How to survive chemotherapy (radiotherapy, surgery) - the conventional treatment

Like most of us, I listened to doctor's advice and the only treatment I was left with was chemotherapy. Surgery and radiotherapy was not an option for me. Although, if I had that option, I would have opted for them. However, I didn't. Mine was at least 12 times of chemotherapy fortnightly which means I need at least 6 months to complete the treatment.

I went into chemotherapy blindly. I really didn't think too much about it and jump straight into it without much advice from other people or do any detailed research. Most website do not tell you how bad it can be or how to cope with chemotherapy.

I understand from the doctors, some chemo medication can be very bad on the person. Apparently, I was told that the effects of my type of chemo medicine will be mediocre. So, I should do well to withstand it considering my age and physical shape. I do consider myself physically strong. I do exercise at least 6 times a week. My usual is a 7 to 10km jog and on weekends I do 2-3 hour hikes. But, because I was physically strong, I believe it has helped me to recover relatively fast from the onslaught of Chemo.

But let say this, Chemo's side effects is bad and I would not want to go through it again. It is not just the immediate side effects but also the long term effects of the chemo treatment. I am not persuading anyone from not going through chemo as treatment. The choice of treatment is a personal one.

Anyway, I have gone through Chemo and I like to share how I did it with my type of chemo. Perhaps I should also say a bit about my situation.

I have a chemo port put into my body. Let me say that if you can afford it and it is available to you, do put in a chemo port. It saves you the additional pain from going through the arm veins. Also, it helps to preserve the veins in the arms. With the chemo port, I didn't feel much pain when administering the chemo medicine. You can check the web about the chemo port. My chemo treatment was ABVD to treat Hodgkin's Disease.

During Chemo Day.

Before Chemo, I was advised to eat a hearty meal and then have about 1hr or 2hrs rest before doing the Chemo. The reason being is after the Chemo, your appetite goes to zero and if you are like me, it can be days before I can eat anything solid. So this is good advice.

During Chemo.

In the early Chemo session, I never had any problems during Chemo but the later stages of the Chemo, I would vomit several times during Chemo. I had tried not to eat during Chemo but I was still vomiting out my gut juices and it feels terrible. I figured I had to eat something and I know it will all come out but at least it was food coming out and not awful gut juices.

Normally, I would have bananas or papayas as solid food. I drink ice-cold water and a hot drink. The water flushes out the toxins almost immediately. I keep drinking about 2 liters of water every day and during Chemo, I would easily drink at least 1 liter of water. Throughout the day, I would continue to drink ice-cold water.

Water is the best to flush out the chemo toxins. I didn't always drink water while going through Chemo. My nails turned black. When I started on 2 liters of water everyday, the pink color return to my nails. Look at the tips of the nails, it is black in colour, then look at the base of the nail, it started to return to pink in colour.

So make sure you drink lots of water. Some people may find water difficult to drink ( I know, at one point I could not drink water) so I had coconut water as alternative. About a week after Chemo day, I would drink some isotonic drink. I remove the carbonation by putting in a little salt. It helps to replenish salts in the body.

I suffered a lot during the Chemo session. Towards the end, I was vomiting 6 to 7 times during Chemo day. It tapered off to once a day on third day after Chemo day. I would be on liquid food for about 2 to 3 days after Chemo. Soy bean drink had become my staple food. Soy drink and Soy pudding were considered my 'saviour' food.  

You have to figure out what you can take during Chemo. The idea is to avoid your normally favourite food because if it turns you off during chemo, it will turn you off that favourite food for a long time. For me, I do not take Soy anymore because it reminds me of Chemo days. Spaghetti with tomatoes puree and tomatoes were my 'safe' food during Chemo. Now I avoid Spaghetti. I find that during Chemo, simple food are best. Less spiced dishes and less oil dishes are best. Clear noodle soup (without all the additives) are best. It may taste bland but at least you can eat and keep the food down.

As the days go by, your physical body will recover and you will find you can take more variety of food. Just go easy and take it slowly. Again, it avoid 'complex' meals - those with a lot of spices. One advice given to me "Eat what you can". You will get a lot of advice what to eat and what not to eat. Doctors will say you can eat anything but my 'take' on is that it is better to avoid certain foods during your treatment.

