starting chemo in January 2012

ha ha Julie Yea bedroom aerobics is defo the best medicine! After 4 days of nothing i think I’m well and truly ready again. Need to live upto my nymphomaniac title!
OH has taken day off today to spend with me however has only just finished cleaning the house so now in shower. Before we no it Will be time to get lo.
Who was it talking about fish and chips? Sue! You naughty thing Mmh i think that’s wat we’re having now Actually feel like eating so why the fec not. Glad yesterday went well and you have juicy veins unlike moi!

Julianna how’s your trip to ikea? Not been for years but loved the gr8 bargains.

Lynzi enjoy your day hun and hope your tummy settles.

My 6 year wedding anniversary Thursday. Not even got present or anything sorted. Can’t face cooking either so no nice homemade meal on cards.
Anyway off for a little lie down I’m knackered.
Mary x x

Well, I am back! Did not buy squat, but had a great mooch and lovely Swedish meatball meal.

Lynzi, the more prams the merrier - I seem to be hogging one permanently.

I am adding nurse envy to me list now…

Must go have a power nap, another gig tonight (Wilco) and I would like to see more of the band and less of the empty beer glasses…!

Chemo is catching up with me today and got a tired head on. Managed a little walk (actually it was a shuffle) for half an hour but at least I got some fresh air. Wrist is an absolute mess with a huge dark blue bruise and now all my other veins used for juicing are coming out bruised which happened last time. A little bit off my food this time round as well.

Julianna, also having not so much flushes but night sweats. A sweaty head is a weird feeling as you chill quickly.

Needahug, good luck with your juice today and joining halfway house.

Lynzi, hope your tummy has settled, not sure I can add anything thats not already been said. I know what you mean about not wanting to spend time in the unit all day; I had that pleasure on Sunday and its a pain in the arse but I needed peace of mind.

Dawn, definatly keep the name of the boat the same.

Sue, what can I say, you are just a big chatter box; and thank goodness you are. I love reading everyones posts.

Julie, glad your mood is lifting. It feels like you can’t get out of a dark hole at times but it takes time.

Anne xx

Anne - hugs! Chemo is a funny old business, isn’t it? I can’t say I am having ‘bad’ SEs - a bit of a hot flash, tired, fuzzy head, bit indigestion and a smelly bum (yes, it did arrive!) but I don’t feel well. Not at all. I feel sh*te and counting days until it is over…

Woe is me!

Hi Ladies,I have not posted for ages( Sorry did last week and it dissapeared)
I am now finding it really hard to keep up with you all I don,t know if its chemo brain or the fact that I was 62 last week ? well thats my age out now and I do have a bus pass.

Well I have now joined the half way no3 today, I was really worried that I wouldnt get it as I was really poorly last week really bad cold just before my low imune day,I went to my gp and got antibiotics he told me if I was better after 5 day just stop as I have enough going into my body,I have felt fine since sunday and my bloods were fine today.

That was my last Herceptin and tax so I now move on to fec for my last 3, onc said fec is a bit easier, but I have to say to all you worried ladies I have not found tax to bad.

Sorry have to leave post at mo as oh has made dinner haddock chips and salad and I am looking forward to it

maggie

Evening all!

Got a few mins before oh gets back from yoga and dinner is in the oven. Been at the boat this afternoon after DN came. Not in shed yet, but that’s fine. Started clearing out some stuff we don’t want and found all sorts of goodies in the process. And one of our first jobs is to translate all the dutch into English. We thought we’d try the heater, but couldn’t find the right knob. I love it!

Sue, I agree about the Dutch. They all speak fantastic English, but they won’t have it. When we have ever phoned Holland we always ask to speak English and they always say ‘I speak a little bit’, but they’re totally fluent.

Welcome to the halfway club Maggie. Hope you enjoyed your fish and chips.

Mary enjoy your fish and chips as well. Might have to have that tomorrow.

Julianna. Another gig. How do you do it! I agree with Anne, the window box idea is great. It’ll also make it feel more like home while you live there.

