Good luck today Nutty75. Another one ticked off! Hope you are all feeling OK today Sunbeams. Was lying in bed today considering today's issues for me. Arm still bruised and painful. But, manageable. Gums raw and sore. But, manageable with mouthwashes and the sodium bicarb gargling. Hair loss - still coming out but did not wash this morning before going to work so did not seem quite so much (though could be kidding myself!). Bit of a headache, but manageable. No sickness or nausea at the moment - HURRAH. So, 8.25 am and at work and OK at the moment. Long may this last!
Have a very good day Sunbeams.
P xx
Thanks Mel51 and KnackeredNess - I so appreciate your comments and it is so good to know that you are out there! This is Day 8 for me after the 2nd FEC, so sounds like you Mel51. I SO hope that it eases off now and that I get through this one without much more loss. My husband assures me that he can't see any bald patches yet, and that it looks OK, but I'm not convinced at all. I have fine hair too, but apparently a lot of it. I have gone to work, and have a big public thing to do on Wednesday, and feel so exposed. And am I even allowed to mention p**ic hair? Suddenly realised last night in the shower that this was going as well! Told my friend this morning and she laughed and said it was the cheapest Brazilian I'd ever get, but though I smiled I did not really feel like laughing. God, I am struggling to hold onto my sense of humour, which is really not like me.
Hope you are all doing OK ladies - and that SEs are minimal.
P xx
I've been having a terrible hair week too...SO MUCH coming out I can't actually believe there's any left on my head 😞 The nurse told me that often the first shed is the worst, but I have really started wondering if I am going to persevere with the CC or not. Feeling big miseries about it, so you're not alone girls!!! Getting fed up of having to wear something on my head all the time to stop the entire house and family getting covered in it. On the plus side the sickness has been so much better this time round, which is great. This forum really helps so much, just as a reminder that we are not alone dealing with all this crap.
Lots of love to all, especially those of you who are struggling today. Ness xxx
Lots of hair coming out now - makes me want to weep. I hope this is it 'thinning' rather than simply shedding. Used to wash it every day but now only twice a week. Yuk! So hope the torturous cold cap will do its job. I know this is completely pathetic, given what we are all dealing with, but for some reason this is the absolute worst thing for me. Have come to work today to try to get some normality back into my life.
Sodium bicarbonate - dissolve a heaped teaspoon in a pint of warm water and gargle for a full minute four times a day. Did the trick for me.
P xx
Hello lovelies, sorry to hear about PaulS's arm, SEs being not so kind and that some of you are a bit low; me too. All weepy and floppy today and eyes are SO SORE anyway. Chemo 2 coming up on Thursday, and the nausea has gone up a gear into vomiting - Metroclopramide and Ondansetron not holding it off very well, really grinding me down. Will discuss all with chemo nurse as GPs aren't too great at this in my experience. Not helped by my hair coming out in handfuls. Have got very thick hair, but it's def thinning now. Feck it. Doesn't seem to matter that I KNEW it was going to happen, but I think I was in denial and t's come as a shock that it is happening.
I'm utterly s***ing fed up with this rollercoaster, there are so many indignities thrown at us and it goes on for so long and I'm only on cycle one. Better toughen up a bit. Wah wah. There I've said it, I am really moaning today. Love to all of you, sending my support and good energy. Kittens.
I feel really odd today - not exactly sick, but as if I can feel the poison whizzing around in my veins! I am having to make myself eat as I have absolutely no appetite at all and know that I need food to fight this and cope with the chemo and that I need it to keep nausea at bay. So, back on the soup - breakfast, lunch, dinner! Since chemo began I have lost 9lbs (4 kilos) - but apparently they don't worry until it is 5 kilos as they have to change the dosage they give us. I have one more FEC, then 3 Tax - and now really anxious about the SEs of the Tax. Those Sunbeans who began with the Tax, how have you coped? I have found the FEC manageable and just want the third one over now. My worst days have been the first weekend - so days 6 and 7 after the dose was given.
