After the high of last week, (which I’m still experiencing don’t get me wrong) it’s time to talk about some of the lasting effects following my 18 weeks of chemotherapy.
I am lucky and five/six weeks post my final treatment I’m feeling my energy return, I’m no longer needing a nap (or multiple naps) during the day. I can walk further than a few 100 metres and I’m able to once again do some cooking and feel more normal which is fantastic. I also was able to keep a good amount of my hair thanks to my cold capping so all in all thanks to last weeks news was feeling extremely lucky.
However there are some lasting signs I’ve had chemo. Firstly my teeth. Many suffer from bleeding and/or reseeding gums during chemotherapy as well as discolouration. I got all three, lucky me. Thankfully a trip to the dentist this week confirmed that whilst I may never have pearly white teeth, without cosmetic help, again my gums wont suffer any lasting damage. I just need to take good care, properly brushing and flossing, being a good girl in my dental routine!
Next up are my nails, they have suffered too. Whilst the new part of my nails are now growing in well, the mid and top are not the best! They have come away from the nail bed in places, or have cracked or become dark etc. I have to be careful not to catch them in case they get pulled off! I’ve cut them short so to help avoid any catching. I’m told this is very common particularly for those on Taxol, but if you wear dark nail varnish throughout treatment then it can help. Too late for me (I read this after I’d finished chemo doh!) but if you’re about to start do look it up!
Lastly, eyebrows. It’s very common for eyebrows and eyelashes to fall out towards the end or after chemotherapy has finished. This is what has happened to me. I had started to loose mine towards the end of treatment and then they lost the will to cling on a couple of weeks afterwards.
Being without eyelashes doesn’t bother me much, it’s a bit odd when I get a tear or watery eyes as it just falls out without eyelashes, a new sensation, but looks wise other than making my eyes constantly slightly puffy it doesn’t really change my face that drastically, and with a bit of eyeliner it’s amazing how that fools your perception.
Eyebrows however are another matter. I used to get annoyed with mine. They were very dark and very bushy and took a lot of bother to keep looking presentable. Now I don’t have any my face looks odd every time I look in the mirror. I look like someone else entirely. You also don’t appreciate how much you need your eyebrows to save you from sweat, soap/water in the shower etc! So I have become a fast learner in how to draw on your own eyebrows! This won’t help with the shower issues but will help me look more like me. There are some amazing tutorials on YouTube. I would look out for those by ladies who themselves have no eyebrows as they are more useful to follow rather than those who are filling in or altering shapes of existing eyebrows.
These are all such tiny things! Thankfully, hopefully, they will all recover in time but I wanted to write about them so that people were aware of some of the smaller side effects of the treatment. The bigger issues tend to get the headlines but sometimes it’s these smaller side effects which linger that can make it feel that the treatment is still lingering as well. They are a physical reminder of what you’ve been through and that you aren’t recovered yet despite any biopsy’s results. I very much appreciate compared to some due to the success of cold capping I have different reminders than others. No one’s experience is the same, and no one will feel the same, but hopefully sharing what I have felt and experienced will be helpful to others.
Next step for me is radiotherapy first appointment will be on Monday to discuss my treatment plan.
As always take care x
