Preparing For The Battle

No battle can be won unless adequate preparations are made to defeat the enemy. My enemies are loss of hope, discouragement, and illness.

My hope is founded in Jesus Christ, knowing that He loves me and knowing that He understands what I am going to be going through. He has blessed me with His Companionship and has blessed me with the knowledge that He is always nearby and ever ready to listen to and answer my prayers. I have been blessed with the knowledge that He hears and answers our prayers.
He has placed me in circumstances that have given me the best hope for survival. He has provided me with a compassionate health care team, with many years of experience.He has blessed me with many friends and a wonderful family who are very supportive. It will be this love and support that will help me to see it through the the hard times ahead.

"To be forewarned is to be forearmed." I am not sure who first stated this truth so I cannot give credit where credit is due but I do know that having knowledge helps to combat fear and doubt.

To battle discouragement it is best to gain all the knowledge that I can about the road that lies ahead. Knowing the pitfalls that I might encounter along the way will better help me to prepare for those times so that I can take action to avoid them, if at all possible, and if it is not possible to at least figure out how to deal with them. I spoke with the chemo nurse yesterday about some of those pitfalls that I could encounter. As no two people are alike it is impossible to say which, if any, of them I will encounter and so I need to be prepared for all of them. She gave me a good website to go ( Chemocare.com) to help me find information.
Preventing illness might be a challenge as my immune system is going to be compromised by the drugs. I am doing everything in my power right now to get into the best possible position for fighting off infections. I had a dental exam earlier this week and it came out good. I go in today for a good dental cleaning. The dental hygienist gave me some samples of some oral health care products that are designed specifically to help cancer patients to ward off and deal with the sores and other problems that are associated with chemotherapy. I will have to stock up on them.
I am working with my diet to make it as healthy as possible. I have been working at eliminating all refined sugars and white flour products from my diet. I have increased the amounts of raw fruits and vegetables and am going to try to maintain the small amounts of proteins that I now consume. This includes fish, poultry without the skin, and on occasion very lean cuts of beef and pork. Proteins are essential for rebuilding the body and restoring it to proper function. I do not fry my foods but choose rather to steam, broil, or stir- fry them slightly in a small amount of olive oil. I avoid the use of salt and choose other spices to enliven the flavor of the foods which I am cooking. I am avoiding hydrogenated and other fatty foods as well. I love milk but I need to keep my consumption of it under control. It has always been my beverage of choice from the time I was a little girl on he farm. I drink 1% milk to help keep the fat content under control.
I am trying hard to limit my dairy consumption to two servings per day.
The one area which I really need to work on is trying to get down more water. Liquids are essential to keep the chemo drugs from raising havoc on the body. They are essential to help the kidneys with the tough battle of eliminating the toxins from the body. I will be drinking distilled water that I think I may try to lace with a little bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice to make it more palatable. I am open to suggestions if anyone has found a good way to make the water go down more easily.
The last area that I need to focus on is exercise. The surgeon (Dr. Tim Peterson)has me on a 20 lb. restriction and non-strenuous activities until I am healed from the surgery. He told me that walking would be good even on the days that I am not feeling well. The chemo is going to make me weak and tired so he told me that even short distances would be good on those days. Walking partners are always welcome!
The oncology nurse ( Jeanne Westphal) will be keeping a close watch on my blood counts and if they become too low I will have to wear a mask and avoid people that are sick. I pray that through a good diet I will be able to keep them from going too low but it could happen. The oncologist (Dr. Oken) also told me that I will be more tired and that I will need at least another hour of rest each day. That won't be hard to do- all I have to do is sit down in the recliner and I'm gone!