Ten Positive Things About Chemotherapy

[GrannyNanny]

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, and thought you'd like to see it. If it brings a smile or even a giggle, it will have been worth it.


TEN POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT HAVING CHEMOTHERAPY
I have always been a “glass-three-quarters-full” person, so when facing chemo I thought I should try to look on the bright side of what is admittedly a rotten experience. So, here are ten positive things about chemotherapy.
1. If you need to lose a few extra pounds, you’ll do it now.
2. You can pour cream on everything you eat. (This keeps you from losing too many of those pounds.)
3. You – if female --can revel in being able to wear a size 6, which you’ve not been able to do since you WERE six!
4. You get to be creative in concocting Ensure smoothies so that you can’t taste the Ensure.
5. If female, you suddenly look like Sinead O’Connor--if male, Yul Brynner--without any effort on your part. (Or maybe Gollum, depending on your head shape.)
6. You have an opportunity to assert your independence by insisting that you will NOT wear a wig -- they itch!
7. You learn to be creative in tying fashion scarves around your head, while trying to avoid both the “Sheik of Araby” and the “Long John Silver” look.
8. You find you can endure wearing little hats that you never in the world would have considered when you had hair. This is a life-broadening experience for which you should be grateful.
9. You get to spend quality time with a lot of nice nurses and other medical personnel. The fact that they stick needles into you need not mar the experience.
10. Best of all, your friends and family treat you tenderly, send you cards , offer to do things for you, and visit you bearing dinners and treats.
11. Bonus item--and best of all—chemotherapy kicks the cancers, and for that we can ALL be grateful.
In sum, chemotherapy isn’t a walk in the park, but when you stop and think about it, there are compensations. In this coming year, whether you are undergoing chemotherapy or not, may your life’s compensations be great and its difficulties few. Phyllis (aka GrannyNanny)

[kHT]

GN's top 10 for Chemo, thanks for sharing.

[Linda P]

Dear Phyllis!!! I don't know if I can recall anyone else who has put all the side effects of chemo in such a positive light. May I share this with my cousin who is just finishing a round of chemo?
Linda P

[LucyGoose]

wow...you have the best outlook!! Love you!!

[GrannyNanny]

Linda -- and everyone else -- Yes, DO share it as widely as you want to. It's meant to be an encouragement, and the more people it encourages, the better. Phyllis

[rockNhostas]

Love this post!

[Mary Ann]

Well said, Phyllis. As a survivor myself, almost 2 years now (ovarian cancer, stage 4) I absolutely loved wearing my wig, always looked better and was easier to care for than the real thing. And I was secretly thrilled weighing in at 99 lbs., a goal I had tried to attain for the last 50 years! Luckily the chemo treatments I received did not create the bad side effects that others have reported and my numbers have been stable so far, and that's so good.

[GrannyNanny]

Mary Ann -- How wonderful for you! Congrats on two years in remission, and wishes for many more. I hope that your oncologist keeps a close eye on you, and that you have blood work done often to check on those tumor markers. Life is good, take it all in all! Phyllis

[LucyGoose]

Mary Ann....I did not know.....Sooooo happy for you.....

[GrannyNanny]

Isn't it astonishing how many women get cancer these days -- especially cancers of the reproductive system. I wonder -- is it pills we take, or food we eat, or air we breathe, or what? Whatever it is, it's scary. Go get those mammograms, girls, even if the "studies" say you don't need them. Now they say that mammograms are not necessary before the age of 50. Baloney and Balderdash! I had my first brush with breast cancer at age 49, and it was found on a mammogram. If I'd waited until I was 50 to have that test, I'd have been dead by age 51. If they won't give you a mammogram, insist upon it -- it's YOUR life they're fiddling around with, not theirs! Phyllis

[GrannyNanny]

Isn't it astonishing how many women get cancer these days -- especially cancers of the reproductive system. I wonder -- is it pills we take, or food we eat, or air we breathe, or what? Whatever it is, it's scary. Go get those mammograms, girls, even if the "studies" say you don't need them. Now they say that mammograms are not necessary before the age of 50. Baloney and Balderdash! I had my first brush with breast cancer at age 49, and it was found on a mammogram. If I'd waited until I was 50 to have that test, I'd have been dead by age 51. If they won't give you a mammogram, insist upon it -- it's YOUR life they're fiddling around with, not theirs! Phyllis

[Bob Scott]

Phyllis you absolutely ROCK!
Now about that Gollum look. You've been peeking haven't you?!

[thy]

Love the way you think positive,
Sorry I have not posted earlier
Tried to use scharfs ... but I am so stupid. But sometimes my ears could need some protection
...
A big HUG to you... and I had to reply..

Darn... MY DD have a very lovely girlfrind from her study.. she is the only child in her family and her father is dianosed with male part cancer the second time.. a gentle sort of male part cancer.

Weird / stupid thing is... he is not the problem. Her mother is... calling from a distance of 180 miles.. Screaming Daddy is dying... and after a lot of words ending with... What about me !!!!

Sweet daughter of her feel so guilty at the age of 25...
My DD do not know how to help her..

All I have sugested is: She have to have an agrement with her father... he call her and tell the fact before he call his wife ( before mum can call her daughter)
Sure her mum did not tell it was a gentle one... if not spread too much, ...she screamed out: He is dying !!! ...and what about MEEE
The daughter have 2 months left in her Master project.. so have to be very bussy and she lean her head to my DD with 3 months left, - it is OK. they are best friends, but DD do not know what to do ...

So please any positive inputs are welcome
Or any way to stop her mother... NO, strangulation is not an option ..

How to deal with family.... ?

Do not wat to hijack the tread, but have been waiting and things get worse, so please help me.. helping my DD to help her best friend... ot how to transplant Phyllis attitude... or just a bit of it

[GrannyNanny]

Ooooh, Pia -- how sad! I was torn between answering here and sending you a PM, so I'm going to do both -- answer here and then send a PM copy to make sure you see it. I'm assuming that DD's friend's father has prostate cancer, but the slow growing kind that is not difficult to treat. That should help her to relax a little. What she needs to do is find out the facts -- as you suggested, from her father and not her mother, and when he gets any new information she should get it from him right away before her mother starts panicking and calling her with frightening phone calls. There is no substitute for knowing the truth -- it combats hysteria and fear, and tells you what concrete things you have to deal with, rather than your imagining all sorts of awful scenarios that are NEVER going to happen.
Case in point: in 2007, when I first heard from my surgeon that the scan had showed that the breast lump had metastasized all over my liver and that they were not going to remove the lump. Instead, she said, I had to see an oncologist -- this was a Friday afternoon, and I couldn't see anyone until at least Monday morning. That weekend was the worst I'd ever spent. I tried not to imagine what might happen, but those thoughts would NOT be put away, so that by Monday morning I was a muddle of "what ifs" and "supposing thats". When I saw the oncologist that afternoon, and found out what could and would be done to attack the cancer, I suddenly felt much, much better because I was in control of the situation. The imagined horrible scenarios that had been taking over my brain and peace of mind over the weekend were gone -- I only had to deal with what WAS, and not anything I'd imagined. Moral of story -- she needs to get the facts and save herself from all the other extraneous stuff.
( I should mention that on the Saturday of that weekend, my DH took me on a drive down the Mississippi River to Red Wing, a historic river town, and to lunch at the St. James Hotel dining room -- a historic hotel and restaurant there. It helped a lot just to get away and do something different -- my husband is a really good man!)
The other thing she can do for her dad is to ask him if he has anyone to advocate for him with the medical people. Every cancer patient needs another person to go along to meetings with the doctor and other medical personnel. When you are distressed you don't always hear things right the first time, and having another person there, preferably taking notes and asking questions that the patient hasn't thought to ask, is a godsend. Obviously, her mother is NOT the one to do this, but if he has a guy friend that would go with him -- or another, less involved relative -- that would be a big help to his navigating the medical ins and outs.
Another case in point: On that Monday morning, I waited for a call from the surgeon's nurse about an oncology appointment, but by 9:30 AM I'd heard nothing. I called her office, and the nurse said "Oh, Yeah, I sent your paperwork over to MOPA (one of two oncology offices near us) and they might get you in by Wednesday." I exploded. " WEDNESDAY???? Did you call the St. John's hospital oncology?" (the other place I could go, right across the street from MOPA) She admitted that she hadn't, so I said "I want an appointment TODAY!" and told her to call St. John's. She called back in 15 minutes and said I had a 2:00 appointment there the same day! The moral of this story is that you have to advocate for yourself, and not just take whatever the medical establishment tells you. Some people -- like me -- are assertive enough to do it for themselves. If they aren't, then they need someone who IS assertive to advocate for them.
This has turned into quite an epistle. Pia, if you have more questions, do write me a PM and I'll answer as best I can. Anyone else who has similar questions, feel free to do the same thing. This kind of stuff needs to get out into the open so that people who find themselves on the cancer-go-around can learn to deal with it. Most cancers involve treatment and then management; fewer and fewer people wind up in dying from cancer, and more and more are being able to live WITH cancer. Good luck to your daughter's friend. And do send her my "ten positive things about chemo". She can send it on to her dad if she wants to. Love and best wishes -- Phyllis

