Community Chat

[meallen616]

Well wishes coming your way,

[cherry]

Preds, buy You can ,if you think you can ,by Normal Vincent Peale. I promise it will give you courage and strength

I will keep you in my prayers

[PodyPo]

@PredsI lurk a lot but don’t post much, and your humor and kindness always touch me.

You will beat this. I’m Celebrating 8 years after stage 3b with chemo and a hell of a lot of radiation. It was tough, but the nurses will support you beautifully. One saved me with a tip when none of the nausea meds were working, and she told me to ask the doc for Ativan. Anti-nausea is an off-label use for this. It really helped. Hope you don’t need it but I always share just in case.

Also, carry a small vial of essential oil to sniff if you encounter a bad smell. For me, everything smelled bad. I couldn't open my spice cabinet for months. The smells at work made me want a gas mask.

They probably told you that the first 3 weeks of chemo are not so bad, then the train might hit. The steroids they put in there made me feel invincible, really good the first two treatments.  

If you can’t eat, try Boost or Ensure. Lots of sugar, but it’s fairly easy to just chug it for the nutrition. I lost 30 lbs. and I was normal/slightly underweight to start. It does come back 😊 but you’re better off not to lose too much if you can help it.

Fight like a girl and you will kick cancer’s @ss

❤️❤️❤️

[Preds]

@Suziepeach ... Thank you for your hugs, thoughts and prayers.  The same goes to @PodyPo, @cherry, @meallen616 @Laura14, @LifeIsGood, @Beckyb1012, @Bonanzajellybean, @Mama Mia, @Whatnow and @QualityGal.

@cherry ... I will check out your recommendation.  Reading is always good and appears I'll finally have time to catch up on my reading.

@PodyPo ... Thank you for the tips, warnings, and suggestions.  This was my first Chemo treatment and a lot of information was said, but I don't think my brain heard it all.  LOL

@Laura14 ... You know the "cough" that Jordan had on GH.  Hers was nothing, but mine is ... yep, lung cancer.  So now you are up to speed. Get back on the GH thread and provide me some humor.

Again, Thank you all so much.  My heart is full and you've made Preds cry.  It's a good cry.  

[cherry]

@Preds I think it is available on Amazon

[Preds]

My favorite way to shop @cherry.  Will look today.  Thank you.

[Bri63]

(((Preds)))

My heart actually hurts reading this news.  I can only offer you prayers and support 

[newziesuzie]

❤️

((((((((((@Preds))))))))))

❤️

[nyc1]

Sending hugs and positive thoughts your way.  I hope you can get through anything that you have to tackle with strength and success.  Hopefully you have people who can support you at home....   and in addition,  you have a fan club here as well who are thinking of you.

[PodyPo]

@PredsI hope I’m not being too preachy, but lots of people helped me when I went thru the cancer experience, and I like to share some of what I learned. We all go through it as novices and any info helps, IMO. You don’t even know the right questions to ask when you don’t have any experience.

Try to take someone with you when you go to appointments. Yes, there is a lot of info thrown out all at once, and it can be overwhelming. I carried a little note book too. You can also record on your phone (iPhone, dunno about others).

I had a so sweet experience at my first chemo: I didn’t know about the visitor chairs, and I didn’t want anyone to have to sit there all day with me so I was the only one with an empty buddy chair. A woman with two daughters with her was sitting next to me, and we all started chatting. One daughter asked me if she could sit in my buddy chair and of course I said ok, thinking she just wanted a more comfy place to sit. But that dear girl sat there and prayed and laughed with me all day. Next times my friends all rotated coming, although I really just wanted to sleep through it.

You may get “chemo brain.” It’s not that you get dumb, but it can affect short term memory. It affected my ability to find words for things. For instance, I wouldn’t be able to think of “vacuum cleaner” and would say “that machine that sucks up dirt on the floor.” It mostly goes away, although I still have a small problem with this.

One more: if you lose appetite, don’t try eating your favorites, thinking they will taste good. They won’t. You will just ruin your favorites for a long time. I found that things with extreme flavors - sweet, salty or sour - helped a little. Pickles were a good bet when I couldn’t get anything else in.

You seem like you have a strong spirit, and I know you’ll come out of this a victor. 😍

I you want to ask me anything, please feel free. I had cisplatin (with platinum, would rather have had a ring!), supposedly the worst chemo of all. Yours is probably different, but many side effects are common among them all. Also had 46 external and six internal radiation. They can knock us down but we get up come back strong.