Thanksgiving on chemo, one family's coping strategy
The plan worked very well. We loved having traditional family dinner on Sunday instead of Thursday...couldn't really tell any difference in that and the actual day. After all, it's being together that matters, not the calendar day. Everything tasted great, everyone got along; it was about as perfect as it gets these days for a holiday with those of us still living getting together.
And the leftovers were great the next day the first time, less so the second time. By today my husband and I had our fill and could barely stand to eat turkey yet once again. There was a little bit of the various foods left and so I made rice and mixed it with turkey and ground asparagus and now it is holiday dog food.
For Thursday, my husband will grill himself a steak, which is already marinating, and have it with a baked potato and some bagged salad, and watch football on TV...he will be content doing that; all the while I will mostly be comatose, sleepig in between bouts of foot and leg cramps etc., drinking room temp water as much as I can force down, but being in the same room with him at home, nevertheless. I won't feel deprived because I've already had the holiday, had all the traditional food I could stand, and the last thing I will feel like after chemo is eating anything.
I think this is about as good as it gets for a Thanksgiving on chemo at our house. We won't feel deprived (not even the dogs), and will also have something special to be thankful for, no matter how bad the Oxi side effects are this round -- I am halfway through my chemo treatments after Wednesday. Woo-hoo!
Oh and they have me scheduled for chemo two days before Christmas too. I guess we will repeat this holiday plan since it seems to be workable for all parties. I'm lucky in that I'm not the first cancer patient in my family and so someone else understands the way you feel after chemo (my father) and that makes others flexible.
K1
Comments
-
K1
Sounds like 'the plan.'
You got your taste already and you're right, any kind of holiday can be on any day when we get our mind right about it. Sometimes, not doing something according to structure, can be very liberating and rewarding.
W2Go on the 1/2 way mark. I'll be in clinic on the 30th...if you're there and see me, do stop by and say hi.
-Craig0 -
Dinner
Glad you were able to celebrate even if it was early. It's more important that you are all together. Happy Thanksgiving.
Kim0 -
Happy thanksgiving K1 .Annabelle41415 said:Dinner
Glad you were able to celebrate even if it was early. It's more important that you are all together. Happy Thanksgiving.
Kim
Glad everything was excellent and you enjoyed that much!
Happy holiday !0 -
We're gonna miss each other by a day!Sundanceh said:K1
Sounds like 'the plan.'
You got your taste already and you're right, any kind of holiday can be on any day when we get our mind right about it. Sometimes, not doing something according to structure, can be very liberating and rewarding.
W2Go on the 1/2 way mark. I'll be in clinic on the 30th...if you're there and see me, do stop by and say hi.
-Craig
I'll be there ALL day for MRI's of abdomen and pelvis and CT scan of chest on the next day, Dec. 1, so think we're gonna miss each other again. :-(
This will be my "halfway mark" set of scans to see if the chemo is helping matters or not. I sure hope it is so this nasty oxi-xelox routine was worth it.
K10 -
Happy Thanksgiving to All of You!pepebcn said:Happy thanksgiving K1 .
Glad everything was excellent and you enjoyed that much!
Happy holiday !
Those of you who feel well today, and can perhaps enjoy your family and eat a good meal on the ACTUAL Thanksgiving Day today (at least in the U.S.), now it's my time to wish you a super happy Thanksgiving, a good "Black Friday" if you are able to go out and shop, entertaining football on TV if you can stay awake to watch it, and general enjoyment of anything of those traditional things or anything else you feel like or are planning on doing.
Thanks for all the good wishes. I did have a good time at our early Thanksgiving and ate more food than I have in months in a three-day period. They remarked on that today when they weighed me in for treatment -- as the scales showed I had gained three lbs. after losing over the course of surgery and chemo recently. Only I knew the reason.
I'm already having all that fun stuff that goes with oxaliplatin infusion tonight, and know it will be worse tomorrow and the next couple of days, but I am very grateful for the Thanksgiving I was able to have on Sunday with family and friends.
K10 -
Sounds like a planbuckeye2 said:Great attitudes like yours
Great attitudes like yours encourage the rest of us to quit belly aching and make the best of the cards we are dealt. I hope the next few days pass quickly for you. Lisa
It just worked out for us that my wife's chemo schedule made it possible for us to travel this Holiday. We won't be able to travel for Christmas, as her infusion is the day before. So we may follow your plan. Thanks,
Best0
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.9K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 309 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 397 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.4K Kidney Cancer
- 671 Leukemia
- 793 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 237 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 61 Pancreatic Cancer
- 487 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.5K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 540 Sarcoma
- 731 Skin Cancer
- 653 Stomach Cancer
- 191 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.8K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards