Hi guys.
It's Petrina, your go to girl for learning how to make fit work in a crazy busy world
and today we're gonna get crazy informational all about chemo.
I know, I know, I know.
This channel is not going to be all about cancer going forward.
I just wanted to share what I've learned in my first two treatments.
For those of you who either may have been recently diagnosed with cancer or maybe you
know somebody who has been diagnosed with cancer and you want to know what you can do
to help them out.
In this video, I'm gonna talk all about different side effects you can possibly expect when
you undergo chemo and I'm also going to give a link to a blog post for gift and useful
things and ideas for you that will take the bite away from those side effects.
If you're someone who is wondering what chemotherapy is like, maybe you're about to undergo it
or you know someone who is, I will gladly tell you that if you're someone who has gotten
your viewpoint on it from older movies, it's a lot different now.
The doctors really take great steps in minimizing the side effects associated with chemo.
Don't get me wrong, it ain't no party, but you really shouldn't be hunched over the toilet
vomiting all the time or living in a bubble.
Chemotherapy sessions can vary from very short to all the way I've heard of people taking
it up to seven hours to do.
Mine typically take about three hours.
It basically involves you getting up and basically having an IV set up or using a port where
the chemotherapy is infused.
Most cancer centers have what they call an infusion room and most of them I think are
pretty open where you'll be sitting next to somebody else.
If privacy is an issue, you may want to shop around for a different hospital or cancer
center.
Me personally, I liked being able to talk to other cancer patients while getting my
chemotherapy.
I found it therapeutic.
Before you even get started on each infusion, your blood levels are gonna be checked to
make sure that your white blood cell count and your red blood cell counts are high enough
to handle another chemotherapy dose.
Your oncologist will go over the results with you and then you'll be escorted back to the
infusion room.
While you're doing chemotherapy you can play around on your phone, you can listen to music,
you can read, you can talk to your neighbor.
Whatever you do I recommend bring a "chemosabe".
This is a friend of yours that will sit and tend to you and help you out if you need to
get up to use the restroom, which you're going to have to do, and just be a good buddy for
you.
So if you are someone watching this as a friend of someone about to undergo chemo, make sure
you offer them your services as a chemosabe.
Depending on the type of cancer you have and the cell grades, your chemotherapy regimen
may vary.
There are a lot of different ones out there.
For me specifically, I am doing a 20 week regimen, starting off with four every other
week infusions of Adriamycin and Cytotoxan.
After I'm done with those four cycles, I'll go for 12 weekly cycles of Taxol.
Even though there are a wide variety of chemotherapy regimens, there are some big side effects
that are associated with most of these.
the biggest and most scariest for most people is the nausea and the vomiting and I am happy
to say that I've had one really bad instance with the nausea and that was the day of my
infusion.
I got home and I was nauseous throughout most of the night.
I did not however throw up so that is a win in my book.
Nausea and vomiting are not fun, but there are many things you can do to help alleviate
or prevent them and when you do encounter nausea and vomiting, make sure to let your
oncologist know because then the next chemotherapy infusion they can tweak your meds a little
bit and make sure the nausea is more manageable.
Now ways you can avoid and prevent nausea that don't involve medicine are eating bland
foods.
We're talking crackers, that kind of thing, drinking a lot of water and eating small and
frequent meals.
Ginger candies can help and I'm gonna put them in the gift guide in the blog post that
is attached to this.
I'm gonna put a comment in the video and you can find it if you want to take a quick peek
is at PetrinaHammFitness.com/chemo.
So be sure to check that out.
The next side effect is sore mouth and gums and this could also be mouth sores.
I have been completely paranoid about mouth ulcers since beginning chemotherapy, so I'm
taking every step I possibly can to make sure that it doesn't happen to me.
One of the big things for my particular chemo regimen is when I'm being infused the Adriamycin
I chew on ice during the entire infusion.
This will chill your mouth and hopefully prevent mouth sores and ulcers from happening.
After the fact, you need to practice very good dental hygiene, rinsing out your mouth
with a baking soda and salt solution every time after you eat, brushing your teeth with
a soft toothbrush and I particularly use Biotene toothpaste and the dry mouth rinse.
When it comes to sleeping, I also use Xylitol melts to help keep my mouth moist throughout
the evening.
This can help reduce your risk of developing mouth sores, which I have not to date, knock
on wood.
Next is a big one and that is fatigue and tiredness and it comes par for the course.
I think anytime you're dealing with chemo and you're reducing your blood cell counts
in any certain way, you are gonna get tired.
The best way to deal with this is rest when your body wants you to.
Don't be ashamed to take a nap.
Your body is working really hard to fight off those cancer cells, so let it by getting
adequate rest.
Next up is hair loss.
Not very fun for most of us women out there, but something you'll probably have to deal
with if you are doing chemotherapy.
Best way to deal with it is a sense of humor, some fashionable scarves and yes some fun
wigs.
Next up are tummy issues and they can be either constipation or diarrhea.
Depending on which one you have, your oncologist will tell you which medications are okay for
you to take.
For both of them, make sure you're taking plenty of fluids.
For constipation make sure you're eating foods higher in fiber and try eating prunes or drinking
prune juice, hot tea or lemon water to help stimulate things to move if you know what
I mean.
Regular exercise helps as well so make sure you're getting out there for a little bit
each day.
Now when it comes to diarrhea, avoid milk and caffeine.
Also stay away from foods that cause gas or are acidic, fatty or fried and gravitate towards
foods containing pectin.
We're talking bananas, avocados, beets, unspiced applesauce and peeled apples.
Also make sure you eat foods that are low in fiber, like bananas, rice, applesauce,
toast, mashed potatoes, eggs, fish, cottage cheese and yogurt.
You should also increase foods containing potassium like apricots, peach nectar, bananas
again, mashed potatoes, Powerade or Gatorade.
Dry skin can become an issue, so make sure you have a moisturizer that's lanolin based,
alcohol free emollient and hypo-allergenic.
You may also deal with rashes or nail changes.
There are different products and creams you can try to help prevent that and another potential
side effect is your blood counts lowering.
Your white blood cell counts and your red blood cell counts.
When those drop, your ability to fight off infection drops so it's very important to
avoid people that have colds or other contagious illnesses.
No matter how much or how badly you want to see them, don't.
Don't eat meat or any food that hasn't been either cooked or washed.
Make sure you wash your hands often.
Don't touch pet waste or get into contact with reptiles, birds or fishes.
When it comes to the low white blood cell count, if you are on a certain regimen, sometimes
you will be permitted to have what is called Neulasta shots and that will help get your
white blood cell count up.
I'm doing that and I love it.
It totally works for me, but if you do take Neulasta, one of those side effects is going
to be bone or muscle pain and to help avoid this, your doctor may tell you that you should
take Clarinet surprisingly enough to help ward off the bone pain.
Big fat disclaimer here!
Contact your doctor before you take any medication while you're on chemo please.
It's just the smart thing to do people.
Before I close out on the side effects, I wanted to talk a little bit about chemo brain.
It is a real thing.
You will find that if you're doing chemo your memory may slip a little bit.
I was fixing something for dinner last week and I couldn't even remember what the word
'parsley' was.
Don't stress about it too much.
Have a sense of humor.
Laugh at yourself.
Positive attitude and just believe that this too shall pass.
My humble opinion in the two most important things you can do while undergoing chemo is
staying positive and staying active.
The activity alone will perk you up a lot.
I make sure to go out for a walk every morning, first thing in the morning while my energy
levels are probably the highest throughout the day.
I just think it sets the day off on a very good tone.
If you're watching this and you love somebody who has cancer, again please be sure to check
out the blog post I did at PetrinaHammFitness.com/chemo and you're gonna get some great gift ideas
and you know, things you can offer to help out your friend or loved one who is going
through cancer right now.
I absolutely wouldn't be offended at all if you wanted to leave a comment on the blog
post and leave some more suggestions on nice things to buy or do for the cancer patient
in your life.
I hope you found this helpful.
As always, if you have any questions you can shoot me an email over at CoachPetrina@yahoo.com.
It may take me a little bit to get back to you, but I will.
If you have any suggestions for fitness or business related videos for me to do in the
future, be sure to sound off in the comments below.
I promise I'm not going to make my YouTube channel all about the big "C".
Just bear with me as I go through these informational kind of videos.
And that's it for this week guys.
Take care and I'll see you soon.
Bye!