Starting chemo

Hi Shebu, I haven’t got the experience that you’re looking for, but know what you mean about not looking forward to chemo (I may be having some in January if I choose to and am accepted on a trial). In a way though I imagine we are quite prepared in that we have had immunotherapy, so we are used to the cannulas and the list of long possible side effects, and the 24 hour help line, and the talk with the nurses the first time we have it and the preempting of what medication we might need. Preparing freezer meals for the times you will feel tired, having extra entertainment as the stays in the day unit are usually longer.

I know you are in the incurables group as well, I don’t know if you posted there as well as I forgot to check but know as they have a variety of members with different cancers someone might have had the relevant chemo, if not your cancer. In the info and support pages there’s a list of the cancer drugs and side effects and how long they take that might help. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told I will loose my hair if I do the trial, and I watched a vlog from someone on a similar trial to mine who shaved their hair short before starting as the chemo to make it less itchy and more likely to grow back. For the chemo and other drug I might have shaking and coldness is something that happens, and feeling sick, it’s then that I remind myself that so many people of different cancers have been through it and I’m just one more to get through it. 

I don’t know what you’ve read about yours, and what your pet hate might be? A friend of mine that I met at a cancer group had breast cancer and she used to have a poncho to go to the hospital with so that her arms were free but she could also snuggle in it better than a cardigan. She also used to have times when she used to sweat a lot and she had a cool pillow at night for that and a thin scarf which was more like a neck tie with gel crystals in it. I got the scarf thing for me in the hot summers you dip it in water and the gel soaks it up, get rid of any excess and tie it around your neck and because of a certain pressure point on your neck it cools down more than just that part of your body to make things more bearable, She used them for hot flushes. 

Sorry those are my musings as I haven’t got the experience you after but hate to see a post go unanswered.