New member

[PattyAnn]

Hi I’m Patty Had surgery one month ago for right lung cancer removed 2/3 bottom mid 

now cancer free and grateful but insurance chemotherapy is in store and I am petrified.I am a wreck since diagnosed in June 2024.

panic attacks , anxiety, depression, past trauma , mainly since surgery.

reaching out to therapist , and psychiatrist for meds . It has to get better 

[edivebuddy]

Chemotherapy was nowhere near what I thought it was going to be.  While no walk in the park,  if I had to do it every year I would.  Trlhe medications they give you are much more effective than they were.

Panic attacks are very common and I had them for a few years. I haven't had one in a while but you have definitely reached in the right direction.   I also had to have a half a xanax to get to sleep. 

[edivebuddy]

Stay hydrated

Get both anti-diarrhea and laxatives. Nothing worse than having to wait for someone to get it for you. Diarrhea is most common but constipation is frequent and both can happen.

Stay hydrated.

Closys or another gentle toothpaste. Chemotherapy can cause mouth sores making it hard to brush. Oral-BOral-B Mouth Sore Oral Rinse or similar and a soft toothbrush.

Stock up like it's covid all over again . Bleach surface wipes, Hand sanitizer , face masks. The number one killer of cancer patients is infection not cancer. a simple cold can kill cancer patients if it evolves into pneumonia. Use paper towels instead of dish towels.

Try to stay mobile. Get up and walk. Even in the ICU I walked the ward every hour.

Get your rest. If you need help sleeping ask your care team. I finally asked for Xanax.

A rash can develop. Cortizone-10 or Hydrocortisone may helpl. Oatmeal soap helps with itching. I use Yardley.

Stay hydrated

For dry skin I switch to Cetaphil bar soap. cortisone 10 again, vitamin d cream and aquaphor ointment . ChapStick can be very welcome.

Stay hydrated

If doing Alimta (Pemetrexed) , it's a folate inhibitors and folic acid should be started 5 days before treatment and given every day during treatment. And for a full 21 days after treatment ends.  

A B12 shot should be given the week before treatment then a minimum of every 9 weeks. It should be injected into fat not muscle. You can't get too much so every 3 weeks is fine.

Carboplatin and cisplatin can change taste. Plastic utensils will help with the metallic taste. I used chopsticks and plastic soup spoons

Stay hydrated

Eating can be difficult. Try eating very small meals throughout the day. Do not feel like you need to eat the same thing as everyone else. Protein drinks can help. Getting calories in is the most important thing. You need to fuel the body to fight cancer. If you can achieve this while eating healthy great. But a Twinkie is better than eating nothing. At one point my oncologist said if you want to live you better put on some weight. 

Try to stay Way from your favorite foods. Chemo is temporary, but you could end up to with PTSD or associate your favorite foods with chemo. It can be very disappointing for your favorite food to taste horrible.

I would avoid all uncooked foods including fruits and vegetables. While that is extreme, about 400 immunocompromised people die each year from food borne illnesses. It would just suck to die from salmonella from that cantaloupe. Remember chemotherapy is temporary.

Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy is a very common problem. Sometimes like mine they're permanent. Cold therapy has been shown to help. Many cancer centers have it in house. You can buy gloves and socks off Amazon

 take multiple pairs with you for treatments in a cooler. 

 They have caps for hair loss as well but I would not use them with lung cancer. Lung cancer has a nasty habit of metastasizing to the brain. So often if the number one cause of All brain tumors. And cold therapy works by constrictung your blood vessels letting less of the chemo to that area of the body. I want as much medicine in my brain as possible. Hair loss like chemotherapy is almost always temporary. 

Stay hydrated Stay 

Besides fatigue, nausea is probably the most common side effect from treatment

 Take the medications prescribed as directed before you're nauseous. Once it sets it can be wat harder to get rid of. Like sea sickness.

