@rocky36, i laughed so hard when i read your post! yes, i too have always hated strong perfume smells. i remember as a kid getting a kind of face or forehead headache whenever i would get assaulted by usually a bouffanted women that sprayed way too much of it all over herself. if the scent is light, clean, crisp and fresh, i don’t mind– but one’s like angel 😉 — thanks for googling it 😉 are so hideous… how can the person herself stand it?! i think there was also a combo of that smell along with tons of hairspray… it was atrocious 😉 funny thing, the nurse called me yesterday afternoon after the perfume experience (or exposure, as in hazmat) and asked me how i was doing. i told her that i was certain that bad perfume was more toxic to the body than chemo–lol.

now that i am chemo’d, i am even more sensitive to scents and smells of all kind. strangely, it works both ways. sophie prepared a delicious dinner– angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, garlic and olive oil, and sauteed spinach on the side, with garlic of course… it was extra wonderful and i do believe that one of the reasons was because my sense of smell is particularly heightened… eating it felt like a drug i was addicted to– it felt so right for my body– hard to explain.

anyway, suffice it to say that you and i have officially bonded on the bad scent arena 😉

@katyk, yes, i am very careful. i’m not yet wearing masks but i am careful to not touch my face with my hands until i can properly wash them. its a natural habit for me anyway as i’ve been a cop for over 11 years and, as you can imagine, everything from the people we handle to the police car itself is filthy. for years i would drive back to the station with the only goal of washing my hands. plus, i don’t think i’m terribly nutrapenic yet– but i have labs today and will know better how my blood levels are. so thank you, very good advise 😉

@pam h, hopefully i will be much like you in the nausea department. i have had NO nausea as of yet. when the nurse called yesterday, i asked her if i am to expect a delayed reaction and become sick in the days to come. she told me that if i haven’t felt sick yet, i am most likely not going to– great! my body seems to handle it well. phew. and i too still have an appetite.

@homeagain, i will write you a private message in response to yours. thank you for your kind words.

on a more general note– i begin neupogen shots on saturday. in addition to the neupogen, i will be taking an antibiotic and an anti-fungal. neupogen is a growth factor that stimulates WBC’s from the marrow to the blood stream, making the stem cell harvest easier. i’ll take these shots for 5 days and on the 5th day, i will be harvested. i am of course hoping that that week won’t be rough in terms of side effects… please continue all of your wonderful positive thoughts and energy– it helps more than i can express. thank you all. alice 😉

so… today i felt a tiny bit more drained and only managed about a 40 minute walk– went to trader joes and hung onto the cart as we shopped. i was doing fine, a bit tired, but managing– UNTIL — and i hope this doesn’t offend anyone — a robust woman, with very big hair, began trailing me at the grocery store, upwind. this alone was manageable… but she must have bathed in the world’s worst perfume just prior to her shopping experience. sophie tells me she recognized the scent as an awful smelling perfume called “angel.”

well… it went right to my head, made me dizzy and gave me a headache. i actually felt light headed. i have come to the conclusion that chemotherapy is easier on the body than bad perfume… phew!

so true… nerds :rolleyes: