Wonder Wig's!

I was filled with nervous excitement when Debby ' the hair lady' from NGH called me to say that my wig's were ready for collection! So off I went on 23rd January to pick up 'Vivian' and my other, yet to be named, Wig.

I just love that Booby Jo has given names to her wigs' and so of course its only natural that I am going to name mine.

So, why 'Vivian' I hear you ask?...well I do have a bonkers friend called Viv that does crazy things like that, but it is in fact named after the character from the 'Pretty Woman' film, who wears a similar wig whilst 'plying her trade' alongside the tacky souvenir shops of Hollywood boulevard!!

You'll be pleased to know that I'm not looking at changing career's but hope that you see the similarities!!

Vivian and some eye candy for the ladies xx

My 'Vivian' modelled by Steve

...and finally me wearing Vivian!


So... what about the other wig.... I'm struggling with naming this one, 'Vivian' was just an instant inspiration. So this is where I need your help to find a name and its another opportunity to have some fun!!

Tony and Guy, Northampton, and in particular Chloe and Chris, helped me prepare for my hair loss and I'm going to give £40 in Tony and Guy Voucher's as a prize for the most befitting and original name suggested. I will let you know shortly what you need to do with your suggestions if you want to take part , in the mean time check out the pictures of the wig and get your thinking caps on;

Chemotherapy - Round One!

I spent the morning of the 16th January 2014, distracting myself from thoughts about my first Chemotherapy and I was successful in getting myself into a bouncy mood.

In the spirit of keeping this real, there was a level of tension when Steve arrived from work to take me to the hospital. Steve seemed 'prickly' and It made no sense at all, other than this was about the build up to this 1st chemotherapy session. I never over look that it isn't just me that's going through all of this, that Steve, along with Danny and Becky are on 'the front line' too……..never the less I will remember to buy in some Snickers bar's for Steve's next Diva episode!

I'm pleased to say that Steve soon came through a treat, despite another car park making drama…… Having 'beautified' myself with my LGFB products, scented myself with Channel No 5 and packing a pic nic, we arrived at the Oncology Department, well prepared for 'Roooound One' of this head on fight. So, in the pink corner we have Me!!! …"Yay!!" … and in the losers corner there is cancer!!! …"Boooo"!

Steve and I were met by Alis, staff nurse, and she soon settled us in and hooked me up to the machine. Alis was great in answering all of our curiosities and infact she was curious herself when she spotted something rather bizarre in my bag… Yes it was 'the hat'.

Steve and I were extremely relieved that Alis showed enthusiasm about the story behind the hat and my intention to fundraise. This is when I learnt that NGH are fundraising for a refurb/extention to the chemotherapy suite and I decided that this would be the other beneficiary of my fundraising activities this year.

So yes I wore the hat……and Alis is in the photo too!!

The chemotherapy suite is large room with four bay's, each with 4 seats for patients and 4 for a guest each. There were only 4 other patients there that day and I'm told this was unusually quiet. Because it was so quiet,we were only in the suite for about 2 hours, 20 minutes. I imagine that it would feel quite crowded with more people there, and although it was pleasant enough, it is in need of 'jazzing' up and why a refurb/ extention is needed.

During the treatment, Steve occupied himself with a racing game on his ipad mini and he was totally oblivious of the looks from others, as he was using the ipad as a steering wheel and turning his head from left to right during his game.

There were no immediate side effects, other than the red 'pee' I was warned about, and it wasn't until later that evening that I began to feel a 'dizzy' sensation and little out of it.... I came home with a bag full of steroids, anti sickness, diocalm and injections to self administer.

Danny and Becky came to the rescue as usual with my 'Super Suzanne's surprise survival supplies'! a large colourful bag, full of practical goodies to relieve any boredom/symptoms of the chemotherapy. All of the good luck messages I received were also very comforting that day... thank you all x

Ok, so having worn the hat for 'Round 1' of the fight!, you all now know that I'm prepared to get up to some mischief and make a complete twit of myself....I will be doing just that at each 'round' of the fight to raise money for the Chemotherapy Suite and to motivate and distract myself!

