A busy day!

Well following my mini shopping spree (spent way to much on silly things like over priced socks from fat face) I went for my appointment at the Chemo ward.  The nurse was lovely and talked me through everything.....skip the next paragraph or four if you don't require the details!

So, I'll be having three cycles of FEC which is a combination of three drugs...fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide. Then three cycles of Docetaxel (commonly called Tax). Each cycle is 3 weeks.  Each drug has its own unique side effects but the common ones are:

nausea and sickness, apparently if you are prone to travel or morning sickness you are more likely to be hit hard by this......that'll be me then, six months of nausea with both girls and vomiting for a lot of that!  At least I know what to expect and I've been through it before and can do it again, just a shame there is not the reward of a cute little baby at the end of it!

Fatigue...this can come and go but can get worse as a cumulative effect over the whole period.

Hair loss...I asked and it is pretty much guaranteed on this combo of drugs....interesting fact, you can actually loose ALL hair by the end, even the hairs in your nose and ears!!!  There is the option of a 'cold cap' to try and save your head hair.  This involves wearing a helmet with frozen liquid in it (basically a giant ice pack) on your head for  an hour before, during and up to an hour after chemo.  Apparently it hurts, a lot, for the first ten mins and then goes numb.  The idea of it is to restrict blood flow to your scalp and therefore give some protection to the hair follicles from the chemo.  I think I am going to politely decline this little delight for several reasons.  I think freezing my scalp can't be good for it (not that chemo drugs are either but I have no choice in that).  I think freezing my hair
won't be good for it- mega frizzy bad hair day.   If I want to try to save my hair I'll need to only wash it twice a week so it will look manky most of the time anyway.  Finally, after some research it often only works partially anyway so you end up with bald patches and those with thicker hair tend to have less success because basically my thick curly mass is going to insulate my scalp quite well and it probably won't be cooled enough.  So I have resigned myself to loosing it, apparently from day 14.  I'm cool about it though, I've often had urges to shave my head and wondered what it would be like, never had the balls to though so now life is giving me that opportunity!  The only thing that slightly terrifies me is that it grows back differently, which is possible, after wishing my hair was any other way than it is for the majority of my life I had actually come to quite love it over the past few years.  Can't imagine having straight hair, but we'll cross that bridge later.

Wow, I seem to have written a lot about hair!  It's weird that this is the thing people are most traumatised about with chemo.  I guess it's because it's the thing that really makes you LOOK sick and like a 'patient'.  I may feel differently when it actually happens, but for now I'm ok with the idea.  Not so much with the thought of a wig though!  Have declined that avenue too, for the time being.

There are additional side effects when it comes to the Docetaxel but I'll bore you with that when I switch on to it!

So, after my visit to chemo ward, I had the delight of the dentist, and guess what?.......I have to go back on Thursday for a filling.......you have got to be kidding me!

Tomorrow I have 'pre-chemo assessment'. I will have this every time.  I have to go to pathology for blood tests, then x-ray department for chest x- ray to make sure no infection, then cardiology for ECG, then up to chemo ward again for height, weight, blood pressure and a catch up with the Oncologist!  Bournemouth hospital is all on just two levels so all this running between departments is a real work out and you need a degree in orienteering just to find your way around!

After all that (and the filling on Thursday) I should be all set for Friday.  The good thing about them doing all this before hand is that on the day I just need to have bloods again (don't ask me why they take it on wed as well) then the actual chemo which should take about an hour, so if I don't do the cold cap I will be in and out in a couple of hours.

My mum is here now and diligently reading through all the bumf (is this a real word?) I got given......then I predict going to criticise, argue or rebuff at least some of it :-)