About Braveb

samex

Ahh the 1 kg per week body weight gain. I got so excited when I started chemo because they gave me the chemo diet which included as much of my Mum's rice pudding as I wanted, crumpets with butter, milk shakes etc. In fact anything that I could stomach. As someone who had a congenital (not just teenage) difficulty controlling weight, this was heaven on a stick! Finally, an upside to chemo! Haha. Each fornight, while all the other patients in the clinic were wasting away to shadows I systematically gained the obligatory 1kg per week. The weight that I had gloriously lost while on 'nil by mouth' for nearly 3 weeks flew back to torso and bum. 'Hmmm,' The dietician would mutter. 'Maybe you could try salmon instead of cheese for lunch and maybe just a spoonful of pudding.'I was still permiited the crumpet at 8.00pm as this did stave off the nausea until about 4.00am. So... after chemo, I not only couldn't feel my hands or feet (peripheral neuropathy) but I was back to the battle of the bulge. I think that I can tick all of the other boxes (except the convulsions) as well. At least now, Ben, I know why!!!Thanks

Leeanne

Hi Stacey Glad to see you came out the other side OK. I finished work today and feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My mum is going to be with me when I go through radio/chemo which is great. She has a lovely way of calming me down. All the best to you and your family. In light and laughter Leeanne

Could I also add to that great explanation that often in clinical settings patients feel nauseous before they begin to receive chemotherapy. Also, in some patients even the sight or smell of the chemotherapy rooms (places that your mind has associated with feeling sick) can make them run to bathroom months after they have finished treatment. Of course these act in conjunction with the effect of the drug on your body... I had a friend who used an acupressure point on the wrist, P6, and said it really helped control her nausea. From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090415170848.htm "...The Cochrane reviewers found that compared to sham treatment, stimulation of the P6 acupoint can significantly reduce the risk of nausea and vomiting after surgery, with few side effects.." I hope it helps

Braveb

Vomit Centre is perhaps the coolest name of any part of the human body. It is located in the stem of your brain, in an area called the medulla oblongata. The medulla oblongata is old, meaning it is also found in the brains of other critters not so closely related to humans, such as fish. Old parts of the brain tend to do the the really important stuff that animals with brains have been doing for millions of years, such as breathing and maintaining a beating heart. The Vomiting Centre collects information from across the body and when this part of the brain becomes excited (in the neurological sense, not the 'I can't wait for the next episode of True Blood' sense) people vomit. Signals INTO the Vomiting Centre From other parts of the brain: You know these parts are talking to the Vomiting Centre when you want to vomit because you see someone else vomit. Or when my Nanna smells really ripe bananas and her stomach tries to empty itself. From organs: You know organs are talking to the Vomiting Centre when you eat so much that your stomach expands and you throw up. Or when you have an intestinal blockage and you vomit. From the inner ear: You know when your balance system is talking to the Vomiting Centre when you get get off a roller coaster feeling very dizzy, and vom. From chemoreceptor trigger zones: These trigger zones are also in the medulla oblongata. They detect chemical abnormalities and poisons throughout the body, meaning it's chuck time. Signals OUT OF the Vomiting Centre Regardless of how the Vomiting Centre becomes excited (spending too long on a roller coaster, blocked intestine, being vomited on) the final action is the same: vomition. Why does chemo = nausea and vomiting? The way chemotherapy drugs make the body vomit isn't as straight forward as you might think. The next blog post will explain why chemotherapy makes the body vomit. And it doesn't involve the stomach (well, not at first, as we all know the act of vomiting is ALL stomach). This blog was re-posted from here.

Braveb

I'm slowly morphing into a higher human. Something half man, half medical apparatus. The latest addition to my collection is a clever piece of latex designed to protect a PICC line from the evils of water. It will replace something I now use and which I call The Plastic Bag With Rubber Bands. See me wearing my new toy here

MoniqueMc

Hi everyone, Thank you all for posting back to me. It has been a ray of sunlight in my otherwise dismal world. I have an 8 year old daughter. She is the sunshine of my life. According to the doctors the cancer has spread and now I have a brain tumor of all things. I would have thought it would spread gradually to like the stomach or something. The doctors dont like my chances but I am a fighter. Nevertheless I am making sure my will is in order and that Ayeisha will get raised by people I approve of. I havent given up but it is dark days for me. Moni

johnrp1964

Hmmm, thanks for that one. I hadn't realised this. Once I found out I had cancer I thought stuff it, if Im going to die sooner than most then I'm going to enjoy myself on the way and haven't taken any care about my exercise regime or my eating habits. Now that I've read this I'm going back to my old healthy ways...just one more pizza and then I'll start.

purpleangels

Hi there! My darling husband has been taken off his syringe driver of hydromorphone and put onto kapenol tablets (8 a day), dexmethasone (I thought it was to increase his appetite- but maybe it is nausea), pregabalin, somac, panadol and a few other bits and pieces for the pain caused by his cancer and peritonectomy. He is now a hopeless insomniac- falls asleep in the shower, on the toilet, while driving the car (I have banned him now....)but is unable to sleep at night, in his own bed, and is constantly on the prowl.... Obviously myself and our two young children are not around to keep him amused so boredom sets in.... Does anyone have any ideas for sleep? He has been to a clinic to try to regulate his sleeping patterns, does meditation, takes both natural and prescribed sleeping pills (imovane does weird stuff though- on his second last stint in hospital, he got fully dressed in the middle of the night and told the nurses he was off to Surfers Paradise for a beer and a dance....but remembers none of it!) Any advice would be grand! Take care out there! PA

Braveb

"At least I am here to feel them." That is one of the best phrases I have ever heard. There has to be a t-shirt in a phrase that good. "Chemo killed my nerves. At least I am here to feel it." "Cancer took my colon. At least I am still here to poo."

peanutz

Hi Ben, Guess what... I'm bored at work and thought I needed a good read/laugh. So.. I looked for your blog and this one is a good one. Sorry for laughing at your expense. Take care!

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