Hair Today - Gone Tomorrow

Chemotherapy yesterday - Hair Loss Tomorrow

Well - one chemotherapy session down, seven to go! Sorry about the delay in posting this.

Actually - having the chemotherapy injected was a bit of a breeze. I sat with a chemo nurse who gave me all three drugs by what she called a bolus injection. In other words, she injected each in turn from what looked like huge syringes. Very odd sensations at times.

The chemotherapy I am having at the moment is called CEF (or FEC in the UK). The letters stand for Cyclophosphamide, Epirubicin and 5-Flurouracil. The cyclophosphamide was very weird. It gave me the sensation of downing two glasses of wine one after the other and - while not expected - it wasn't completely unpleasant. It wore off very quickly and I was able to go home feeling completely normal.

I felt great for six hours apart from bright red pee from the Epirubicin. I won't dwell on the next six hours after that .....yuk, yuk, yuk .... but it did only last six hours and then I had a fabulous nights sleep.

I've felt great ever since - but a bit wired and fuel injected thanks to the steroids that they've given me. This has been great for Gordon because he thought that he was going to have to do all the housework, but every time he turns his back, I've done it.

This buzzy mania feeling has been a pleasant boost but it's hard to get to sleep. The chemotherapy nurse warned me not to take the steroid dose after lunchtime to try to minimise this effect. I hope I don't crash too much on day four when I stop taking them.

All in all - it hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought.

So - feeling good enough to go to an Eagles concert tonight. Boring old you know what's we might be but looking forward to a good sing along.

Have decided to have a hair shaving night tomorrow with my daughter Amy and Hilary my friend. It's odd - now that I know that my hair is going to fall out soon, I've gone off it in a big way. Beginning to hate my own hair now actually - how bizarre. I have a lovely wig and various nice hats so going to be positive about it and just whack it all off. Staying in control helps me cope.

OK - off now to brush up on the old song lyrics. More soon.

Marjory

You can find more information about chemotherapy side effects here