This was taken at Bower’s Museum a few weeks ago. The current exhibit is “Passages: Photographs in Africa”. I recommend checking it out. Admission to Bower’s Museum is free every first Sunday of the month. I have put a link to their website on my blog, check it out.
Well, no mile walk for today, at least not until it cools down. It was too hot at 7:30 am for me to do it. So now I am off to the office to pick up the fax of my blood work results so I can see where I am at count wise. I have only been anemic once and it was after the fifth chemo. I really felt it. But, I rebounded after about a week (just in time for the sixth chemo). So, I think I am pretty good right now. In three and a half months of chemotherapy I only became anemic for one week and in all that time I never once left the normal range for my white blood count.
I have decided to add a page here about the diet and exercise routine that I have followed. I am able to see what visitors search for on my blog (not who is searching, but what). I’ve noticed several searches with “HER2+” and “diet”. So I am going to create a few pages here for cancer patients – sort of the things they never tell you about chemo and getting through it. In all fairness to my medical team, each patient reacts differently to chemo. But, still, there was so much that I had to find out on my own through my own research that really should, in my opinion, have been information that was provided. The first thing I asked my doctor after being diagnosed was what I should do differently diet wise to prepare for chemo. He said to just follow a balanced diet. I switched doctors as soon as I could and found an MD who practices integrative/holistic medicine. And, I did a lot of research on diet and exercise to support chemotherapy. I am so grateful for the doctor that I found (she is my primary care physician). And, I am also grateful for not listening to my first doctor.
I am just amazed at how apathetic the medical profession is on average. I was constantly met with this attitude that I just had to take it – accept that I would get anemic, weak, sick and be miserable throughout chemo. That with each round of chemo I would get worse and worse and just have to watch my body physically decline during treatment.
There is just this attitude out there that “well, you have cancer you know, so don’t expect anything better than suffering and pain and anemia and constantly feeling sick.” Well, that is not how it has to be.
I know that the changes I made in my diet made a big difference in alleviating side affects of the chemo. Granted, it has been no walk in the park. But, it really wasn’t until the last two chemos that my body just started to say “Enough!” I truly did recover from each chemo round and go back to my “normal” level of activity. I believe my diet and getting exercise has made all the difference for me in staying right side up more of the time than not. I also think that working full time (except for this past week) made a big difference. I know that if I just laid around all the time that it would not have been beneficial. That being said, there are clearly times when all you can do is lay around. But, I believe that moving as much as possible really helped me, even if it was the day the chemo hits and all I could do was a few blocks a few times a day, then that is what I would do.
Okay, well, I am off to go get my blood results and see if it is safe for me to go to the gym today! 🙂
cancerfree2b 
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