**Tamoxigang heading towards hearts and valentines - thread 47**

[BetsyBoop]

roses are red
violets are blue
sugar is sweet
but cakes are better

I'd love recommendations for scarves too. I looked in M&S today but they only had huge ones. I've got an appointment with the wig lady at hospital on Thursday but I'd like to get a couple of scarves as well.

Didn't get the bus I got a lift instead ! 2nd rads done very un eventful think it will get very tedious going every day though I sympathise with your DF going for 6 weeks honey

Mummy wheel strange yours has increased too

I wore my wig all of the time, well apart from round the house. I did buy a couple of those turban style hats for around the house from amazon, only wore them when it was freezing and my hair was at its worse! I looked at annabandana they seemed to have a good selection

Oh Malt, I remember that Betsy said the rads were tedious.

Wine - I love cake too. With so many steroids pumping through my body I need to stick to the virtual cakes on the trolley

Wren - It is definitely worth asking for Nuelasta, I have only had one cold on chemo despite being around a snotty 3 year old. If you are a private patient it will be given in one shot, 24 hours after chemo. On the NHS it is given out in shots over 7 days, apparently this is because it is cheaper way to administer the drug.

Mom - Good to hear your over the worst of it. Physically I am tolerating Tax very well, mentally I am not. This is due to the lack of sleep.

Mummy and Pickle - I really recommend Christine Headwear. I have the yoga turban and Christine scarf 291. I haven't worn my wig yet!

Ladies who did Tax, how did you get through the lack of sleep? I feel like I did when my DS was born.

I got neulasta after every FEC and think it was worth it, like tiny I have a snotty 3 year old as well as a just as snotty 6 year old! Now I'm on weekly tax, I have a different drug but same idea.
Taking my sis to her genetics appt tomorrow to discuss her options now she is BRCA2 + as well. Means that chemo delayed till thurs this week .

Tiny I asked for sleeping tablets because of lack of sleep on my first Tax. I couldn't sleep naturally until end week 2. I'm finding the same this cycle. It is a very low dose, but it does the trick and gets me to sleep. I still wake up once, go to the loo and manage to fall straight back to sleep. On AC, I only had sleep problems on days I took steroids and maybe one to two days after. It was driving me crazy last cycle. It was worse than my EBF new-baby days, because at least then I could sleep between feeds, and managed to get at least some sleep.

To all of you wondering about scarfs, etc, I'm another who has stuck with wearing my wig, and didn't go the scarfs route. My wig place gave me a few soft cotton night hats. I always wear these two at a time, to keep my head warm. I got two almost identical wigs, and the wig place washes them for me every few weeks.
I did buy several hats, but ended up not wearing them. They made my head too warm when wearing them inside.

I got most of my scarves from annabandana - they have quite a range of different styles - I also wore buffs and handybands (from seasalt) quite a bit too and dressed them up with scarves I already had when out of the house

I had neualasta with every cycle on FEC-T - one shot 24hrs after chemo - NHS

yes rads is very tedious

I didn't have problems sleeping on tax - quite the opposite infact - by the last cycle I was barely awake during the worst days!

Really if you are reading this hope you are doing ok, thinking about you.

Well I've survived my return to work, and the children are still as lovely as ever! A few double-takes from the adults due to my short hair... I'm surprised how tired I am though, hopefully that will get better when I get back in the swing a bit more.

Well done for successfully having tackled work, betsy. You must be tired now. Nothing from kitkat....

I just got a Christine yoga headscarf today - same time as I got my wig. The wig made me depressed, but the headscarf cheered me up as I can imagine using it and it looks much nicer. I also like my Shelley hat from Trends. Not worn any of these yet, but stockpiling.... A couple of things including sleep caps from Annabandana, but had an awkward customer service interaction with them.

If anyone has access to the Headstrong service, it's a good way of trying on different scarves and getting advice on all the possibilities but not an essential, I'd say.

Oh, and to my surprise I got a free Stella McCartney scarf on my chemo day. So it's all been worth it after all....

I'll ask my onco about nuelasta, but I bet they're reluctant. Oh well.

betsy, what is a buff? I've looked at the photos and was interested, but couldn't imagine how they work. Silly question, really, as I'm not sure how you're meant to describe it! Ditto handybands.

Mom - I have been prescribed Zopiclone, but it is not keeping me asleep for more than a few hours and once I am awake, I am wide awake! What sleeping tablets are you using? I really need to find something that will work, this is driving me crazy.

What a lovely sister you are Wee, hope all goes well tomorrow.

It might just be my NHS Trust that is watching the pennies Betsy, it is one of the ones that is bankrupt. So pleased that you are enjoying being back at work. Be kind to yourself, I think we under estimate how much our bodies have been through.

The Christine headscarves are so easy to tie Wren, you will get a lot of wear out of your one. Wow - a Stella McCartney scarf, I wouldn't say no, to one of those!

Thinking of you as well Really.

tiny, also Zolpidem Tartrate Teva 5mg. Am supposed to take 1. I had 2 or 3 nights last cycle where I still wasn't sleeping well and took a second one. I stay up until 11:30 ish, and will wake up 3am ish but do manage to fall back to sleep ok. I am up 7:30 ish for school run.
Before I got that prescription I took Lorazepan that I had left over from AC chemo. I took a full one rather than the half I was prescribed. That worked well.

handybands

Betsy I love that buff demo. Ds has buffs but I had no idea they were so versatile. I can picture myself wearing one of those whereas I can't imagine wearing a wig and I'm seriously crap with scarves.

Evening all. Have read all your messages and it looks like it's been a good day all round (hopefully for really too).

I had a lovely day at work but despite leaving early at 3:45 I really struggled on the drive home and the last half an hour was all about staying awake. Am back tomorrow then working locally for the rest of the week.
I've a feeling that the low carb diet may not be helping - felt much better after tea (fish and a few chips!!).

I also wore buffs and handybands rather than attempt scarf art! Wig for going out/work days. I already had some Buffs for skiing so just added a few in different colours but preferred the cotton handybands for sleep.

I'm feeling much more full of life on Capecitabine than I did on Letrozole. I found the bone ache (which seem to be a SE of most hormone pills) was very wearing.

To the person who mentioned not sleeping well when on Tax - I found I slept very well - much better than when taking hormone pill.

pickle I was similar to you and buffs/handybands worked well for me. My favourite way was to make it into the "skullcap" style with the twist in the middle and the add either a scarf or another buff/handyband in "headband" style around it, I saw it on The video on this page

kitkat - glad work is going well, it's surprisingly tiring though, take it easy for a while

Lily - I'm glad the cab isn't too bad on the SE front, fingers crossed it does a good job too.

cab Capecitabine - no idea what my fat fingers typed to get that autocorrect!

Hi I'm still in hospital. Hoping to escape today (but i've been saying that all week)

I think with days and days of being stuck here with nothing to take my mind off things. I've hit rock bottom

Reading yr posts have kept me going! But i won't lie its been a struggle. I am trying to find a positive in every day! But sometimes that's hard.

Hopefully I'll be out soon and able to post properly. Sorry i can't keep up with everyone. I am thinking about you all. Xxxxxxx

Really it's lovely to see a post from you don't worry at all about keeping up with all of the posts it's a struggle at the best of times. I hope they let you out today. Is everything ok with the brain bleed are they just keeping an eye on you ?
Lots of love x

Good to hear from you , really. Hospital just gives you too much time with yourself and your thoughts, just when you are so ill and exhausted that your own head is the last place you want to be. It's seriously crap, but it will pass and you will be back in your own life.

Lovely to hear from you Really, sending you lots of {{{Hugs}}}.

Mom - Thanks for that information, I will have a good chat with the Oncologist at my next appointment. I am hoping that it is just a case of finding the right sleeping tablet for 'ME'. I am also going to ask if he can adjust the steroid dose, as far as I am aware they are just for anti sickness. I was thinking if it is a standard does, perhaps it is hitting me hard, as I am small and petite.

Lily - Good to hear that your new drug regime is working out for you. It was me that was having sleeping problems - there is no hormone therapy for my type of BC, I just have to cross everything and pray the traditional methods have worked, so hopefully after chemo my sleeping problems with disappear.

Good Morning to everyone else!

Tiny - I was on a reduced steroid dose due to them giving me diabetes. I don't know about FEC but on Tax you have to have a reasonable dose becasue of the risk of allergic reactions - I was on about 2/3rd of a standard dose.

I am very sensitive to steroids (so it turns out) and as well as the diabetes I could not sleep and was really hyper when taking them - followed by a huge crash when I stopped. I had sleeping pills for the last 5 or 6 weeks (as I was only sleeping about 3 hrs/night) and they worked well.

Lovely to hear from you really. I've been sitting here worrying about you, which seems a bit mad as I don't know you. I think you just have to take each day as it comes and a crap internet connection doesn't help.

I'm off to hospital today. I've packed the bag I use for skiing holidays (ie very big) and it seems to be full once I put a dressing gown and towels in it. I have no idea if my room will have a wardrobe or not but I wanted to take enough stuff so I'm not relying on people doing washing every few days (and therefore having to visit me, I'm not good with visitors!).

I'm hoping to be home by 7th March as I've got a bone marrow biopsy booked for 10th March and I'd like to be able to make that (as it means I will have recovered sufficiently to be let out). At least I have my own room in hospital and possibly a tv (or if not I've got my Ipad).

pickle, very very good luck with going into hospital today and with the next few weeks. I hope you'll be able to let us know how things are going, but we will be thinking of you even if you can't. And thinking of your ds too. Know what you mean about visitors in hospital; I'm not good at them either. And people bring kind gifts that seem so foreign to ones state - I have a dozen smelly bath oils that I've been unable to use.

Fingers crossed for that 7 March discharge.

really good to hear from you. I can sympathise about the hospital stay, I used have a little cry each day the doctors said 'not going home today' when I was in hospital early Dec. They used to get very concerned about my tears. And I never usually get upset.

kitkat it is good to know that somebody else got hyper on steroids. I was surprised to stay hyper for so many days afterwards. Did you crash within each cycle, or once chemo was complete and you were no longer taking any steroids?

Just had a call from the hospital. They don't know what dose of chemo to give me and I can't go in until they find out. Aarggh!! I've called the London hospital and hopefully it is being sorted.