One advice from the hospital was to avoid raw foods. I realised why they say that. It is not that raw food is not good, if fact on the contrary. It is because if you do not wash them properly, there may be bacteria which your body may not be able to 'fight' off. Once you do Chemo, your white-blood cells becomes compromised and may not be able to ward off infections. So, if you want to eat raw food, make sure they are properly washed. It is best to peel off the skins.

Tip: To wash vegetables and fruits. Soak them in water and put a teaspoon of vinegar for about 30mins. If possible, peel the skins of vegetables and fruits. I use apple cider (vinegar) to clean the veges and fruits.

I start to take juices (carrots, cucumber, apples and beetroot mix) on the 4th day after chemo. I take this juice everyday until the next chemo. I was told that Beetroot is good for the blood. My recipe for the juice.

3 carrots peeled 1 cucumber peeled
1 beetroot peeled
1 green apple peeled

put into a juicer and then drink it immediately. To make the juice cooler, put the fresh ingredients in the fridge for about 1 hour. You can add other things like celery too but make sure you clean the celery well.

I also avoid red meat (mutton, lamp, beef and pork). I have also reduce my intact of poultry. I am 'almost' vegetarian diet, however, I do take the occasional fish. Why meats are off my diet? The reason - hormones. Well, most meat available today are fed with hormones and when you have cancer cells activated, you do not want to feed them with these growth hormones (Other people may dispute with me on this, but this is my body and this is my belief).

There is also a theory about diary products. Same reason. However, I do consume diary-based yogurt. I have reduced milk and milk based product. I suppose you can opt for soy-based yogurt. And I take a lot of yogurt. Yogurt contains good bacteria to help heal the stomach. This is important to do.

Most important - avoid refined sugar

Sugar is cancer food especially refine sugar. Sucrose (fruit sugar) are fine. Organic raw sugar is acceptable but try to reduce sugar intact. Just remember, if you can starve the cancer cells, they have no chance of spreading or get activated.

Watch out for infection. 

Avoid getting any infection during Chemo treatment. Any small infection like flu or fever means you have to go to the hospital immediately. It can develop into a more serious problem if untreated.

So how to avoid infection?

• Stay at home, avoid going to where there are crowds.
• Minimise visitors. Make sure that visitors do not have any infection however small. Even a sore throat should be avoided.
• Food must be clean. Cooked food are best. Raw food must be thoroughly clean. Avoid skins of veges and fruits.
• Wear a mask if you have to go out.

Keep a thermometer handy. Take your body temperate regularly. Keep a track on your normal body temperature as a benchmark. Your body temperature should not stay above 38.5 degree celcius for too long. If you find you are feel hot inside and uncomfortable, go to the hospital immediately and get yourself admitted. Fever can indicate a more serious development. Don't take the risk.

Parsley water as a system cleansing

You remember I said water is your best weapon to get rid of chemo toxins in your body? Well, Chemo toxins are bad for kidneys and liver. Before any your next chemo session, the doctors will take a blood test. From what I know, they are looking at

1. White blood count
2. Kidney function
3. Liver function

(I am sure they are looking at other things too but I was told that they are particularly interested in these three). Chemo basically kills off the white blood cells and if it is too low, your body may not be able to ward off infections, which is bad news for Chemo patients. For low white blood count, they can give boaster shots which will increase white blood count.

It is harder to ensure kidneys and liver health. Kidneys and liver are bombarded with Chemo toxins and they can fail.

Well, one way to make sure that your kidneys and liver are cleanse regularly is to drink parsley water. (I have seen one of the marker reading for my kidney go down, when I regularly take parsley water, so I know it works).

Plug a few stalks of parsley and put in about a liter of water. Bring it to boil and then simmer for a few more minutes. Then drink the water. I like the parsley water cold. So I put them in the fridge.

Combining alternative treatment with conventional treatment

If you are doing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it is best to avoid alternative treatments especially Chinese herbs and Indian ayurvedic herbs. The reason being is that some of these herbs may have ingredients that interfere with the chemo medicine. However, after you have completed the treatments, you can start on those. In fact, I recommend those after chemo treatment.

