Journey With Patina

I’m sharing these 5 things based on my personal experience. I survived chemotherapy and these foundational things that I am sharing made a world of difference for me. I hope they help you, or someone that you care about along their journey as well.

1. Clean Your House Top to Bottom. Chances are after you start chemotherapy, it will be months before you feel like doing to much of anything. It is more likely that someone else will clean for you. For me, chemotherapy took a lot of my energy. On most days it took everything in me to shower and dress for the day.
2. Prepare meals for at least 10 days for each treatment. Your first treatment is a good gauge on how you feel about food. Food is a strange thing. I lost my taste buds and appetite. This varies per person. Once you figure out what you can and cannot eat, on days when you have a little energy between treatments, prepare food for the next treatment.
3. Tell people what you need. When people ask for what you need, ask for gifts cards to your local grocery stores and Amazon. It may take a few treatments before you know what you like and dislike. Also, your side effects may be different. You don’t know what works for you until you go through it. Your medical staff will give you recommendations. Take them and adjust accordingly. Ask your medical team about every side effect that you experience. This will help you to purchase what you need.
4. Store cases of water. Hydration is critical. Pick up as many cases of water that you can store in your house. You may need Gatorade or the hydration packs. I can’t stress this enough.
5. Don’t plan to do anything but to rest. Protect yourself from everyone and everything until you can trust your body and understand how you respond to chemotherapy. Your doctor will monitor your white blood count. Protect your immune system at all costs.

Please be patient with yourself. You are going treatment that will take a toll on the body. There is so much that you don’t know about how your body will respond. Trust me, there is no such thing as normal anymore. Give yourself time to adjustment and grace during this season. When you are tired, rest. When you are sleepy, go to bed. Listen to your body. It’s having a traumatic experience.

Click here to learn about the 20 must have items that I recommend for chemotherapy. Please speak with your doctor to ensure these items will work for you.

I’ll continue to share what worked for me along my journey.

Until next time.

XOXO

Journey With Patina