Fatigue, Puking, Straining or uh, Lettin' Loose

Monday the 18^th was The Former Boyfriend’s first chemo treatment.  I’ve been the proverbial Mother Hen and so far Johnny’s been tolerating my hovering quiet well.  When I went through my breast cancer treatment I scoured the internet and medical libraries looking for any information that would keep the worst of the chemo side-effects at bay.  I never dreamed that I would be using the information I compiled to help my husband.  I was lucky, I did not suffer like many on chemo, but I do believe a part of that was my research.

After his Monday morning treatment Johnny’s been a little tired, and had a few side-effects.  But so far everything has been manageable. After a 3-4 hour infusion at the Zangmeister Center Johnny comes home with a chemo pack attached to his chest port.  He has a continuous infusion of chemotherapy drugs for 46 hours at home and then the pack is detached. My goal is to get him through chemo without debilitating fatigue, puking, straining or worse lettin’ loose.

Johnny modeling his chemo pouch

First and foremost – drink water and then drink some more water.  Chemo meds are filtered by the liver (Johnny has liver mets) and excreted by the kidneys.  Drinking lots of water removes toxins faster, protects the skin (drying, peeling and painful skin is a side-effect) and plumps up the veins.  That’s an added bonus for all the needle sticks.

Second – we’ve talked about our diet.  We’re using fasting, the ketogenic diet (carbs under 40 grams per day), and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to starve the cancer cells.  They must have a sugar source to survive, by fueling our systems on ketone bodies instead of carbohydrates we give good fuel to our normal cells and starve cancer cells.  This also is a way to protect the digestive tract because it also has fast growing cells.

The chemotherapy targets these fast growing cells also and the common side effects are either explosive diarrhea, constipation that requires a Lamaze coach, or even more horrifying – both!  Most people think nausea is the worst part of chemo – nope, it’s what goes on at the other end that can send a cancer patient into the depths of depression.

Third, Drugs. I don’t like drugs.  But being on chemo is not the time to be a hero.  Compazine becomes your new best friend.  You don’t dream of going anywhere without your bottle of pills.  At the first sign of nausea it’s time to pop a pill.  It is so much harder to control nausea once it starts that it is to prevent it.  The nausea wears off a few days after treatment so once again – this is no time to be a hero- grab the pills.

And finally what could be the most dangerous – mouth sores.  Chemo also kills off the mucous cells in the mouth.  Once mouth sores develop it becomes very painful to eat or drink anything.  And the open sores become an infection risk with a depleted immune system.  We’re using supplements along with Biotene products and there is also a new product called Luvionex Dental Gel.  I never tried it, but it’s out there if someone is suffering.

There are so many chemo drugs out there.  What worked for me may not work for Johnny. But I do know that I had a much easier time with my chemo that many others on the same regime.  Please pray that it works as well for Johnny.

And lastly, this having nothing to do with cancer or chemotherapy – We felt like we’d been sucker punched Monday night hearing that Glenn Frey died.  We were in a state of shock and disbelief.  He wrote the soundtrack to our lives, it’s sad to say goodbye to such an amazing musician and artist.