Well youll have to wait and see. We’ll have to have a daily conflab on the verdicts ha ha
HI there
reeb - re veins I have already asked for a picc line as mine were so unforgiving with my ops. But know what you mean about a constant reminder.
Julie - I am truly shocked bearing in mind you are a bl**** nurse!!! I reckon of you ask your GP they will sign you a cert to cover you for a staggered return then there’s nothing they can do as it’s their medical recommendation!!!
Kaz - I’m a morse girl myself but like you I usually fall asleep half way through - & even thopugh I’ve seen them before I still forget whodunnit. I like homes under the hammer but only if smart ar** property people loose money & co** up their plans!!!
I LOVE people with “real” jobs. My OH is a “technical sales engineer” made up job title or what!!! (ooops forgot he might read this!!!
WELL - it’s DIY first aid for me. BCN didn’t call back til 4pm so too late to go there & advised me to go to local minor injuries clinic & ask for another stoma bag - they looked at me like I’d asked for a rod of plutonium & said “Oh we don’t have those here” - I politely said - this is where I got it from & they said - Oh that was the out of hours people - they are doctors - we’re just nurses here. - I took deep breaths & again politely said I’d been TOLD to come here - someone disappeared & returned 10 mins later with 2 bags & some pads but no offer to put it on so OH & I will get our white coats on tonight - WHAT A JOKE!!! - Maybe I can be like “DR” Gillian Mckeath & just assume the title now LOL
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXjoXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hi all - not long got back from 1st FEC and so far so good! Totally empathize Reeb with the veins - they tried 4 different ones on me (after dunking arm in bucket of warm water) and each one HURT! Eventually got the cannular in and everthing going ok with the ‘red stuff’ then it slowed down as my vein “was too thin” and next minute my arm starting going a crimson colour. Nurse stopped it, got two others in and they didn’t know why my arm was changing colour??! Anyway, cannular whipped out and search began again for another good vein. Think I’m going insist on having PICC line for next one! Feel ok at moment, no probs (touch laptop). Did anyone else need to ‘self-inject’ themselves for 5 days from day 5? Something to do with white cells but didn’t realize I’d have to do it myself! Hey ho - 1 down, 5 to go! xxx
Have to confess to being addicted to Come Dine With Me…they get some funny characters and some very odd meals sometimes. Thanks for the tips on day time TV!
i love come dine with me, last week was well funny
i think this week cemo starters have done well good . xxx
i love york, so i could be commin up there. n cream teas down south, all these new pinkies i need to meet xx
thanx for comments re hats/wig. xxx ill go ith the flow n try suggestions xx
Think we should have a daily forum for it ha ha
Well done Barneypaws…1 down and 1 less to go! Sorry to hear about the veins, seems to be a common first time problem.
I have to do 1 injection of Neulasta the day after chemo. Big Hugs Cat xxx
Hi girls ive just got my last sicknote from gp and he has ticked the box for phased return for me and its up to 3rd Jan so we’ll see what happens i dont think she can go over what gp says and i just hope that the HR bloke is more compassionate than her.Meeting is Dec 1st then i see oncologist for 4 week post rads check up same day so ill see what she has to say aswell.and then ill have had all my bloods results and things so ill take it from there.I also will take the copy of the employers charter in my handbag just incase i really dont think any of them has read it for working in the “caring proffession” i really dont think they give a s–t about the staffxxJulie
Barneypaws - your story has completely made up my mind - I’m asking for a PICC, or something similar anyhow! Well done on getting this one over and done with, I hope you continue to feel great, no SEs, give me hope!! Is your arm still crimson or has it calmed down? That would be great, wouldn’t it - can’t take bp or bloods from one arm and the other one is bright red… gosh, we’re all so attractive these days!! My onc. did say something about having daily injections to boost white cells, but I thought she was just referring to the TAX part of the regime… I don’t think she wanted me to have them with FEC too - but I could be wrong. I’ll find out on Monday I expect. I definitely do not recall the ‘self administer’ aspect…I’m sure that would have rung an alarm bell!!
Julie - fingers crossed your HR guy is more compassionate - I should bloody hope so, working in HR! Although I suppose just cos you work in personnel doesn’t mean you have to like people… nah, he’ll be fine and shut your boss up for you!
Jo, get the white coat. Whole new career opening up for you! Maybe you could give Barneypaws her injection after you’ve done your stoma bag?
And as for the rest of you, Come Dine with Me, Dinner Date… what are you like? Do you have NOTHING better to do? And can you tell me who won on dinner date cos I had to go get the girls from school when she was having pudding with number three…
Sophie xxx
Hi sophie
She picked the first guy, i thought she was going for the third think she made the right choice lol x
@Julie…unbelievable (hugs)
@Jo…your sense of humour i expect is growing darker by the day - just as well :S
@Barneypaws…my home onc nurse brought a heat pad with her but even so we added in a fleece throw around it for the last bit. I have good veins (as in look horrible!) and nurse has six different sites planned. I do wish they’d warm up the stuff first though…seems daft and bound to chill the vein.
I’m in the no-PICC camp, but that’s because the implant port is already a constant reminder and couldn’t cope with another. Hope the veins hold up.
