Urrgh

Thursday 2nd of January
After eating lunch at home with my Mum post 2nd chemo, I was really impressed that I had not resorted to the duvet cover and more surprised that I was actually feeling really hungry.

Unfortunately I then spend most of the evening through to the early/late hours of the morning taking additional anti sickness tablets and Gaviscon and feeling like I wanted to vomit my insides OUT. My Hubster looked after me all night and I felt so bad for him going to work on a couple hours sleep.

Last night after having a temperature of 37.4 all day and feeling as cold as a frozen popsicle,  I went to bed at 20:00 and experienced the most erratic heart palpitations and sweated through two vest tops throughout the night, which prompted me to strip everything off the bed and myself this morning.

Saturday 4th of January
I initially woke up at 6:45 to remove the immune injection from the fridge, which is injected into the stomach at 7am and to take 1 anti sickness tablet, I then managed to sleep until 10:30am and took my second dose of a different anti-sickness tablet x 2 with two ginger biscuits (as the second tablets need to be taken with or after food).

I had a fried egg on toast for breakfast with a wheatgrass shot
A small slice of cottage pie with spinach for lunch/dinner
A Blueberry smoothie

I had an appointment for Acupuncture at 14:45 but after a ten minute consultation was postponed as my heart palpitations/blood pressure is too high and was advised to go home and rest and drink plenty of water and to return again next Tuesday, when the acupuncture can counter-balance the further side effects.

16:30 - x 2 more anti-sickness tablets 

My scalp is very tender and it feels like my hair has been in a high ponytail - the Croydon facelift - if I had some hair of course.

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. The drugs work by attacking the cancer cells and disrupting their growth. Unfortunately, they can also affect the normal cells in the body, including the cells of the hair follicles (Macmillan)

Daniel Field http://danielfield.net/cancer-care/ has an informative guide designed to support those who have decided to undergo chemotherapy, before during and afterward.

Hair diary 

My hair is lifting out of the hair follicles and is thinning by the day. I'll be glad when its all lifted out and then I can give it a good buff and shine :)

However I'm feeling much better post chemo #2 than I did #1 - I hope I haven't spoken too soon.

Sunday 5th of January 

Oh , what a difference a day makes.

Quote of the Day:
You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf 
Joseph Goldstein

FEC #2 - January 2nd

I had my blood tests taken on Friday the 27th of December labelled chemo priority.

I received a phone call this morning at 09:50 from the ward asking me to come in asap, on asking why - I had my bloods taken too early and they need to be taken again. 

Who advised me knowing the next date of cycle two? - only the ward, *expletive*. But I went in early with my Mum, popped my hand in a bowl of warm water to heat up my veins, had the cannula fitted and bloods taken.

Within the hour I was given the all clear to start FEC # 2, meaning my white blood cell count was normal. 

Ding ding - round 2 

Had a chat with a man opposite me, he has been in treatment for the last three years and said the only way to get through this is to stay positive and watch lots of old skool comedy

Image source: http://goodmenproject.com
Pink writing added by yours truly

He said I looked like his favourite singer. People of a certain age usually crack a comment about Tammy Wynette and I sometimes respond " you really wouldn't want me to sing for you". 

But he compared me to Sinead O'Connor (yes flattery will get you everywhere ole chap) and seemed suitably impressed that I wasn't wearing a wig. 

The nurse administering my injections even commented that I was lucky to have a "good shaped head"! *yes I'm quite impressed in the shape of my head too, my cranium/brain case has not let me down, no strange moles, lumps or bumps*

Just a little patchy - but still got hair at the moment 01/01/2014

Had my obligatory red pee afterwards and took a picture for my chemo diary and then came home and surprisingly ate quite well, rollmop herring, farmhouse ham, spinach, plum tomatoes, olives with garlic and bread + drank my own body weight in water. The red E (Epirubicin) drug has already disappeared from my system. 

Battling to keep my eyes open tonight and thought I felt a bit queasy, but ploughing through a drum of Twiglets, so I can't feel that bad. Mmm Marmite ....

If you are following a chemotherapy treatment plan at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, the Lingen Davies Centre can issue you with a carpark form which allows ten treatment plans = free parking. You are not limited to one car and I haven't driven for months, mainly as I don't trust myself at the moment behind the wheel, so rely on my Mum, Dad or Hubster for lifts to the hospital. You can not use the pass for other appointments to the oncologist etc. 

2 down and 4 to go.

YOLO peeps xx

Party trick gone tits up

My new party trick of pulling hair from my head, because I can - has slightly backfired in that I have a patch or two of baldness -which I just can't disguise (schoolgirl error). It seemed funny at the time.....

BUT without hair I feel that my head is too small for my body. 

I am indeed the shrunken head guy from Beetlejuice and that is clearly the dude on the right in this gif. However he appears to have a ponytail of hair which I had not previously noticed and is clearly sporting more hair than I currently have or can currently boast. 
Bugger..... 

Pubic Hair Migration

So 
with the  migration of pubic hair, this can mean only one thing. The inevitable is about to happen (the hardest part of the process).

I am about to loose my hair from my head. 

I asked my Hubster to shave my head this evening in the bath and take pictures to post to my blog.

I actually think the Freddie Mercury Moustache is quite fetching and the plant growing from my head adds some what character. 

I've gone down to a grade 1, which means less hair being shed around the house in the future days/week.

