The Best Take-Out Foods After Chemotherapy

Since last round of chemo was so brutal that I took time off from blogging (and from my regular self), I have been using the last few weeks to plan out my next round arriving in a few days time. I have a plan for the fourth and fifth days which were the hardest seeing as the strong drugs are done and I'm on my own. The plan involves going to my dad's house during the day instead of being alone and sitting on the couch with Sophie, our sweet springer spaniel.

I'm getting away from the point though, here is the culmination of much research into which take-out foods you should get your little chemie after they've been poisoned by their oncologist*. These are restaurants in Calgary, Canada although, the foods themselves are universally beneficial post-chemo. Click on the links attached to each restaurant to see their Urbanspoon listing and in the case of multiple locations I just chose the ones that I most frequent. I'm confident that that little nugget of information won't lead to stalking because really, who would want to stalk me? I'd pick someone way cooler.

Best Take-Out Foods for Chemotherapy

1. The fusili pollo limone at La Viena Restaurant. It's chicken soup in pasta form and it has a nice lemony after flavor. The mixed salad from here would round out the meal and has a succulent dressing that is light and neutral. There's something Caesar-like about the dressing but without any dairy and the owner makes her own pasta.
2. The chicken soup or the minestrone from Lina's Italian Market is like having an Italian mother come to your house and kiss you. I don't even eat chicken and I'd still eat this soup for the broth and the little pasta pieces.
3. Anything from Booster Juice or Jugo Juice because you really need the hydration and both regular size servings are a nice number of calories to re-fatten your little cancer patient. I personally like something with either peaches, strawberries or watermelon.
4. The udon noodle soup from either Tenshi Sushi or Globefish. It has cabbage and broccoli for digestion but the broth is lovely and gently scented with ginger.
5. The seafood noodle soup at the Calgary Court Restaurant in Chinatown. It has whole heads of bok choy to cleanse the palate but the clear broth is pleasant, fresh and light in your tummy. The noodles are perfectly al dente, long and skinny.
6. Nice, little pizza's from Pulcinella or Famoso Pizzeria are fun to eat and can be saved for later. I prefer the marinara because it's without cheese but the quattro staggione at Pulcinella's or the Capricciosa at Famoso are good too. Famoso has vegan cheese available as well! 
7. If your cancie doesn't have mouth sores (sugar and mouth sores aren't friends because it seems to make them worse) and they want a special treat then the Vegan Lemon Cashew Coconut Square from The Coup is phenomenal. It's got a date almond crust and a light lemony flavor but without any heavy ingredients that might sit badly in a chemie's stomach.

May you have luck if you're doing chemo or if you're trying to get your loved one to eat something this week.

Love,
Cailey

*Sorry to my delightful Dr. Webster, as I know that his poisonings are keeping me alive and that he's studied very hard to balance the effects with my safety. No matter how tricky chemo gets, I do still like him very much.

When You Realize That You're Less Awesome Than You Thought

At least my toes look awesome

So, I normally feel pretty good about myself because I think that I'm doing all of these awesome things and that I'm vigilantly healing my body.  This last week, was not about that at all. This last week was rough.

Although I was super pleased that my most recent CT results showed my tumors shrinking, I had not realized that Dr. Webster had me on the lightest dose of this Red Devil chemo that exists. It turns out that he was so worried about the extreme side effects that he had me on the same dose that you'd give kittens or butterflies. Because I'm a foolish girl, I gamely told him to ramp it up and that I could take more. Up until now I had taken whatever was thrown at me so you could forgive my ignorance. Well, I'm so tough when I'm on whiffs of chemotheraphy but what happened when I was on the real dosage?

I became a dehydrated, sad zombie-like girl. I thought that no one could help me and that I would never enjoy the feel of liquids running down my throat again. I lived in fear of the dry heave (which was stupid because I still did it all of the time.) Side note: my abs are looking awesome from the heaving....one solace is that I can search bathing suit websites for ways to show them off even if the effect will be ruined when I barf while sun bathing.
 I would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who has ever read this blog and thought that I was tougher than them because I'm actually not tough at all. I'm sure that you're way cleverer than me and that you don't alienate all of your loved ones because you'd like them to leave you alone while you self destruct. I am especially sorry that I used the last 2 days to snark at my best friend.

Because blogs shouldn't focus on complaining, please know that I have a plan.

1. Borrow my mums juicer for next round and drink fresh juice so that I have some hydration. This will work because water tastes flat and stale but juice tastes good so long as it doesn't have preservatives or sugar because those things now taste disgusting to me.
2. Sequester myself in a room with a bed and sleep for 5 days after chemo. Speak to no one and then I'll be so grateful when I get to back amongst the regulars.
3. Go to the library and take out 12 books. Finish books while alone in my room.
4. Buy wet wipes so that I maintain passable personal hygiene during sequestering period.
5. Make a pile of 5 pairs of pajamas next to my bed for previously discussed hygiene.
6. Create a stack of enveloped notes for Kill and leave them where he is. That way he can have evidence that I was sweet, once, before the chemo. Include gifts with the notes.
7. Use Q tips to create a sweet smelling biosphere in my nose. You can accomplish this by Q-tipping a small amount of scented lotion up your nose twice a day. It really works, I used to do it when I coached Junior High wrestling.
8. Pre-write peppy blogs, set to post while I'm in sequestering room. That way I can seem way more "together" than I actually am.

The Key is preparation and that was my error this time. I fell apart because I wasn't anticipating the longevity or intensity of the chemo effects. I will not make this mistake again.

