Hi Hannah
You sound better today, and the wig sounds great. I have heard that Aloe Dent Lip Balm with Lysine is good for sore mouth and ulcers but I’m not sure where you can get it from. I tried Boots but they hadn’t heard of it, perhaps a smaller independant chemist might be better.
My head is a bit sore today as well, feels as though there might be some spots on my scalp and have also developed some rather horrid looking ones on my back. Aaarghhh!!!
Could be the toxins coming out maybe.
Anyway great that you seem to be feeling, better hopefully onwards and upwards now.
Love caz x
I have sadly been compiling the “top tips for chemo” thread into a more manageable list and its now ready - last page - for you to copy and print! Some great ideas in there for all sorts of chemo issues/suggestions (none of them mine sadly but great nonetheless!)
Day 9:- A bit weary and sore mouth today. Braved it out to the cafe at church to see some friends and escape the four walls of home. Possibly shouldn’t have taken the risk of infection, but don’t want to become a prisoner in my own home!
Ostrich - How do we get a copy of this masterpiece of yours on tips and suggestions for Chemo?
“Masterpiece” is on the last page of “top tips for chemo”, think they are thinking about making it a separate thread and a sticky to boot! My name in lights! LOL! Well in fact just my fingers as none of the suggestions is from me but its a start to my fame and fortune!!! Actually, thinking about it, they probably wont mention me but for a footnote Have already taken my list and done some shopping!
Feeling a bit down right now having just read about Tracey1964 - I didn’t know her and don’t think I even shared a thread with her and I don’t know her initial dx or prognosis but find myself suddenly thinking “rats” this BC could kill me - what do I look out for when all this “active” treatment has finished? Will I just become a paranoid wreck about everything or stubbornly refuse to consider anything as a secondary and keep going until “whammy” I fall over and its too late. BC SUCKS!!
Yes Ostrich, it is frightening. I need to prick myself to realise I am being treated for cancer and it could kill me. I know being positive is good as I have been, but sometimes I think I am wandering around in a dream and I will wake up and it will have just been a nightmare. Perhaps I need to get real about this disease. The trouble is all through diagnosis and even after surgery until I started chemo I have felt better physically and mentally than I have done for years. I felt I had become a person again and I want to enjoy life. I jolly well hope and pray that this treatment will be successful and that will be the case. From family history I thought my battle was heart disease and having survived to my mid 50’s with high cholesterol without a coronary (my mother and brother both had one in their early fifties) I thought I was on a winner. Then cancer looms its head and no immediate family history of that. I want to work for another 10 years and then enjoy some retirement. Am I deluding myself and should I face my mortality more realistically? Having buried my parents (admittedly Dad was nearly 92), my brother, my in-laws and my husband I would not want my boys to face another funeral for many years to come and that includes my own. It would also be nice to see some grand children - mind you the boys need to find some girls first!
Sorry to go on, Bit emotive the subject of death today - hubby died 5 years tonight in front of me in this very room!
I understand exactly what you are saying. Its an unpredictable disease and I keep forgetting it and then worrying about it! This will be my life from now on I suspect!
So sorry about your OH and the fact that you are sat right now where he died. I lost my son’s father when I was 6 weeks pregnant (17 years ago now) and that’s only a tiny inkling of how you must feel. Can’t say much more. (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Being positive majority of the time, but sometimes life can be a lonely journey and emotions sometimes need to come out or we get more twisted up and can become ill - in my case with depression. My friends cannot believe how well I am coping with all this. One said “If this is what a life crisis does to you - you need more of them!” Being strong is how I usually cope with crisis - but it doesn’t mean that underneath I don’t want to cry sometimes.
Lets continue to support each other through this.
Best Wishes
Hannah
We are here to support each other you’re right, but I think what Pheebster meant was that we shouldn’t think too much about what could happen and worry about things that have happened to other people happening to us. I know its hard sometimes and it is only human nature to worry but I do think sometimes too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. When I first came on this site I used to look at all the other threads and to be honest it scared the c**p out of me, so now I tend to stick to ‘our’ thread and maybe one or two others which are more about info rather than personal stories.
