This past Thursday was Thanksgiving. A few of our family members were here at our home. It was one of the best in recent past, or at least I think it was. Some of those same members gave Diane and me sort a weird look when we started discussing what she could or could not eat.
The reason was that a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law started her first chemotherapy treatment. She was given a list of things to do or do not do in order to help keep her white blood cell count up. If her cell count goes down, it is called neutropenia. What does that mean? Well, remember in school, that the white blood cells are part of the immune system. This system protects the body from getting infections. If she gets an infection, this could facilitate the cancer to spread.
This list includes washing her hands frequently, daily showers, and brush teeth with soft brush. She needs to avoid any cuts and scrapes if possible. She needs to avoid people who are evenly mild sick. Basically, she needs to avoid any kind of germ! Thus living in an almost sterile environment from now until after the chemotherapy. But everyone knows that it is almost next to impossible, especially with dogs, kids, and two very messy husbands around. But we are trying our best on both sides of the door!
This list includes avoiding raw foods and restaurants. All of her food must be cooked in some way. It must reach the correct temperature in order to be out of the danger zone. Why? To ensure that the bacteria lurking in food is killed and does not endanger her health or facilitate the cancer. So it was not that she did not want to eat all of the available food on the table, but it was for her health that she avoid certain items.
The side effects of chemotherapy includes mouth sores, nausea, and changes in her senses. This is interesting because before her surgery, she had no sense of taste or smell. Between the time of surgery and the start of the chemo, she had both back. She was watching Food Network and learning many culinary methods and the reasoning behind that I had learned in school. She was like a kid in a candy store!
Before the surgery, she had not given much thought about the next meal. After surgery, it was a different story! She thought about her oatmeal for breakfast with honey and blueberries. For lunch, her tuna salad or tomato soup with oregano. For dinner, salmon and asparagus. For about nine days, she really do not feel like eating much. So my challenge is to find foods that sound appealing to her, does not aggravate any mouth sores, make her nauseous, and stay within the Mediterranean food pyramid.
She is determined to keep going doing things by herself. And I am proud of her doing so. I saw how she felt before the surgery. She was upset that she could not do certain things. But at the time, we all thought it was the deteriorating back. It turns out that what we thought was the back may have been the colon cancer the whole time. She still has the two deteriorating disks but the back doesn’t hurt as bad. Praise the Lord!
This is my challenge: I will let her do what she can until she can’t anymore, but hopefully it won’t come to that. Her challenge is to let me help her if she needs the help.
My second challenge is to find foods that will still be Mediterranean yet will be within the guidelines she was given. I am going to try to find some healthy freezer meals that she can just pop into the oven and heat later down the road. That should give her some independence and solve both of our challenges.
Until next time,
Chef Texas Rose
Source:
Eating Hints: Before, During, and After Cancer Treatment; http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/eatinghints/page2
Lists of Foods and Drinks ; http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/eatinghints/page7
Fight Colorectal Cancer; http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/awareness/treatment/managing_side_effects/low_blood_counts/fever_and_neutropenia Fever and Neutropenia
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020 Shana Tucker