Laura's Journey. . .

I am halfway through my chemo treatments, I have three more to go, woo-woo!

Now that I am halfway through my treatments, it doesn’t seem so depressing.  I still don’t look forward to chemotherapy, but I now know what I have to do in order to survive!  I am also counting down the days until I don’t have to do chemo no more!  January 29th will be my last day and I will be so looking forward to that day!!!!  WOO-WOO!

What I have learned so far through chemo is:

1. White rain shampoo is the best thing to soak your wigs in.
2. Your head gets cold if you sleep with your window open, so put on a light cotton hat.
3. It is easy to loose your sense of ha-ha.
4. Don’t o.d. on salt. That is all I have been able to taste, and so I have been salting everything to an excess, and guess what happens? You get swollen ankles and bloated.
5. You are going to hurt mentally, emotionally and physically…
6. You are going to suffer from “chemo brain “.  You forget a lot from one second to the next, and feel like you are walking around in a fog. It frustrated me in the beginning, now I joke around about being half-senile.
7. In the beginning, don’t do cancer treatments by yourself! It messes with your head. However, as I became more comfortable and tried to make chemo my friend, I was able to do it by myself, but I take a bunch of books, and note pads, and I would read, study or doodle – it ain’t so bad as long as you keep your mind occupied. Friends coming and visiting throughout your treatment makes the day go faster though!
8. Do not do the cancer journey by yourself, it is sad, lonely and scary. Find a group, as I have, called Women Listen, who just rock! (See link on my page.) Talk to a counselor if you have to, I did a couple of times even though it isn’t my thing, but I will when I need to. Surround yourself with POSITIVE people and friends!! They help keep your spirits up!
9. Be willing to experiment with alternative approaches to healing, as I did with the traditional healer, anything that can make you feel better is worth it! (Now if I can find a sweat, I’d have it made in the shade with lemonade!)
10. I still hate chemo, for I hate being sick, but I will beat it!
11. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Especially to those who you have contact with every day. I wasn’t telling my instructors what was wrong with me and I was falling behind in my assignments because I was so sick, not a good thing to do.  Once I told them, they were willing to work with me. This is true with anyone you have daily dealings with; do not think “they” will know what is going on with you. You don’t have to go into detail, I just tell folks, “hey I didn’t know this chemo was going to kick my butt so bad, so just bear with me ok?” and then I leave it at that.
12. That you can put weight on, yes, that’s right, put weight on. Why? Because you are not moving much because you are so exhausted, sick and sometimes your body hurts too much to move. I now make myself MOVE, walking stairs, or walking, in 10-20 minute increments – whatever I can handle, several times a day. Trust me, sometimes it’ll feel like an act of congress to move, just do it when you can and don’t beat yourself up if you can’t.  Update:  July 27, 2008:  You also can gain weight from the steroids that are used during your treatments that help your body accept the chemo, if it ain’t one thing it is another!
13. Because you are so stressed, it is easy to reach for lots of comfort food… even if you can’t taste it, which rather aggravated me. One time, I went over the “deep end” and I ate tons of food in one day, just because I wanted to TASTE what use to make me feel comforted… It didn’t work, I just got sick.
14. Ask for help when you need it, it is ok (well I’m still working on this one – I’m too use to being Super Woman, and asking for help is still not easy for me to do…)
15. Slow your pace down. It is ok to, and not only that, you will feel more at peace.
16. I love puppies!

As I continue to put one foot in front of the other my friends,
Laura