Helpful and not so helpful

Hi Heidi

Great idea!    I agree with all that you posted ...now I'm going to post my two-penny's worth!  LOL!  And please bear in mind - this is my helpful and no so helpful experiences/beliefs.

Helpful

Blogging on this site (totally kept me sane!)

Being as informed as possible and if that meant bothering the drs with alot of questions then I asked and asked! 

Checking and double-checking information - either on the Nett or on this BCNA site

Talking to other patients (when I was in hospital)  but I must stress ONLY if they wanted to....you must respect everyone's privacy

Scented candles and relaxation music

Facebook - I fb'd my entire journey so all my family could keep up to date with what was happening and not ringing up my husband all the time - cause he was just as excausted.

Support from my husband - his strength and positiveness helped me through.

Support of my friends and family.

Spontaneous visits and surprises from friends.

Flowers - adored getting bunches of flowers every so often.

Unhelpful

Having really thin veins - not good for tests or chemo :(

Having the PICC Line cause Blood clots (finally resulting in a port being put in which should have been done in the first place!)

Being admitted every single time I had chemo....what a drag!

Ignorant and rude staff members of various medical facilities - particularly when having tests.  (I had an incident at a Radiography practice which was so bad I wrote to the CEO and demanded an apology - which I got and the person was repremanded)

Casual remarks about "how well I look and it can't be that bad" - when in reality I was feeling like shit!

Stress of not having a wage coming in and bills mounting up.

Worrying about how I was going to cope post treatment - would I be up to returning to work??

Itchy scalp when my hair started growing back!  LOL!

cheers

Helen