I have 5 remaining sessions to go and 'Round 2' is on 10th February and if I raise £50 by this date I will go to Northampton General Hospital for my treatment wearing a bright pink afro wig.

To make it more interesting, if I raise £100, Steve, my partner, has also agreed to wear a red afro wig with me.

This is my first fundraining attempt ... so lets have a bit of fun and see where this takes us! Please use the button below to donate.



OR text SFCW 50 £1 (or the amount you wish to donate)to 70070.

'Look Good Feel Better'

Booby Jo and I went to the 'Look Good Fell Better (LGFB) skin care and make up workshop on 14th January, at The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI)...and WOW what an excellent experience.

LGFB is a world wide cancer support charity,and it provides support for women and teenagers suffering with the side effects from cancer treatment. LGFB offers free skin care and makeup workshops and is dedicated to improving self-esteeme, confidence and wellbeing...and the workshop certainly did just that for us.

The workshop was lead by Sue York, regional coordinator and she was assisted by another beauty volunteer. Jo and I were among 8 women that day to take part and at the start we were all given a LGFB gift bag filled with specially selected products. If you enjoy your health and beauty products like I do, you will appreciate how excited I was opening my gift bag...yes ...my pulse was actually racing...and I felt spoilt rotten! thank you LGFB.

The products are all donated by companies, such as Boots, Estee Lauder, Clinique, benefit and Lancome. There was lots of chitter chatter about the products and everybody seemed as excited as I was. Jo's concern was that the products would be 'confiscated' by her teenage daughter...lol!!!!

Sue duly took us through a 12 step beauty regime ,focussing on our problem areas. We had only just met these women, but there was certainly an immediate connection in the room and it flowed beautifully.

Everyone was at different stages of their cancer treatment and some women had never or rarely worn make up...and to see the transformation of these ladies was personally very reassuring and motivating. I had never known these women any differently and It was reassuring in the sense that they looked beautiful, just 'normal' and totally void of the cancer patient look! My own make over was pretty cool...I'm not very brave with eye make up, so loved the effect on my eye's!

I was the only one at the workshop that had not gone through chemotherapy, so I still had my hair and thick eye brows and lashes, and the experience has certainly made me feel braver about what is to come.

Booby Jo usually wears stylish scarves when I see her, however 'Meredith'(one of Booby Jo's wig's- Yes she really does name her wig!) made a special appearance for the day. This was the first time I had seen her in 'Meredith'.

Meredith Selfie!

Booby Jo , took 'Meredith' off part way though the workshop to reveal a neat, natural cropped hair growth....the amazing part about it was that the first thing we all noticed was her piercing bright blue eye's. She was just stunning! Lets just hope I'm as lucky when I'm stripped bare.

Booby Jo


Booby Jo was keen to get advice on her eyebrows which have thinned. To tell you the truth, having originally started out with a mono brow, my brows and I have gone through a lot together, and I will miss them. Needless to say I was paying particular attention to the eyebrow shading demonstration.

lovely Ladies

I truly left the LGFB workshop feeling like cancer had picked a fight with the wrong woman… I left a winner!...This is how every women facing cancer should feel and it is exactly the reason that LGFB will be one of the beneficiaries of the fund raising activities that I am going drive this year.

I'm sure that there are lots of you that know women that have cancer, please spread the word and let them know that this is out there. I am also working on a fund raising page and I will post the link shortly.

I was also excited to hear that LGFB is coming to Northampton, which means that my fundraising will have a local benefit. Remember this is a worldwide charity so my friends,family and bloggers from around the world may wish to donate directly so their communities benefit.