[thy]

You called at 9.30 AM Even I would have waited to 11 AM
Give your DH a hug from me, he have tried to do all the best he could in that terrible weekend... why do they have to tell you scary things on fridays and the wait to give you the facts for days... they do the same thing here. Somehow it is very un proffecional.

Dear Phyllis.. and BOB ( PM'ed me) Thank you for your input, DD is here so I read them for her and she just loved you both for your fast reply and empathy (sp).
DD liked the idea of getting someone else with him to the meetings and will pass it on.
I will pass your rules on to her to give to her friend..at least she will have a gigle.. but please what is Ensure ?

Pia

[GrannyNanny]

Pia -- Ensure is one brand of several high protein drinks that are marketed to people who need to gain weight or keep their weight from going down. They have a protein-powder taste when just poured into a glass and drunk by themselves, so I make "shakes" out of the vanilla flavor by putting it in the blender with raspberry sherbet. That is one flavor I can still taste, even with my chemo-fried taste buds. I've tried orange sherbet but that tastes odd to me now, so I stick with raspberry. I also do the same thing with vanilla ice cream, a little expresso coffee and some chocolate cocoa mix to make a mocha flavored shake. Ensure also comes in chocolate and strawberry, but to my taste it all tastes like chemicals, so I just buy the vanilla and mix it up myself. I can get about 500 calories in one of those shakes, which has helped me not to lose the weight I would otherwise have lost. You can pass this along to your daughter's friend, so she can pass it along to her dad. It helps to have SOMETHING that tastes decent when almost everything is yukky! Phyllis

[Marlys]

Phyllis - I like your list and have to agree with almost all of it except people keep giving me wigs that they never wore. And they hurt, and they itch, and the cold winter wind blows right through them.

I've learned to like vanilla Ensure but I'm eating good now and have gained back most of my weight. The flavored Ensure is not very good. Ron brought home "Butter Pecan" which tasted like Butter Brickle ice cream and I drank one and we threw the rest away. Even the chocolate tasted like chemicals.

Frozen Bomb Pops taste good!!! but they are a mere shadow of the plump ones we had as kids.

I'd like to add to your list:
No need to shave your legs.
For post menopausal women your mustache disappears.
No need to pluck your eyebrows cause you don't have any.
You spend less time doing your nails as they don't grow that much.
And taking naps is legal.

But you do spend your time wondering why your face cannot be as soft & wrinkle free as your scalp!!!

[viktoria]

Two great ladies on my short list of favorite POSITIVE people!

Viktoria

[Marlys]

Thanx! Viktoria.
You're tops on my list of good people too!
I love your spunk.

MM

[GrannyNanny]

Marlys and I are going through the chemo stuff together -- misery loves company! We are both survivors, and will be back into our gardens with vengeance if the snow ever goes away and makes it possible. Thanks, Marlys, for your company. Phyllis