Thursday, 5 May 2016

5 May 2016 And life gets a little bit dotty...

Well I've been on the new 'targeted-therapy' drug Sorafenib for two weeks now, and all has been going well. Well, that is, until a few days ago when I noticed some itchiness in the scalp. Hmm, was this an ominous sign of hair thinning or loss (one of the possible side effects)?
However this morning I awoke to a very impressive covering of red spots over my whole body. 
My upper arm - just a small sample...
Fortunately it hasn't been too itchy at this stage, though this evening my scalp is beginning to drive me crazy.
I decided to check with my GP as I wasn't looking very socially acceptable (my face and neck are covered too) and I was planning to interact with other cancer patients during the afternoon and I wanted assurance that I didn't actually have bubonic plague. Of course I didn't, and not long after this I had a call from my oncologist. He said that if it gets worse I should stop the tablet drug, let my skin recover, and he will then probably prescribe a lower dose when I see him next week. 
Hopefully things will improve and my body will tolerate this drug better. Very soon!! 

This afternoon I went along to a "Look Good, Feel Better" workshop. This is a national workshop, run by volunteers, and is available free to women suffering cancer. We were given advice for skin care and makeup changes during our treatments, and also had an opportunity to try on wigs and a variety of hats. The skin advice was certainly timely, and hopefully I won't need the hats, but more helpful was the reassurance from other sufferers who had also experienced skin rashes etc. We also came home with a lovely array of skin care and makeup freebies.

Incidentally I have had various people at different times say to me that they have had difficulty trying to leave a comment on this blog. It seems to be a clumsy system (or we are clumsy operators), but if you would like to contact us personally feel free to email us on blpfeiff@bigpond.net.au  



 

No comments:

Post a Comment