It's Monday already...

Last night I was putting pills in my pill-box for the week ahead. No more supplements, at least until I meet with the nutritionist and find out what I can take and what I can't. The last pills I put in were for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I was holding three blue pills of Cytoxan in my hand and just staring at them. It's hard to commit to something that is supposed to help me but at the same time has the potential to make my life hell for the next 12 weeks. As I put them in the box, I realized that they look like SweetTarts only thicker. That made me smile, realizing that the juxtaposition of a SweetTart is much the same as a chemotherapy pill.

Today I printed out some articles from the Mayo Clinic about how to manage some of the chemo side-effects. I also signed up for a class at Tacoma General Hospital, "Nutrition and Cancer: Separating Fact from Fiction." Hopefully it's worth the $20. Actually, what I'm hoping is that since Multi-Care is affiliated with SCCA, I can get a discount, but $20 isn't so bad to spend. It's for the dinner mostly.

Starting tonight, I am going to try and come up with a good regime for before bedtime. What I usually do is fall asleep on the couch, realize I need to be in bed and drag myself off. What I want to do is make sure I have some food together for the next day, and also start a nightly self-care ritual that includes lots of moisturizing.

I have also read somewhere that caffiene should be avoided while on chemo. Or, if not avoided, then limited. I may ease back on the coffee.. not that I drink a lot of it anyway, one travel-mug in the morning. But there are days that I supplement with a mocha or 2. I may also switch to tea. Tea makes my mouth dry and makes me more thirsty and I'm supposed to start drinking 2 liters of water/liquid a day. Here's the interesting thing though... if I decide to cut out caffiene completely and switch to tea, my only option for caffiene free tea is herbal tea. This goes back to the supplement question. I will add that to my list of questions for the dietician. Maybe I'll just drink peppermint tea. It's good for an upset stomach and it eases nausea. Pepperment and ginger... that would be a good combo.

I was out looking for scarves this weekend. I found a couple cheap ones at Ross. I tried them out at home, but I can't figure out what to do with all the excess material. It is really hard for me to learn how to do a 3-dimensional task from a piece of paper. I may sign up for the beauty class at SCCA just to learn how to tie the things. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of frilly things and making bows and braids just seems a little silly. I used to wear head-scarves all the time in college. I just tied a knot in the back. It was very simple. Of course I also currently have the hair to help hold the scarf in place. I'm trying to find places to buy them more cheaply than I found in the TLC catalog I was given. $18 for a piece of fabric is a bit ridiculous. I may have to unearth my sewing machine and make some!