No shit! This sucks
May 29th, 2010
This falls into the category of TMI, as I’m guessing a few of my posts might, but I’m here to deliver the good, bad and the ugly. So my first bit of advice if you are starting down this road is to not believe what medical professionals tell you: there is no anti-nausea medicine that does not completely and totally impact you! I have taken my meds religiously, doubling up even on the stool softeners. I’ve added prune juice, fresh cherries, some sickeningly sweet prescription syrup. I even stopped the anti-nausea meds in a desperate attempt at relief. I feel like I’ve been in labor since Wednesday. Suppositories are not allowed because tender tissues can be torn – not good when there are no white blood cells to fight infection. So I am effing miserable praying that this chemo-tainted waste leaves my body.
Friday night, Day 3 after chemo, was the worst night of my life. Imagine that time you drank waaaay too much, that borderline alcohol poisoning feeling when you try with ever fiber of your being to maintain because you feel that if you puke you’ll never stop. Then multiply it by 1,000. That was my Friday and part of my Saturday. Today I have the shakes as I wrack my brain to think of anything that sounds palatable. I spent most of the night sucking on a plum-apricot cross. The tartness tasted good, but I could eat only a fiber at a time. It took me 12 hours to finish it. Even water tastes off so I’m sipping on club soda with a splash of organic mango juice. I’m craving frozen fruit, so Michelle just ran off to Trader Joe’s. Bless her and her crazy list of things I think I probably, maybe might be able to stomach.
Right now instead of alcohol poisoning it feels like a really bad flu. Can I really do this until November?
I am also experiencing heightened senses of smell and hearing, and they are driving me crazy. A skunk sprayed our dog two months ago, but it smells like yesterday. I cannot get the TV on a low enough sound setting. And please nobody touch me.
So that’s the bad. The good is I am hearing from people I haven’t seen in decades, and some I’ve never met at all. Your uplifting emails always seem to arrive at my darkest hour. Lori, who just completed my program, called last night and talked me through some of my anxiety. A stranger who also just completed her treatment emailed today to remind me that depression is a side-effect of chemo so don’t give into it.
The universe is an amazingly wonderful place.
So glad you have heard from some folks who have been where you are right now and hope their words and advice help you. Yes, you can do this!!! You are strong and brave.
You can do it, Tracie. I believe in you.
Not sure if caffein is a no-no or if you can even stomach this…. but a cup or two of coffee is a good laxative. Also learned by accident while pregnant that dried apricots yield the same result….only worse. Have not had them since. Just my 2 cents worth as things I learned while trying to eat heathy once.
Another unsolicited suggestion – probiotics help quite a bit with getting things moving
you always have good suggestions, my friend!
Try 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil daily. It won’t cause the peristalisis to return…but your stool will be slippery and it defianately helps our pregnant patients when they are taking zofran for Nausea. Olive oil works wonders. You can take more also… start out with 2 TBSP
Love you.
Also… mega doses of vitamin C. In powder form, chewable, or capsules. Not Tablets for there are too many fillers. Linus Pauling did a study on Vitamin C treatment and cancer. You body will get rid of any extra C it doesn’t need. He gave his patients mega doses of C to help cure their cancer. Check out his work.
Vit C will give you diarrhea in mega doses ..
When pregnant, I found that warming the prune juice seemed to work faster. And I cut the prenatals to every other day. It might help with your anti nausea pills too if you can stomach it. Also try some of the ginger suckers babies r us sells. Trader joes might have also, but ginger is supposed to help with the nausea. The potato soup offer is still open also whenever you want it.