I have come across some people find relief from side-effects of chemo from acupuncture. I believe this does not deal with any herbs so it should be alright. I have tried acupuncture before but not for Chemo treatment.

One of the best things I did was to learn QiGong. Qi Gong exercises are highly recommended if you can gather the energy to practice regularly. QiGong has helped me to withstand the onslaught of Chemo. I learned QiGong from a VCD which is not the best approach. If there is a class, try to join them and you can learn the right way. You can buy training VCDs on Amazon. There are many types of QiGong - Go for Healing QiGong or Zhineng QiGong.

Healing QiGong or Zhineng QiGong basically focuses on healing the body. It is not as rigorous in the movement so even the very sick can practice them. I will talk about QiGong in other chapters.










Or if you want to read about Zhineng QiGong first. The main thing is practice the movement. If you can find a center which teaches you Zhineng QiGong, that's the best approach. The classes should not be too expensive since the good ones are normally not-for-profit type organizations.

                                    

Belief and positive attitude

Now that you have decided your course of treatment, may it be conventional (Chemotherapy, Surgery or Radiotherapy), traditional or alternative, that's one major decision already made. You have to stick to the course you have chosen. You must believe that it will and is the best course of action for you. It must be your decision because it is your life and not anyone else.

So, what do you do next?
As I have said, you must believe that the path you have chosen will heal you. I can't emphasize enough about the power of belief. Having a strong belief will create a positive atmosphere which will impact on your healing progress. Look at it another way. A negative atmosphere will only create a rotten environment where you make yourself intolerable to yourself and others. In fact, a negative attitude has been proven to negate treatments and conversely, a positive attitude can significantly enhanced the effectiveness of treatment. Especially in Cancer, having a positive attitude is 50% of the battle.

Actually, when I was going through Chemo, it really didn't occur to me about having a positive attitude. Looking back, during my entire treatment I did have a positive attitude. I didn't complain very much. Initially, I did have doubts and often have the "Why me?" question, and I almost went into depression but majority of the time after I had realised that having negative thoughts and going depression was just going to make things worst, I got out of it. Of course, I had a lot of help. My primary care giver (my wife) and my support group had a lot to do with my positive attitude throughout the treatment.

So how do you have a positive attitude?
1. Don't think about the problem! Let's look at the problem logically. You really can't change it. You can't wish it away. You can't reverse the situation. Only way is going forward. So, we might as well look forward.

2. Have positive distractions. Plan out mini projects to distract your attention away from the situation. Your mind cannot focus on two things at any one time. So, if you have positive distractions, you will not think of the problem you have.

I started a farm (as I like to call it), planting tomatoes, ocra and spinach. I dug up patches of my garden.

It is quite refreshing to see something grow. I did not have a single produce but it didn't matter. It was a distraction and it gave me something to look forward to everyday. I also started a blog, which was extremely helpful to monitor my thoughts. I focus on discussing positive things. My support group never fails to visit me every week and our focus was always about food. I also started to learn Zhineng QiGong from a VCD. I watch lots of movies and I got plenty of rest.

3. Focus on small steps. Focus on getting through each hour, each day rather than focusing on how long things will take. Take one small step at a time. Keep looking for short term events which makes you happy. It may be looking forward to watching a movie tonight. It may be looking forward to a support group visit this weekend.

I noticed that I took each small steps every day and eventually, everything came into place for me. I believe the "law of attraction" had something to do with a lot of positive things that happened in my journey with Chemotherapy. Somehow in "Believe and Positive Attitude", your mind will look for the best things that happened in your life. You are not so stress out with the little irritating things.

4. Simplify your life and forget non-essential things. Your primary care giver really becomes very important here. A lot non-essential daily task you used to do have to be taken off your responsibility. Do the things that focuses your life in getting well.

I have a extremely caring primary care giver. I am absolutely convinced that a significant part of my healing is due to my wife - the primary care giver. She took over all the unnecessary task. E.g we used to do a major cleanup our house weekly. We hired a part-time helper to come in fortnightly to take over from us. Our grocery shopping was done by a friend for us. Minor repairs in the house was put on hold if they can be tolerate. Those major ones, we paid someone to do it.

The idea is to make everything you do to focus on healing and getting better.