Also, what are anyone else's experiences with "chemo brain?" I have to go quite slowly at work and make sure I don't mess up the simpliest things. It is very frustrating.
I worked the whole time I was going through chemo; with lots of days off. My employer continues to be very supportive and understanding of the cancer treatment through which I am going. There are quite a few cancer *** kickers working here and we've used each other as support and encourgement too. Plus, my landlord had cancer and so did the younger gal who lives on the first floor! We are everywhere and we are tough and we will kick cancer's butt!




Dear Kaye,
I also had radiation right after finishing Taxol. I personally found radiation much easier than chemo and worked right through it going to radiation right after work each day. The side effects from radiation are more cumulative than with chemo, which gets worse and then better on each 21 day cycle. Ask the radiation folks what you can put on your skin and then apply it faithfully. My doctor said aloe vera lotion would be good, and then later prescribed a cream, but be sure you get the OK from your own doctor. What is OK for one person may not be right for someone else.
Like you Taxol polished off those eyebrows and eyelashes that had hung in there through all of the Adriamycin/Cytoxan treatments. The make-up lady in a department store showed me how to create eyebrows that didn't look too terrible. My attempts to figure it out myself with products from the drug store just made me look like a clown. So get an expert to help you if it's still bothering you that the eyebrows are gone.
Phyllis Johnson
Dear Phyllis:
Thank you so much for your post! I'm feeling better every day, thank goodness. I've just finished my 7th radiation and I've not yet experienced any skin irritation or any increased fatigue. I'm feeling - finally - like I might just conquer this and feel like my old self again, but better. With a renewed perspective of what is and what isn't important.
Thanks to you, I've made an appointment at Macy's to get a lesson in eyebrows. I always had great, Brooke Shields type eyebrows, so never needed to fill them in, etc., just kept them trimmed, waxed and clean. One of my best gfriends is going with me, so this should be fun.
Thank you, Phyllis!
Kaye