Lynzi how was your day with your friends and god daughter? How’s the grumbling tummy?

Er, what’s Char Sui Julie?

Sorry to hear about your arm Mary. Sounds very uncomfortable. I still can’t straighten my arm and it’s such a nuisance. As if we didn’t have enough to deal with.

So glad you’re feeling a bit better Julie. You’ve had a really tough time. Fingers crossed it was just a bleep and everything will run smoothly from now on.

Got to go. Better half will be home any minute and he’ll be starving.

Hope you all sleep well tonight.

Dawn XX

Julianna me too this fecin round 3 has knocked me for 6. I’ve had a horrid se thruout 1 to 3 that not mentioned before but no point hiding from you lot! and that is boils on my bum cheek. God it is painful only ever get 1 but this time i have 2. One on each. At least i have matching pair.
Asked about them and even had indignity of having to have doc to check but just a chemo se I’ve been told. Not nice. Hope you enjoy your night out tonight too. Mmh a few people have told me about ikea’s food must try one day!
Also as you love my fetish for cheese I’ve discovered German bavarian smoked cheese from asda. Mmh yum yum i don’t no where I’ve been past 30 years of my life! It is delic
Thanks dawn arm is still excruciating but just thankful i got out of bed and felt half ok.

Hey Anne sorry you’re not too gr8 with this time’s juicing. I see a pattern! Maybe it’s just abit too much for our poor bodies. On the plus side no more fec! Move onto the tax! I’m pretty anxious but I’ve had a rough full 7 days and don’t have energy to worry as yet!

Sue god bless you, i love your long posts as do everyone else so keep it up!
Maggie happy belated birthday. X Woohoo you’ll be saving a fortune on the busses not cheap are they?! Hope your se’s are small and manageable. Hopefully you’ll have had your share of feeling rubbish last week so you Will sail thru. Crossing fingers toes and all else for you. X

Lynzi how was your day chic?
Quiet today where are you all girlies?
Wishing you all a lovely evening. X Mary x

with you on that one Dawn…what is Char sui? we are very basic eating and cooking in our house, half a cow or half a pig?? or lambs!!!I love rooting through old stuff so bet it’s like Chrisatmas going through the cupboards of the boat!!

on that subject my OH and i were talking and he needs to take a week off to help with lambing at farm, suggested the week of my next chemo as my mum and dad are in New york (pre booked trip). ok he says, his 2 brothers will be having the following 2 weeks off. i said what about the first week of lambing?? who is going to do that?? He said that they thought i could “pop up” and check the lambs!!! mmmmmmm think i will chop a pile of logs while i am up there too!!

ha ha dawn just read your post. All this talk of knobs i can’t stop giggling!
Ended up having fish and chips for lunch as couldn’t wait. Ate lo portion and still full. Was gorgeous tho really enjoyed.
So wat have you cooked for tea then? I’ve just not managed to make tea in the last 7 days. My sis has been cooking and bringing it over. Bless her.
How long have you had picc in now? Sorry can’t think straight this time round. I honestly feel post surgery right now.but hot water bottle soothes for abit. Any Tips greatly appreciated. X x x

Evening all - thanks for the positive vibes today and thank you Julianna and Anne for the welcomes to the halfway house - unfortunately, though I’m not quite ready to move in yet - I am one of the 8 treatment ladies, so I am in the ‘just over a third of the way house’ next door but one! At least it gives you all a little more room in there - seems to be getting quite crowded.

Having said all that, Onc. is talking a potential change of strategy with next juicing - seems my concerns about non-op’d boob aren’t totally without foundation - blooming lump is proving to a stubborn b*gger and not showing any signs of wanting to shrink as quickly as onc. would have liked so he’s now talking about giving it a megablast – waiting to see what this time’s reaction to Epirubicin is but may be joining you TAX ladies on the next round. He did make me giggle though as he had my dodgy boob under scrutiny with his hand on it and then asked if it was the right one – was soooo tempted to be naughty and say ‘no, but please carry on’ just to see what the reaction would be.

