I found out on Monday July 9th that I was going to start my chemotherapy on Friday July 13th. I felt like I had been waiting such a long time to get started and now the time was finally here. I had made plans for my mum and sister to come up on the Saturday to help me pick my wig and was looking forward to a final girls day/night and now I was thinking – will I be feeling ok? Will I able to wash my hair? I knew I couldn’t blow dry it (see cold cap blog) so that was going to be some sight!
Suddenly, after my long wait it felt so real and I felt so unprepared. I went down home to Tipp to get my hair done one last time. On my drive back up to Dublin I had so many thoughts going through my mind and all of a sudden it all seemed so real! Because I had no symptoms before I found my lump and felt healthy and well up to this point it was hard to think of what I was about to put my body through and the nerves started kicking in.
Two days before I started I went into St Vincents for an education session where I was told all about my treatment and possible side effects. I got a prescription for a nice long list of drugs to start me off but I felt better after the session. I had to trust I was in the care of professionals who knew what they were doing and would be there to help me along my journey.
The day before chemo
I was glad to have a coaching session and college work to keep me busy and distracted the day before I started. It dawned on me as I got ready that morning that this was the last time I would be able to blow dry my hair for a few months – I could no longer use any heat/styling appliances on my hair when using the cold cap in an attempt to keep my hair. This might not matter to a lot of people but this is a girl who packed a professional sized hairdryer in her backpack when traveling around Thailand and Australia – this was going to be a challenge for me!
I did my tan the night before my first session (just so it would be done in case they told me I couldn’t put it on after, a girl has to have her priorities right!)