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Tips, Tricks and How to get through this Chit!

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  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • magdalene51
    magdalene51 Member Posts: 2,062

    I learned something yesterday that could have saved me a mouthful of trouble. If you kno you will be getting chemo and/or rads, see your dentist before you begin. There are treatments or devices that can prevent your teeth from being destroyed. My profile pic was taken a month after finishing rads, 6 months post final chemo. Below is what they look like 18 months later. Saturday night one of them simply popped off. The core is soft and brown. I will lose all my teeth because I didn't know to see the dentist first.

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  • AnnKat
    AnnKat Member Posts: 3

    Hi everyone, I've just joined this forum. My 62 year old mom is diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Est+, Prog+, HER2-, between stage IIb & IIIa. She has a tumor on her breast 1.2cm and a 3.4cm tumor in the axilla that broke out of her lymph nodes. PET scan came back negative for spread. Doctor suggested treatment order chemo, surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy. My mom will have her first round of chemo this Wednesday. She will have four rounds of AC (once every 3 weeks) and 12 rounds of Taxol (once a week). I've been juicing fresh organic vegetables and fruits for my mom since her BC diagnosis a month ago. I've also been giving her immunity boosting supplements called Beta Glucan to help keep her body strong in order to deal with chemo. I want to ask if there's anyone who juice raw vegetables and fruits and or take supplements DURING chemo to help control or reduce the severity of chemo side effects? I've heard that patients undergoing chemo therapy will be very prone to infection and so I'm afraid feeding my mom raw vegetable & fruits might cause her to have infections. My mom's oncologist said it's okay for my mom to continue taking the Beta Glucan supplement during chemo because the ingredients are all natural but my mom's surgeon said she shouldn't take any supplements during chemo as it might interfere with the effectiveness with chemo treatment. I'm not sure which doctor to listen to? If there's anyone out there who know someone or personally have taken supplements and eat raw vegetables & fruits during chemo please let me know. Thank you and good luck to all who's battling this terrible disease.

  • HopefulYogi
    HopefulYogi Member Posts: 38

    Annkat, I was diagnosed 8/30/16. I have recently been following a guy Chris Wark (chrisbeatcancer.com) that justiced his way thru colon cancer many years ago and never had chemo. Granted he was in his twenties and a different type of cancer. But still amazing. I'm currently gathering a lot of info from him on juicing, organic diet, foods that fight cancer, supplements, etc. I can't exactly answer your question, but thought it might be a helpful resource to you. He also gives many helpful links to other cancer survivor stories and healthy organic websites.

    I plan to try to make the most changes I possibly can to organic, nongmo foods and products during my traditional cancer fight with chemo. It can only help!

    Good luck to your mom💗

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump and merry Christmas

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump

  • HarleyDream
    HarleyDream Member Posts: 8

    Wow ladies! You have done a GREAT job of keeping this thread alive for so long!!!! I would like to add a few items to your list!

    - When I began Adriamyocin my "hair" hurt HORRIBLY! It felt like pins in my head. I had cut it short in preparation for falling out but did not realize that my head would hurt like that! One of the ladies at chemo said it happened to her too. She said to buzz it down as far as possible and then sleep with a fluffy soft baby blanket around my head. It did the trick!!!

    - I used baby oil on my body and face all through chemo! It kept my skin from drying out.

    - I got up every morning to feed my kids before school no matter how I felt (except for the first week after surgery!) so that they would go to school knowing I was ALIVE and still fighting! It made a difference (even if I looked pitiful) for them to know that we are all going to survive this! Then I went back to bed if I could that day and slept! (Had to quit work 8 weeks in....AC gave me horrible brain fog and my job was writing fire estimates for insurance companies...I had trouble remembering details😳).

    - Here's a big tip!!! Don't forget intimacy with your spouse, partner, children, etc. Hug them, kiss them, sit by them! Don't isolate yourself! Your cancer is a part of ALL of your lives. It's a great teaching moment (not one you would have wished for!) to show everybody in your life that whether the journey is easy or hard....life is worth living....so fight to live! Don't leave them out because you will need each other's strength to see it through! And let your kids know that "their job" is to stay the course and work hard in school so that you can use this time to concentrate on getting better. They need to know that you want them to continue to fly and be great even though you are currently sick.

    - Go to whatever you can for your loved ones if your doctor says you can! Don't worry about how you look or feel! Those will become your best memories! During AC my son held a pink out during my worst cycle! I went, flipped the game coin and with all of the bone pain I was suffering through.....I walked up the bleachers to sit in the announcers box that my husband had sterilized a few hours prior. (Picture at bottom) My son blew up the picture and it is on his wall!😃

    - After my double mastectomy/no recon I had cording in my shoulder. Myofacial therapy made it so much better! I started four weeks after surgery!

    - My brown hair came back in white and soft and fuzzy! At about 3 months in the texture got more normal so I have been using Natural Instinct 28 day wash out color for almost 5 months and it works GREAT! I'm not generally vane....but that white hair was making me crazy!😜

    - Lastly, I used Aquafor on my chest during radiation, then after 33 rounds, I switched to vitamin E. it has made the scars softer because unfortunately I have keloid scarring.

    Hope these are some items that are helpful to yall!

    I am considered cancer free at this time but just started Xeloda for preventative. Maybe I will have some tips after that!

    Hugs all!

    -HarleyDream

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  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894

    Bump, lot's of good info............sift through

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump, bump.

    Wish I knew then, what I know now! Don't we all?


  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894

    Bump

  • lizjohn
    lizjohn Member Posts: 1

    Totally a newbie. Thank you all for this info.

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894

    Bump

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894

    Bump

  • Smaarty
    Smaarty Member Posts: 2,618

    bump, back for a friend in need.

  • sas-schatzi
    sas-schatzi Member Posts: 15,894

    lots of good stuff in here.