# So, I've got cancer. Well that's fucking great. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2018, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875 "2018-03-02T08:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/101 "2018-03-27T05:44:53Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Unfortunately, the nausea broke through with a vengeance this week, though it was partly my fault – stopped at Burger King for a Whopper and the cashier told me I could order a second Whopper for just _one dollar more!_ Ooh, and some onion rings and cheesy hash brown bites! Normally my body wouldn’t even blink at that meal, but…damn. Blew out my stomach for three whole days, which is just now starting to re-settle itself. I hate how my health has become such a delicate balance; eat or drink the wrong thing, or take the wrong pill at the wrong time, and everything suddenly goes to crap. ☹ You sure it wasn’t from a stomach virus? At least you’re feeling better now. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/102 "2018-03-27T12:42:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > You sure it wasn’t from a stomach virus? At least you’re feeling better now. I suppose it’s possible. How would I tell the difference? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/103 "2018-03-27T13:27:36Z")
There are a couple of things that I’ve found help reduce general feelings of nausea. Firstly, ginger, which you are already using through drinking ginger ale. A great drink, which I mainly make for fighting colds, is honey lemon ginger tea - thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced, half a lemon, a tablespoon of honey and hot water. Tastes awesome. I’ve also found that massaging the [P6 acupressure point](https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/acupressure-nausea-and-vomiting) in the wrist brings some nausea relief, and is something that’s easy enough to do anywhere, any time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/104 "2018-03-27T13:33:25Z")
I joined a support group for spouses of cancer patients but I can’t say it did me any good. Support groups are fine for some but they don’t work for everyone, and they aren’t all created equal. I think sometimes “join a support group” becomes an automatic response and perhaps it shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/105 "2018-03-27T23:44:04Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > I suppose it’s possible. How would I tell the difference? If this is not a rhetorical question, in my experience: Slightly higher fever with virus and greater reluctance for any intake. Also a sharper sort of pain and a longer recovery, and chills. Mild food poisoning is more dramatic, but doesn’t last as long - classic 24 hour bug. Fastest onset. Intestinal issues with no non-standard organism has a deeper. harder pain; only mild temperature increase, but more frequent and prolonged sweating. No matter what it is, I’d cut the ginger-ale with a lot of seltzer. If this was a rhetorical question, I’ll just leave you alone now. ---
**Author:** ![slightly\_askew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@slightly\_askew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slightly_askew)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/106 "2018-05-11T14:30:09Z")
Just a bump to see how\*\* buddha\_david\*\* is doing. Hope everything is going well. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/107 "2018-05-11T16:06:15Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > Just a bump to see how\*\* buddha\_david\*\* is doing. Hope everything is going well. Well, after two cycles/four rounds I’ve decided that chemotherapy is like Windows 10 – annoying, and I’d rather not use it, but nowhere near the horror stories I’ve heard about. The worst symptoms are nausea for a few days following treatment, followed by severe stomach pains, which sucks because the anti-nausea treatments don’t work against pain. (The doc isn’t sure if it’s the chemo or the cancer causing it.) The good news is that these symptoms are seeming to get less intense over time, which again the doc says is a sign of my body’s strength returning as the cancer dissolves. Had some issues with my white blood cell count which delayed treatment, but a bi-weekly shot of Neulasta finally fixed that problem. Of course, that drug caused me severe bone pain, so I’m taking gabapentin for that side effect, which has side effects of its own which I’m taking more drugs for…and so on. I’ll sure be glad when this mess is over. The itchy skin has been going away in stages. After this week’s chemo I was _finally_ able to wear certain articles of clothing which I could barely stand to wear for more than 20 minutes without breaking out in an itching fit. (There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it; some cotton shirts were fine, other identical shirts were not.) Overall I think the itching was the worst so far – that was pretty brutal. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/108 "2018-06-05T02:52:57Z")
Well, today was the first major fly in the ointment since treatment began. Over the last few weeks I’ve developed a dry, rough cough which I’d assumed was from smoking too much weed and my docs were certain was from allergies. But even after abstaining from any smokables (which SUCKS, as weed’s the first line of defense against the nausea side effects) not only has the cough continued to get worse, but by this morning I was feeling constantly light-headed and short of breath as well. So I did some Internet research, and [ooh lookie here](https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jcr/2013/480608/), turns out one of the chemotherapeutic agents (bleomycin) has a not-that-uncommon side effect of PULMONARY TOXICITY, which can progress into what’s basically cystic fibrosis and ends up killing you 10% of the time. So today I confronted Mr. Oncologist with printout in hand, and to his credit he said he would drop that drug from the regimen, saying, “In my opinion, it’s the least useful of the four.” To which I could only think, “If it’s that useless, why use it at all?!?!?” By the way, maybe it’s just me, but I think chemotherapy in general could be greatly improved just by renaming some of those nasty-sounding drugs. Bleomycin… Vinblastine… why not “Amazing Power Sauce” instead? I’d totally eat that for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/109 "2018-06-05T04:06:37Z")
