[Forever_Fighting]

I was glad to come across this post since this is something I have been wondering about myself. The internet and research can be so overwhelming when you’re trying to figure out what you should or should not eat/drink when you have cancer.

Before I was dx’d, I was a regular drinker. I would enjoy a drink or two after work and a few more on the weekends, especially in the summer when BBQ season rolled around. Most of our friends drink so it was socially acceptable in our circle and I just plain enjoyed it.

When I was initially dx’d and started my treatments (radiation to be specific) I gave up everything, junk/fast food, smoking, caffeine and of course alcohol. My husband and I gutted our cupboards/fridge and went on a mass shopping spree to buy everything healthy we could think of. We didn’t eat that badly before this but we are both overweight and out of shape which we are now changing. Most of these diet changes were made from the fear of knowing the disease I had and wanting to do everything in my power to stop it. In the end, I had a very rough first week and even though the radiation caused me to feel tired all the time and lose my appetite a bit, I blame most of it on the withdrawals from quitting everything cold turkey (which I was also told by my radiation Doctor).

Once I started to feel better, the fatigue went away and my appetite came back, I treated myself to KFC one night and Chinese the next. The funny thing about that was, I don’t even like KFC, it was almost like a pregnancy craving, lol! I actually felt guilty about doing that and spoke to my Onco on my next appointment and although I need to avoid a few things, she told me to live my life and that anything in moderation is fine. My family Doctor also told me that unless I start waking up each morning and polishing off a bottle of vodka a day, a few drinks once and a while won't hurt me J

Since then I have allowed myself to feel normal again and enjoy some of the “bad things” in life on week three of my treatments. I figure going from living “badly” daily to once a month is a great change to my lifestyle and it also gives me something to look forward to between treatments as well as in general.

I only just started my chemo treatments (2 down so far) and I avoid alcohol the day before treatment as well as the first two weeks after but then it’s my time!! On week three (on the weekend), I spoil myself to a cup or two of coffee on one of the mornings, one of my favorite snacks (chips to be specific) and a few drinks that night with my husband if I feel the desire to do so!

We may all have an “illness” but we’re not dead and I have no intention on spending my last years in a bubble. I’m sad to say that I started smoking again but I went from ¾ of a pack a day to closet smoking and only having a few a day. I do plan on quitting smoking for good since I feel like I’m tempting fate by asking for a secondary form of cancer but the few I have are helping me cope right now.

In the end we all need to remember one thing, we’re still only human!!! J