LIsaG

Hi there Lisa - just seen your post and new photo and you look fantastic- just love  Coco!!

Cheers to you girl and enjoy the turtles G

Hey Lisa

so sorry to hear that you have had such a rough time....I've been wondering where you were and how you have been going.  Home to your own bed sounds wonderful.  Please take care and stay in touch tons of hugs to you

georgie

How is everyone else faring? I haven't checked in for a week because I have had a visit to hospital (!) I made it to day 8 feeling bleh but manageable and even up for a drive to Innisfail which is about an hour and a half drive from here. There was an outrigger regatta on and I couldn't pass up the chance to have a catch-up with all the friends and rivals from my "normal life".... on Saturday I felt even better - if I hadn't had this damn PICC line in I swear I would have jumped in for a race ;-) I woke the next day with a very sore throat but by now my life revolves around pain and discomfort so I still drove home and headed for bed. Within 2 hours I had to get up and try out my new digital thermometer - my temp was 36.8. I could feel a downhill slide coming on and an hour later i made it to the magic number 38 - the number I was warned to look out for and to never ignore. By the time I was admitted to hospital I had crashed and burned big time. It took 24hrs to break the fever! I was "nuetropaenic" which means my white blood cells were almost non existent. I had picked up a bug thru my sore throat and it really got me. My white cell count was 1.5 and Nuetrophylls (vital part of white cells) were zero! It has taken 3 days solid of multiple IV anti biotics and a mega boost needle that doubles the production of white blood cells in my bone marrow to get me back to normal. I've also developed a mouthful of thrush and an allergy to the dressing on my PICC line. BUT........ still no nausea and still a full head of hair.... yesss - we have positives! :-) It has definitely been a challenge and an opportunity to increase my knowledge of management of my reactions to treatment. I am now on the other side of my first "trough" so its got to get better every day from here on till the next dose. My friend Sue picked me up and followed my orders - straight to the beach for lunch and coffee! I feel much better. Now I just need a good night of sleep in my own bed.

Oh LisaG

Sorry to hear that you are feeling yucky. We all have some sort of horrible side effects with having chemo.

Just make sure that you don't get thrush in your mouth...

Hope you feel better real soon and just take it easy. Have heaps of sleep as this helps..

Love  Julie XX

All I can say is Bleh.... feel yucky. My tongue is grey and feels like a solid block at the back of my mouth, my head aches and I have broken out in red spots across my face and neck.... not a pretty sight! Yuck..

Hope you girls are faring better. I have retired to bed with my laptop and a movie - sleep well  :-)

All I can say is Bleh.... feel yucky. My tongue is grey and feels like a solid block at the back of my mouth, my head aches and I have broken out in red spots across my face and neck.... not a pretty sight! Yuck..

Hope you girls are faring better. I have retired to bed with my laptop and a movie - sleep well  :-)

Still no nausea - yay! Lots of indigestion and a blurry head and my mouth tastes yuck.... normal for this stage, I guess. I had a day out yesterday and went to a "Look good, feel better" workshop - it was fantastic! Had lots of fun and the most important bit was meeting other women going through the same thing I am and comparing notes. Four of them had already lost their hair so I had al lot of useful information from them  ;-)

I went to a naturopath on the way home and picked up some organic bubble bath, epsom salts and essence of ginger for a long soak in a bath.Showers are awkward with this PICC line.. she also recommended slippery elm bark for the indigestion. I stirred a teaspoon full in to a glass of warm water (as instructed on the pack) but it turns in to glug and tastes just like what it is - tree bark.... I am searching for ideas to make it taste better before I try it again today! 

Still no nausea - yay! Lots of indigestion and a blurry head and my mouth tastes yuck.... normal for this stage, I guess. I had a day out yesterday and went to a "Look good, feel better" workshop - it was fantastic! Had lots of fun and the most important bit was meeting other women going through the same thing I am and comparing notes. Four of them had already lost their hair so I had al lot of useful information from them  ;-)

I went to a naturopath on the way home and picked up some organic bubble bath, epsom salts and essence of ginger for a long soak in a bath.Showers are awkward with this PICC line.. she also recommended slippery elm bark for the indigestion. I stirred a teaspoon full in to a glass of warm water (as instructed on the pack) but it turns in to glug and tastes just like what it is - tree bark.... I am searching for ideas to make it taste better before I try it again today! 

First chemo session went well and the support from the day unit is fabulous. My daughter is not handling all this as well as she could be and the social worker gave me some great info for her to read on CANTEEN - I didn't realise they provide support for kids who have cancer in the family home (parent, aunt, uncle, etc) as well as the kids who actually have the disease.. I think my girl will do much better if she has people her own age to talk to. She comes down physically ill with stress - has a phobia about illness which, as you can imagine, is not real good just now! She tried to drive me in for my session yesterday and we had to come back home and put her to bed with a bucket! I headed for the bus stop instead but a friend spotted me and took me in. It made for a funny story, really. I feel good so far but very bloated and peeing like a tap! The Dexamethasone makes my legs ache and is keeping me awake but hey - its worth it to skip the nausea for a couple of days ;-)

First chemo session went well and the support from the day unit is fabulous. My daughter is not handling all this as well as she could be and the social worker gave me some great info for her to read on CANTEEN - I didn't realise they provide support for kids who have cancer in the family home (parent, aunt, uncle, etc) as well as the kids who actually have the disease.. I think my girl will do much better if she has people her own age to talk to. She comes down physically ill with stress - has a phobia about illness which, as you can imagine, is not real good just now! She tried to drive me in for my session yesterday and we had to come back home and put her to bed with a bucket! I headed for the bus stop instead but a friend spotted me and took me in. It made for a funny story, really. I feel good so far but very bloated and peeing like a tap! The Dexamethasone makes my legs ache and is keeping me awake but hey - its worth it to skip the nausea for a couple of days ;-)