I will admit though that sometimes I do feel ‘sod it I don’t want to be strong today’ and feel like having a cry. I think we all do and its good to let our emotions out.
Hi
Day 12 and sore mouth etc seems to have just about disappeared. So I now wait for the hairy experience! I reckon that will be next weekend from what I can gather from other threads I’ve read.
It seems I have caused some confusion setting up this thread from the comments on the other (Oct 2nd). I set this one up in the hope that there would be some of you out there starting FEC chemo about the same time as me who would want to be buddies through this treatment. Sorry if another thread is too much for you and I was probably wrong to set it up.
I don’t think you started any confusion by setting up this thread I just think that those of us who were also starting same time as you also post on 2nd Oct thread and sometimes entries overlap. I think that we were thinking maybe it might be easier if we all stay on the one thread so we don’t miss anything. I know I sometimes forget which thread I put which message on. If you would rather stay on here thats fine we’ll all still be with you! xx
More positive today! Had a good weekend so far since my downer on Friday. Sorry didn’t mean to make anyone feel morose.
My reason for being more upbeat? My OH and I have finally managed to resume the intimate side of our life. It was 6 weeks of me feeling ill/sore/uncomfortable/leaking/bleeding and being completely engrossed in getting over surgery (and ending up sleeping in the spare room just to let him sleep whilst I tried to sleep at a 45 degree angle) and me thinking we would never be close in that way again as the last time (a couple of days before my mx I burst into tears in the middle about how I was going to look). The more I worried about the actual practicalities of it (scar on back, sore/numb side, scar on front on concrete new boob) and the emotional side of it the further away it seemed.
As this is a positive thread and its about chemo I just wanted to share the news that I have reclaimed that part of my life from BC! Several glasses of wine and NOT thinking about it too deeply… all just in time for me to start chemo on Tuesday and firmly shove my head back up my rear and obsess about me again (hair, being sick etc etc).
Hi
Glad things are looking up for you Ostrich. Hope all goes well tomorrow. make sure you’ve a good book for all the waiting around involved.
Having my best day so far and this should be the week that goes well ready to be whacked with the chemo again a week Tuesday assuming my bloods are OK. They don’t get tested until the day of your chemo where I go, so if they are too low they send you away for another week!
glad you’re having a good day, I’m having my bloods done this thurs in preparation for next Tues hoping that all will be well. Hope you have a great week.
Caz x
Hi, Im 29 and had my mastectomy 3 weeks ago. Doing fine apart from the fluid building up and needing it drained a lot and still a little uncomfortable with the whole thing. I have an app on 4th Nov to discuss Chemo and I think I will be starting the week after. I am so scared!!!
Will be good to chat to you all on here!
Nice to see you, though sorry you’ve joined the club no one wants to be in. Don’t be scared, chemo is do-able and everyone on this forum is so lovely and supportive. I’ve found posting on the various threads is a lifesaver!
Just got back from my first kimo. It went well, the kimo nurse was lovely and took lots of time explaining things and giving me various bits of paper etc. Have taken my steriods and anti sickness pills and did my first pink wee when I got home (weird). Am just cooking a roast dinner as everything else for the next few days will probably be pre-made (currently in the freezer) or packets!
I wasn’t nervous at all and its such a friendly place that I don’t think I will - unless the nerves come from the fact of dreading the side effects again.
One thing the nurse told me I hadn’t learnt on here was to make sure I used condoms so that the kimo drugs dont get into my husband!?!
Well done, 1 down!!! Enjoy your roast, I’ll be round with a doggie bag for mine! Thanks for the condom tip, worth knowing, perhaps add it to the top tips for chemo?
Try not to worry about chemo too much. As Cat says it is doable and I think the scariest bit is not knowing what to expect. Am due for my 2nd on 4th Nov and so far haven’t had any nasty side effects at all.
Hopefully by joining in with chats on here we can help with any worries you might have.
Best wishes
Caz
Have already taken my list and done some shopping!
BC SUCKS!!