Juicing went a little more smoothly this time (no lost blood samples, dodgy cannulations, etc.) After a lot of different folk peering curiously and making ‘ooooooo?’ sounds at my horrific vein from the last cannulation, nurse found a nice, juicy fresh one to attack - so far so good - hope it stays that way. Also got asked, if anyone had spoken to me about having a line put in – mmm, jury still out on that one. Will be having a good think about it. Heard lady close by in the unit being asked if she was thinking about having a line put in again – response was a definite ‘no never again thank you’!

Also made sure after the nocturnal blood scare and A&E visit last time that I came home with a print out of my blood results from today’s test! Obviously it’s very unlikely to happen, but I’m not prepared to go through that farce again!

Nice to hear from you Maggie50 – yay another one in the halfway house! Happy belated birthday – sorry, you’ve been feeling rough, though. Hopefully, with the bug gone it will be better this time round.

Sorry – brain hasn’t quite registered everyone’s comments (Mary? Dawn? Knobs?) but hope for all who are feeling good at the moment – long may it continue and for those feeling not so great – hugs and +ve vibes – hope you feel better soon.

Now have a craving for fish and chips again – enjoyed it so much last week – good sign appetite still there despite nausea starting to rear its head. Actually it’s the way I deal with it – feel good, eat! Feel a bit yuk, also eat!

Oh – almost forgot – after chemo, went to see little one take his karate kicking medal this evening – bless him – all snuffly and sniffly and still kept his concentration - passed with flying colours – so reckon we are now fully prepared for this arm of the business. Rather late – must get him to bed!
Night night x

Hmmm Mary, a little lie down hmmm? I’m so sorry but I have to say this - maybe your matching twin boils could be new nipples lol!!! My oh keeps eying up different parts of me and I can see he is thinking hmmmm… How have you missed the Bavarian smoked cheese? It’s lush!

Ikea meatballs - that is cruel Julianna! Still, you have saved money by passing up all those things you sometimes want but don’t usually need.
Out gigging again - Crickey you get about, think it must be the F that stops me!

It’s funny Anne you talking about your poor wrist, but yesterday I was juiced in my bad arm, but it’s my good arm that is sore today - it had the two previous ones pumped through it. Anyways, it’s most odd. And I have the hot head too with the weird chilling!

Welcome to the half way house club Maggie, and a belated happy b. You are having your treatment the exact opposite to mine, do you think they mix things uo deliberately to confuse us? It’s a little like trying to compare mobile phone contracts isn’t it lol? Good to hear Tax was kind to you, FEC has been pretty good for me. Better than I was expecting I’d have to say. Mainly foggy head, and a bit of indigestion.

Sounds like you had a lovely day playing boatie Dawn - I’m excited for you!

Ha ha Joyce! I can just see you in your wellies. Hmmm, thinking of wellies, I thought all the men would want to do the lambing themselves so they could chose the farmers favourite lol!

Ha ha needahug, wicked sense of humour, can just picture your boob in Oncs hand, priceless! But, look on the bright side, at least your is getting felt! No one has been near mine, so serves them right if it’s dropped off when they eventually decide to take an interest in it.
My cannula was good this time, so like you I’m not rushing for a picc as they too seem a bit hit and miss. Think the key is getting the cannula done by the best person available.
Well done young needahug, we know who to come to now for kick ass lessons.

Inane telly calls, then beddy bo bos,

Sue x

Back from gig! It was fantastic and it was a SIT DOWN gig! Just what the doctor ordered! AND I’ve managed a beer as well (OK, one and a half!) - watch my effing liver enzymes being sky high again - not that I care any more, I know it’s the booze, hahahahaha!

Maggie, happy belated birthday! Thank you for your update about Tax - we are all bricking it. If it is any use to you, FEC or 'EC whichever you are going to get, was not too harsh on most of us. I do realize that the next being number 4 it will not be a walk in the park bo matter what flavour juice you are getting but… we are getting to the end of this malarkey. Soon we can obsess about radiation, Herceptin and surgery - whichever is in store for us.

