My Chemotherapy Wardrobe

Now here was a plus. While doing chemo I found my wardrobe the one thing that I liked. It was real simple.

Sweat Pants, T-shirts and a bandana. Easy to mix and match.

The only problem I ran into was in a few public places. Once while walking through a mall I was harassed by the security guards and told I had to remove the bandana because it represented the colors of some gang. It was frustrating and funny at the same time.

Here I was, seriously bloated, very, very white, 30 years old without a hair on my body. And they wanted to harass me about a bandana. What made it even more weird, the guys I ran into that probably were in a gang, were the ones that seem to have sympathy for me and did not give me a hard time.

I tried to find some designer bandanas, however, back then they just were not available in my area. This was something I thought might make me feel better and allow me to wear something with a message of some sort on it.

Clear the Chemo Taste

I am sure each patient and each Chemotherapy is different, but I had a terrible time with how it affected my taste buds. Everything had a metallic taste to it. Things that I loved I could not tolerate with this added flavor.

Finding something to drink became an increasingly difficult task. I loved sodas but could not drink them during chemo. I tried Gatorade (which was ok) but I was looking for something that actually tasted good and was refreshing.

My poor wife was trying desperately to find the magic drink, she would bring home all kinds of things to try. And then by chance we found it.

Minute Maid Fruit Punch !!

Even to this day when I need something different and refreshing I will pick up a carton. It was the only drink I found that helped during my chemo. And I would hope the same result for you. Give it a try.

Chemotherapy and Humor

I am going to use 2 words that certainly will not appear to go together.

Chemotherapy and Humor.

Why? Because I found out very quickly that you had to have one to survive the other. If you can manage to keep a little sense of humor a big part of the Chemotherapy experience will be a lot easier to take.

Hair, yes, hair! Everyday of my life I woke up, looked in the mirror and gave no thought to what I would look like without my hair. I was a 70's child. You know the kid, blue jeans with holes in the knees, t-shirt, sneakers and a head full (and I do mean full) of hair. It was beautiful. Long, blond and curly.

What was I going to do now ?

Chemo Brain

In 2006 they call it Chemo Brain. There are pages upon pages of data on this dysfunction. In 1992 the term was not used, at least not that I heard. It fits, and I believe it to be a real side effect factor to be considered and dealt with. Almost as soon as I started my chemotherapy this was one of the first side effects I noticed. It was like living in a fog.

Cancer Resources

I started chemotherapy the first week of the new year in 1992. On some scales it seems like yesterday, and on others it seems like an eternity ago.

The first thing that is probably drastically different for anyone today is the available resources. In 1992 there was no Internet. I was given all the literature from my oncologist on the subject and was left to my own despair to search out any information. The only resource that had anything was the local library, and that in itself was massively outdated.

I will warn anyone facing chemo or anything major to be careful on how and what they research. It is very easy to get off track and let the data take you further down than you might be without any knowledge.