All The Beautiful Ladies

On Friday last week I attended the Look Good Feel Better workshop in Wellington. This is a free course held at the Cancer Society rooms for women undergoing treatment for cancer. It teaches about cleansing and looking after the complexion and shows how to apply makeup.  It is run by a wonderful lady called Leigh Renet who I'd already met. Leigh also works from her home in Northland supplying wigs and also creating handsewn hairpieces for women who require them.  On arriving at the Cancer Society rooms it was saddening to see so many women in the one place at this particular session that are affected by cancer of any sort. These sessions are run on a monthly basis.  The saddest thing was the arrival of a young girl, a 20 year old.  How cruel is life to affect somebody just starting out on hers. I have two daughters, 19 and 22 and this disease can inflict itself anyone.  This was somebody else's daughter going through this horrible thing. How terrible it must be for her parents to see their child going through this. I had the pleasure of being seated next to her whilst we were pampering. I didn't want to go into too much with her because it wasn't the occasion but she told me that she had a tumour in her shoulder and was having radiation treatment at present but wasn't sure what the next step was going to be for her after that.

Each two women had a lovely volunteer working with them both and we were all supplied with a kit, absolutely free. This kit contained, cleansers, moisturisers and a full make up kit in our colours.  We also got two added gifts of a wheatiebag for our shoulders and also a bottle of perfume each. (Click on photos to enlarge).

My kit

We were taken through each step, ie, make-up removal, cleansing, toning etc and were treated to a lovely facial massage by our volunteer.  Then we were shown how to apply each item of makeup right through from the foundation to the lipstick.  At the end of the session, there was a roomful of smiling, beautifully made-up ladies. It was a wonderful experience to participate in.

Before we started we were given the opportunity to purchase a raffle ticket. There were four draws; the major one being an overnight bag full of donated beauty products. We were able to choose our ticket numbers, so I took my age, Darren's age and my girls birth dates.  After the make-up session the raffles were drawn.  The first number was 47.....my age. I was so excited that I'd won something because I'd never so much as won a frozen chicken in a pub raffle before but I was even more excited by the fact that I had won the major prize.  The bag was jam packed with all sorts of goodies, from Channel, yes Channel face powder to Lancome mascara, from Christian Dior lipsticks to Dr Lewenns serums.  

My prize

This course was well worth going to and brightened my week.  The volunteers are truly amazing. They give up their time to attend these courses to help women like myself to look better and  feel confident while they are going through their treatment.

Chemo - Round Two

By the time the third week came around again for my next chemotherapy session, I was well over hospitals! the previous Thursday I had been to Kenepuru Hospital for an ultrasound for the fibroids and then on the Tuesday I had to go and have an ultrasound guided biopsy on some nodules on a goitre in my neck. I seemed to have spent the best part of a week attending medical appointments and was well sick of it all.

I was better organised this time, packing myself a box of goodies to eat whilst I was receiving my treatment. I was actually dreading entering the treatment area and just the thought of it made me feel sick but once I was there I felt ok. Well, at least I was until other women started talking to me and sharing their stories of woe and failed treatments.  The next thing I knew I was in tears, blubbering to the nurse, feeling as if all this was pointless. The lovely nurse pulled the curtain around me and sat and shared some encouraging words until I had stopped crying. Next time I come for treatment I'm not going to talk to anybody because everytime I do I go away with their baggage and sob stories which hammers at my positive attitude that I have so far been able to keep.

So, two down, two to go. Friday afternoon I started to feel the effects and spent Friday afternoon sleeping.
I'd had my anti-nausea meds changed this time, as the first round of meds had made me manic and unable to stay asleep.  This time I felt much better. Saturday was spent in bed all day sleeping but the effects of the chemo were nowhere near as bad as the first lot.  On Sunday I still felt really tired but didn't actually sleep and by Sunday afternoon was able to go down to the beach for a walk. By Sunday evening, I felt well enough to drive my daughter up to the train station. Monday and Tuesday were quite good days but I was still tired and a new side effect had set in.....I felt depressed.  I spoke to my oncology nurse who told me that the steroids that are given for the first 3 days can often affect you in that way and that it would pass. I'm sure also that not being at work and around people for 5 days was also causing me to lose motivation so by the time Wednesday came around I was really looking forward to going back to work. Once I got back into the routine of a normal day again, I started to come right.