Hi, funny how we panic when we get SEs then panic if we don't hey. Just enjoy it if you can. I've not got any hols booked for the summer just chilling at home. I was wondering about travel insurance though so let us know how you get on with that. A cruise sounds fab tho, i am definitely having a holiday next year I think we will have earnt it by then don't you ladies!, my mother in law is going on month cruise to carribean in January and I've offered to carry her bags for her!,
@Karen942 I haven't had chance to investigate travel insurance with cancer (no need to just yet, as I've got no plans to travel abroad at the moment), but I did bookmark this blog post about the issue for future reference: http://www.chris-cancercommunity.com/travel-insurance-from-a-cancer-patient-perspective
Hi, cdc what way to end the school term .. what is wrong with some parents hey! My daughter doesn't finish until Tuesday so 2 more days to go. My sore mouth staterd again week 2 but it got better again thankfully in week 3. Not looking forward to Chemo 3 as feeling good this week.
Sorry can't remember who asked about hair growing but I have bristles on my head still and it does seem to be growing which is strange.. but am hoping they don't disappear as hoping its a head start for regrowth.
Belated birthday greetings Karen! 🎉🎉🎉
How are you this morning? Hope the SEs are relatively manageable. The dry retching is horrible!
It’s great that your grandchildren are just so accepting. I think in general the children I meet are sometimes curious. I haven’t experienced any negative reactions thankfully. Some of the Mum’s asked me how I was at the picnic because they’ve obviously noticed me having my hair cut short and then in a variety of head coverings. I’d rather they come up and ask me than just stare so happy to tell them what’s going on. I always say that the week after chemo I feel horrendous then the next two I feel fine which reassures me and them!
i have a returning SE this morning - sore mouth time again which seems to happen at the end of week 2. Luckily I’ve kept some medication from last time so hopefully it will work again.
Hope you have a good day xxx
Hi Claire Yes I’m also a Clare!
So sorry to hear about the bad cold and even worse, the neutropenia! Hope you recover quickly and the coughing and bad wind have abated!! Fingers crossed you’ll be home very soon.
Your kids sound great! I’m hoping my daughter will be fine once she gets to the holiday club. She did go occasionally last Summer but never for a full week. She’s sociable and will be fine but she’s been more tired and emotional than usual because it’s the end of term and probably because she’s had a lot of late nights recently with school events etc... As they broke up from school early on Friday, a lot of kids from different schools in Islington ended up going for picnics on Highbury Fields . We’ve never been before as usually we try to get a head start on our holiday that day. This year I thought it would be a fun way to end the school term. How wrong was I? It started so well with a lovely picnic but by the end it was utter chaos! There was a water fight which got totally out of hand and then two parents started having a full on row as their kids were laying blows on each other. Apparently one child had been bullying the other the whole year! Really didn’t think it was appropriate for the adults to vent their anger on each other in front of all the children so I was glad when they both stormed off in opposite directions. At one point it looked like they were going to have a physical fight too! It was not a fun and relaxing way to end the term in the slightest. Don’t think we’ll be doing it again at the end of Year 5!
Its a shame your daughter found out about your BC that way but you obviously handled it well and now things are out the open it must be easier in many ways. We can’t protect them unfortunately. As we were walking up to the fields from school yesterday, two girls were walking in front of my daughter and her best friend. I heard one child announce loudly (in a way that made me think that they wanted my daughter to hear) “Well she had cancer so of course she’s dead now”. I was shocked and my daughter and her friend looked upset. Momentarily I didn’t know what to do but then, in as unemotional a voice as possible, said “Well most people don’t die of cancer and my treatment is working so i’m not going to die” which seemed to reassure them.
I know there are no absolute guarantees but not sure what else I could have done in the circumstances.
It’s hard when comments are made out of the blue but I feel because I’ve been honest it has helped my daughter cope and we had also shared the news of my diagnosis with certain friends and their families already in the hope of ‘normalising’ things. In my good weeks, so usually two out of three, I feel very positive which I think helps. For the first time in my life I am being forced to put myself first and in some ways it’s liberating., I do have my days when the worry gremlins come for me but it’s usually when the SEs are at their worst and at least I know they won’t last forever.
Hugs Clare xx
Hello July-ers... glad things going ok, sorry to one of you had to stay in hospital, hopefully it wont last long and you recover quickly. As for the itchy head.. I fear the shedding is approaching.. Mine was itchy and sore their starting going... day 15 cycle 1 I had to brave the shave but although it was distressing at the time, you quickly adapt and in this weather the bald head is a god send. Taste buds do return too, mine came back by weeks 3 so enojiyjgna week of eating everything I can.. ready for Monday and cycle 3.
Hello July Chemo Ladies!! Glad to see you are all doing well and dealing with the joys of chemo. I have had 2 x FEC so far, next one is on Monday followed by 3 x T so almost half way. Must say the thought of the chemo is actually a lot worse than the actually thing (so far that is!!).. I have had some strange mouth problems, dry, bit sore feels like its been burnt, foggy head and nauseaus feeling but they all pass and by 2nd week I feel almost back to normal. I braved the shave on day 15 of cycle 1 as the hair was really falling out, I've got used to being a baldie now, I have a wig and various hats/scarves.. thats not to say i can't wait to have hair again.. althoug not teh washing and styling of it!!
By the way I am ER+ HER- and had a single MX (no reconstruction) back in May... keep on keeping on girls...
take care Kip xx
@Sue C I had a SLNB so as it was clear they did no more tests even though it was 51mm when they did the MRI.
Good Morning Georgie Gee.
I had the same, and felt like you too, i just wanted to get going. But now i have had my second Chemo Feeling more chill out. I was told the left hand was not communicating with the right hand at the Hospital but got sorted pretty quick.
All the best.
Yes...I had to take them the day before chemo, on the day of treatment and then the day after. This was for every cycle. I'm not sure that everyone has the some though. Probably depends on type of chemo and which hospital you go to.
Aww thanks Sue, I will get some sausages in!! Is that the first 3 days of each cycle?.....
@Georgie I had less difficulty sleeping during the steroids than I'd anticipated, but I did have trouble sleeping between diagnosis (2 May) and my treatment plan / chemo consent meeting (19 June) -- which I entirely chalk up to anxiety.
I was particularly aware of every ache and twinge, things that in the past I would have explained away as tendonitis, my liver cysts grumbling, ovulation, etc., and in actual fact, they were still those things. The anxiety of the diagnosis got to me, as it does to quite a few people, I suspect. What especially worried me was a burning sensation across the skin of my chest and back and left shoulder. It would come and go, sometimes as I was having difficulty getting to sleep, but one time it came at the breast clinic, while I was waiting for an US of my lymph nodes and biopsy of any that looked irregular. During the biopsy, the nurse demonstrated that I wasn't burning up by placing her much warmer hands on the area. Afterward, I discovered that this burning sensation was an anxiety response -- a vicious feedback cycle, where my anxiety was causing my body to overstimulate the nerves, causing the sensation, which made me anxious, which cause the sensation.
I found my sleep started to get better after I understood this anxiety response and then talked a few times with a counsellor at the local cancer support centre.
OH reports I'm now snoring like a kitten again. Only thing that disrupts my sleep are the trips to the loo (drinking 3+ litres of water a day does that) and the occasional bone pain I get during the days I'm having the filgrastim injection, which helps to boost my neutrophils.