Love,

Foolish Cailey

Let's Do This

Yesterday, I had an appointment with Dr. Webster, a CT and had my blood checked. Webster's sweet face had a pouty lip, "It's not great" he says, still sad (that man is incredibly emotive and ready for anything you can throw at him.) What that means is that my liver tumours tripled in size and that my platelets are super low (an indicator that my bone tumours may also be active even though the CT results weren't back.) So sweet babies, that means that I'm starting the strongest chemo on the market today: The Red Devil or Doxorubicin. I'll say what I said to Webster and that is "I'm ready and let's do this." Metatstatic cancer is a long journey and this is how you manage it. So, I had a little cry about my cute hair falling out but it is what it is. I bought a velvet flower crown for our August wedding anyhow and it will look great on my bald, little head.

my flower crown

Doxorubicin is a cool chemo drug that was discovered in the 1950's and was synthesized from a strain of bacteria. It's wildly effective because it binds the strands of DNA from fast growing cells stopping replication from occuring. The downside is that causes strong nausea, is a scary red color and causes damage to the heart so you can only use it for 6 rounds and that's your lifetime dose.

My heart's healthy so bring on the red pee. I've eaten beets before so this is going to be nostalgic.

Love,
Cailey

p.s. Webster told me Kill and I one great little nugget of information yesterday, the people who get most nauseous from chemo are actually the ones who eat really well and don't drink or smoke because they're bodies aren't as used to toxins. Those Janis Joplin-like alcoholic, chain smokers? They do just fine :). He told me not to start though because it takes years to get to the proper level of debauchery for any effect to be noticed in terms of chemo.... although it is Saint Patrick's Day is on Sunday.

Pharmaceutical-Free Pain Management

My favorite long underwear or long john's

This post is not to insult my friends in the pharmaceutical industry because there are some medications right now that are totally amazing. What I do find though, is that when you're "incurable" doctors are very free with their prescriptions and there's the thought of "what's one more when you're already taking so many?" In fact, they push the anti-depressants pretty heavily on me (to manage hot flashes) and I think "but my brain is what I have left and I need it to be clear!"

Here is how I'm dealing with that phenomena, I always take the medicine that shrinks growths in my body however, the other meds, besides the occasional anti-nausea medication, I don't take. I always fill my prescriptions, in case of emergency, but then they sit in my child-proof cupboard. Why you ask?

1. I have liver tumours and the liver is the filtration site for all things, including pharmaceuticals, and I don't want to tax it anymore than cancer already does. 
2. I also notice that all medications have side effects and in a time of my life when I have a serious internal glitch, like cancer, I like all my other functions to well, function. I personally say to myself that nothing interferes with my sleep or my pooping. 
3. Lastly, it's hard to listen to my body when it's all confused by 5 different drugs. Does it need more fibre, do I need more sleep and do I have a rash from my laundry soap or my new medication?

So here is what I do:

 Pain management

• Topical creams like Tigerbalm, distract from pain
• Kill gives me a daily 5 minute, or longer, back massage along my spine
• I get a 30 minute massage from Reva, former palliative care nurse, at National Spinal Care every week (it costs 40$ and it's worth it because I can sleep with out waking from pain)
• I do weight training of my back to strengthen the muscles
• I walk and do yoga to keep me mobile
• I use a heating pad on my back several times a day
• I give myself self massages in short moments of my day
• I bend properly and don't care heavy items (that's preventative)
• I drink water to flush out excess lactic acid in my body
• I have a warm bath with epsom salts
• I push my shoulders back to keep a curve in it about 50 times a day, even when I wake up in the night

Mental disturbance management

• I try to imagine the best outcomes instead of the worst
• I watch happy or inspiring shows to lift my spirits
• I make myself go outside each day, even though I really want to stay inside in my long john's
• I put on make-up so I feel pretty
• I avoid people who need me to be their crutch as I have no extra crutch skills right now
• I remind myself what others have done before me
• I trouble shoot my pain to limit it in the future. I figured out that my hip pain was from my tightest jeans because the grommets rub on my hip bones. Clever, huh? 
• Sometimes I just accept that the body is mysterious. For example, I used to be able to feel when I ovulated. I'd get a short sharp pain in the ovary area monthly and I accepted that. Now when I get short electric shock-like pain in my neck and sides, I accept that it's my nerves and I need to calm my nervous system the best that I can.
• I engage in activities that give me pleasure when ever I can

Whatever you decide about your pill regimen is all right by me, because we're all doing our best. This is working for me and I get a kick every time Dr. Webster or Nancy says "Back pain and what do you take for that?" and I get to say "Nothing". I just tell them that I have a system but that the pills are available to me if I require them. Every once in a while, I'll take a strong Ibuprofen but the Morphine and the Oxycodone they prescribe to me? No way, because they get in the way of my poops, thank you very much.

Happy Pain Free Monday,

Cail

The Birthday Train

Yesterday was my 27th birthday and it was sensational. I asked my oncologist, Dr. Marc Webster, "when is your birthday?" He replied that "I don't celebrate birthdays anymore" and I said "well, I'll always have birthdays" because for me they are sweet reminders that I'm alive. When I'm having my 50th birthday it will be so wonderful because I made it. So that's the joy of serious life threatening events: it's gratefulness.

The best moment (of so many) yesterday was when we were walking to the second waiting room with Nancy, Dr. Websters amazing nurse, and 2 other patients. Nancy started singing Happy birthday to me and then the other patients started singing right before, the patients sitting along the way joined in and it was a harmony of voices. It was like a flash mob of singing and it made me believe in the niceness of human beings.

When is your birthday? Do you like celebrating or do you dislike it?