LGFB are celebrating their 20th anniversary year and they have launched an awareness video, check it out;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s1QGWbgwK0&feature=youtu.be

So.....Yes my friends....I am definitely cashing in on this horrible disease and going to turn this burden into something amazing!!! I plan to have some fun and 'games' with this 'pesky Cell', raise money and put it right in its place!!.... Just writing this blog has 'fuelled the fire in my belly'... so watch out cancer we're coming to thrash you!

Please click the button below to find out and join in on my latest challenge!
(This page is a working progress.. Watch this space!!)

The PCA and The PICC line

It was an early start for an 8.30 appointment on 13th January at the Oncology Department !! I struggled to fall a sleep the night before so I was quite tired, however I'm pleased to say that we sailed through the car park phase!

Steve and I met with Charlotte, a Chemo Nurse, and she took us in detail through the treatment regime and the medication that has been prescribed for the side effects of the chemo therapy.

As expected, Steve soon brought humour to the proceedings; Charlotte explained that I'm to have a course of injections on the run up to each Chemo treatment to boost my immune system, and she described how this was usually done by 'partners',patient or district nurse! Charlotte and I were immediately distracted by a sharp intake of breath from Steve, his contorted face and his white knuckles that were clutching for dear life to the chair!! So.....to his relief ; we duly ruled Steve out from that responsibility!

My wound was examined and I had an ECG in preparation for he chemotherapy. I found out that the chemotherapy may have side effects on my heart and the ECG, which measures the hearts electrical conduction system, was taken as a base line for ongoing monitoring.

Charlotte was so personable which relived some of my underlying anxieties about the week a head of me.

After the meeting with Charlotte, the PICC line was fitted by Nurse; 'Gosha' and her colleague. The PICC line which is a long flexible tube was inserted into a large vein in my arm and threaded until it sat in a large vein just above my heart. Ultra sound technology was used to locate a 'good' vein and the nurses used new electronic equipment that ensured the tube fell in the right place.

Steve excused him self to pay extra on the car park, but Im sure he had anticipated the worst and chose to wait in the waiting area for me! I was given a local anaesthetic and the procedure was painless. It was all done under highly sterile conditions and the nurses attention to hygiene and procedure was impeccable. Gosha and her colleague had clearly worked with each other for along time, the rapport between them was great and this immediately put me at ease... They both satisfied any curiosity I had about the procedure and answered questions with enthusiasm.

5 hours later and following an X ray to double check that the PICC line was in the right location, we left the hospital and I had a 2 hour Disco nap. zzzzzzz!!!

Lets mullet over!!

11.1.14-Messages from the party people;

My beautiful friend suzanne.. what wonderful bunch of friends you have ! today was all about giving you lots of love and support for thursday and I think we acheived that! good fun as always roll on the next gathering xxxxx love you xxxx

Bex the hostess!!

Jan Bav : So here we are at Suzanne's hair-larious boobilicious party! Another fab event with so much positivity and support for ourtitally fabulous girly. Goodl luck for Thursday - will be thinking of you all day long> big hugs and loadsalove xxxxxxx

The Lovely Jan and Jo

My lovely fellow breast cancer survivor >>>>>>>>> I am here when ever you should need me. This time next year it will be a distant memory xxxxxxxxxxxxx love you lots big hugs xxxxx Mandy Boobi friend

My Booby Buddy Mandy and the hostess!!

Jess: Thank you for hosting yet again another boobilicious party, had a bouncing flouncing great time, embrace whats next to come and just know that we are all here for you every step of the way, you're way to strong to let this get you down, good luck and see you on the flip side :) tons of love xxxx

Sassy Jess with her Momma- my bestie x

Viv……….I love you lady and you will always know where I am……………..cause I shall always be here!!!! Mwah!!
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

ViVilicious in the pink!

