Dread of Chemo

24

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  • primek
    primek Member Posts: 5,392 ✭
    I found some foods tasted just bitter. And ithers tasted better and I ate more salt. I liked more spicy stuff on AC chemo but couldn't tolerate it on Taxol. I lived on toasted cheese and spicy chutney sandwiches for a bit. 
  • Braveheart60
    Braveheart60 Member Posts: 10 ✭
    I am noting all these tips, toasted cheese and spicy chutney sounds very do-able!! @Sunshine0206 you do suit bald so you must look Ace with hair !!! I was told about Nioxin as a product to use on bald scalp as it ensures your hair grows back soft and healthy. I'm going to try it anyway.
  • Sunshine0206
    Sunshine0206 Member Posts: 146 ✭
    @Braveheart60 - I will have a look at it too! Thanks!
  • Imo
    Imo Member Posts: 25 ✭
    Hi Braveheart, 
    On top of all of the comments above can I add - 
    I was apprehensive on my first chemo because I should be, it's a completely natural response to worry about the unknown and we'd be a bit strange to waltz in to a medical unit to be pumped full of chemicals and be absolutely ok with that.  Having said that - I now do waltz in to the Alan Walker Cancer Center feeling absolutely ok with it because the nurses are wonderful, I know what to expect and it's (hopefully) making me better.  So, feel scared, feel angry, feel nervous, feel whatever you need to feel but know that you won't always feel like that. 

    Also - I have a PICC line rather than a port and I love it.  A PICC line is like a semi permanent canula inserted into my upper arm with two lumens attached. It's a total pain to look after, it's very obvious and it took my toddler a while to get used to, but when I go to chemo and I'm sitting across from someone that has 3 bandaids up their arm from failed attempts to canulate, yet all they need to do is 'plug me in', it makes it all worth it.  I'm needle phobic so it helped me to calculate that my PICC line saves me approximately 40 needle jabs for blood tests or chemo canulas.  Which equates to 40 times I won't need to concentrate on not fainting. I just thought, maybe that's another way to look at your port. Yes, it's a reminder of your cancer but hopefully it will also make your sessions in chemo simpler, quicker and less painful. 
  • onemargie
    onemargie Member Posts: 1,264 ✭
    Wow @Sunshine0206 you look great bald I looked like a big potato head lol! photos haven’t loaded chronologically so the first one is when I cut it short Before I stsrted chemo the second one was just after my mastectomy and prior to treatment the third one obviously shaved it when I stsrted to lose it the fourth one is me now and the last one is 3 months after chemo finished. Margie xx
  • Mollygirl
    Mollygirl Member Posts: 213 ✭
    edited January 2018
    You look damn great @Sunshine0206, I found the loss of hair liberating at the time and yep one less thing to worry about in the morning. While having a shower one day, no hair washing, no leg or pits to shave and then no make as eyebrows and eyelashes gone - it dawned on me ....this is what it's like for blokes!!!! No wonder they can get ready so quick!!!!

    @Braveheart60, I too had long blonde locks - very smart to go shorter. Good for you!  You may find your taste buds are not effected til down the track a bit. Definitely prepare and freeze meals. If you think of your diet a it like a pregnancy diet, no soft cheese no salad bars etc and buy a baby toothbrush to be gentle on your gums. You will mouthwash after each meal - I didn't like the salt mouth wash so used Biotene no alcohol mouthwash which was good. 

    I too too had both breasts off - as I didn't want to be doing this again. Depending on your pathology is if you still need radiation even if you've had mastectomies. I chose bilateral masts as I didn't want to do the rads. 

    All the the very best. Xxoo
  • Sister
    Sister Member Posts: 4,961 ✭
    @Sunshine0206 some people (like you) just look brilliant without hair.  Rocking it!
  • Sunshine0206
    Sunshine0206 Member Posts: 146 ✭
    Thanks ladies. You are all too kind. X
  • Sister
    Sister Member Posts: 4,961 ✭
    @onemargie - just saw your photos, too - no potato head, there!
  • sangeetamo
    sangeetamo Member Posts: 7 ✭
    Hi All,
    I just have been confirmed and diagnosed with- Metastatic triple negative BC. I am yet to start the clinical trial and std chemo treatment soon. As told by the doc's; life expectancy is 2 years or less. for this MTNBC. 
    This makes me more scared, terrified and worried about my girls and also not coping well with this news
    God, please give me the strength and support to overcome this period in my life.
  • duxx1234
    duxx1234 Member Posts: 128 ✭
    God bless you @sangeetamo Sending love and prayers to you. 
  • June1952
    June1952 Member Posts: 1,935 ✭
    Hi @Sunshine0206
    You look fantastic all ways as that beautiful cheeky smile over-rides any lack of hair.
  • Shorelle
    Shorelle Member Posts: 80 ✭
    Sorry you had to join us. You have same type of C as me. Chemo was mentally challenging but physically fine. You get tored and achy but thats all I expreienced and hair falling out. Not fun. I chose to have both boobs chopped because Im trying to avoid further Cs. As far as the rest of your body its suck and see.
  • Shorelle
    Shorelle Member Posts: 80 ✭
    I opted for boobs off so no rads but It does depend on how close it was to chest wall. Xxx

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