stay in my tit . Dont want any more surgery than i have to have.
Cybele- how you diddling?
Mrs Titmouse! x
Just to let everybody know that is on tax and suffering this terrible regime it really does work so will all be worth it in the end. It is , as we know, very potent poison, but if the does it’s job has to be worth it.
My tumour has shrunk from 48mm x 36mm to 30mm x 10mm so all in all is less than a quarter of the size after 2 tax. Had my 3rd on Monday so one more to go yay.
Would say the end is in sight but not quite the case as still have to have surgery. Boo
Cressida-Yup. Had my last tax. There is light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
QD I had nosebleeds every day with fec and tax 1. None at all with tax2 and then started again with tax3. I think maybe I’ve got a wee weak blood vessel up the old nostril and the chemo has aggravated it. Yesterday’s was horrible. Had to walk about a mile squeezing my nose but didn’t stop bleeding till I got home and sat down for a while.
Shellbelle-Good luck with the Tax. Days 1 and 2 are usually o.k. Side effects kick in when you stop taking the steroids. My best tax was my middle one. I’d had a reaction and had to have a break so think maybe that helped with the side effects. Fingers crossed for you.
Hi Cressida - Up until my 4th I’** d had no sickness whatsoever. I was taken off steroids because they made me jittery and weirder than usual and just had the usual anti sickness meds - Domperidone I think.** However, 5 hours after FEC 4 I was throwing up like the proverbial and it was continuous. Also stopped producing urine so had to ring my chemo nurse. She immediate prescribed citrizine 3 times a day, to be taken alongside the other anti emetics. They worked like a dream and whilst, like you, I was told they would make me very sleepy, they didn,t, which was a bit of a disappointment because I have great difficulty sleeping at the best of times. Hav ing FEC 5 on Tuesday and shall insist on having these again although knowing my oncologist she’ll automatically include them with my meds. You sound as if you’re having a rough time at the moment. Hope the citrizine work for you.
Thankyou Border Collies - always good to know the drugs work. Great news Wendy about shrinking. And QD - I don’t know what other veins they could use - I will find out, no doubt. Maire - what does the light look like?
Well done to you Wendy on your shrinkage. Ive had 3 x tax and not a bloody millimetre less! My onc keeps trying to tell me that what im now feeling is “scar tissue”.mmmm. have a scan on wed so maybe that might show something.
Cress - im just thinking if the arm veins are shot cant they try anywhere else?
Honestly youd think in this day and age a better solution could be found.
Cress, when I go for chemo my chemo nurse (I ask for the same one each time) puts my hands in warm water for about 5-10 minutes just before she puts the cannula in. It worked first time when she did that so it might be worth trying.
Thanks to all with bra info.
QD, good luck for Wednesday.
Wendy, do you know yet when your surgery will be?
Maire, I’ve have nose bleeds on FEC, but only in the morning, usually when I brush my teeth for some reason.
I had my appointment with my onc today. She’s really nice and explained why I can’t have rads first then mx and immediate recon. Basically they would have to up the dosage to treat tissue that doesn’t need the rads and they also need to do the most urgent process first because I had a particularly fast growing tumour. I also spoke to the BCN, she has made me an appointment with my surgeon and oncoplastic surgeon to talk about a recon asap. It seems like you get a better service if you ask for it. She’ll also book me for an appointment to speak to a councellor about the possibility of a bilateral mx. It’ll be that or I’ll take Cress up on the offer of bra shopping!
My onc also told me that I’ll need antibiotics following FEC 4 on Tuesday (to be taken from day 5 for a week) because my bloods have only just made the mark each chemo date, I wasn’t aware of that before. From what some people have said they see their onc every time they have chemo, but I only see mine every 6 weeks. I don’t understand why we are all treated so differently.
hi to you all sorry not been here for a while i have qiuckly read through 38 posts that i missed so a bit jumbled up as to where everyone is, i have had a trip in hospital again temp went up to 38.4 so off to A&E i went on Monday at 11.15pm , its a very long story but the short version is i had to have picc line removed as i now have a blood clot, and i am on injections in the tummy to thin the blood out and have to have them every day which i am doing till the end of chemo then onto warfrin, lucky me, ALSO my chemo was put off for a week got to go on Monday now ,and its got to go through the vain, not looking forward to it, but i am having a Hickman Line put in instead ready for my next one. so two and a half days in hospital again with the same problem and they finaly find out it was a clot after all.
well home now and really tired so night night to you all hope you are all ok
lolly
x