Janet: Your credibility might be in question when you turn up at Chemo in that 'marvellous' hat!! Shall we get ready for the bulk orders now?! Your strength will shine through so all the other hats will be a doodle! Don't forget the pics. Stay strong, Janet xxx

Janet (left)on the winning chemo hat making Team, with Jan, Tansy and Dawn

DIL: My most favourite MIL, another fab positive party, really a 'cut above the rest'. You know you will have all of our thoughts and positivity with you on Thursday. Love you xxx

The DIL and MIL x

Darrell and Karen: Its been a ball! Thanks and looking forward to celebrating with you through your journey, we will be there every step of the way!! Love ya xxxxx

I love this pic- Darrell caught in the middle...BUT I have a question; How did Karen manage to avoid both photographers... you can just see Karen, another Bobby Buddy, peeking from behind Carolyn!!

Gill and Wee George: Hiyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaa Had a great time at your hair 'do'! And I hope you wear all your hats with pride!! You are so inspiring and strong and me and wee George (Big George too) are always here for you. Muchos Love xxxxxxx

Gill the most excellent Party Game planner!!

Laura and Carolyn: Hey Suzanne - you know where we are if you ever need anything. Don't worry I will teach mum about the anatomy and practice pin the bow on the fluff for next time! :-) lots of love xxxxxxx

Laura, Gemma and Viv- Geniuses at work!

Jo- What a fabulous day with day with hair-lariously fabulous people. Suzanne looks gorge with her new hair style and we all looked stupid/crazy/slightly insane in our wigs. Such a laugh! Thank you Franco's mum for the wig! I still think team 3 should have won the prize with the leaky titty booby hat! Love you Suzanne! Amore belle xxxx

Mrs Anzelmo- Bellisima

Deb - Suzanne, I am loving the new hair!! I am gutted that I didn't win a prize on find the muff - oh well there's always
the next party to make amends. I'm thinking about changing my hair colour - what do you think? Anyway my lovely, what a lovely party, until the next one - take care my lovely , and if you do want to borrow my mohican, you are more than welcome :-) Love you lots xxxx

Debby- the last Mohican!

Thank you My lovely Friends for some excellent memory making x

"Hair we go tea party"

So...... my lovely friend Suzanne will be beginning her chemotherapy next week,and being the party people that we are, we decided to have a bye bye hair party on 11th January 2014... (very typical of Suzanne's sense of humour and lately her admirable strength). As I missed the booby party I wanted to host this for her. Well what can I say, but a brilliant afternoon was had by all.....such a giggle ... especially 'the hat for chemo making' competition I've not had that much fun since school!

I'm sure Suzanne is going to look stunning wearing the winning hat on thursday for her first session ha ha! We are all expecting pictures of her rocking that hat!!

Suzanne has been astounding with her wonderfully positive outlook on what is a horrible illness, and I am in awe and always will be of just how brave this lady is. I wish you all the love and luck in the world with your treatment but I know you will spank the pants off of this pesky cell and we will look back in years to come and laugh at the pictures and the party.

Bex- The hostess

A very big thank you, Bex for hosting my party and to all my family and friends that came to ease me through the next phase of the Breast Cancer thrashing! It was in deed a day filled with necessary tasks and some successful distraction action!

My day started with a trip to Toni and Guy and a hair cut by Chloe...I left the choice of style largely to Chloe...There had been some preparation leading up to the appointment, so when I arrived it was a stress free experience , although unlike my usual trips to T&G, this was more of a 'job to do' rather than something I looked forward to! It all felt very 'indifferent', however I was pleased with Chloe's work.

The process involved a couple of 'selfies' to remind me of the mop that I had grown quite fond of, and a couple of before and after pics!

Selfie fest!

So......after getting text approval from Steve.....I was ready to make my hair debut appearance at the tea party!!!

And what a debut it was .... It was great having friends, old and new from different parts my life all together in one place. Some ladies came in wigs, pink, blue, mohican, something about Mary wig and even Enza's wig made an appearance!!..abbbbbsolutely fab!

It's all about moi!!! lol!!

