Starting Chemo in Nov 2011

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Paula you so make me laugh, but a good point about drug driving, makes you wonder!!!

I look like Buster Bloodvessel, lead singer with Bad Manners waaaayyy back. Trouble is I forget and if anyone knocks I open the door and they are usually gobsmacked and start stuttering, I find it so funny.

Glad your fix went well yesterday Weme.

Gail hope you find out your final regimen soon.

Lulu you must brighten the place up when you walk in with your pink heels and pink wig, good on yer. I found out I was allergic to tegaderm after my WLE ended up with lots of blisters under it skin still marked from it, so they cannot use it on me anymore.

They redressed and flushed my PICC line yesterday and were not concerned about the problems I had had and said to remember that it is only a week since it was put in and there is some healing process to go through before it will be completely comfortable but that I really shouldn’t do things like peeling veg and even cooking isn’t a good idea. So OH now doing all the veg for me and I am supervising him cooking.

good luck to all those receiving treatment today and those recovering from too.

Jean xxx

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Morning Nov Gang

Thanks for all your congrats, can’t believe I’ve got past No.3. Gail & Lulu must have been nice for you to meet up like that. My unit was so busy yesterday I got stuck round the corner on my own, luckily I had a really chatty nurse and the time seemed to fly. Gail, the drive home was fine although I do find my mind drifting off and miss parts of the journey ;-0 I usually take a nice rock cd to play, something loud that I can screech along too :wink:

Good luck to those receiving their doses of ‘Knights on white chargers’ today, may all your SEs be itsy bitsy tiny ones :slight_smile:

No.3: Linda1804 & Weme
No.2: Daysie, Filosofie & Josie1

Came home this time with Difflam and have to say it’s much nicer than the Cordysil, it doesn’t seem to leave that nasty after taste :slight_smile:

A little tip: I’m struggling with wearing something on my head all the time (find hats irritating, especially over my ears) but with the cold weather going commando is not really an option (me no like being cold, brrrrr) so I’ve bought myself a couple of hooded cardigans and they are great. No more searching for a hat before I answer the door (they were never where I left them ;-)) and if my head gets hot/cold I can just flick off/on the hood, great :slight_smile: Also found when wearing my wig in all this wind it added a degree of security and made me feel more confident going out in it. :slight_smile:

Filosofie, not sure what treatment you’re having but some do cause less hair loss and as your hair is thick you might be ok if you use the cc. Can’t you do as Gill has and get your wig just in case, if you don’t end up using it you could always donate it to a Wig Bank.

Sophie, thanks for the link to My New Hair, there’s not much in my area but I’m going to pass the details on to my hairdresser who already does do some wig styling/cutting :slight_smile:

With the painkiller dilemma (what to take, what not to take), my chemo nurse told me I’m ok to take Paracetamol or Ibuprofen as long as I don’t have a temp and I can still take them if I have a temp but must monitor it closely and ring my unit if it’s still going up or I have other symptoms and make sure I tell them what I’ve taken them.

Thanks for all the info on iPads, think I may bite the bullet and get one. Re the Java/flash probs have a look at this flowplayer.org/plugins/javascript/ipad.html it might be a solution but as with all apps be careful before you install, I haven’t tested it yet cos I don’t have one :slight_smile:

t.t.f.n.
L4W

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Well we’ve reached 100 pages, we certainly aren’t a bunch that’s L4Ws are we :wink:

Weme, just spotted you had yours yesterday, were you a day early? Glad it went ok :slight_smile: Have you got your date for xmas/new year so I can add you to my spreadsheet.

Paula, I never considered that but I did check with my unit that I’d be ok and they said no problem. Wonder if it would affect our insurance!?! I have a plan if I get stopped; burst in to tears and as I get out of the car make wig fall off and boob drop to the floor, no nose hair will mean plenty of snot oozing from me! Hopefully nice policeman will take pity and escort me home :slight_smile:

Time to eat, yonks ago someone (memory fails me again, sorry) mentioned cravings, well I can’t stop eating cheese & pickled onion sandwiches (day or night) and the pickled onions have to be the really strong crunchy ones, weird :slight_smile:

Catch you later
L4W

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Me and ALEX my new chemo buddy! lol

xx

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My nose hasn’t stopped running. Mostly my left nostril. I’m sitting here with a tissue wedged up it I’m that tired of wiping it. You don’t realise how much body hair does for your day to day activities.