I have purchased a beanie from http://www.boldbeanies.co.uk/ (based in Wrexham)as the woollen headbands I have been wearing around the house are not something I can sleep in and will not contain the hair loss either. It's a Liberty print and I'm very excited :)

http://www.boldbeanies.co.uk/

The headbands have however been invaluable under woolly hats and it is only now that I realise that my own hair used to keep my ears insulated from the elements.

Happy Holidays and have yourself a merry grope

xx

Dear Santa

Thank you so much for the early Christmas presents of 

Piles and Pubic alopecia

xxx

Hair

My haircut/hair donation is this Wednesday (4th of December) and I have brushed my hair out tonight and compiled a collage. 

I very rarely brush my hair because this is what happens .................... Big bushy hair

This is how it normally looks when I leave it to dry naturally 

Links

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/breast-cancer-information/impact-breast-cancer/long-term-side-effects/when-your-hair-grows-back

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/treatment/cancer-drugs/side-effects/hair-loss-hair-thinning-and-cancer-drugs

http://www.nhs.uk/ipgmedia/national/my%20new%20hair/assets/mynewhair-haircareaftercancertreatment8pages.pdf

http://www.mynewhair.org/Home.aspx

Hair Donation to The Little Princess Trust

I've decided to donate 12" of my hair to The Little Princess Trust and shave my head. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to experience hair loss as a child/teenager. 

http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/

Wednesday 4th of December at 2pm is the date. I have raised £25.00 to date through Justgiving.

Wigs

Source: http://www.wwe.com

For those with naturally long curly hair the market on the wig front is absolute pants. I ordered in three wigs which bared no resemblance to my own hair, needs must and all that malarky. I eventually opted for a long straight/slightly wavy brown model which I purchased with my NHS wig voucher and privately purchased a short straight one off ebay.





After Chemotherapy (March 2014)

My hair may grow back curlier (ffs), straight or indeed a completely different colour. You're probably all thinking it's just hair, it will grow back and indeed it will, but this has been my huge bugbear of mine since my diagnosis.

I understand that I have been lucky in catching a fast growing cancer and yes I would rather have my health, BUT can't I have my hair too?


I have invested in fake eyelashes and an eyebrow stencil kit. The last and only time I have ever tried to put on fake eyelashes I gave up as it landed on my right cheek. I'm not high maintenance as those that know me ... know

I have also purchased a deep red couture lipstick to "frame my face", which I have been trying out recently on nights out.

Source: alittlebitunique.blogspot.com

Dainty Doll lipstick in 001 Couture

Rene of Paris Amore Monofilament wigs are indeed the most realistic wigs out there.
http://www.trendco.co.uk/amore-wigs.html


Alternatively: http://www.laravisual.com/old-finnish-people-with-things-on-their-heads/

30th of October - Results

My Husband and I are sat in the waiting room waiting to see my consultant/surgeon. I'm looking over to the lady opposite and surmise that she is wearing a wig (What the **** is happening to me?).

I've become obsessed with hair and taking plenty of photographs of mine whilst I have it. The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have run trials in the past on using the cold cap and no longer offer this as an option to their patients.

Through this link you can search for scalp cooling in the UK. Enter your postcode to find your nearest hospital http://www.paxman-coolers.co.uk/campaigns

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chemotherapy/Pages/Side-effects.aspx

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Livingwithandaftercancer/Symptomssideeffects/Hairloss/Scalpcooling.aspx

Another woman across the waiting room said " I have followed you around appointment after appointment and I half expected you to be on the ward on my day of surgery".

We exchanged the fact that her surgery had been on the Tuesday and mine was on the Thursday. I had obviously been in such a daze not to have notice her, although she was so friendly and familiar. She said I had stood out to her whilst we waited outside x-ray  for the mammogram as she said I was much younger than anyone else there. I explained that I had a lumpectomy and the next course of action was chemotherapy and that I was gutted to be losing my hair, followed by radiotherapy. She said that she had come for her first mammogram (as I think that cancer screening is offered at the age of 50 in the UK) and it was only then that they had detected an anomaly, whisked into surgery and would now need radiotherapy (no chemo involved).

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Testsscreening/Breastscreening/Breastscreeningunder50.aspx

We initially went in to see my Breast Cancer Care Nurse Specialist and a nursing student in her second year at Staffordshire University and they checked the wound site and then called in my Consultant to have a gander at his handy work, which my husband and I are exceptionally pleased with.

The incision across my right boob is 3.5 inches in length
The incision made for the sentinel lymph node biopsy just below my right armpit is 3 inches in length

He explained that it was Grade 3 invasive breast cancer. He had removed the margins of the tumour site and they were clear and that the Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy was also clear.

Staging and grading of Breast Cancer
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Breast/Symptomsdiagnosis/Stagingandgrading.aspx

I tested Negative for ER status and Negative for HER2 Status. I am still awaiting the results to whether I am PR Negative status. This determines whether I take Tamoxifen for 5 years post chemotherapy and radiotherapy or whether I am Triple Negative, which is found in about 1 in 5 with breast cancer (15-20%).

Tamoxifen
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Breast/Treatingbreastcancer/Hormonaltherapies/Tamoxifen.aspx

Triple Negative Breast Cancer
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Breast/Aboutbreastcancer/Typesandrelatedconditions/Triplenegativebreastcancer.aspx

I am now waiting for an appointment at the Lingen Davies Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to discuss the side effects of chemotherapy and the chemotherapy treatment I will be having. All appointments from here on in will be in Shrewsbury - Hurrah.

All I can think at the moment is FEC off ......

FEC Chemotherapy 
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertreatment/Treatmenttypes/Chemotherapy/Combinationregimen/FEC.aspx