Needahug, you can be an honorary member of the halfway house until your next one - I am sure you will qualify on some level, if nothing else, on the basis of trying to trick your doctor! I have read that some tumours respond better to TAX than to FEC - guessing that is why we are having a mixture. For good measure! Smart girl taking your blood results home!

Don’t know where our CEO is, probably in the land of nods, and someone I am sure offered to do our marketing - could it be Samos? - but take note girls, our business is taking off! I am a lazy ass, so now thinking - could we hire little Needahug’s services out? You know, to kick people in the head? I think this would be an even more lucrative business model than karate lessons! BTW, well done little Needahug!

Wonder how we could utilies Tankgirl’s talented children? Ideas on a postcard!

I am super-hyper, can you tell? Almost 1 AM and I am writing War and Peace here…

Dawn - if you need to translate stuff from Dutch - I have a website that does OCR (character recognition) from scanned documents. The you could use Google translate. It is not perfect, but needs must!

Mary - boils!

sue i laughed out abit too loud when i read that post. Fyi the boils have burst now so hopefully healing in process. Can’t seem to sleep tonight think it’s the arm more than anything! I’ve managed to eat half a box of chocolate fingers tho. Not feeling too guilty as rarely indulge in chocolate!
Lol at you Needahug just imagining you with onc that’d be a cracker if you had said that to him! Megablast sounds abit harsh but if that wat it takes to get this rubbish illness away so be it. Have everything crossed for you. X well done to your lo you must be so proud. X
Anyway ladies guna try to get to sleep catch up tomorrow x

Hello to everyone :slight_smile:

Not been on here for some time, Had 2nd juice on the 14th, was rather more nausious this time for a few days with one bad day feeling in limbo and eating was only thing that turned off the sickness. But from there just been a little tired. Ended up at the hospital sun morning, scalp and neck covered in spots ect and rather painfull with headache, also sore mouth and the dreaded toothache.After all the tests i was sent home with anti-biotics, anti-hisermine and painkillers, and was told that cos this is my good week and bloods were fine i can have the tooth out tomorrow. Thats 2 teeth down so far grrrrrr!!!

Has anyone had a slight feeling of bruising in the juice arm veins???
Onc said if this is feeling now i might have to have the picc, not happy with that so will see next tues how it goes with my 3rd juice next tuesday (half way there woop woo} but feeling rather like im gong down slowly after feeling so fantastic for 3wks after the 1st.

On a good note ive booked LGFG in april so looking forward to that, not sure if we all recieve the same goody bag though but its still a good thing.

Peple are now starting to notice me wearing scarves and hats and some looking at me strange, i feel like going commando just to show them yYES im bald and i am havng treatment but its so cold, its getting me down the way local people are staring but i guess thats to be expected.

Has taken me some time to read all your posts but itsstill good to know i cancome here and talk and even have a moan.

I hope everyone has a good week and anyone for juice this week GOOD LUCK and Cyber ((((HUGS))).

Paula xxx

needahug…is it just me and you that are having 8 rounds???We are just greedy eh!!
Talking of food…fish and chips seems to be the order of the week,been feeling slightly nauseaus this week so think I will pass.
Hope everyones juicing this week has been ok and se’s are bearable…
Has anyone lost eyebrows yet???
xx

Morning ladies, just emerging from horrendous chemo fog after last juicing on Friday, head full of cotton wool, just left with headache today so hope I will be able to string a couple of words together. Had the cannulation in my hand this time which was fine but my arm is sore now and I can’t straighten it fully. Have been reading all your posts and having a good chuckle. Hope everyone is ok.
Clare x

good morning all. Well i woke up at 3am wide awake fresh as pie. Finally fell back asleep and then time to get lo’s and OH up. But not sure why I’m feeling pretty awake. Think a lie down Will be needed this afternoon.
Paula Hi! Was sorry to hear you were feeling rubbish hopefully you’re over the worst and you’ll pick up. How cruel to be having teeth out. Can’t it wait? Just before i started chemo dentist said i “need” to have if other wisdom tooth out. I refused and said I’d wait till this treatment over. Touch wood not given any problem as yet. You Will love LGFB you must let me no what you get in your goody bag! Don’t worry you Will get thru chic. I felt gr8 after fec 1 and 2 only a few days of feeling rubbish but 3rd round knocked me which was emotionally very hard too. But I’ve come out the other side and starting to feel ok. Apart from the boils on my bum cheeks! Which is most uncomfortable. See i knew that’d make you smile! My veins were knackered after fec 1 fec 2 was horrendous so had picc put in. It’s so much easier for bloods and chemo no more stress of the canulation but I’ve had abit of a tough time with pain. Basically becuz body trying to fight the foreign body out and vein is inflammed so not nice. However Feels abit better today so fingers crossed it’ll get better soon. Mmh i can relate to people giving funny looks. I started wearing headscarf and people just stare. It maybe paranoia too which doesn’t help. Ha. Not worn my wig for ages just think headscarf is more comfy but may give it another go wen i go out.

Emma Hi chic how are you today? No not lost any brows as yet. Wat about you? Lashes and brows intact for now. alot of people i spoke to at LGFB said they lost their brows wen on tax at end of treatment so if this is case that is fab as we can get semi permanent make up done as soon as chemo over and immunity back to normal. They say 3 weeks usually as chemo cycles!

Welcome back Clare wishing you start to feel well very soon chic.

Wat’s everyone doing today.really need to start going out at some point. Not been out since last Tues wen went for juicing. Just so cold can’t be bothered. I’m guna turn into a vegetable soon. X

Morning ladies,
I think Needahug’s kids have ben praciticing their moves on me already! Damn neulasta injection but hopefully doing its work. Slept for 11 hours so just starting to come out of my fog. This seems to be the same pattern for me so I should pick up again by the weekend. I have been working on a new pram with fur linning and a lovely fan to keep your sweaty heads cool (one of those Dyson fans that just gives cool air without being too blowy).

Paula, nice to hear from you. My veins are compleatly shot now. They can only use my right arm as I’ve had all my lymph nodes removed on the left where my veins are still juicy but they also ache and are tender as you say. I also had problems with my dentist and him wanting to take teeth out but so far I haven’t had any more trouble.

Julianna, you have stolen all my energy but at least you are putting it to good use. I love live music as well. We have booked Gary Numan for June; OH trying to recapture his youth.

Emma, my eye lashes are rapidly departing the building especially the bottom ones but eyesbrows are hanging on. I try not to touch them not like with my hair that I just couldn’t resist at pulling at. Will probably have another meltdown when they all go. Working even harder to invent a new pram for that day!

Maggie, hope you were able to enjoy your birthday. My OH had his birthday yesterday but the day was a right off so we are planning something for next week instead. ES off to watch Wales V Costa Rica tonight for his birthday.

Sue, You need to be more proactive in getting your boobies felt up. Get your arse into gear and go see Needahugs onc!

Anne xx

Anne we must have been tapping away at same time! Touch wood nulasta been ok for me this time not really suffered. I think picc is making up for it!
New pram sounds lush we may fight for the 1st go! Ha ha. Tip for lashes. If you get an eyeliner pencil and instead of putting in eye line use at bottom just under not too thick as you Will need to get used to wearing it. If you don’t have a steady hand lean your elbow on your dressing table or something to give you a steady hand.it really does conceal lack of lashes. To remove use cotton bud dipped in eye make up remover. That way you’re not messing with them and taking them off. If top ones go you can do same i find a liquid liner better for top with false lashes makes them more natural and you look glamourous! Sorry if you already no this just trying to help avoid meltdown x x
Lynzi how’s your tummy today?

Girlies, just got a call from one of the consultancy we work with (lovely guys, really like them) - they are having a luxurious skiing break departing tomorrow and one of their colleagues got stuck in India and can’t go - and they’ve invited me! It would be lovely to go, I miss skiing!

Just rang the onc unit to ask if I can? What do you think? I am two minded about it - on one hand I would LOVE to but on the other hand, a HATE leaving my comfort zone … BC had a lot to answer to!