Hi is anyone starting chemo this January 2023? I will be starting at the end of this week and I am going for a PICC line placement tomorrow. It would be good to connect with other people starting this journey. Any tips/advice are also welcomed 
thank you.
The look good feel better sounds really good I’ll look into this. 
Thinking of you all as always, sitting here getting my 3rd weekly dose of paclitaxel with cold cap which makes my cheeks look like a chipmunk Then I go home with a towel on my head and do a great impression of the wild woman of Borneo. 
The lady with the lunch trolly is coming round with my sandwich which will keep me going and hopefully distracted from needing a pee for the next 30 min until cold cap is done. 
Hugs to all xxx
Looking great !! Hope all going well ..thinking of us all ..
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Thankyou for all your kind messages and support ladies 
oncologists have decided not to proceed with the ec chemo and just go for the three weekly cycle of pertuzumab, herceptin and docetaxel for 12 weeks and then radiotherapy followed by 7 years letrezole. Aparently this should not have a particularly adverse effect on my 10 year survival rate, so am happy with the plan 
and feel much less nervous about next treatment.
Dizziness improving daily, so starting to feel more human . have been granted an extra week to recover, so chemo starts again next Friday - yay! . . . Weirdly for an avid tea drinker, I have gone right off the stuff and am drinking fruit flavoured blends instead. Really interested in the ‘look good, feel better’ makeup course- thanks so much for posting, def gonna apply to offset the impeding bald chemo hag look
wishing you all a good day with positive vibes xx
Hello my lovely ladies, thinking of us all ️. I hope those of you who just had their second cycle are copying ok with the side effects. @addabitofsparkle, looking good! I too call the cold cap my chipmunk costume!!! I always try to find a reason to laugh about something during each chemo session, trying to make it a more positive experience than what it is. For example, I tried to picture the poison as actual liquid gold going through my body to just do me a great deal of good!
Lorraine058 - I believe we are on the same chemo regime, but I have it every 2 weeks. So I am in for my third cycle this Friday! I am not really looking forward to it, given all the side effects I had last time ( nearly end up in hospital on Saturday due to excruciating cramps and very low temperature). I have my review with the oncologist and bloods tomorrow and we will definitely discuss reducing the dose as they told me I shouldn’t have been suffering this much. So fingers crossed it goes smoother this time round.
@cuffcake2000 - I am sorry you had a small tour at the hospital. I hope it is going better now and it was just an episode due to the flu vaccine. The look good feel better class seems great. I will look into it to see if there is one schedule for the days when I know I should feel well enough to attend. Hair definitely falling as if there is no tomorrow after the second cycle of EC (I think cold cap is not helpful against the Red Devil). Though so far they are a quarter of the volume they used to be, I still do not have patches so I will persevere with the cold cap on Friday. I ordered some turbans in the meanwhile.
How do you find your hair in general during chemo? Addabitofsparkle yours still look lovely. Mine, I feel like as I can’t wash and blow dry properly are a mess and I can do very little with them anyway. So turbans might help with styling the ones left for the time being.
Sending lots of love to you all and looking forward to another chat in the near future. Xxx
It was EC chemo . . oncologist decided to omit this treatment completly and move to planned 2nd targeted treatment herceptin, docetaxel and pertuzumab; aparently omitting EC treatment = only slight decrease in overall risk . . feeling happy with plan as no dere to go though that again! brain slowly coming back to normal and dizziness much better
They should be able to unplug you for a few minutes to be able to have a wee. They have no choice with me, it’s unplug or you have a puddle
Torryn yep outer neoprene cap looks like some sort of skate board kid
I too tug it tight and have to be careful I don’t bite my cheeks when chewing. At Kingston a lovely volunteer lady comes around with tea trolly with free drinks, biscuits snacks and a sandwich at lunchtime same lady every week so far. Today she told me she’s been volunteering for 4 years in some different departments over those years. Always on a Wednesday morning.
I’m going to ask her more about it next week.
It reminded me years ago how I spent time volunteering weekly in Cromer and later Salisbury hospitals running their hospital radio stations back in those years, we used to go around the wards and chat to patients and get their song requests and then play them on the radio show later in the evening, which was so rewarding and especially lifted patients spirits if they didn’t get many visitors, I heard so many personal life stories.
Those experiences along with doing voluntary humanitarian art therapy work for UNICEF years later made a huge impression on me and made me deeply respectful of the human condition. I still feel humbled by wonderful exchanges with people from all walks of life today 
To everyone reading this, my late mum always said “you are remarkable just by being you precious”. So remember you are all remarkable in your own unique way, and we’ll get there with each other’s love and support 
Rest well ladies xxx