I have Neulasta. It works 85% of the time but of course you don’t KNOW if it will til you get ill or have the pre chemo 2 blood test unless you get the pelvic bone pain…did mine at 3.30 and none yet. Hmm, can’t believe they’d get anyone else to do them unless needle-phobic. Even baby lambs have a bigger needle (though I hate doing it to them).
Hopefully the bl**dy dex will wear off soon…only took four tabs today, next time it’ll be 4 Day 1 and less Day 2. Yet ANOTHER big worry for Taxotere. So not sure whether to have it or stick with this stuff…I think it gives me an extra 2.5% on the computer but the side effects seem horrendous…including 3% death. Next onc appointment after FEC2 so have to have it sorted by then.
TAX gives my stats a 6% boost, which makes a little easier… when it’s a small percentage you do wonder… but then I’d have the sick feeling of ‘what if it comes back and I didn’t…’. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I guess.
Is Neulasta the white blood cell bumper jab? (I really wasn’t listening when the onc. started discussing injections… and I’m not needle phobic, just think I’d heard the dreaded TAX and drifted off to moomooland…)
Sophie
How do you know about the percentages? Did the onc. tell you? Thsi wasn’t discussed at all with me.
I have a portacath which is under the skin just below the collar bone - the onc. recommended this and so I just went with that without investigating any other options (think I was still in some sort of dream/nightmare type state at that point). The needle for the chemo and any blood tests goes in here and its meant to be easier as don’t ahve to keep finding a vein. Actually, apart from initial soreness it has been fine…although yes, a constant reminder as you can see it sitting there under my skin like a pound coin (looks quite wierd actually) and I can’t wear anything with a wide neck.
Sophie…neupogen is the 3-10 days injection afterwards, neulasta only once but the first one is most commonly given.
Looking at boosting the red cells now…I had very bad anaemia last winter so know almost ALL the side effects and they ain’t fun at all. I do wonder how much chemo brain is due to that alone.
I hate dex…it’s ruined today even though I only took 2/3. My head is so spacy and my eyes are still all over the place…lol. Cannot BELIEVE the dose is the same for everyone…I’m so lucky with my nurse that she has time to listen and we’re playing it as it comes :).
Finger tips still creaky-slightly swollen tonight…anyone else had that? Peripheral neuropathy isn’t supposed to be an issue with FEC? I’ll go insane if I have to spend a second year without playing music :////
Me neither how strange hmm they just said which one and hoping for a cure!
Lou, the percentage game is one they don’t tell you about unless you ask: although your ten year expected survival for age and fitness with no treatment is in a box on the back of your (or at least my) notes like some exam mark :S.
I know mine for no recurrence and ten year survival and it doesn’t include a Hep figure but not expecting to be Hep anything good. He also could have fed in figures for an unrelated occurrence…but I didn’t go there…too depressing.
Kimmie and Lou - I asked! I have a great onc., and by sneaky peeking at her computer screen I could see a graph in the corner, which looked a little alarming, so I guessed I knew what it referred to. I asked her if that was a prognosis chart and she immediately asked if I wanted to know…
I’d been hoping for 6FEC but she showed me the graph with prognosis for just FEC or switching half way to TAX, and the results were marked enough for me.
It was no big surprise to me as I had looked it up on NHS Predict…lol… which is not quite as involved as whatever graph the oncs use to help decide treatment, but actually wasn’t far off at all… and that site recommended 3rd gen chemo over 2nd (and I believe 3rd generation is the one with TAX).
I’d just say - be certain you really want to know. I have very ghoulish curiosity, plus I’m kind of que sera sera about stats… after all - what use is a 99-1 statistic if you turn out to be 1?? But I did want to know…
Sophie xx
Kimmie…the first hospital were very upbeat and said yes, easy, cure with a quick WLE and rads. But they were soooo wrong and missed the bigger scarier tumour that hospital 2 consultant spotted in five seconds just by looking at me. So she upped my odds, I’ll never know how much. Fate or vanity? If I hadn’t wanted a bit of lipofilling on that first WLE and proper sentinel node concurrent op so that I could carry on much better with my life I wouldn’t have known for ages…scary.
bacca- thanks for the info. I’ll have to ask at my pre-chemo, and actually listen this time… thought I’d done so well taking all the info in, but I was prob. just showing off in front of my OH that I knew what the onc. was going to tell me…hehehe, so when she came up with something I wasn’t expecting it didn’t actually register…
Sophie x
I don’t know if i’m just naive or incredibly stupid. I have had my meeting with onc and still believed that they put all the bits in an iv, mixed it together and that was it till the next one. How many pills and potions are there to remember? And as for injecting myself !!! Really not sure on that one. Guess i’ve a lot to learn. That’s not the norm surely?? I wonder if i should get a daily pill pot. I don’t know if i’d remember if i’d taken them or not. This will give me something to think about tonight.
Julie… words fail me… just trust that one day she may realise her mistake… soon!
Well done Reeb, one less.
I wish i had the guts to ask all the questions. I do remember he said i was at a medium risk of recurrence and i said thats nice, i was a no risk last time! End of conversation.
I’m a day time telly freak too. Anyone who meets up with Jessica Fletcher… run! and i have to pop into Jeremy Kyle, just to look at them. Where do they get them from?? Does make me feel strangely normal?
Have good nights everyone. XX