CancerFood, part 3: more wisdoms from Christine 15 January 2009 11:22 am
Posted by Tracy in : advice,eating,friends,health,interviews,nutrition , trackbackThis is the third post in a series which started with Ask TracyFood: food and chemotherapy? Answer: Chris knows! and continued with CancerFood, part 2: you need Christine’s wisdoms bad. Today Today Chris has more specific food suggestions for surviving chemotherapy — both what to eat and how to eat it — as well as another round of general advice on living well when your body’s trying to kill you.
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Tracy: Can you give me any examples of foods that are particularly good or bad for you during chemotherapy?
Christine: The rice and steamed veggie regimen works pretty well for me. I also try to listen to cravings, as mine tend to be pretty healthy. Earlier this week it was beets, and I’m constantly craving green stuff — kale is one of the best, spinach salad when my stomach is up to it. I miss the odd glass of white wine, but many chemo regimens will give you a metallic taste in your mouth, which will make most acidy drinks taste like they contained dissolved tinfoil — sorta ruins the pleasure of a glass of wine.
Greasy foods are a big no-no — I usually love tempura, but it’s just too greasy for a chemo stomach. I’ll put a little butter on my spuds and rice, but I avoid other deep fried stuff and fats. I never re-acquired the taste for sweets after the first round of chemo, as sugary things, especially something like birthday cake, were almost the worst nausea inducer.
T: What advice can you give to someone trying to take care of a loved one going through chemo, especially with regard to food?
C: I tell people that cancer is really a disease for one person, but an illness of the whole family. Kevin and I talk about this a LOT, and in some ways I think being the primary caregiver is harder than being the patient. As a patient, I just have to endure, and nowadays kind of micromanage myself and my own reactions for three days a week. He has to pick up ALL the slack — cooking, dishes, laundry, fussing over and waiting on me…
Foodwise, I’m all about comfort food. Mac and cheese. Chicken soup. Fish, brown rice and steamed veggies — I swear I could eat steamed broccoli every night. I cannot recommend the juice thing enough — I don’t think it is really a cancer cure, but anything at all that boosts your immune system is great. I really believe cancer is an autoimmune disease, if you look at the molecular biology.
The other advice, food or non-food wise, is: any time someone offers to help, say yes. We have a dinner rota, where a group of friends bring dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The marvelous Julie organizes the whole thing, and it frees Kevin up from cooking those three days when I’m not up to it.
Lastly, sometimes there’s nothing you can really do to help, but help also includes JUST being present — for both the patient and the caregiver. Someone asks me how I am, and sometimes I have the nerve to say, do you really want to know? Then sit and listen for a half an hour, so I can really tell you in detail what the experience is like. This is also very true for the caregiver, who sometimes feels like any problem or grief they may have is invisible, yeah, you had a hard day, but you don’t have cancer. Annie Lamott put it well, in that sometimes it IS harder to have a cold than to have cancer — and it really is. So take your patient’s partner out for a beer, and let them kvetch about what a ROYAL PAIN IN THE TUCHUS their cancer patient is.
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For more of Christine’s superheroism, check out her blog, Butterfly Soup, and here’s hoping her stupid health insurance company sees the light of day about those nausea meds. Soon.
