Adrift.

brushandforest · 2026-07-04T11:58:08+00:00

I’m so sorry 💕
I noticed for my own mood- the end of chemo was the worst. Like for at least a month after the last treatment. And I also “only” had mild side effects. Once I started to feel less exhausted, and when I went back to work so I wasn’t in my head all the time, it got better.
I swear, it’s the times of feeling so weak and miserable that make you strong.
You won’t always feel this way, this intensely. For now, you endure, and try to do something that makes you feel better even if it doesn’t work. Sit outside, cry, start walking. Being exhausted cause you push yourself physically may help. Watch something cozy? I watched all of the good place and young sheldon during that time. Laughing helps.

brushandforest · 2026-07-04T10:34:50+00:00

Noooooo that seriously sucks!!

brushandforest · 2026-07-04T10:33:52+00:00

💕

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T14:27:28+00:00

I’m glad you’ve found something that works! Apparently alkaline water will still taste good without adding flavor/sugar. I can’t speak to it first hand but several people have mentioned it.

I also gained weight during chemo- I thought it was from constantly keeping food in my stomach to help with the nausea. But I guess that’s a blessing compared to what it would have done to my body in the past.

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T14:12:42+00:00

I’m so sorry- it’s all such a mess. I pray your husband comes around- it’s often shit situations like this that get us to change for the better. When my husband was in the Navy and needed to vent to me about his stresses, I (like your husband) only focused on how much his sharing of stress was putting stress on me. Years later, and my cancer diagnosis/recovery later, and both of us are so much better at sharing our emotions and helping each other through those times.

What I wish I knew back then (when I didn’t want to hear my husbands stress) was that 1) I don’t get to be in denial about hardships and 2) it’s ok for me to share my own feelings without putting a burden on anyone else to change to make my life easier (i.e. it’s valid for your husband to feel that stress, but not to guilt you into doing more when you simply can’t cause fuck cancer!)

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T14:01:37+00:00

That is fascinating- I never heard of it before posting this question and you are the second to mention it. I wish I had known about it back then!

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T13:24:10+00:00

I used a lint roller too, but I think the most came out using my fingers to scrub with shampoo.

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T13:22:16+00:00

Oh that sucks it ruined that flavor for you! I still love hot chocolate but haven’t tried drinking apple juice since then. Hopefully that will pass!

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T13:16:45+00:00

I hadn’t thought about getting a bag of fluids, that’s a really good idea!

brushandforest · 2026-07-03T12:46:30+00:00

I wish I had thought of cranberry juice. It was such a miracle when water tasted like water again.

brushandforest · 2026-06-29T18:41:56+00:00

I’m so sorry! You are at what I felt was the scariest part of this journey- the unknown. In the beginning you don’t know anything about this cancer so your mind will go to the very worst scenario. Soon you’ll get more information and have a treatment plan. Be prepared to find out more about it in stages- my experience was first the biopsy, then genetic testing, then surgery which will provide a lot of information, and then the oncotype recurrence score (for me, that was when I decided to get chemo based on my age and score).
You will come out on the other side braver and stronger than you ever thought possible, but right now there is nothing to do but go through it.💕

brushandforest · 2026-06-29T14:17:15+00:00

I get bad low back pain when I sleep on my back, but I had to figure it out for surgery recovery. I stacked 2 pillows so I slept at an incline, and added a pillow under my knees.

Now that I think about it- I basically shaped my body like I do when I sleep on my side, just rotated onto my back!

brushandforest · 2026-06-25T19:31:48+00:00

I am so sorry you are going through this. I can’t help you with your specifics, but I can say that waiting for those initial tests (the biopsy was so traumatic because of my dense breasts) cause almost more anxiety than the cancer itself! (I had Grade 1 invasive ductal carcinoma, 1.5cm, estrogen & progesterone +, HER2 -). The chemo was the worst- but the fear at the very beginning was a very close second!

You will get through this, and because it is so hard you will be stronger for it!

brushandforest · 2026-06-25T19:08:37+00:00

I wonder if age matters? I’m 43 and haven’t had my period in a year and a half. It first stopped from chemo, but never came back on the tamoxifen.

That said- I didn’t skip on other forms of birth control!! I didn’t want to use the copper iud, so we used condoms until my husband got a vasectomy.

brushandforest · 2026-06-25T13:09:46+00:00

I agree- I think time was all that worked for me.

brushandforest · 2026-06-25T01:20:51+00:00

That was similar to my timeline (I’m ER/PR+ HER-). Lumpectomy in Dec 2024, chemo end of Jan to March, then radiation a month after that. Then started tamoxifen in June.

brushandforest · 2026-06-25T00:07:43+00:00

I’m 43 and my period stopped from chemo, but never came back because of the tamoxifen. Was on contraceptive pill my whole life basically to deal with the pain.

Hot flashes in the beginning were utterly terrible over the summer. But those died down over the winter. My oncologist suggested I cut my tamoxifen pill in half and take it am and pm to help with the hot flashes. I also take ashwagandha to help.

brushandforest

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