Chemo doable?

Feelingalone74 said:

MAbound, ok I'll ask at the

MAbound, ok I'll ask at the deli about the cheese.  I'd  prefer deli and not the prewrapped individual slices.

I'll get some cider as well. That's something they didn't suggest.

They did warn me of the nadir period.  

I will be sure every washed and then washes some more upon arrival at home. 

I never get a flu shot but will definitely get 1 this fall.

Hating that I'll have to stay out of the public. Being housebound is going to hard. I  work in an Elementary school and was hoping to work on my good days when possible but this sounds like it definitely wont be able to happen which is hard for me.

My regimen will be 2 rounds of carboplatin and taxol 3 weeks apart. 5 days for 5 weeks radiation combined with 1 day chemotherapy cisplatin. Followed by 2 more rounds of carboplatin and taxol.  This seems so much for 1 body to endure.  Wondering how I will get through  it . Treatment will begin tomorrow. So nervous!

Thanks for all of your info u have passed to me !

Warmly,  Michelle 

Maybe I worded that 1st paragraph wrong. It's not that they necessarily want you to eat cheese, eggs, milk, and cider during chemo per se, it's that if you are one of those people into the whole drinking milk raw thing touted as healthier by some, you need to refrain from doing that during treatment and stick with using pasteurized products rather than unpasteurized. They give the same advice to pregnant women. It's the avoiding unpasteurized foods that's more important than eating those particular foods.

If your taste buds or appetite isn't up to having cider, then don't think its something you're supposed to be having. You can really eat whatever works for you during chemo, but there are some things recommended because it makes chemo easier and/or safer for you. You were cautioned about unpasteurized cheese because of your potentially inability to fight off a food born infection when your blood counts are down. I saw it as an opportunity to make sure that you had on your radar to guard against other sources of infection by getting a flu shot, frequent handwashing, and limiting exposure to places where people still go even when they are sick.

Many people continue to work through treatment. There is often no choice about whether or not to do so because of financial or insurance considerations. Given that you'd be working with children who are not the best at keeping their germs to themselves, I'd talk to your oncologist about it to see if there is an ideal way to do what you want to do. Short of putting yourself in a bubble, there really is no way to completely protect yourself. You just want to be aware to protect yourself to the extent that you can to lessen your odds of getting sick for a while. 

Feelingalone74 said:

Thanks Bluebird, I will

Thanks Bluebird, I will definitely be politely persistent about icing during treatment. Do I need to ice when I get home too?

I posted an article with links that might help explain the icing and how it has worked. 

Feelingalone74 said:

Mabound, u mentioned citrus

Mabound, u mentioned citrus and tomatoes. 

Will I be able to est pizza and spaghetti sauce?

It's really up to you if you want to try eating those foods. I was told to avoid spicey and acidic foods before I started chemo, especially pepper, cumin, tomatoes, and citrus. That seemed to wipe out so much of what I would normally eat because I like lots of pepper on things and I was worried, but it didn't matter because I really wasn't eating much besides yogurt, chicken or turkey, green beans, and watermelon anyway. My appetite went bye-bye and anything with flour in it just didn't taste right to me. Other's have a different experience and you won't really know what does or doesn't work for you until you are in the midst of it. The thing with tomatoes is that because they are a high acid food they are the most likely to cause you problems you want to avoid (like sores and painful heartburn). Swishing will help protect your mouth, but I don't think it would help with the rest of your digestive tract. 

How are you?  I remember you started chemo a couple days ago.  Please let us know how you are feeling!  No alarm if you're starting to feel a little worse than infusion day - that's normal.  A few puny days and then you'll start to perk up again!

MAbound said:

Cheese

They want to you to eat pasturized cheese (eggs, milk, cider too) because your white cell count is impacted during chemo and radiation and you will be more susceptable to infections for a while. Ask at the deli counter if you are unsure of what is or isn't pasturized. I think you mostly have to be careful of the specialty stuff.

