Suggestions to stay well during chemo xx

Feverlana

Hi guys I’m after some tips on how to stay as well as possible during Chemotherapy. I was diagnosed with early breast cancer in October and had a successful lumpectomy in November. Unfortunately one Lymp node was positive ( bugger) so chemo for me as I’m only 47. Thanks for any suggestions xx 

Locksley

Hi Sorry to see you hear the club no-one wants to join.  I walked when I was able to.  Not every day but the good days.  I was quite cold during chemo so I had a nice warm blanket and hat to keep me warm.    Rest up when you body needs to.  Sending hugs xxx

Afraser

Dear @Feverlana

It’s difficult to suggest a course of action until you know how you react - if you have two different chemotherapies, one after the other (I had one affected lymph node too) you may react differently to each! Many find that trying to keep your mind from fixating on cancer and treatment helps, by continuing working, or keeping busy with a project or hobby. Obviously that’s difficult if you have a lot of nausea and/or fatigue. Exercise is certainly good - even if it’s limited to a short time of low impact exercise, trying to keep it up every day is good for your body but also good for your brain. I had very few side effects (apart from hair loss) on my first chemo and those I had with the second were mainly in the annoying category. One was losing my taste buds! It’s hard to keep your weight steady when everything tastes of cardboard. Luckily the things I could actually taste and therefore ate a lot (salad, eggs, avocado and banana, forget the spicy food advice, didn’t work for me!) were also good for me. But if all you can eat is chocolate and chips, do it! It’s a finite period of time, get through it with whatever it takes! Best wishes. 

kazb

hi @Feverlana , everyone reacts differently, but ,y advice for staying well during chemo is be kind to yourself, dont over do things, you might feel really well and do extra chores or activites, but it then takes its toll and you feel more exhausted.  Accept help when it is offered.
Walk, walk, walk, I walked 6 out of 7 days and im positive it helped me get through, the other tip is drink plenty of water, fill a 2 lt jug in the morning, and everytime you walk past have a drink, if you get to bedtime and the jug is still full, you know you havent drunk enough.  Good luck on your journey:)

jennyss

Dear @Feverlana,
Ditto to the advice above. I also found it very helpful to keep a diary in an exercise book - temp, nausea (none for me), aches and pains, tiredness, hair loss, skin stuff - whatever pops up!  The diary meant I could communicate with my breast care nurse and chemo clinic staff. Keep in touch -  The network has been a great support for me over the last three years with info, sympathy and lots of laughs!
  Best wishes from jennyss in Western NSW

Cath62

Hi @Feverlana,

Ditto above. Sorry you are going through this. Water and lots of it and walking every day no matter how tired helped me greatly. I also drank beetroot, carrots  celery and ginger juice as helps detox liver from it all. You can make it fresh but Coles sells a similar one, the V8 brand. Also care for your skin and mouth. Chemo dries your skin so moisturiser is a must. I used moogoo as no chemicals in that. I also used their body wash as it is gentle on the skin. For preventing mouth ulcers I flossed after every meal and did a salty water mouth wash. Never got a single ulcer.  Good luck and keep us all posted on your progress . Take care

Anj_j2020

@Feverlana, As others have said, exercise is really important. During my weekly Taxol, I would unplug the machine and walk around the clinic while doing lunges, etc. Morning and afternoon walking and stretching is great. Water and lots of it to flush the chemicals through.
All the best and good luck!

Sister

A lot of my advice has already been said...  It's really important to try to get exercise during chemo even if all this means is a slow shuffle down the driveway.  If you can access an oncology rehab gym, all the better (some oncology clinics have arrangements with these gyms) - good for your general health and your recovery.  Be kind to yourself - you may not have the energy to fit in the commitments that you have in the past.  Don't be scared to take necessary medications and if what you have doesn't work, ask for something better - straight away.  Keep a log of how you're feeling each day including things like meds taken, temperature, blood pressure (if you have a machine at home).  This will give you a record to monitor your pattern and also give the oncologist accurate information.  I use to leave mine on the bench so I would remember to write things down.  And don't worry too much about the "quality" of what you eat if you're struggling with food - if you can eat it, it's fine.  It's more important to try to maintain a weight.

Mazbeth

@Feverlana I agree with all of the above suggestions. As @Afraser says, do whatever you need to get through this stage. I was pretty fortunate as I found it all manageable, but everyone is different. My advice is to take any of the medication that is suggested and if you experience a side effect, let the medical team know as they do not want you to be sick, they want to prevent/manage any side effects and keep you feeling as well as possible. I experienced reflux, I have never had it before and I happened to mention it to my team. My doctor prescribed a tablet, it worked a treat and the reflux was gone. As soon as chemo finished, so did my reflux and no more need for tablets. I haven’t had it again. Taste buds were a problem for me, but again, my taste returned pretty quickly when I stopped chemo in May. I loved fruit tingles and ate packets of them! I ate an egg every day for breakfast as I know that good quality protein is great for healing - and it still tasted great. I would also go for slow walks as often as I could. I lost my hair - that was tricky for me, but I would recommend you look into cold capping as many people have had success with it. On my way home from chemo, we would do KFC drive through for a large chips that I would inhale! I hardly ever ate KFC and haven’t had any since, but they were sensational at that time. 
Take care and I wish you well.