u/BubblyYou

Hi everyone,

I’m currently doing my ASYE (8 months completed) and have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m due to start chemotherapy shortly.

Before this diagnosis, my ASYE performance had been consistently positive. I’ve met targets, completed all paperwork on time, and received good feedback within supervision. I’m really committed to continuing and finishing my ASYE within timeframe if possible.

My manager has suggested delaying my ASYE until I’m “better,” but I would prefer to continue working with reasonable adjustments in place where safe to do so. The concern seems to be around periods of immunosuppression during chemo and potentially needing to work more remotely at times.

However, our service already uses:

- home working,

- Teams meetings,

- duty from home,

- telephone/video assessments,

- safeguarding meetings remotely,

- and peer consultation online.

I completely understand the importance of safe practice, but I’m trying to understand whether anyone has experience of completing ASYE whilst managing a serious health condition/disability, and what reasonable adjustments looked like in practice.

Has anyone been through something similar themselves, supervised someone through it, or have any advice around ASYE expectations in these circumstances?

Thank you.

Ladies going through chemo (or who’ve been through it), what is your HOLY GRAIL beauty/skincare/body product that genuinely helped you? I maybe down but I’m not out and I may be going through hell but I’m trying not to look like it! 🤣

I want the real recommendations please, the products that actually made a difference when your skin, lips, nails, scalp, hands, feet, or body were going through it.

Could be:

- anti-aging

- extreme dry skin (“crocodile skin” level 😭)

- under-eye wrinkles/dryness

- cracked lips

- dry/cracked feet

- aging hands

- brittle nails

- scalp care/hair regrowth

- weight gain/loss during treatment

- anything that made you feel more like you again

I’ve suddenly got a lot of time on my hands and I’m deep-diving into products, routines, supplements, comfort items, all of it.

I’ll go first: I started using the Medicube eye cream and I’m honestly shocked by how good it is. I’ve used expensive eye creams before and none of them really changed anything, but this one actually made my under-eyes look plump and smooth for the first time in ages. And it was only £10.

Please share your ride-or-die products. Expensive, cheap, weird pharmacy finds, Amazon randoms, luxury products that were worth it — I want to hear everything.

I know this probably sounds vain compared to everything else, but one of the things I’m struggling with most since my diagnosis is the fear of losing my hair.

I’ve always been known for my hair. It’s thick, long, and honestly a huge part of my identity. My daughter’s hair is exactly like mine too, so it’s one of the things that makes us look so alike, which feels emotionally significant to me right now.

I’ve been reading about cold capping and I feel really conflicted. Part of me wants to try everything possible to keep my hair, but I’ve also heard it can be uncomfortable and doesn’t always work depending on the chemo regimen.

I don’t know whether it’s better to try cold capping and hope for the best, or whether it’s emotionally easier to just shave my head early and get some really good wigs rather than watch my hair gradually fall out.

For those who’ve been through chemo:

- Did cold capping work for you?

- Was it worth it?

- Did losing hair gradually feel harder emotionally than taking control and shaving it?

- Any honest advice from people who’ve been through this would really help right now.