Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, we all seem to feel shocked when we're given the news.
If you are in the UK, you should receive lots of local information from your Oncologist or your lead nurse, who will also put you in touch with your local MacMillan service, or it's equivalent.
The side-effects of chemo vary from patient to patient, and different cancers need different drugs, so no-one will be able to say for certain what impact the chemo might have on you. Frustrating I know, but I'm afraid that's how it is. Some people seem to lose all their hair and others get away with just a bit of thinning.
There's some useful information about hair loss on here see www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../coping-with-hair-loss
Yes I am in England, not doing well at the moment, I keep crying!! I know everyone must feel the same, just want the treatment to start, I feel I am being invaded!
Hi Anne it certainly is a tough time, my wife went thru it twice and did get a wig both times on the Nhs, though the modern ones are absolutely fabulous and should be accepted with glee, in our experience all attempts to preserve hair including cold caps are useless, but the choice of wigs is vast, get positive and even angry to face the challenge ahead . The best of luck to you.
I'm OK at the moment, thanks. Physically I'm back to where I was before I started chemo. I still have cancer but it is now dormant and isn't causing me physical problems.
It's just coming up to two years since I finished chemo - I've been on a watch and wait regime for that period. The chemo worked for me, it was never intended to rid me of cancer, just to stop it growing as I was diagnosed at Stage 4. I never expected to still be around for my third Christmas with cancer.
Everyone reacts differently, I was pretty angry when I was diagnosed and if I'm honest I do sometimes slip back into that. Keeping positive definitely helps, though that's always easier said than done.
Glad to hear that you plan to fight this. Your mind will slowly adjust to your new way of life and you will find your own way of coping. Waiting for results and waiting for therapy to start is always a problem. We all worry about any delay in starting treatment and the whole care process seems to lack a sense of urgency. I was lucky enough to start chemo just a week after diagnosis, but that seemed a very long time.
Thank you for sharing some of your journey with me.
Yes waiting feels forever even over days, I have got private healthcare through work, but haven't used it yet!
For me I have to be positive, I want my kids to see me like that, although in their 20's and one of those still at home, I need to do this for them too, they are as devastated as I am and the thought that at this point in time our lives will never be the same againis hard.