My arm is a bit better now, though the veins are still very hard and engorged, and I'm convinced that this is because the nurse the second time pushed the drug in so quickly compared to the first time. I felt it going in, and felt sharp pains up my arm, and it was very noticeable. And the first night my hand swelled up and I got a rash up my arm and had to call the helpline. Am feeling mentally low today - quite weepy and fragile which is not at all like me, and I am hiding this from everyone, but I'm struggling. Tomorrow I plan to go to work and try to be normal as I think this will help me, but I am worried about infections. Got the flu jab on Friday, so have now had both the pneumomia jab and the flu jab. I was told to get it just after a chemo as the white blood count would be higher then, and they wouldn't do the chemo if it wasn't high enough.
Hope you are all OK Sunbeams - warmest hugs! Regardless of when we all finish our particular treatments (chemotherapy, surgeries, radiotherapy) we will support each other and we will have a big celebration when we all finish! We MUST plan this so we have something really positive to look forward to.
P xx
Should not type on phone!
Had 2nd FEC last Monday and using cold cap. Aware of more hair coming out but hanging in! So desperate not to lose my hair as I want to keep working. I have been reading what August cold cappers are doing for thin and bald patches and might look into it! Have a good day. Feeling ok-ish today. P xx
Pam, not to worry, I'll still be around...I went in for my surgery but only ended up having 3 lymph out as they decided at the 11th hour that the lump was too big (long story, but partly to do with me being on holiday), so I'm chemoing now and still need surgery afterwards. And after that who knows??
So sorry to hear about your arm PaulS, I hope it improves soon xx
Was up at 6.30 this morning, but actually have spent most of the morning dozing on the sofa, which is pretty much all I did last night after I got into be around 6.30!
My goodness I'm feeling sleepy today! I'm taking no chances and popping every pill I have this time round, so I suspect that's why.
I have been wondering about Rachael too and hoping everything's OK.
Wishing everyone a happy weekend! Ness xx
Hello all, back from my second FEC, and all quiet and calm in the chemo room today! I was quite surprised to be given Emend this time, so will be interesting to see how it compares. Apparently here you are only allowed it once you have actually been sick the first time round!! There was a lovely lady opposite me who looked really beautiful and serene with no hair, who told me she thought I was brave for using the cold cap. Ha! There was me thinking it was the other way round and that it was my lack of bravery that was causing me to self inflict the torture.
Feeling dodgy, great excuse to be in dressing gown and pjs and 6 o'clock 🙂
Stay well everyone xxx
Hello me again, I seem to have verbal diarrhoea (better than the other sort...) I'm on FEC 75, bit of a lightweight compared with some of you, and I don't think severity of SEs is dose-dependent. No idea what my white cell count is yet, FEC it again next Thursday, so feeling like I'm on the 'home run' in a dreading sort of way. As long as the stuff is working, and clearly our SEs show that it is. Ps I too find it strange typing on this forum - apparently I just typed 'tits' when honestly I didn't ... cheerio. Kittens.
Goodenss Beamites, how busy you have been - juggling gasmen, thrushes, slumps and turbans, not to mention making hundreds of litres of soup, moving house, having your picc lines hoovered out and getting lots of lovely chemo. Congrats to all of you! Glad no one's SEs are too bad right now, long may it continue. PaulS - are you recovered from the awful scene in the chemo suite? Mine has no signal/wifi (hurrah), as the diagnostics are lead-lined on the floor below. Also, I'm in the 'ladies corner' where the Paxman cap machines are fitted, so fewer lions roaring about the place (just us moth-eaten lionesses). Love to you all, and keep it up! Love Anna.
Ha, I think Game of Thrones is one of those love it or hate it things, although once you get into it its hard to quit....and before you know it you spend your days researching the most authentic way to replicate a northerners cloak!
Pam, if it makes you feel any better for some reason my spelling/typing abilities have gone completely out of the window this time round, and I don't think its predictive text fault! Was writing an email to an member of staff about working cover and even referred to 'half term' as 'half chemo' which doesn't sound quite as fun! Hopefully brain will sort itself out before I head back to work next week, although might get away with it with preschoolers! Emma xx