Ginger tea is a great remedy for nausea (and sea sickness) . Making ginger tea is super easy. Take a buckles worth (½ inch ish) of ginger. Peeled then sliced super thin. Seep in hot water until amber in color. Ginger is considered by some to be spicy and the longer you seep the spicier it gets. It will not get bitter like some teas. Add honey,or sugar and maybe lemon or peppermint to taste. Always works for me. Bonus ginger may help with cancer treatments.

Ginger hard candies work as well and could pull double duty by stimulating saliva production after radiation treatments.

I also added mint to My green tea to help with nausea. 

Stay hydrated.

If you haven't noticed I believe staying hydrated is key to fighting cancer and health in general. Cancer treatments can lead to dehydration from the vomiting, diarrhea and such. Even the subtle or not so subtle increase in respiration can lead to dehydration. Dehydration is like a feedback loop where it just makes everything worse.

You also need to flush your body if toxins and waste products. Your body does this mostly through your kidneys and liver. Don't be fooled by products that claim to get rid of toxins any other way. Just modern day snake oil. ZERO chance of it working. Water is cheap and effective. It can lead to electrolyte unbalance so replacement can be needed. I have packets I put in water bottles. Sports drinks work too. I personally like Body armor in the mixed case for variety.

Enterade Advanced Oncology. It's a little expensive but for the short time you're doing chemo it may be worth it. It's more than just electrolyte replacement. I like the orange flavor. But I didn't buy it a second time as I went way over my weight goal.

Don't believe in these miracle cures or diet adjustments claiming it will cure cancer. Eliminating sugar isn't going to help fight cancer. May indirectly help by making you healthier. The human body is a glucose making machine. As long as your brain can get glucose so can your cancer. Your organs will fail long before you could ever starve a cancer of sugar.  

 

Stay hydrated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PattyAnn]

11 hours ago, edivebuddy said:

Chemotherapy was nowhere near what I thought it was going to be.  While no walk in the park,  if I had to do it every year I would.  Trlhe medications they give you are much more effective than they were.

Panic attacks are very common and I had them for a few years. I haven't had one in a while but you have definitely reached in the right direction.   I also had to have a half a xanax to get to sleep. 

Thanks for sharing your chemo experience. I hope my experience is similar. I want to live as normal a life as possible but see myself missing out on every milestone w grandkids , holidays etc. I just imagine sick all the time and aging 20years and never feeling myself again. I am also looking into a ice cooling cap to help

combat hair loss 🤷‍♀️ I am 71 now and still reeling for the surgery 

[edivebuddy]

I was definitely not the healthiest looking chap while on chemo but I looked pretty bad before starting. Over 4 years later I don't look sick at all.   I'm capable of doing nearly everything I did before all this just a bit slower.  This is definitely not a death sentence.  

[tgif i guess]

i only had chemo and immuno for my treatment.  no surgery (other than a biopsy).  my guess is that the worst part of your fight is done - the surgery.

i can only speak to the chemo/immuno.  and my experience with it.

it might be that i had the wimpy chemo treatments.  i had carboplatin and alimta for the chemo part.  carboplatin was dropped when my tests cleared but i am still taking the alimta 20ish months later.  immuno is keytruda.  started it with the chemo and still taking it.

in the midst of the initial diagnosis panic, i ordered a dozen knit caps.  doctor prescribed pain and nausea meds.  i was ready to be sick, bald and feel like crap until i died.

life turned out differently.  i have not lost my hair or puked one day since my diagnosis.  throughout my treatment, my blood work has been remarkably normal.  i go to work every day.

i see the side effects as inconveniences.  i'll take that if the deal is inconveniences or dead.

for me, the inconveniences have been few and manageable.  constipation remedied with colace and miralax every day.  while on carboplatin, most foods tasted like a yeti cup.  (But chocolate and peanut butter still tasted like chocolate and peanut butter!)  i would still recall how good fraud chicken and texmex tasted.  still ate it.  disappointed for sure but it was not a struggle to eat.  disappointment or dead.  you'll choose the disappointment too.  taste clears up when you stop the platinum chemo (carboplatin or cisplatin).  

