I think I might have posted this advice before but here it is again. The best things to do when you are on chemotherapy and feeling rotten are these: Walking and Water! Bundle up if it's cold outside; grab an umbrella if it's raining. Walk as far as you can. It might only be around the block or down the street and back but it helps so much! Also, drink a lot more water than usual. Even when water tastes awful because of the chemo.Walking and Water help to get your systems awake and moving. This is a totally unscientific view of mine of course, but, when I was on chemo, if I sat too long I needed to shake things up a bit. All those bad chemicals start pooling and roiling around inside my body. Walking and Water made me feel better - a bit more normal.
There are other things that can make things more tolerable, too. Good family and friend support, a wonderful spouse and confidence in your doctors are a few of them. So is a good night's sleep. So many times for me, a good night's sleep kind of snuck up on me and provided a wonderful benefit. I'd lay down at night, not at all confident that I could sleep. Do I dare turn over and mix everything up inside? Would I get sick during the night? How much worse was I going to feel before it got better? Then, miraculously, the next thing I knew, I'd be waking up in the morning! I guess it's kind of a secret benefit of going through chemo. You're so exhausted that sleep often comes, gloriously, in the midst of the suffering and somewhat restores you.
Yep - sleep, and Walking and Water, so often did the trick!
There are other things that can make things more tolerable, too. Good family and friend support, a wonderful spouse and confidence in your doctors are a few of them. So is a good night's sleep. So many times for me, a good night's sleep kind of snuck up on me and provided a wonderful benefit. I'd lay down at night, not at all confident that I could sleep. Do I dare turn over and mix everything up inside? Would I get sick during the night? How much worse was I going to feel before it got better? Then, miraculously, the next thing I knew, I'd be waking up in the morning! I guess it's kind of a secret benefit of going through chemo. You're so exhausted that sleep often comes, gloriously, in the midst of the suffering and somewhat restores you.
Yep - sleep, and Walking and Water, so often did the trick!
