
My sharp sense of smell
“The immediate first changes for my body on day one were that I had super-strength smell after the first treatment. My soap, shampoo, my bedroom, my cupboards as I opened them, a scented candle – everything was too much and made me feel nauseous that first day. The kitchen was out of bounds especially as dinner was being made I could not handle the smells. The nausea was just awful and really makes you feel like doing nothing.
“My friends and family have been incredible and the most helpful things for me have been them just listening. Not advising or telling me what to do or coaching but listening to what I had to say and then offering up suggestions. For me voicing things that have felt silly or even trivial has helped immensely. It takes away their power once their spoken out loud. So just say the thing out loud no matter how trivial you might think it is.” – Briony
Your mind is a fog
“From my experiences, when you’re on chemo the world is a strange place.
“Your head feels like it’s full of cotton wool – everything that’s happening around you is just sort of out of your focus. You can try to focus on something but with no luck, and you just can’t quite figure out what you’re meant to be thinking about. You might be listening to a conversation but not processing anything, not able to contribute in any way and may seem disinterested. You are exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally. I used to try to distract myself from how sick I felt by reading – but I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading and would read sentences over and over and over until I got a headache and gave up. I would try to watch TV – but the noise and constantly shifting visual cues would be too much for my foggy brain to process, until I got a headache and gave up. I would try to go for a walk, but couldn’t get my body up off the couch.