Things you wish you had know!

keep a journal. Even if you only write in it when your feeling crappy it is surprisingly therapeutic To vent without judgement or helpful advice. Keep a notebook in your bag and write down questions for your medical team as they come to you. It helps with anxiety and forgetfulness. Just remember to ask at your appointment and to WRITE DOWN the answers lol ending up back in hospital is normal. Don't think you are dying or that they are going to stop the treatment. Temperatures, infections and neutropenia is normal and treatable. Set up Skype in case you do end up neutropenic or away and isolated from family. This really helped me when I couldn't see my 3 year old for a week. Be prepared for the bad days to keep coming back. Just because you think you have found your stride doesn't mean you won't be kicked back down again. It's ok, just take it, pick yourself back up and go forward. i agree with cutting off your hair early. I had no idea that it died so quickly. One day it was looking almost normal and I felt I wasn't ready to cut it off, I would keep it until it was falling out properly. The next day I had s bald strip down the centre of my head and crazy amounts of thinning on the sides of my head. This hit me hard as I went, in my eyes, from looking normal to looking like I had cancer. Emotionally it was like a re-diagnosis. Don't wait! have head scarves ready early. the wig you ordered online may end up looking more like the hair of Ridge Forester than that beautiful blond in the picture! have a bullet juicer or similar that you can blitz up nutrient rich smoothies in for those days where eating just hurts too much. Accept help from whoever offers. Sometimes it's hard but you don't know what tomorrow is going to feel like. Have a bamboo beanie to wear. A bald head can be very cold! I took a while to figure out why my head hurt and it was actually the cold. Ok this is the second time I have written this essay and hopefully it works this time! Hope it helps