Mikenh and Surgery

For whatever reason, I found citrus fruit to be appealing and it even stimulated my appetite.  When the situation presents itself, store up for the famine.  Eat as much as you can in preparation for the next infusion cycle.  After number three was when my weight bottomed out at 128 and I could not stay the course.

Anyway, eat some tangerines, or oranges or even a salty sour = lemon with lots of salt.  That might help.

Jim

Mikenh said:

I enjoy citrus and we have a

I enjoy citrus and we have a lot of grapefuits at home but grapefruits exaggerate the effects of various drugs and I'd rather not do that with chemo. The nausea seems to be fading now or I just really feel like pizza. My wife informs me that we do have lemons and I'll add that to hot tea.

I too have had a craving for citrus. I have been eating organic cava cava oranges. I am embarrassed to say that my appetite has been fine, and in fact I have gained a few pounds. I want to cut back, but the doctor, nurse, and nutritionist said no, that I need to keep eating my protein and veggies and such. I think the gaining is because I get no exercise. I am going to be careful though, and start eating just enough to maintain. I don't know if I just haven't gotten far enough along to be nauseous yet though. The contrast did make me sick to my stomach. And if I don't eat, I get a little sick, eating solves it. Have you tried pasta? That is my go to on days I don't feel so great. I eat with marinara, but maybe if you tried with just light olive oil, that would be more palatable. I have been eating a lot of seitan because they say protein helps. 

My output has also been heavier this month (I had the bag on March 2017) but it was only this month that my output started to get plenty at night.  And that interrupts my sleep because I have to empty it.  Add to that the feeling of starvation (owing to Xeloda probably consuming much of what I've eaten during dinner), I get up at wee hours of the morning and then I can't return to sleep anymore.  Sigh.

I spent 30 minutes talking to McKesson (actually most of the time was on hold) and they told me that they completely dropped the ball on my stuff. I've been trying to get supplies for December since the middle of December and they had delays verifying with the surgeon and dropped the ball. I called again and gave the the surgeon's name a number and they dropped the ball. I called again and asked them to ship to my office but they shipped to my home so supplies sat in -15 degree weather for a couple of days. Called and they said that replacement would take care of it. Today they read through everything and saw that nothing had been done so they promised that they'd ship the order out tomorrow night for next day delivery. I will call tomorrow asking for a tracking number. I used up my samples and am back to the old supplies so I can manage but I hate having to spend about five hours on the phone to get an order processed. And lose a month of insured supplies in the process.

Are you taking anything for the nausea? Besides the steroids and injection meds during infusion? My husband takes zofran every single day even if he doesn’t need it and has had almost no nausea. He also says eating is must even if you don’t want to to keep it away. He also takes liquid ginger twice a day and two supplements the homeopathic dr cleared through the oncologist. He swears those are making making him sail through the chemo. They are a bit pricey but his normal cheap self thinks they are worth it. They are Host Defense Cordycep immune support and host defense cordycep energy support 

i get them cheapest on amazon but Whole Foods has them as well

I found a couple of pages on natural hand/foot salves for cold sensitivity and might try my hand at making some of these or just buying them if they are convenient. I think that most of these wind up in cream form. I can just use the Burt's Bees Hand Salve for now. The ingredients in some of these salves is interesting - peppers, oils, etc.

Mike, your posts have been very informative.  I learn a lot reading your posts but as much as I want you to be here everyday, sometimes we also need a break.  I hope the tiredness you feel will be overcome soon.  I know having to juggle work, family, cancer, chemo, and the anxiety, worries, etc. takes a toll on our body and sometimes we just want to silently scream.  Looking forward to your return.

Many of our freinds have taken breaks from the forum at one time or another; some never return, but we're hoping that you do, of course. 

It can get all a bit too much. At one point, we were having active forum members dying by the week, at the worst, we lost three regular members in one week. We lost many members during that time, because the pain of losing someone you've met online is equal to the pain of losing a loved one. The forum is running allot slower these days and thankfully, our members are surviving, and moving on. 

Take good care of yourself  and we will look forward to your return, be in one week, three, thirteen......

Tru

Oncologist liked the idea of taking tests and waiting a week to see if things get better.

Mikenh said:

I sent a note to my

I sent a note to my oncologist detailing side-effects and how long they've lasted and requested that the Oxaliplatin be dropped by 30% and the Xeloda from 4000 mg to 3,500 mg/day.

I am currently tired a lot and I think that it's something to do with insomnia or losing sleep when getting up to deal with the bag. It also might be working a lot of hours. I'm 16 days out from the infusion and still have cold sensitivity, some arthritis in my hands, the brown spots and I still have to drink warm or hot drinks. So not as miserable as a week ago but not doing great either. I think that another round at full strength would put me in bed most of the time.

I'm also not really working out due to time pressure and the weather. So it's not a good time.

Mike:

Your situation is just as mine was.  The only difference is that I am stage II and you are stage III, so I was able to say with some level of confidence that I was not going to do any more chemo.  It was killing me.  YHowever, you are in a different position.

I am confident that you are both knowleable and strong, which will enable you to make a decision and withstand the effects.  I wish you luck.

Jim