Hey hey
Lacey_adminCCS ,
so with my warped sense of humour, when I was first diagnosed (stage 2 triple neg breast cancer), I though, hmmm, maybe I'll finally shift those stubborn pounds, everyone loses weight with cancer, right? yeah....that went well, lol!!! I totally got the steroid munchies during chemo, and honestly, I ate what tasted good, ie what I could actually taste, as my taste buds were pretty fried, and I got thrush in my mouth each cycle too, from the antibiotics prescribed to counteract chemo-induced UTIs. The night before each chemo session, we would have a favourite meal, as I knew i wouldn't feel much like eating the next few days. Add in instant full menopause in my then mid-40s, and let's just say I'm still fluffy. It's hard to focus on doing everything right when you're fighting for your life, sometimes, and we're only human.
So, in the perfect world, my tops tips would be as follows.
1. hydration is key. drink all the water you can, especially during the chemo sessions themselves. one time i turned up for chemo clutching my travel mug of tea, and the nurse told me to drink water instead (she said it nicely). soup, milkshakes, all good things.
2. if you are able, or have some amazing support, prep and freeze meals ahead of time, that can be reheated easily. I'm lucky in that my husband is a better cook than me. And i had the amazing gift of friends in our life too - unknown to us, a bunch of school mums / friends from our kids school had set up a secret facebook group and organized a meal train for us. During my 4 cycles of chemo, people would turn up 2 or 3 nights a week with meals prepped for us. they would leave them on the doorstep and text me "dinner is on the step, don't stand on it", as they knew i wasn't really up to visiting sometimes. It was amazing, we'll never forget their kindness.
3. eat as well as you can, but be kind to yourself too. do not beat yourself up over a donut, if that's what you feel like eating.