Cancer Support and Caregivers Who Are Trail Blazers!

[LeftWriteFemme]

Originally Posted by Tommi

We are all so unique in the way sickness affects us, but many common side effects from radiation and chemo. Knowing that reading and understanding some of them will be helpful to you and yours, here are a few basic's to get you started. From here , you can explore many topics, as I know being informed helps the crazy committee to be calmed and quieted.

Rad. Therapy sessions took less than 15 minutes. Waited in a lounge with 4 or 5 others, we were all ready and waiting for our names to be called, dressed in those fashionable clothes. I saw, for the ones with breast cancer, the skin gets extremely sensitive, and the radiation nurses and or Doc gave them creme's and ointments to use. Also, staying really well hydrated helped.

Pelvic Radiation for me, was a walk in the park, I drove myself to the external radiation appointments 5 days a week for 7 weeks every morning at 7 Am, then went to work.., and to the 3 final brachytherapy appointments that followed. Fatigue hit me for several months afterwards, where I wanted to sleep in, and not go to work, which was uncommon for me. I needed more than the usual 4 or 5 hours of sleep too.

Chemo is different for everyone. I didn't have chemo, so am not versed in it for myself. My Mom had lung cancer, and never got sick during it.

My best wishes for warp speed through this period of life. The experience you gather could make a great book for support for those who get the news and those that walk alongside. "just sayin' "

I love the smell of coffee too, and now have a Keurig that I can stand in front of as it brews;

Resource Link for Chemotherapy information
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/c...herapy-and-you

Chemotherapy and You: Support for People With Cancer

Chemotherapy and You is written for you - someone who is about to receive or is now receiving chemotherapy for cancer. Your family, friends, and others close to you may also want to read this book.

This book is a guide you can refer to throughout your chemotherapy treatment. It includes facts about chemotherapy and its side effects and also highlights ways you can care for yourself before, during, and after treatment

Thank you!!! Thank you, yes, it is a great book, she is about halfway through it and is feeling the relief knowledge brings!

The plastic surgeon has said she will be ready in two more weeks......so now we are having the debate of should she have her first treatment on Friday the 2nd or Monday the 5th, because May the 3rd is the Newark Women's Retreat and she is the MC and I am the retreat master. She has read that she will be full of energy the day after the treatment due to the steroids and will crash Sunday, and I will be able to be there and care for her on Sunday. Of course this makes sense in a perfect world where everything goes as planned and we have......ha, ha, ha, 'control' I of course am worried that having to do anything the day after her first chemo is a concern especially something as taxing as MCing a big event.
My sponsor Kris says, chemo is cumulative and the first session shouldn't be that bad.......I don't know, I just worry, though at this point the thing I am more worried about is that this week she locked herself out of the house and instead of calling for help.........CLIMBED THROUGH HER BEDROOM WINDOW!!!!! (I'm a little upset....can you tell??? ) She is bruised beyond belief and I am without words, seriously she is not even completely healed from the surgery and she's climbing though windows........at 52. I've been shaking my head a lot, I am just as powerless over her craziness as I am her cancer. I will say her friends are teasing her like wild......one friend from work texted her while she was and the plastic surgeon's office to remind her that she could use his door, she didn't have to crawl out his office window...she laughed out loud at that, but I think it made the point better than all my fretting and hand wringing.
And you are right, of course you are right, this experience will make a great book........I am hope it will be a comedy, though in that dark place in my heart I still fear it could end up a tragedy. Kris, keeps reminding me that it's 'only' 4 rounds of chemo, only 4, that still sounds like a lot to me when we were expecting only radiation, but I am holding on to the fact that it's only 4.

Your new coffee maker sounds like fun! I've seen all the pretty little K-cup packs and it looks to be an elegant system! Enjoy!!

Again, thank you for all your support. I don't know why cancer is so much scarier to me than other diseases, but it really is.

Here is a link to the Fresh Air podcast where Edie Falco talks about many things including how she dealt with her breast cancer: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPl...3&d=04-09-2014