My Tips

On dealing with Breast Cancer: from diagnosis to treatment

I will be adding to this page as I think of tips that I feel would have helped me and/or have helped me whilst I have been having treatment.

Some of this advice may also vary dependent upon your type of cancer and the treatment that you have.  You might want to get used to being able to quote that Grade and Stage (or is it stage and grade?) as it seems to be some kind of secret code in the world of the Pink Ribbon that you have now unfortunately been inducted into. I keep forgetting mine and get it the wrong way around.

Try NOT to:

1. spend hours searching the internet – it can be confusing and annoying, let alone depressing and angrifying. Go to the websites for Breast Cancer in the US/UK/Australia for basic information in a clear and concise form.
2. assume you have to change your whole life, you don’t. We all know our eating habits could probably be healthier and it would be good to do exercise.  Don’t go overboard as you won’t necessarily have the energy to keep it up.
3. listen to those who want to talk about how meat/dairy/insert other food stuff here causes cancer. If that were true, there would be far more cases out there. Nothing you did caused your breast cancer.
4. stress about the side effects if you have to have chemo – everyone is different and is affected differently.

Admittedly, this is all easier said than done. The benefit of hindsight also helps!

From diagnosis onwards:

1. Keep a record of your meetings with the doctors – there may well be several of them and a variety of doctors too! I can’t remember everything that was said now and I also forgot to make a follow up appointment with my primary care doctor. Make sure you add appointments or reminders to make appointments into some kind of calendar.
2. Keep a folder for the various test results, from blood tests to CT scans. That way all your information is easily to hand and your appointment cards will also be easy to find.
3. Do not spend a great deal of money on things you MIGHT need, wait until you need something first and ask someone to buy it for you. By this, I mean things like the powder to help cancer patients bulk up if their appetite is affected or certain wound coverings for surgical wounds after a lumpectomy or mastectomy. You will be going to the hospital for treatment anyway so can always pick up such things then if needed.
4. Carry a little ‘cancer kit’ of a mini pack of wet wipes, tissues, strong pain killers, immodium, eye drops and lip balm. I have needed all of these whilst out and about at various times whilst undergoing chemo. 
5. Be careful about rubbing your eyes if they itch! My eyelashes and eyebrows dropped out due to rubbing my eyes too much – I should have had eyedrops nearby to use more often! Apparently, losing eyelashes and eyebrows is unusual.
6. Keep a little pad and pen on you when you go out. My memory starting getting worse around the third or fourth cycle.  Writing things down helps to keep them in mind.

Food & Drink

Taste buds will die off due to the chemotherapy. You might even lose your appetite. There are supplement drinks you can buy which are expensive so, unless you completely lose your appetite and are losing weight, I would steer clear.

I found that water tasted weird and made me nauseous, as did some other flavoured drinks. It is a matter of trial and error to find something that you can drink that doesn’t make you feel sick. I tried a variety of different juices, fresh and otherwise, until I found one that I could drink.  Coffee with cream instead of milk worked for me as did hot chocolate. I tried various teas throughout treatment but only found that I could stomach them after the final chemotherapy treatment.

It is important to stay hydrated as this helps to flush the toxins, on days I didn’t drink enough, I felt that my side effects were worse.

Eating became an experience in textures. Without the ability to taste, you’d think you could eat anything. Not true. Squishy mush of no taste in your mouth is not appetising. I aimed for crunchy foods, especially those that didn’t take long to prepare. Nothing more irritating than spending ages preparing food, only to bin it as you can’t eat it!