Translate

May 22, 2012

Know a sickie? Gift ideas for someone starting chemo

I've received some beautiful gifts since I've been diagnosed and I felt very loved. I've also received a few gifts that I found unpleasant (an unusual bible full of hellfire and brimstone is not a good gift for someone with a disease that often kills). I did 10 rounds of chemo and here's a list of the best ones for someone starting out:

  1. Unscented lotion (I didn't mind perfume smells but for many it causes nausea)
  2. Unscented lip balm
  3. A tub of Vaseline (for inside their poor little noses)
  4. A travel sized Q-tip package to put the Vaseline inside their nose
  5. Travel Kleenex (you get so many nosebleeds)
  6. Comfy socks
  7. A portable blanket for chemo (I got one from all my colleagues at school and one from my future mother-in-law and they were great)
  8. Cute pajamas if they're having surgery... not sexy ones though
  9. Gift cards for their favorite restaurant. Wait a month in to find out what food they now hate, I hated garlic, onions, curry and cumin. In fact, by the end I had asked Kill not to eat them because kissing him afterward was too much
  10. Movie passes (it's dark so no one will see their baldness)
  11. A baseball hat or nice toque
  12. An eye mask to block out hospital lights
  13. Loan of an Ipad or tablet. If you download VLC then you can upload movies and shows for them
  14. An earphone splitter and two sets of earphones so they can have guests watch too. I got my splitter at Urbanoutfitters.com and 30$ headphones at Sony
  15. A thermos for tea (mine is from mec.ca)
  16. Portable snacks, like sushi, yum.
  17. A ride to chemo or a pick-up
  18. A foot massage to distract them at chemo or after
  19. Magazines because you can't concentrate well enough for books
  20. Maybe an attractive pair of stretchy pants, I recommend Lululemon if you're feeling really generous
  21. A haircut for when their hair falls out 
  22. Plastic flossers in case their fingernails disintegrate
  23. A pimple extractor (I got mine at Community Naturals) because without fingernails it is impossible to get that whitehead...careful though they'll scar easier
  24. Love, a card or a picture
May you never need to use this information :)

Love,

Cail

4 comments:

Renaud/Workum said...

Thanks for the gift ideas! I also love your idea for promoting breast exams among young women! Let me know how I can help.
Love from Barcelona
UK

Cail Jordan said...

Very true and I think that telling young women to insist on biopsies if they do have a lump is key. Seeing as I was not offered one until 6 months of explosive growth had occurred!

RKill said...

That fancy medical gown that you have should be on the list. Especially if someone has breast cancer. You just open one of the flaps and out pops a boob!

Cail Jordan said...

Oh yeah, I bought a gown http://www.healingthreads.com/
so that I could take out one breast at a time and so I could show up for scans pre-dressed for it. Everything helps.