Chemo Consistancies

Some things that tend to be consistent from Chemo to Chemo.

During the first few days to a week:  

- Food lacks any taste.  Anything with starch tastes like nothing, just texture, even Salt and Vinegar potato chips.  

- I can taste some sweet and some salty.  I can taste eggs with lots of salt and sausage tastes great!

- My teeth feel like I’ve been sanding with a hand sander.  They feel chalky, kind of numb, and like they are vibrating. 

- I can feel my heart beating faster and my blood pressure is lower.

- Every time I have Chemo I forget how my mouth and throat almost instantly dry up and how awful my mouth and everything tastes.

- I have Chemo on Thursday (all but my last time, I had it on Monday) and by Saturday, Sunday, and most of Monday after Chemo I am in bed pretty much all day because I am so tired and weak.

- My legs feel really heavy when I get up from bed.

- It’s harder to take deep breaths.

- My eyes are a little swollen for a couple of days after Chemo.

The entire time:

- I can taste hot chocolate and Darigold Refuel chocolate milk, but I can’t taste any chocolate candy.
- Silk Almond Milk Sweetened Vanilla flavored tastes good and helps sooth my throat and moisten my mouth.

- I will be extremely hot and the next minute extremely cold and back and forth.  It’s like my body can’t regulate its core temperature. 

- Water does not make my mouth and throat feel less dry no matter how much I drink or how hydrated I am. 

- My mouth and throat are so dry that I use a toddler sippy cup while I am sleeping so I can get drinks during the night without sitting up or spilling.  It has an opening like a camelback, so it works great. 

- If my throat is dry it “clicks” when I swallow.

- I develop a mild to severe cough (usually mild) that lasts about a week.

- I never lost every bit of my hair.  There were always short fine white “whiskers” all over my head.

The light is reflecting on the whiskery hairs left on my head.

- My eyebrows and my eyelashes were really thin until about 2 - 3 weeks after my last treatment when my eyelashes started falling out.

-  I lost all the hair in my nose making it dry and sticky.

- I have stripes under my fingernails which correspond with my Chemo treatments (a result of slowed fingernail growth).

I was on my fifth round when I took these pictures.

The last treatment hasn't grown out of the nail bed yet.

- My eyes get really dry and sometimes stick shut while I am sleeping, so I use artificial tears often.

- During my last treatments, about 2 weeks after each treatment, my eyes “tear” or “weep” from the outside edge because Chemo can cause tear ducts to constrict.

- A couple of times my cheeks and chin became numb and red.  When the numbness and red goes away there are broken blood vessels on my cheeks.

- My heels have been numb on a couple of my later treatments.  After my last treatment the bottoms of my feet and my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th toes on both feet were numb.

- The first couple of rounds are the hardest because you are learning what your individual side effects are and what you need to do lessen or prevent them.

- My face was really soft by the end of my Chemo treatments.

- I only had a couple of mild migraines during Chemo compared having at least 1 or 2 severe ones every month.

- The last round takes a lot longer to recover from. 

- Most importantly:  I remember back to previous treatments to remind myself this had happened before and I constantly reassure myself the side effects will go away again. 

Bald Musings

Having no hair means:

-I don’t have to worry about lice.

-No bats will get stuck in my hair.

-People do a double take and sometimes don’t take their eyes off of my head.

-I look “tough”.

-People don’t bargain as much with me at yard sales.

-My head temperature is constantly in flux.

-Shampoo/conditioner lasts a VERY long time. (A dot is a lot.)

- The arms on my glasses stick to the skin on my head behind my ears making it difficult to take them off.

-People sometimes avoid me.

-I get told a lot of cancer stories.

And…

-It’s not my hair in the food.

Question:  When I forget I don't have hair and I get too much hair growth stimulating shampoo (Nioxin), do I use the extra to clean the rest of my body?

Things I Learned During Chemo:

These are a few things I figured out during my bout with Chemo.  Hopefully these tips will make life a little easier for someone else who may be facing the same battle I have been fighting.

-The first few days after Chemo drink LOTS and LOTS of water/fluids to help flush out the chemicals.  Then keep drinking water/fluids because you will be totally dried out from Chemo…your skin, your mouth, your nose, everything.

-Sip, don’t gulp your fluids.  Gulping doesn’t make your mouth feel any less dry but it does increase the number of bathroom visits you will have to make.

-Always carry water and/or something to suck on.  Biotene Dry Mouth Lozenges are great!  
 

-1 cup water + ¼ teaspoon salt + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda is my favorite mouth gargle.  It soothes your throat and helps your mouth feel less dry. (Biotene Dry Mouth Oral Rinse works well, too.)

-A baby/toddler toothbrush is super soft making it much less painful to brush your teeth when your gums are sore and swollen.

-A dry mouth toothpaste (Biotene) is much less harsh on your mouth and helps get the icky taste out of your mouth. ( Really, I'm not getting kickbacks from Biotene.  I liked their products and they worked well for me so is what it boiled down to.)

-Sippy cup,..sippy cup…sippy cup.  Use it in bed to prevent spilling from a glass.  You get small sips rather than the large gulps you would get from a mug.  You can lay it right next to you with no worry of leaking making it’s easy to grab all through the night.

This sippy cup works like a camel back.  I know it seems silly but I had no leaks and no spills while keeping hydrated all night.

-Sugared drinks made my mouth feel less dry for a longer period of time then water.  I don’t know why, but they did.

-Chemo treatment side effects have a pretty consistent timeline lasting a little longer after each treatment.

-Write the common name of medications, what they are for, and dosage on the lid and label with a permanent marker so you don’t have to read the small print on the label every time. 

For example:  Pepsid – Heartburn-1. 

 

-Keep your sense of humor.  People will say insensitive things without thinking.  Most of the time they aren’t sure what to say, so give them credit for at least trying.

-On the most part, people are compassionate and supportive.  Express your gratitude.  They are giving a little part of themselves to help you in your endeavor to become whole again.

You are strong enough so keep up the good fight!