Foods to eat during chemo

The only thing that really tasted good during chemo!

https://www.dana-farber.org/health-library/videos/eating-well-during-cancer/

The above link might be helpful for you. I was told to avoid spicy and acidic foods during chemo as well as to eat low-fiber foods. No problem because I really didn't want to eat much anyway....except for watermelon, like CQ said. There's just something about it. Chicken, yogurt, and eggs were the only protein I could stand, so at least I was getting some protein. It's also important to drink a crazy amount of fluids to flush out the chemo and keep the constipation controllable. Miralax and water will be your best friends for awhile.

Please read the threads on preventing neuropathy before you start, too. You won't regret it.

Yep the port was a great thing. I dont have the greatest veins either so the port gave me one less thing to worry about. I had a different cancer over 20 years ago and didnt have a port put in at first. I had one chemo appointment where the nurse poked me five times before it worked. Thats when the port was born for me. This last time i new i had to have the port.

Lucky, my first round was the worst.  After that they got easier.  Other women have reported the same.  One mistake I made was not pushing fluids, and waiting to take anti-nausea medication until I was about to vomit.  Since then, I start drinking furiously the morning of chemo, before it starts, and continue right through it, and for the next 48 hrs at least, to flush the chemo out of my system.  The first round I was dehydrated and  I had a lot of bladder and kidney pain, as if the chemo had burned them.  Didn't have that with subsequent rounds because of the furious drinking, to the point where I was urinating every 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, I developed an aversion to the taste of water after round three!  I switched to seltzer, flavored with a little bit of cider or grape juice.

One problem I had with chilling my hands and feet is that I would fall asleep and my feet would rest on the bottom of the container of ice water, thus impeding the circulation of ice water under the balls of the feet.  This last (I hope) round, we will nest the container into another container, with a big freezer pack between the two containers.  Maybe that will help.

On the food front, the first round, the only thing I wanted to eat was Fettucine Alfredo. But a single serving from the Cheesecake Factory lasted me for two days - and that was ALL I ate.  Another round I craved rare red meat.  Scrambled eggs with cheese were the only thing I could stomach in the mornings.  This latest round it was flounder Francese style (drenched in egg and flour, sauteed in butter, with a lemon butter sauce).  I acquired a taste for salt on foods (usually I don't, due to high blood pressure).  Most rounds I really couldn't eat much the first week, lost over 5 lbs the first week each time, then gained it back as soon as I started eating again. Overall I lost weight during the first few rounds, now I'm gaining it back with the last rounds.  After this is all over, I'm going to have to go on a diet.  But it's really hard to diet when you are so nauseated as I was (just like pregnancy, when I had horrible nausea the entire 9 months each time), and you're trying to calm your stomach with starchy foods.

I know different places have differing methods, here was what mine did. First I was given both a short acting anti nausea thing (IV through the port) then a long lasting one and also a Benadryl. Then the chemo, Carbo for 3 hours and Taxol for 30 minutes. They want you to eat lunch while you are there, I was fine with that. At home I had Lorazapam, which I only tried once, and Prochlorper which I used a bit for the first couple of days. Then the ondansetron after that. The iv stuff they gave me interferes with ondansetron for the first 2 days and basically cancel each other out. I felt really icky but never threw up. I could not stand water for about 3 days, it tasted like rusty nails. I could drink V 8 and apple cider and ginger ale. I could eat soup, beef veg or chicken veg. After the first 2 or 3 days I liked things like lasagna, sphagetti and meat. I found that It made no difference to my stomach if I ate, it didn’t make me feel worse. I did like watermelon, and my life saver is a brand of yogurt called Zoi, honey flavor, best yogurt ever! If you get a sore mouth, mix 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/8 tsp salt in a glass of warm water and rinse your mouth, luckily I only had to do this once after the first round, after that my mouth was fine

My port was put in the same day of my first chemo.