Newbie Here - It's official

BillO60

NewHere said:

No Worries

I read your others posts in addition to your reply to me.

First, thank you for your service.

Second, as I was advised, and what I believe, the sense of humor is important.   Anyone who quotes Groucho (that line went through my head immediately also when I joined) and the sage Alfred E. Neuman, is okay in my book. Great minds    I was told to put together a list of good silly movies.  Someone actually mentioned Monty Python and Airplane! as silly - no, indeed they are high art. 

Third, your health care background should help.   My health care background has has helpd me a bit and you have a far greater background by far.  I am a volunteer EMT.   I can still respond to 911 calls to crawl into car wrecks if my white blood count drops when I start chemo, but not for calls that would put me near people with the sniffles 

Regarding empathy - I do my absolute best with patients to ease their minds on my calls  and can usually find something to make a connection.  My ability to make a connection with cancer patients became different when I heard the words applied to me.  An instant on switch.  

Sorry once again for all you had to go through and are going through now.  But you really did find a good bunch of people here. Just ask away, or chat, it really does help.

Energy Levels

You touched on something that I've been thinking about a lot and that is the ability to work while on chemo.  I know there are many variables and the situation is different for each person but you have given me some hope in that area. I traded in doing patient care for computers, management, and deskjobs (still in healthcare organizations) years ago and my enthusiasm for physical exercise has been on again, off again. 

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea about 4 years ago and being treated but it generally causes fatigue and what I like to call "brain fog" that can be helped by physical exercise which I haven't been doing for the last 6 months. I've got a treadmill and a recumbant bicycle in my living room that I need to start getting acquainted with again.

Congrats on being a volunteer EMT. I'm over the hill and have not done that type of work in years but I know it's a demnding job so my hat's off to you.

 

Bill

 

 

NewHere

BillO60 said:

Energy Levels

You touched on something that I've been thinking about a lot and that is the ability to work while on chemo.  I know there are many variables and the situation is different for each person but you have given me some hope in that area. I traded in doing patient care for computers, management, and deskjobs (still in healthcare organizations) years ago and my enthusiasm for physical exercise has been on again, off again. 

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea about 4 years ago and being treated but it generally causes fatigue and what I like to call "brain fog" that can be helped by physical exercise which I haven't been doing for the last 6 months. I've got a treadmill and a recumbant bicycle in my living room that I need to start getting acquainted with again.

Congrats on being a volunteer EMT. I'm over the hill and have not done that type of work in years but I know it's a demnding job so my hat's off to you.

 

Bill

 

 

I Will Let You Know

The energy and reactions to chemo is just one of those suprirses and anticipation things that just adds to the fun and games   I have seen stories all over tha place here regarding reactions, energy levels and the rest.  But there seems to be many that have continured to work (there were mentions of RNs) during chemo.  I really do not want to put the EMT thing on the side for six more months (the two months following surgery due to lifting restrictions I was able to "get my head around")  

There is also the stories that the timing can also become somewhat predictable, days x through y stink, then okay.  So I am hoping for no reaction or a pattern that does not change.  If it is 5 days bleech and then 9 good, I can figure out how to work within that.  

I work with computers doing various things, so on that aspect I am hoping that even if I sit on the couch with computers and hard drives I can get work done even on the bad days, unless they are really bad.  Have you found out if you can do some telecommuniting?

  The people I know who have sleep apneas swear by their CPAP.  They are so much better when using it, albeit it can take a bit of getting used to it due to the noise.  But almost to a person, their sleep is a lot better and they feel a lot better.

Exercise seems to be a big thing for us (the members of the club you and I recently joined )  Everything I am reading, and what people have mentioned, is that some kind of exericse is going to help with this all, including getting through chemo includred.  Some other things mentioned also include meditation, acupuncture and various similar things.  Sloan Kettering (where I am going) has done various studies on the benefits and continue to do so.  They have also made some of these things available to patients.  I am going to try to find some good mediation music and try to stop my Type A from taking over on that one  

John212

Welocme

Welcome to the club that, as they say around here, no one wants to join. Still, I can attest that it's much better to belong than not if you have the necessary credentials for membership. We are, after all, a pretty exclusive club. 

No doubt you already know that everyone responds to chemo treatments a little differently, even on the same regimen. I found that the single best thing I did was tracking my diet, weight, body temp, and physical symptoms daily. This gave me an accurate picture of my state of health (which was often actually better than my mind was willing to accept) and made it so much easier to keep my onc informed about how my body was responding to the regularly scheduled stabbings and poisonings that he ordered for me. Yep - at times I felt like I was being worked over by Tony Soprano's crew, but in the end it all worked out pretty well.

If you're interested in reading more about this new gig in your life, let me recommend a couple places:

• Journal of Clinical Oncology - http://jco.ascopubs.org
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network - http://www.nccn.org

I've found that both sites are pretty easy to navigate and are completely authoritative. Any question you have about your treatment, you can research at these sites and be in a much better place to discuss it all with your onc.

Good luck in your treatment. And stick around, these are some truly good folks here.