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L4W - your comments re just in case you’re stopped by the police made me really laugh! Should be able to use the same tactics for traffic wardens too, and any other situation that people are being particularly mean (rude shopkeepers, etc) x

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LL - bet you still look fab even with a tissue stuck up your nose! x

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Loool - fairy - its a shame we can’t post pics on threads - it ain’t a good look! Loool

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Well done Lulu and Werne for getting halfway through.

LL - take care and don’t do too much.

Does anyone know if wearing a hat on top of your wig does it make the wig go frizzy?

I tend to wear a thin soft cap under my hat when I go out therefore if unfortunately my hat did fly off my head would still be covered.

Have been for my blood test this morning and am waiting to ring the hospital to find out my blood count and if I will be having 3rd FEC on Monday. I have found it so frustrating this week with my chemo being delayed. Couldn’t stand another delay.

Did a little bit of shopping after my blood test whilst the shops were quiet. I get quite nervy going out everyone seems to be coughing.

Anyway made some mince pies this morning and am now going to get all the ingredients together so I can make Nigella’s Christmas Rocky Road.

Best wishes to you all
A

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Audrey - Hope you’re OK for Monday. Is it your neuts that were low? They seem to go up quite quickly, I was 0.47 day before chemo and 1.18 on the day, so good to go but with ABs to take again.

L4W - Sounds like a good tactic if you get stopped.

Popped into town to get a pair of boots this morning since the nausea seems to be under control again. Figure it’s a bit safer taking the bus later in the morning as mostly full of pensioners who have hopefully had the flu jab and have probably built up a resistance to most other bugs by the time they get to that age.

I’ve been struggling to get much exercise in lately as my gym is at work, so miss the days when I’m off. Also, it means driving home later in more traffic when it’s getting dark and coming into the snow/ice soon probably too. Thinking of what I can do from home for fitness just to avoid getting too out of condition, but don’t want to get anything that takes up a lot of room or is heavy to carry up 3 flights of stairs. Thought about maybe getting a Wii or Kinect. Can anyone recommend either of them or something similar?

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Gail

My neuts were 1 and my white blood cells were either 2.5 or 2.7 couldn’t remember which. I am going to ring the hospital in 5 minutes to see if they have my results from this morning.

I have a wii fit, bought it a few years ago. Haven’t used it for a long time as I never seemed to have any time. Keep meaning to set it back up again so that I can do some excercise. You can do all sorts of excercises with it. Some of the games are really excercises. You can also do step and jogging/running. A few years ago I was having physio for a twisted ankle and the wii fit really helped with the balance excercises. It is also good fun if you have a family.

Will be back on later to say how I get on.

A

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Just to let you know that my bloods are ok and I will be having 3rd FEC on Monday.

A

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Hi L4W

I do have my next date, I normally have my poison on a Thursday but because of christmas it will be on Friday 30th, hopefully back to Thursdays after the new year. You did make me laugh with a vision of you breaking down if stopped, I haven’t had my op yet but I do have a gollum head with baby fuzz on top!

Audreytoo, good too hear you got the go ahead for Monday, well done.

Weme

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Hi ladys am realy fed up as was ment to have 2nd chemo phoned hospital and they said my platlet count was down it is ment to be 100 and mine was 55 can anyone help me as not sure what platlets are am getting worried now xx josie

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Afternoon lovely BBB ladies

Well in preparation for my 2nd FEC on Monday, I had my visit to what I thought was the ONC this morning and it turned out to be with the BCN. He was lovely - yes HE ! that was a surprise, my usual BCN was off today. I guess you have to be very special to actually see the ONC after they see you the 1st time.
As I was incredibly sick straight away after the 1st lot of FEC, thanks to you ladies I have requested EMEND and they have agreed I can have it on top of the OND… thingymejig which they will now be giving me Intravenously. I am so pleased. Apparently West Suffolk Hospital have only recently been able to prescribe the EMEND as it is v expensive.
We had a laugh coz my BCN’s name is Fred Tucker - don’t you think thats funny - he did !
I’ve had my blood taken today, however won’t know the result until I get there Monday morning. So fingers crossed.

On the Wiggy thing - I wore my wig out today as I barely have any hair left on my head. I find that I keep pulling it down at the front and back as i worry its going to slip off ! I also found it was uncomfortable after a couple of hours. So I have now experimented with a couple of scarves and guess what - they actually didnt look that bad and they felt a lot better. Just have to wait to see what my OH thinks when he sees the new look!

Paula - your wig looks lovely, mines quite similar to yours.
LuLu - you sound quite a character in your pink wig and trainers - I bet you cheer everyone right up.

Hope everyone who had their juice today got on ok - and nobody has too many se’s.

Can’t stop eating chocolate - still, nothing new there !

xxxx Sophie xxxx

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Audrey - That’s great you were taken. Looks like you were just borderline on the neuts there last week. Will definitely think about the Wii now.

Sophie - Hope you’re also OK for Monday.

Josie - Not an expert on this, but I think the platelets are related to blood clotting. If too low, you can have problems with bleeding. If too high, problems with blood clots forming.

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Paula I am not allowed to drive home as I have a piriton infusion and they said I shouldn’t do it for the first couple of times anyway to see how I felt… If you feel ok being a passenger and think you could do it then it’s ok but if you have a reaction ad need something like piriton somebody would have to come and collect you or drive you home. Good luck with no 2

Sophie I still haven’t shaved and didn’t use the cold cap but have wispy hair all over although it’s quite short as I have trimmed it but looks a bit like babies hair… I’m quite glad inlet it however if I went say all bald on top with hair on the sides like a monk I would shave it… One of my friends had her lie that from the cold cap and after we all met up after treatment she went home and shaved it all off and wished she had from the outset but another friend used the cold cap and she had quite long hair it thinned a tiny bit but you wouldn’t have known she was on Chemo. Good luck this afternoon.

Weme well done welcome to the half way club hope you don’t suffer too much… I’m on my up day but taste buds disappearing already… And still knackered but didn’t help that i was awake half the night lol.

Sophie my Chemo shoes arent trainers they are flabby pink suede stilettos… Not the best shoes for staggering around in but look oh so fab and cheers me up.

Josie platelets are what help your blood to clot… D you take aspirin or any other anticoagulant as that can lower it… Chemo tends to have the opposite effect making you more likely to clot… But again your platelets could have come back to normal by Monday which is still 3 days away.

Audrey good luck on Monday.

L4W I have difflam too and find it pretty good especially as it is antiseptic and anaesthetic so numbs your mouth a wee bit too.

LL hope you are allowed a day pass… It’s nice to get out and about if your feeling up to it… I always feel best on my low week so that’s usually when I venture out… Just avoid folk who are coughing and sneezing and take a wee bottle of alcohol gel with you so you can put some on if you are touching anything.

Had a shower today woohoo! No more washing in the sink.

Gail I still never left ward 1 until 3.30 so if you come at two I’ll prob still be there but if your bloods are naff they will prob get you in earlier they used to ask me to come in about 11 when my bloods were pants but maybe they are a more well oiled machine but at that time it was come in and play search the vein, sit around for an hour or so while get bloods sent off, sit around or an hour or so while i wait for pharmacy to make up the prescription… Then get Chemo… But you were in after me yesterday and away before me… So very impressed with that lol… Gail I think three flights of stairs would be more than enough exercise I can’t even walk up one flight without getting out of breath and feeling like I’m about to pass out! No wonder you look so young and fab.

Love and huggles to all the gang… Hope your all managing ok take it easy xxxxx

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Hi everyone
well ive finally had Fec 1 today , i must say that i was a complete basket case , and almost done a runner, but got through it .
This afternoon though ime trying not to think about things and trying to get on but i seem to be a bit jittery and quite nervous ,has anyone else felt like this , just trying to find out if ime still normal
Thanks girls hope everyone is well . you all seem to be doing great
(((HUGS)))Jackie xxxx

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Hi All
Jackie well done on finally getting your first shot! You are now on the journey. Have you found it a relief as predicted?

I on the other hand have had a horrible day (worse one so far) my head feels disassociated from my body, my teeth gums and jaw aches (like neuralgia) very tearful. Got my hairdresser in to cut some weight out of my hair as its very thick and heavy and she has scalped me! I know I will lose my hair in a few weeks probably but I am sooo upset, cried on and off all day This isn’t like me. I hope my "good days " hurry up.
From a very disgruntled Shelle xxxxxxxxxxx

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P.s Sorry I sound very selfish…Dasie love the wig, hope everyone who had chemo today have little SEs. wishing everyone a lovely weekend xxx