May 23: Catching up… throwing up…
A lot of people have said how much they appreciate the upbeat tone of this blog (Stacey included) and I don’t intend to change that, but, you know, some things just aren’t all that funny. Puking, for example.
About two days after Stacey’s first chemo treatment, I read somewhere that the side effects often really kick in after three or four days. I decided to keep my trap shut in case that actually didn’t happen… but it did.
The first indication that things were about to suck was the internal disturbance. Chemo attacks fast-growing cells, cancer, of course, but also hair follicles (no action there, haircut still looking fancy) and cells in the mouth, stomach and intestines, etc. So, about three days in, the cells in Stacey’s intestines stopped doing what they are supposed to do, and everything else stopped too. This is apparently a very common chemo symptom, and unfortunately, Stacey can look forward to things being either too slow or too fast for the duration. Yippee.
The other side-effect is not exactly nausea, but a powerful aversion to some foods. These foods do not announce their aversive status until one second before the puking starts, unfortunately. Sometimes this means cooking a meal that one can suddenly not eat. The crowning moment of this charming situation was (Stacey, stop reading, I’m going to talk about yucky food) when Stacey made her deee-licious Asparagus with Shrimp and Black Bean sauce — yum. She was using ready-to-cook, flash-frozen shrimp, so she didn’t have to deal with all the prep, but noticed a small piece of shrimp shell in the bowl, picked it out with her fingers… and that was that. Simply touching raw shrimp was enough to put the kibosh on the whole deal.
This, of course, is an extreme drag, and Stacey has already lost 15 pounds on her limited diet. Auntie’s Chicken Soup (slogan: “Auntie’s Chicken Soup: All for Stacey, None for You!“) continues to appeal, as does all sorts of fruit (nectarines, applesauce, and Whole Foods pineapple chunks, in particular) yogurt… not sure what else.
Appointment with the Oncology nurse tomorrow, so Stacey will ask what can be done about this.
(And to those who need an upbeat moment, the Blogger spellchecker suggested that I replace “kibosh” with “gibbous.”)
The Stacey Report 
http://www.chemocare.com Good ideas here.
Hard to imagine why the computer thought gibbous (convex or humped) was in any way a substitute for kibosh. Nice of you, Deb, to give us such useless things to think about along the way.
Hello!
This is Vyto (Michael’s co worker) writing from New Hope, MN. As a recent member of the “special cancer club” that Stacey and I unwittingly joined; the whole food thing is ‘interesting’ – to say the least.
I remember having an aversion to all food (ever spend 15 minutes eating a 1/4 of a baked potato? 🙂
Doesn’t seem possible that it could take so long to eat that little; but, it is possible. I’m checking with the Guiness folks to see if that’s some sort of time record…
Then suddenly, “Hey, I think a Burger King Whopper would be great!” Which it was, as I didn’t have to worry about calories at that time! The odd part was, Whoppers weren’t part of my diet prior to chemo – go figure. The only certainty about how one reacts to things – is the uncertainty.
It’s a nuisance, but, will all soon be a bad memory. Thanks for allowing us to keep posted on your journey.
Vyto