neilisa.geo
sky's Cancer Blog
October 16, 2007
| The Good, the Bad, the Ugly | Views: 294 |
I had an Aredia treatment today. I also had an appointment to see my oncologist. Thank God for ports. Today was the first time my port was accessed. I kept thinking, “No more needle sticks! YAY!” LOL
My doctor ordered just about every lab test available (that’s according to the nurse who took my blood). She took three vials and we kept joking that I’d soon need a transfusion to replace the blood she took, that now I know what a vampire victim feels like, that I’m “feeling” light-headed and “Mom! Is that you?” LOL Honestly though, I didn’t care. After the last visit where I got stuck seven times, today was a good day.
All the tests came back with excellent results. Doc said my counts were good. She’s very happy with how my body is holding up under the Aredia treatments and the chemo. Did I mention that I’m taking heavy doses of vitamins? I’m wondering if that’s why I’m doing so well.
My hands and feet, although they’ve really turned dark, are also holding up well. I use pure coconut oil on them every night to prevent the burning and peeling. The coconut oil I use is NOT what you’d find in the health food stores. I think they only sell coconut oil for cooking. These are oils my sisters had specially made for me to use. You’d find it sold in many of the Pacific islands…pretty much like Noni juice.
A brief personal story on the healing properties of the coconut oil. My mother has Alzheimers. She is also bed-ridden. Samoa has a strong family-oriented culture where we believe that we take care of our elders, so my mother is being well-cared by my family.
A few years ago, she had a heart attack and was flown to Hawaii for examination. She has a weak heart but because of the dementia, she is not a candidate for any type of surgery. Because she was bed-ridden, bed sores opened up and began to ravage her body. No prescribed topical medicine seemed to work, so my sisters decided to try using coconut oil on the sores…and they began healing. A few weeks later, all the bed sores had closed up.
Anyway, on the coconut oil that I’m using. If you’re interested in trying it, you could purchase it here: http://www.purefiji.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=RENIU&Store_Code=USA. I haven’t found any other online place that sells it. Oh! If you live on the west coast, look for any polynesian stores. They’ll probably have it. They usually have different names but it’s the same oil. If you find a Samoan store, it’ll be called Samoan oil.
On the Noni juice, my sisters are still trying to figure out a way to send me pure homemade Noni juice but the life of homemade Noni juice doesn’t last long. It is, however, far more concentrated and potent than the store-bought kind.
As for the mouth sores, I swish with Listerine several times a day. I got that tip from another cancer survivor. She was right. I haven’t had problems with mouth sores.
The not so good part is that I’m suffering from insomnia and the drugs, not sure which, are making me constantly hungry. I slept only 30 minutes last night. Today, however, thanks to all the pre-meds I get before the Aredia, I managed to sleep a couple of hours. As for the hunger problem, I’m thinking it’s time to wipe the dust off my elliptical.
My doctor is planning on ordering scans sometimes in December, after I complete the 6th chemo cycle. I’m expecting nothing but good results.
02.08.08 - 
Juliette Randall 
Cameron Bethuram 
MO 
Thanks for your support -
Grace,
I love your positivity – it’s a wonderful trait! You have been through more than I have… and you are still so bubbly and humorous. I like the idea of using coconut oil. I’ll have to try that. As for the vitamins, I’ve been taking those also ever since my diagnosis. I’ve also been taking black cohosh… I don’t know how important this is, but it’s been recommended in several books I’ve read – so it can’t hurt to try it. Good luck on your scans in December. I’ll be thinking of you.
Grace or sky just don’t combine them to to GraySky
that wouldn’t fit you. You seem to have a great attitude with a sunny disposition. I wrote you a post earlier but I think the computer ate it.
Is Aredia a new drug?
I forgot what the rest was, oh well I will think of it again. Chemo brain is not temporary, it holds on for quite awhile.
Donna
I remembered what I wrote that the computer ate.
Noni juice is great stuff, tastes terrible but great stuff. In the 1980’s my 80 year old grandmother was going thru chemo for lung cancer. She was the only one in her chemo room that was not getting sick. She took it everyday. I’ll write more tomorrow, ambien is kicking in and I am mistyping a lot.
Yes – ports are wonderful. At first, I was surprised and a little upset. I kept this from the doctors but I felt that it was part of the dehumanization process. However, they were right. My veins are small and collapse all the time. My 3 days in the hospital for original diagnosis and mastectomy were a horror with the IV’s pulling out.
I see other chemotherapy patients with vein infections and terrible bruising. It takes the “port nurse” 1/2 the time to get me ready for chemo as it takes the other nurses to set the other IV’s. I don’t regret it at all.
I’m so glad that things are going well with you and I will keep you in my thoughts.
You just keep going forward. You have the right state of mind to kick this in the butt. I hope you get some sleep soon….
Dear Grace,
Thank you for your concern. I am under a great team of Doctors. Between the 2 different cancers I am seeing a Dr. every three months sometimes more.
They work as team on my care and are connected to University of Michigan and the Karmanos. I also have a Pet Scan every 6 mos that is all my insurance will allow. I guess its just the luck of the draw for me but I am also a Diabetic which does not help matters. Over the past few years I have had some problems keeping my sugar under control I have found a new Dr. for that and she has helped be a lot with that problem… So I hope I am on the right track. You sound like you have had your share also. I hope things are better now for you. I am glad they have made so many advance in treating cancer. I am very glad to have found this blog site it will be nice to share with people who have been through this.
Big Hugs
Cheryl 58
Dear Grace, Thanks for the kind words about the hair loss. You and I may have the only 2 big heads in the cancer world. My medical center provides “free” wigs for their patients. The wigs are actually donated by local wig stores and aren’t perhaps the most attractive. The wig fitter at the medical center tried and tried to find something that would fit my head. In all of her years helping at the medical center, she had never run into someone with my problem. My concern now is that I have never been able to keep a scarf on my head with my hair and I can rarely find a hat that fits me. Well, just more challenges.
Dear Grace, Thanks for sharing with me your food preferences. I was wondering if I was alone in how my preferences were changing. It’s really funny about the sweets. Something I so loved and enjoyed all my life is now something that I couldn’t care less about. One thing that I didn’t mention was that I was so hungry after chemo that I ate and ate and ate. I just read that it is the result of the steroids they give you. Now, I have two side effects of the steroids—night sweats and the food rampage. Of course, not only wasn’t I told about the side effects in advance, I wasn’t even told that I would be getting steroids in my pre chemo treatment. Being given steroids wouldn’t have changed my mind about chemo but its still nice to know what going to happen in advance and be prepared for it.
So, we both have big heads and don’t eat sweats.
Grace, do you think that it is too early for chemo brain. I just realized that I can no longer spell. Obviously, we wouldn’t be eating ‘sweats”. I still do know that the would is “Sweets”. We will not tell my husband about this one.