the steroids.  remarkable drugs but do NOT shop for groceries when taking them.  you will buy EVERYTHING you pass.  you will also have the cleanest bathrooms and find yourself alphabetizing your spices in lieu of sleeping.  i take steroids the day before, day of and day after the chemo.  they also put more steroids in the chemo bag (with stuff like benedryl, nausea meds and who knows what).  forget the crack pipe.  and the meth.  the chemo nurse hooks you up and its legal.  lose a few nights of sleep or dead.  

i had a shot the day after chemo.  only when taking the carboplatin.  it boosted the white blood cell production.  the shots worked (kept the count in normal range) but you feel a little yucky a couple of days.  not that bad.  better than dead.

fatigue - yeah i guess.  i am not sure if its fatigue or just my nature to be a lard butt.  i still get things done though it might take a little more pushing myself than it used to.  a few months ago my red blood cell count dropped below normal range.  the 'will you go get me some reeses peanut butter cups' ploy will work a few times but eventually, the normies catch on.  you'll have the strength to fetch your own.

get a port if offered the option.  it makes chemo SO much easier.  easier for you and the chemo nurse.  one tiny prick and its done.  i am a 'no counter'.  my chemo nurse tries her best to remember if each of us is a counter or no counter'  (the 'ok, tiny prick - 1, 2, 3' thing.)

i got on a lot of prayer lists.  mostly old blue haired ladies that are friends of our family.  never underestimate their pull upstairs because they are too old to sin.

i am fortunate that i have chemo in a group environment.  about 12 of us in a room with recliners facing each other.  our chemo nurse will direct the new patients to sit next to a veteran that will reassure them.  you can read or do a crossword or eat or go pee - or participate in discussions with others.  its strange to say, but you will be able to say things there that normies would find unsettling.  you can say things you would not say to normies too.  you will learn a lot.  you'll form an odd bond with people that have heard the cancer word also.  they have been through (or going through) all the things you are experiencing.  we bring in water, snack crackers, wigs, reeses peanut butter cups, pies and old ladies bring in knitted caps.  i donated my sheepskin seatbelt pad (to pad the port - i didn't need it).  it can be fun and uplifting or a little sad at times.  it is a great equalizer in that rich or poor, powerful or meek - everyone is the same in the cancer battle.

you'll settle into your new normal.  it might be shockingly close to your old normal.  there will still be joy in life and the bathrooms will still need to be cleaned.  there will be a few minutes when you are not obsessed with the cancer word and with time, those minutes will be longer and longer.  try to make chicken and dumplings as good as my mom's.  or 'dressing' for thanksgiving.  you'll never succeed but the grandkids will love them.  

now i am going to venture into a guess.  if you were waiting for a table and they called out 'patty', you would not react.  your mama and everyone else calls you pattyann.  i might be wrong.  you yankees might be different.  

you'll be shocked at what you can endure if you have to.  and you will.

 

[PattyAnn]

4 hours ago, tgif i guess said:

i only had chemo and immuno for my treatment.  no surgery (other than a biopsy).  my guess is that the worst part of your fight is done - the surgery.

i can only speak to the chemo/immuno.  and my experience with it.

it might be that i had the wimpy chemo treatments.  i had carboplatin and alimta for the chemo part.  carboplatin was dropped when my tests cleared but i am still taking the alimta 20ish months later.  immuno is keytruda.  started it with the chemo and still taking it.

in the midst of the initial diagnosis panic, i ordered a dozen knit caps.  doctor prescribed pain and nausea meds.  i was ready to be sick, bald and feel like crap until i died.

life turned out differently.  i have not lost my hair or puked one day since my diagnosis.  throughout my treatment, my blood work has been remarkably normal.  i go to work every day.

i see the side effects as inconveniences.  i'll take that if the deal is inconveniences or dead.

for me, the inconveniences have been few and manageable.  constipation remedied with colace and miralax every day.  while on carboplatin, most foods tasted like a yeti cup.  (But chocolate and peanut butter still tasted like chocolate and peanut butter!)  i would still recall how good fraud chicken and texmex tasted.  still ate it.  disappointed for sure but it was not a struggle to eat.  disappointment or dead.  you'll choose the disappointment too.  taste clears up when you stop the platinum chemo (carboplatin or cisplatin).  

