Tamoxifen- the silver jubilee 25th edition

[Gigondas]

New thread in honour if queen mas

Marking my place. 25 just my age or waist measurement

Oh brilliant Gig well done, - I'd only just noticed we'd reached 1000!!!

25....
hairs in my beard,
pounds overweight,
wrinkles on my forehead
pence in my bank account

at kurri

25 would probably be the hairs left on my head. Thinking of polishing it

Let this be our inspiration gracie as am a few weeks behind you bad wigs

Ah ha, now I'm confuddled - two Jubilee Threads.

I've got the Bunting out, where's the ladder?

Yay for DSS's results, Gig. Enjoy the fizzy wine. I think your makeup artist lady has hit the nail on the head. After the initial shock of losing all your hair (or most or some of it) it's certainly an opportunity to experiment with other things like wigs/scarves/hats and bandanas. I have quite a selection and, when my hair grew back all curly wurly I've kept it very short and grey rather than longing for how it was before - brown, midlength and a bit wavy.

Love that link Gracie. Very stylish and yours too Gig.

Anyone else watching the football tonight? I'm quite looking forward to it.

Just noticed there is actually a ' bad wig' page on Facebook. Definitely none I would be choosing.

I actually don't mind having no hair (wouldn't like to be without it for ever) but I definitely didn't freak like I thought I would. So far my eyebrows and eyelashes are still there, a bit thinner, but still hanging on. I think I will freak more when they go.

According to my nurse are Last to go and sometimes don't go at all/completely but agree that freaks me more. Eyelashes ESP.

Sorry for tmi but lost some body hair already and it's not so bad... Saves on waxing .

I know I haven't had to shave my legs in weeks and gave up waxing after my node removal and totally clear. Absolutely love that part of it. There is always something positive. DH thinks its great as I'm ready to go out in about half an hour instead of washing, drying and straightening hair.

The football is exciting - DH is shouting at the TV, - but nice to see him getting enthusiastic over something

I hope no one takes this the wrong way, - I'm not trying to make light of hair loss I know it is a big thing to get used to, and a visible 'sign' of your illness and treatment - but I found that once I had adjusted to losing my hair, being bald was actually strangely freeing, - no worrying about what your hair looks like, no styling or washing, you just get up in the morning stick on your wig or hat/scarf in my case (I didn't have a wig) and get on with your day.

That isn't making light of it- kurri it is nice to think that you can get there and feel ok. Leaving aside the effect ofist as visual reminder i am sick (but aren't surgery and other side effects bad enough) if I didn't want all the "poor gig has cancer" reactions , I probably wouldn't bother with a wig .

For those that have done radio and chemo, how does the fatigue compare?

I think sport is therapeutic - going to watch football with my dad and chatting about it helped our relationship when he was struggling to cope with his alcoholism. Those that are scathing about sport underestimate it's positive effect.

Yayy, we won!!!!

KK, yes you do have a point. After the initial shock of being bald it was interesting to see how it regrew and we used to joke about how much time I saved getting reading in the mornings. Plus, I knew it would only be temporary. Now, I take great pleasure in little things like feeling the wind in my hair and, now it's really short, I am enjoying experimenting with beautiful earrings.

Re body hair - I have none under my armpits or nether regions at all, they are sparse on my legs but my toes, for some reason, resemble Hobbit feet if I don't shave them once a week.

hobbit feet

I felt more intensively tired on chemo Gig - I'd have a couple of days when I was completely floored, with radio it was a more even kind of tiredness, - there all the time but if I was careful and paced myself, I could get stuff done. But I had very low neutrophils all the time, and was on accelarated chemo - so not much chance to recover, - some people manage to keep working through chemo, and just don't get as many side effects, - its very individual. And of course depends on the type of chemo drugs you have to some extent.

Also - I'm, fairly certain my thyroid problems were going on in the background too - and that makes you very tired, - so I'm probably not a very good person to comment, and lots of people cope far better than I did.

For some reason the loss of body hair is only upside in my opinion- no more waxing etc.

And re football.

Rose wine helping my mood(plus lovely
Dss and gf who were on good form) - I have a nice summer of sport to watch when I am recovering .

Thanks kurri-know what you mean about radio. It crept up on me with radio but wanted to know what relative effect was. The bad days (or flat days which I thought was a nice way of putting it by my nurse) is something I will use diary to track.

Aargh gracie - those feet! (my DS has hobbit feet, - hairy ginger toes )

I don't have any hair under my arm on my radiotherapy side - it never grew back - which halves shaving time

I also enjoy going fro interesting earrings Figgy, - my hair will always be short now I think, - it just doesn't seem to grow downwards, just gets thick and tufty so I keep it cropped, but I rather like it this way now.

DH pleased that England won (even though he's Scottish, he supports England when Scotland don't qualify (i.e. every tournament )

uh oh,shall we stay on this one ? will link to it !

shall we make this the official thread ?

Oh have we got two threads - I'll have to go and read the other one too

I think we should stick with this one - just so we all know where we are! But let me know if you decide the other way, or I'll probably hang around here for days talking to myself and wondering where everyone has gone

Blimey, i'm seeing double and all i've had is cocoa. Off to bed now - had 10 hour sleep last night so don't feel especially tired today. Strange but okay way to be, methinks. Good night, all. xxxxx

good morning ! yes,we'll stick with this one I think

Morning All

Think you can hide from me ???
Found you !

Park me beside the fbs trolley and feed me lots of coffee today please .
Woke up yesterday loaded with a cold so am following Granny's old adage of "feed a cold , starve a fever" .
Have my pre chemo appointment on Monday and the last thing I want is to be turned away . This has been delayed long enough . Am getting paranoid that the Bastard Cancer will have spread ...

My feelings on hair loss .
I found it very liberating .
I wasn't bothered in the slightest by losing my hair (and I know a lot of women are , and I'm not be littleing their emotions . This is purely how I feel about it)
No body hair to worry about , no spending ages with the straighteners on my mad hair .
The only thing I didn't like was the loss if my eye brows and lashes .

Oh and chemo also clears my psoriasis up ! So that is a huge bonus .

I try to see chemo as my friend .
Yes it does have some pretty awful side effects , but for me the good things it does outweighs those .
Aside from all the things I have already listed , it kicks my Bastard Cancers arse !

But I do remember on my first chemo appointment , weeping as the nurse placed the cannula .
And it wasn't a fear if needles as she and my DH presumed (and I let them continue thinking)
It was me mourning my old life .
Acknowledging that from here on in everything would be different .
Whether or not the chemo worked , that Cancer would be in my life for ever .

Ok enough of that (I have just shed a little tear typing that)

I am spending the rest of the morning on my sofa , wrapped in my DDs fluffy pink blankie , watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the original Swedish .
Oh and I happen to have a supply of Green and Blacks , Champagne Truffles , and French Choccies to share if anyone cares to join me ???

Hope you are all having a joyous Saturday x