The very creative Gill, then set up the ladies into 4 Teams for the 'make a hat for chemo competition'. It was such a giggle watching the competitiveness involved in the creation of 4 amazing hats!! They were all fab, one even paid homage to my leaky boob, however Gill and I chose the winning hat...I was told I had to wear at my first chemo appointment !!... will I or wont I... what do you think?????

There was lots of 'chit chat' and 'getting to know' and to embrace the hair loss that is coming.... a game of 'pin the pony tail and fluffy bits' on the lady!!!.....You can imagine the fun we had there!!.....Carolyn, Bex and Darrell were the prize winners! Well done ladies!

You can just see the out line of the game behind the DIL and the MIL.

After the party, the evening carried on for a few of us with our men and a chinese take away!!

Perfik.... more fab memories and an excellent distraction...Girl power in action !!

Debby ; 'the hair lady'

following a 'tip' from Mandy, another strong, strong lady that has battled Breast cancer , I booked in a last minute appointment on 9th January with Debby 'the hair lady' from Northampton General Hospital.

I would say that whilst the consultants and breast care nurses have looked after well, it has been the advice and tips from my 'booby friend's', Booby Jo, Claire and Mandy, that has helped me navigate through the practicalities of this new world. I'm pleased to say that I have already passed on some of my own tips to someone else...... You just can't beat having someone that has been, or going through breast cancer as a source of support...They just 'get it'!

In this instance Mandy's tip off meant that I was able to meet with Debby in advance of my chemotherapy and chose a couple of wigs that will arrive before I loose my hair.

So.... after appraising my hair, it was acknowledged officially that I had a 'mop' of hair, and that this will be of benefit in terms of re growth. Debby took me through the option of having the cold cap, which seeks to limit/prevent total hair loss. Debby was positive about the option and it involves wearing a cap on your head during the chemotherapy treatment, which freezes the area, preventing the chemo from damaging the cells.

It also comes with a lot of discomfort and no guarantees of success. I had already researched this option and had decided against it and the conversation with Debby confirmed that this was NOT the right decision for me. Of course I would wish to keep my hair if I could and I'm sure that you may be thinking why not give it a go?... I'm not against the option, just that it's not for me, It carries a lot of uncertainties (it may or may not work,I may loose patches, it will thin, changes in hair care). I had also read that any rogue cancer cell lurking in the area may not be destroyed. So .....I'm much more comfortable dealing with the certainties without the cap.... that my hair will fall out , it will grow back and the cancers cells will be destroyed!!

So with that out of the way .......Debby gave me a few wigs to try on.... she just seemed to know which one would suit ...I chose 2... They seem excellent quality wigs and Debby explained that I would receive one as part of my treatment and that any others would pay cost price!!! The wig costs approx. £350 and cost price is £75.....and I feel pretty lucky as Steve said he is treating me to the extra wig! LYS xx

Debby, Me and my Julia Roberts Wig (from pretty woman)!

Ironically, after the appointment, I met my cousins, who treated to lunch and AnneMarie had exactly the same hair style as the wig I had chosen!!

I felt quite pleased with my wig choices, and motivated by the whole experience with Debby...It was only after I scrolled through the photos on my phone of the wigs I had tried on, that I had my first private wobble of 2014.....I was swept with a huge sense of dread for next week. Not because I was loosing my hair and I cant really explain why really, but ever since the wobble, I have had that 'sickly nervous' feeling that I last recognise from the run up to my last job interview!!

You'll be pleased to know that I have found plenty of 'pointless' things to distract myself with, and Steve promptly found the humour for me in announcing 'Wiggy' as my new nickname!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

After the booby gush I'm pleased to say that after a period of further swelling , my body seems to have sorted it self out and the swelling has significantly reduced.

There is still some swelling , restricted movement and stiffness particularly under my arm. In fact , I have pretty interesting looking boobs at the moment ! The poorly boob tends to be a different shape each day depending on where the fluid collects!! Mmmmm! I sound like a real catch don't I!!

Seriously though .... some times the boob looks distorted and like the creature from Alien is about to explode from it!

