** SEPTEMBER CHEMOTHERAPY CHAT 2019**

Hi Blackcat20

I decided against shave for same reason .. tender scalp . There’s enough left so I don’t frighten delivery people  but tend to wear hat now because if sunny ️ risk burn and if windy it hurts 

eyebrows and lashes still intact but third EC next week so we’ll see .

weather in Cumbria is typical rained all night but blue sky this morning . So off to Keswick .. market on , and walk to lake . 

Been without signal since lunch yesterday so will dip in and out while here 

keep well Blackcat and everyone else on the thread 

Margaret x

Hi,

There are several styles of Tablet Blister Pack Removal Aids around.

You could start with checking this selection out at Amazon, but may find Boots or any other pharmacy chain stocks them.

G n' J

Sam, funny you should mention Star Trek and Borg, as I've been saying for the last week that I feel like a Borg after my surgery for a reconstruction before chemo.  So with the PICC line to be inserted soon, I suppose I shall feel even more like Borg, so you've got one new member being assimilated already!  Years ago, I and some friends used to attend one or two sci-if conventions and we made outfits, went in for the fancy dress competitions and several times, we won.  We did  Blakes 7, Predator and Alien, this must be payback for that!  So long as nothing appears from our stomachs that we don't want to see, eh?  As for hair down below, that went when they must have shaved me in preparation for my operation, it's another new experience to add to my growing portfolio.

you'r gp's practise will give you a form to sign and send off which will give you free prescriptions for 5 years.  It takes a few weeks to come, but they send you a card. X

I’m using Evonail too, and my nails have never looked better either - they are growing faster and stronger than they did prior to chemo, and they look very healthy too.  Wish I could say the same for the rest of me.

Blackcat xx

Lol. My 16 year old daughter told me my nails were better than hers and had started using it as well so I bought a new bottle last week and gave her this one which is 1/3 full. I have to cut my nails every week on it. 

Hi all,

I just noticed that there is a “long read” article in the Guardian this morning by an American writer about going through the experience of chemo for breast cancer.  She highlights a lot of the challenges of the treatment, and looks at the way in which a cancer diagnosis and going through chemo changes our relationship to our bodies and ourselves.  She describes what it is like to go into the treatment room and undergo the infusions, and also the experiences of side effects, scans and oncology consultations with which all of us here are so familiar.  The writer had TNBC and neoadjuvant AC chemo (equivalent to our EC), and at the end of the article she makes the point that despite the challenges of the treatment, she had a complete pathological response in her tumour and so the chemo treatment, however difficult, was worthwhile.  So although the article definitively doesn’t paint a rosy picture of treatment, it has a hopeful message. 

I found this article very interesting (if a bit too close to home at times), and one of my friends has just texted to say that she read it this morning and feels it has really helped her to understand what going through treatment is like.   If anyone wants to have a look, the link is:

‘My body feels like it is dying from the drugs that are meant to save me’: life as a cancer patient
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/sep/26/life-as-a-cancer-patient?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Blackcat xx

Thanks for sharing Blackcat, can't seem to click "like" you posting !

Really good read Blackcat20

Bit close to home at times but interesting to see it put into words .

margaret x

Blackcat20 glad to hear your managing ok with the different SE on your new regime.

I have been pretty good through this second cycle of EC and would second the comment previously made about it not always being worse with more cycles. Ready for 3rd one next Friday so will see how that goes.

Yes, we have done the shave. I don't like it but it's more practical and I suppose I can say I don't perhaps look as scary as I thought I might. Fancy being scared of my own head!! I can manage to look in the mirror. Hubby keeps admiring his work!!! LOL. When I say 'stop looking at me' he just says 'but you look alright!!' Thanks mate!!

So far my nails are fine and I still have eyebrows and eyelashes.

Busy next week with appointments. When I went last time for the PICC line, they didn't do it and advised me to have a port - due to the length of time it will be in for and because I haven't had the op yet. It will also be easier to manage not having to be redressed every week and you don't have to worry about keeping it dry. So going for that next Wednesday.

Hugs to everyone. Keep up the good work! :-) xx