Water intake before and durring chemo help please

Crid

Hello,

My Mother was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago. Cancer of an unknown primary, but the pathology is leaning towards Something in the blatter area.

I need a little help from members here, to be honest.

My mother is not drinking near enough water. maybe 22 ounces on a good day to nill on a bad day. She has yet to start chemo, but i am worried that if she does not increase her intake everything will be much harder.

Does anyone have any stories of dehydration that i could use to try and get it through to her. Any experience is much appretiated. Even just things your doctors have told you.

 

Thank you all so very much!

kmygil

Oh, boy.

Hi.  I visit this page, because although I am a colon and uterine cancer survivor, my genetics make it plausible that I will have to deal with bladder cancer in the future.

At any rate, here's what happened.  I have never been a big water drinker and I tend to be a little underhydrated at the best of times.  Well, come chemo things got worse.  Mainly because the particular chemo I was on caused everything I put in my mouth to taste precisely like the smell of raw sewage.  So I avoided drinking and eating.  I had no appetite anyway.  Well, as things progressed, it became harder and harder to come back after each treatment; longer recovery times etc.  I wound up with some oppotunistic infections because my immune system was way down and I was not providing nutrients or water to help build it back up.  I developed a blood clot which caused complications with the progress of my treatment.  Finally, one day I went in to get my pump removed.  The nurse took one look at me and made me sit there for 8 hours being rehydrated.  I was not permitted to go home until I promised to drink lots of water every day. 

You can explain it to your mother like this:  Usually the chemicals that go into your body have a relatively short time where they're actually working on the cancer.  After that time, they are just toxic waste in the body.  They need to be flushed out so your immune system can regroup; in fact, so your entire body can recover as much as possible before the next treatment and more chemicals.  If they're not flushed, the body becomes one big toxic waste dump where nothing can thrive.  

The three best things your mom can do are 1:  Stay hydrated  2:  Keep up with her nutrition  3:  Take several small walks a day, even if it is to the mailbox and back.  Those people who do these three things fare best during and after chemo.

Please tell your mom that people she doesn't know are sending positive thoughts her way.  It's not time to give up or shortchange her body.  Now is the time to take ultra good care of it.  It's all we have to carry ourselves around in.

You are a wonderful child to her.  Caregivers sometimes have the hardest job of all.  Bless you.

 

Kirsten