One month
G'day all!
Today is the second of June. (Second looks wrong but it is correct. I think. *blush* I'll blame chemo brain.)
All going well, that means in 30 days I will be having my last chemo infusion. Oh please hurry oh days! I am over this!
So I'd best pull my finger out and finish my chemo queen bedjacket, shouldn't I? Otherwise it won't be a chemo queen bedjacket.
At the moment it looks like this:
The sleeves are done, but the body has quite a number of rows to go. I've managed about another 8 rows in the last few days but I've been horribly distracted by a baby outfit for a friend who is about to pop. Only silly me is making the outfit in 4ply (fingering weight) cotton and it is taking FOREVER to do. Rather like the chemo queen bedjacket.
Plus I have startitis and want to get the next shawl on the needles, but I really need to finish either the baby outfit or the bedjacket first. Only they are not for entry into a show. And then there is the chemo queen crown for my last infusion.
Decisions, decisions!
Yesterday I went along to a Look Good, Feel Better session. This is an initiative of the beauty industry to help us poor suffering cancer patients look nice by applying lots of crud to our faces. We did makeup and scarves and wigs. I got some nice makeup but jeez it whiffs. Why do they put so much steenky perfume in the stuff? I have not worn makeup, proper makeup, umm, hmm, probably since my wedding. That is nearly six years ago! I discovered it is hard to apply mascara to the approximately 20 eyelashes I have left. I kept wiping it on my eyelid instead. I took pics of me in all sorts of wigs but, ahem, have not yet downloaded them. I shall! It is amusing seeing what I look like in some badly manicured wigs - they don't look so good after being dragged from pillar to post. But they are still amusing. One very short wig I tried on made me look like putty - really ill - and did not suit me at all. The lady next to me, with her darkish skin, looked fantastic! It really suited her. I looked surprisingly good in auburn wigs. Always wanted to be a redhead if I was not blonde... I am still contemplating getting a fringe or a halo (friar tuck). It would be nice to have hair sticking out from under the hats I wear. I also discovered why my head looks naked even with a hat on it - the caps need some height.
I've discovered another side effect of the chemo (taxotere). Red, blotchy, swollen cheeks like I've been slapped. They are prickly too and quite sensitive. For most of a week after chemo I have a red face (thanks, dexamethasone!) and a couple of days later this shows up. I saw the doctor yesterday cos we are finally breaking down and going to Centrelink to get the dole. (Note that DH currently has a part time contract and has been offered a part time job but the contract is very short term and the job won't be happening just yet and we are close to stony broke.) I need a medical certificate that effectively exempts me from having to job seek whilst I'm getting treatment. The doc said "side effect" and "nothing can be done." I rang the BC nurses this morning and they said "side effect" and "nothing can be done." So now I've got red blotchy puffy cheeks. I am slathering them with moisturiser and using sunscreen (as always!) and hope it will go away.... But if it doesn't, hopefully it will clear up by August along with the other chemo happy happy joy joy making stuff. That is only two months away. (Yikes! Where's the year gone?) I wouldn't care if they were just red, or even red and blotchy, but red and blotchy and puffy and sensitive and burnies is sorta annoying. I can't see red and blotchy but I can feel puffy and sensitive and burnies and pricklies. (Why yes, I am the person walking down the street with a big smear of something on her face. It might be food, it might be a pen mark, but I'm that person.... OR I may have gribbled some of my lunch on my front.) Oh, the blotchies are not related to the makeup session - I had them before then.)
Winter has begun in Melbourne. Not that the weather is indicating it, well only by temperature. We'd like a bit more rain - it's been quite dry recently. (We apologise to our fellow Melburnians - we did put a few plants in out the front yard and thereby stopped the nice April and early May rains.) I know that out east and in NZ, it has been rather wet indeed but not here. Plenty of leaves left on the trees too - I guess they are hanging on to them for as long as possible.
(Argh, poopy! Nathan has been tutoring a chap who desperately wants to pass a certain course so that he can graduate. I've been carefully staying away from sick people - anyone with a cold or the flu can stay away from here and from me! Makes life very dull, admittedly, but better safe than sorry! So guess who came here for some tutoring and then revealed he has a cold? Nathan had best not get it cos I will definitely get it and that will almost certainly mean a spell in hospital - this is my low immune week....)
anon!
Today is the second of June. (Second looks wrong but it is correct. I think. *blush* I'll blame chemo brain.)
All going well, that means in 30 days I will be having my last chemo infusion. Oh please hurry oh days! I am over this!
So I'd best pull my finger out and finish my chemo queen bedjacket, shouldn't I? Otherwise it won't be a chemo queen bedjacket.
At the moment it looks like this:
The sleeves are done, but the body has quite a number of rows to go. I've managed about another 8 rows in the last few days but I've been horribly distracted by a baby outfit for a friend who is about to pop. Only silly me is making the outfit in 4ply (fingering weight) cotton and it is taking FOREVER to do. Rather like the chemo queen bedjacket.
Plus I have startitis and want to get the next shawl on the needles, but I really need to finish either the baby outfit or the bedjacket first. Only they are not for entry into a show. And then there is the chemo queen crown for my last infusion.
Decisions, decisions!
Yesterday I went along to a Look Good, Feel Better session. This is an initiative of the beauty industry to help us poor suffering cancer patients look nice by applying lots of crud to our faces. We did makeup and scarves and wigs. I got some nice makeup but jeez it whiffs. Why do they put so much steenky perfume in the stuff? I have not worn makeup, proper makeup, umm, hmm, probably since my wedding. That is nearly six years ago! I discovered it is hard to apply mascara to the approximately 20 eyelashes I have left. I kept wiping it on my eyelid instead. I took pics of me in all sorts of wigs but, ahem, have not yet downloaded them. I shall! It is amusing seeing what I look like in some badly manicured wigs - they don't look so good after being dragged from pillar to post. But they are still amusing. One very short wig I tried on made me look like putty - really ill - and did not suit me at all. The lady next to me, with her darkish skin, looked fantastic! It really suited her. I looked surprisingly good in auburn wigs. Always wanted to be a redhead if I was not blonde... I am still contemplating getting a fringe or a halo (friar tuck). It would be nice to have hair sticking out from under the hats I wear. I also discovered why my head looks naked even with a hat on it - the caps need some height.
I've discovered another side effect of the chemo (taxotere). Red, blotchy, swollen cheeks like I've been slapped. They are prickly too and quite sensitive. For most of a week after chemo I have a red face (thanks, dexamethasone!) and a couple of days later this shows up. I saw the doctor yesterday cos we are finally breaking down and going to Centrelink to get the dole. (Note that DH currently has a part time contract and has been offered a part time job but the contract is very short term and the job won't be happening just yet and we are close to stony broke.) I need a medical certificate that effectively exempts me from having to job seek whilst I'm getting treatment. The doc said "side effect" and "nothing can be done." I rang the BC nurses this morning and they said "side effect" and "nothing can be done." So now I've got red blotchy puffy cheeks. I am slathering them with moisturiser and using sunscreen (as always!) and hope it will go away.... But if it doesn't, hopefully it will clear up by August along with the other chemo happy happy joy joy making stuff. That is only two months away. (Yikes! Where's the year gone?) I wouldn't care if they were just red, or even red and blotchy, but red and blotchy and puffy and sensitive and burnies is sorta annoying. I can't see red and blotchy but I can feel puffy and sensitive and burnies and pricklies. (Why yes, I am the person walking down the street with a big smear of something on her face. It might be food, it might be a pen mark, but I'm that person.... OR I may have gribbled some of my lunch on my front.) Oh, the blotchies are not related to the makeup session - I had them before then.)
Winter has begun in Melbourne. Not that the weather is indicating it, well only by temperature. We'd like a bit more rain - it's been quite dry recently. (We apologise to our fellow Melburnians - we did put a few plants in out the front yard and thereby stopped the nice April and early May rains.) I know that out east and in NZ, it has been rather wet indeed but not here. Plenty of leaves left on the trees too - I guess they are hanging on to them for as long as possible.
(Argh, poopy! Nathan has been tutoring a chap who desperately wants to pass a certain course so that he can graduate. I've been carefully staying away from sick people - anyone with a cold or the flu can stay away from here and from me! Makes life very dull, admittedly, but better safe than sorry! So guess who came here for some tutoring and then revealed he has a cold? Nathan had best not get it cos I will definitely get it and that will almost certainly mean a spell in hospital - this is my low immune week....)
anon!
Woop Woop! Not long to go, you definitely need a crown to celebrate!!! Hope the cheeks get better.
ReplyDeleteHurray, only thirty days to go!!
ReplyDeleteThat is great news! Hang in there!! I'm sorry to hear you're having all of those horrible side effects -- hopefully they will go away quick once the chemo stops.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's hair (he didn't completely lose it) came in pretty fast once he stopped the chemo, and he's a lot older than you, so you'll be showing off your silky locks to us in no time, I'm sure. :)