Sometimes things are not as bad as the cancer patient thinks, but other times it’s worse.
The nausea brought on by the chemotherapy is not as bad as reports say. My wife’s doctor said he was giving her medicine through the IV and in pill form to prevent it. The pills must be taken at the right times or all bets were off. My wife did not get sick after the first week. She had a false alarm but nothing came up.
Having said that, I must stress even one time can ruin your day. The word nausea is derived from French I think, and French has a way of making everything sound romantic. Nausea is not romantic. It is blowing chunks, and it literally stinks.
We keep lots of towels nearby at any given time. The patient with not make it to the toilet in time, and the caregiver must clean it up immediately. Nausea does not care if the caregiver is in the middle of a meal or suffering from a headache or bellyache. The patient needs attention now.
My wife was prepared for hairlessness. She bought her wig—a nice salt-and-pepper collection of short curls. Friends have given her a variety of scarves and hats. She even had plans to sell advertising on her bald head—See Rock City or Burma Shave, something like that. She is into her third month of chemotherapy and she still has a wispy outline of what her hair style was used to be. It’s just as well. We’re lousy entrepreneurs anyway.
The one result that is as bad or worse as reported is the fatigue. That’s another one of those French words that sounds so pretty but is a real bastard. This is knocking-you-on-your-ass tired. Walking to the bathroom and back takes away as much energy as running a marathon. The caregiver learns to anticipate when pills are needed or when the water glass is empty so the patient can eliminate as many steps as possible.
For Christmas I bought tickets to see a national touring company of Beauty and the Beast for May. This was before the diagnosis. As the date approached she realized she would not be able to attend. Our son went with me instead. He liked it all right, but he prefers things with dragons and/or robots. We bought her a big bag of souvenirs. She liked the gifts, but it wasn’t the same as seeing the show herself.
Damn cancer.