My wound is healing really well and looks better than I thought it would do ... and for those that remember 'Rainbow' from the 80's the poorly boob looks rather like Zippy.... !!

The initial sense of shock and disbelief following the diagnosis has gone and we all seemed to have settled enough into acceptance that we were able to have a lovely Christmas and New year!

There is still an underlying pre occupation with it all and there was a conscious effort on our part(steve and I),to have a few days off the cancer lark... This was harder than we thought It would be...'cancer' seemed to sneak its way, some how into our thoughts and into the most innocent conversations. I'm thankful that those around us are guided by our open and practical approach and all 'morbidness' was avoided !!

I had an acutely heightened awareness of the special memories I was collecting through the festive period, especially of our Christmas morning with Danny and Becky in their love filled home !! Thank you DD and DIL xx.

We spent the rest of our Christmas day with 'Crazy'.... This is the preferred name of Steve's mum , or sister as she likes to tell people !! Lol!

'Crazy' was the perfect hostess , her home is like a real life Christmas movie set and we left feeling like we were in the final scene of the 'Holiday'... All full of Christmas spirit (champagne actually) snuggly and happy xx thank you 'crazy lady'!

My Christmas duck from Danny and Becky at Crazy's movie set home !!

Boxing Day was mad house at home !!! we spent a lovely morning with Steve's children, Elise and Max and we later had a perfect family christmas dinner with Danny & Becky, 'Crazy', my brother John, sis in law, Susan and nieces , Lucy, Alannah, Gracie and Scarlett.

Onesie Snuggle fest.


Steve and I spent our New year in Budapest, with Franco and Jo ... What a fabulous place and a great new year's eve atmosphere in'pest'...Can you believe after all the fuss I made, WE FORGOT to toast the 'perfect boob' at midnight!! We were simply too busy celebrating with thousands of people , young and old , from all around the world!! At that moment we all shared one common experience !! The hope of a happy and healthy 2014!!

Like an excitable child , Steve burnt himself out before midnight, and only just managed to get his last grump of 2013 out of the way before the clock saw us into 2014!!

Our New Years day started with a champagne breakfast at the Hilton Hotel in the Castle district...where we finally made a toast to the perfect boob! Our day however ended with a 6 hour flight delay ... I'm seriously jinxed when it comes to flights...

So there we have it ...... some great times committed to memory , ready to be retrieved again for motivating us through the challenges ahead of us this year!!!



Happy New Year


x

Rocking the chemo look!!

After my appointment with The Proff. I was given the start dates for my treatment.

My pre chemo appointment (PCA) is scheduled for 13th January 2014. I will also have a PIC line fitted in my arm. This is where they will administer the 'FEC-T' Chemo drugs and later the Herceptin.

My first course of the 'FEC' part of the Chemo treatment will be on 16th January.

I will have this for 3 cycles , 1 every three weeks.

I will then have the 'T' part of the treatment for 3 cycles after this.

The Herceptin will also start the same time as the 'T' and I will have 3 weekly cycles for 12 months.

In preparation for all of the side effects, I'm booked in to have my hair styled short......er, on the 11th January 2014, as it is almost certain that I will loose my hair!

I will be 'showing' off my new hair style at an afternoon pre chemo /good bye hair 'gathering' with some of my girlie friends and family. This should be interesting given that I have a mop of hair!

Budapest December 2013


I have also booked into a 'look good feel better' (LGFB) workshop on the 14th January 2014 with Booby Jo. My lovely friend Dawn told me about the LGFB. It is a registered charity aimed at promoting confidence in women going through cancer by taking some control over the obvious physical side effects of the chemo. There will be advice about,hair loss,skin care and make up.

Booby Jo will be starting her chemo before me on the 6th January,so fingers crossed that she is well enough to go. Booby Jo has already lost her hair and she wears the look amazingly well. Part of that is about her infectious confidence so I will be in excellent company!!