Your labs get checked regularly during treatment to see how you are doing. I can't remember which regimen you'll be on, but if it's infusions every three weeks expect dips in your blood counts when you reach what's called "nadir" (low point) and then a bounce back just before the next infusion. It's normal and low red blood cells is probably why we all get so tired between infusions.

If you don't get the bounce back, they can offer transfusions or delay the infusion. During radiation your blood counts tend to drop less dramatically but steadily and it can take up to six months aftwards for things to return to normal. It's not up and down like it is during chemo.

Be sure to get a flu shot this fall and think twice about going to places where a lot of germs get shared and it's hard to protect yourself. I stayed away from church and my husband did the grocery shopping while I was in treatment. Also ask if you can or need to have a pneumonia or shingles shot. You can't have live vaccines and I can't remember if they are or not. 

Handwashing is critical, including by those who live with you. It doesn't hurt to be a bit of a germaphobe while you are vulnerable. Your family really needs to be too because they don't want to bring anything home to you. Don't forget to thoroughly wash any produce you eat, too.

You should be ok and shouldn't freak out about these caveats...it's just to get you thinking about what otherwise might not be on your radar with everything else going on. 

The pneumonia vaccine is ok, I had that during treatment.  It's not entirely ideal,  however,  because your immune system doesn't respond as well to vaccines when it's suppressed.  But it doesn't hurt you, just doesn't help as much as it could.

Feelingalone74 said:

Hair started falling slowly

Hair started falling slowly out earlier this week . Week 2 after 1st treatment. Now today falling out in handfuls  :-(

I know I  need to just cut it but I can't.  

I think I probably should do as u did and wear my wig around the house this weekend to get use to while my son is gone for most of the weekend. I almost wore it to training at my job so they all thought my hair grew since I was there last in June and so when I finally can go back to work after treatment I'd look like I did today had I worn it.

So hard! 

 

Hang in there.  I remember that day vividly.  I went in the bathroom with the scissors, and put on some praise music, and I just. couldn't. do it.  I had vowed that I wouldn't let my husband see me without hair (totally unrealistic goal), and when he came home from work for lunch I was still in there.  He came in, took the scissors and clippers, and gave me a buzz cut.  Then he kissed the top of my head and said I looked cute.  I believe it was the sweetest moment of our marriage, and I'll remember it forever.  Then my dear friend Jenn came over with a bottle of wine and said, "This will not be known forever as the day Wendy lost her hair - this will be known as the day we drank in the middle of the afternoon."  (Neither of us drinks more than about a glass of wine a year.)  So we day-drank a toast to the chemo working its magic, and things got a lot easier after that.  I wore the wig through the Texas summer and nearly into the next Texas summer.  So thankful that God has allowed me time for it all to grow back in!

Feelingalone74 said:

What a great friend u have

What a great friend u have Armywife and a  very sweet husband! 

My hair has been shedding all week. At least it has  been slow process. However,  my long hair is in a matted tat nest today. I just want to go into the bathroom a d start cutting it off as I know there's nothing I can do with but say it's  time.an acquaintance has a hair salon at her house. She's going to cut it this afternoon. I'm extremely sad about this ! 

It's hot here where I live in will be even hotter next week but my wig will be on my head no matter what. I'm so hoping my son thinks I look like his mom still.

I pray I can be strong ! 

My hair had been thinning while I was on low dose chemo so I knew when I went to the full dose it would be time.  It was springtime and I was outside running my fingers through my hair and just letting it fly, figuring the birds could use it in their nests.  I took the scissors to it and cut a bunch of it off, and then my husband cut the rest real short with the clippers.  At some point during the summer (and no, I didn't always wear something on my head in the house) he looked at me and said, "You sure do have a pretty head!" I really appreciated that!  My son usually keeps his real short in the summer and I think every time he came over he had just buzzed it about as short as it would go.

We all choose our way to handle the hair loss and you will find what works for you.  My eyelashes and eyebrows were the last to go - maybe after the fifth full dose treatment - and I thought it was weirder to have no eyelashes than no hair, but they started coming back fairly soon.  I tried drawing on my eyebrows but the weather was hot and they would just melt away so I gave up.  Good luck!