the steroids.  remarkable drugs but do NOT shop for groceries when taking them.  you will buy EVERYTHING you pass.  you will also have the cleanest bathrooms and find yourself alphabetizing your spices in lieu of sleeping.  i take steroids the day before, day of and day after the chemo.  they also put more steroids in the chemo bag (with stuff like benedryl, nausea meds and who knows what).  forget the crack pipe.  and the meth.  the chemo nurse hooks you up and its legal.  lose a few nights of sleep or dead.  

i had a shot the day after chemo.  only when taking the carboplatin.  it boosted the white blood cell production.  the shots worked (kept the count in normal range) but you feel a little yucky a couple of days.  not that bad.  better than dead.

fatigue - yeah i guess.  i am not sure if its fatigue or just my nature to be a lard butt.  i still get things done though it might take a little more pushing myself than it used to.  a few months ago my red blood cell count dropped below normal range.  the 'will you go get me some reeses peanut butter cups' ploy will work a few times but eventually, the normies catch on.  you'll have the strength to fetch your own.

get a port if offered the option.  it makes chemo SO much easier.  easier for you and the chemo nurse.  one tiny prick and its done.  i am a 'no counter'.  my chemo nurse tries her best to remember if each of us is a counter or no counter'  (the 'ok, tiny prick - 1, 2, 3' thing.)

i got on a lot of prayer lists.  mostly old blue haired ladies that are friends of our family.  never underestimate their pull upstairs because they are too old to sin.

i am fortunate that i have chemo in a group environment.  about 12 of us in a room with recliners facing each other.  our chemo nurse will direct the new patients to sit next to a veteran that will reassure them.  you can read or do a crossword or eat or go pee - or participate in discussions with others.  its strange to say, but you will be able to say things there that normies would find unsettling.  you can say things you would not say to normies too.  you will learn a lot.  you'll form an odd bond with people that have heard the cancer word also.  they have been through (or going through) all the things you are experiencing.  we bring in water, snack crackers, wigs, reeses peanut butter cups, pies and old ladies bring in knitted caps.  i donated my sheepskin seatbelt pad (to pad the port - i didn't need it).  it can be fun and uplifting or a little sad at times.  it is a great equalizer in that rich or poor, powerful or meek - everyone is the same in the cancer battle.

you'll settle into your new normal.  it might be shockingly close to your old normal.  there will still be joy in life and the bathrooms will still need to be cleaned.  there will be a few minutes when you are not obsessed with the cancer word and with time, those minutes will be longer and longer.  try to make chicken and dumplings as good as my mom's.  or 'dressing' for thanksgiving.  you'll never succeed but the grandkids will love them.  

now i am going to venture into a guess.  if you were waiting for a table and they called out 'patty', you would not react.  your mama and everyone else calls you pattyann.  i might be wrong.  you yankees might be different.  

you'll be shocked at what you can endure if you have to.  and you will.

 

I cannot thank you enough for this e

encouraging and uplifting message!

I haven’t been this encouraged since this whole nightmare began . I appreciate you and your honesty and humor . God Bless you. Patty

[Livin Life]

Sending support, PattyAnn.... You have received great, specific and broad helpful recommendations above!!  I've seen so many people go through chemo, including a sister.  They have all done well, which is relative of course.  At the same time when somebody had a difficult time it was only for a few days as the treatment worked through their body and then the side effects waned.  Then the next 2 weeks is soooo much better depending on the treatment cycles.  The predictability of that has helped folks I know quite a bit (time limited and symptoms improve before long in between treatment cycles). 

Agree on antidiarrheals (often Immodium though also other options) and Zofran for nausea.  My sister kept a lot of her fav foods on hand due to chemo - often small snack-like foods she could grab throughout the day.  Her tastes changed a lot with chemo, which was good at times (no longer liked alcohol - she actually couldn't stand the taste of it - which was good for her lol).  It returned later and she could enjoy a drink here and there....