Sorry to hear about the bumps in the road. It sounds like things are moving in the right direction generally speaking. Are there other forms of weed (edibles?) that you could try to give your lungs a break? I’m interested to hear that the gabapentin helped with the bone pain. I took it for something else for a while. My doctor told me that Lyrica is essentially a stronger form of gabapentin, which might be something to remember if the gaba stops working for you. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/110 "2018-06-06T16:36:09Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Are there other forms of weed (edibles?) that you could try to give your lungs a break? > > I’m interested to hear that the gabapentin helped with the bone pain. I took it for something else for a while. My doctor told me that Lyrica is essentially a stronger form of gabapentin, which might be something to remember if the gaba stops working for you. I’ve already been using edibles in addition to smokables; usually it requires copious amounts of both to knock back the worst of the nausea, which is great as long as I don’t need to drive myself anywhere. Guess I could always fall back on Zofram if I really need to. Come to think, the bone pain started breaking through the gaba(gabahey)pentin last week. Totally forgot to bring it up with the doctor since this lung issue took precedence (which continues to get worse…) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/111 "2018-06-06T17:01:18Z")
I’ve got a long-term neurological issue right now, which comes with a full helping of nausea. I rotate through 4 types of anti-nausea meds. Zofran (the dissolvable by preference) works well. Second choice is Phenergan. Third choice is Compazine. Fourth is Reglan. I know you’re taking a lot of other meds right now, but it might be a good idea to let your lungs heal up a bit. I hope the bone pain gets controlled. Do you know what your dose of gaba is right now? I was up to 3600 a day before they switched me to Lyrica. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/112 "2018-06-06T19:11:36Z")
I’m sorry to hear of your troubles,\*\* buddha david\*\*! I’m curious why you’re hesitating on taking the Zofran. I wasn’t happy to be on another drug, but it’s much better than nausea. Anyway, I hope things settle down soon. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/113 "2018-06-06T23:33:30Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I hope the bone pain gets controlled. Do you know what your dose of gaba is right now? I was up to 3600 a day before they switched me to Lyrica. Yikes. :eek: Mine’s only at 100mg, thrice daily, and I had to twist my doc’s arm to get that. I know of people who take more but never _that_ much! > [@Helena330](#): > > I’m curious why you’re hesitating on taking the Zofran. I wasn’t happy to be on another drug, but it’s much better than nausea. Anyway, I hope things settle down soon. Couple problems. First, it made me feel literally sick, as if I had stomach flu but _without_ the nausea. Sounds weird, but that’s how it felt. Second, well…it was _incredibly_ constipating. And with the opiate painkillers, plus the chemo itself, I was already [listening to this song on repeat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic3g8Xnf7LI) far more frequently than I’d like… bottom line was, why go there at all if there’s better options available? (On the other hand, this was before I discovered my “secret weapon” in milk of magnesia…) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/114 "2018-06-07T00:16:29Z")
Well, the good news is that you’ve got plenty of room to go up on the gaba. 🙂 Unfortunately for me, it never did work so it was abandoned. I agree that milk of magnesia is good stuff. Sometimes instead of using that, I take magnesium capsules instead. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/115 "2018-06-07T03:44:24Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I agree that milk of magnesia is good stuff. Sometimes instead of using that, I take magnesium capsules instead. It’s also great for heartburn/indigestion. In fact the MoM marketed for heartburn also contains an anti-laxative ingredient, so it’s very important to buy the right bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/116 "2018-06-07T03:48:32Z")
Oh my. I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/117 "2018-06-07T04:10:40Z")
Hang in there! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/118 "2018-06-08T21:01:05Z")
Random internet cancer person (stage 3 colorectal, just finished the 3d blast of chemo Sunday) I would marry zofran if it was a person… No hair loss so far, nausea and vomit check, diarrhea check. Unable to do antidiarrheals, but I just deal with the runs. Screwed up sense of taste, check. Got my medsludge recipe approved by the nutritionist, and with zofran was able to add beef, pork and offal back so got my iron back to 11.8 as of today. Maybe we need a pinned sdmb cancer support thread. Medsludge, 12 oz whole milk, 4 oz greek yogurt, 1 packet whatever flavor carnation instant breakfast, 1 tbsp flax meal, 2 tbsp oat flour. Blend, it turns thick without ice which is good because of the whole cold sensitivity thing ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/119 "2018-06-08T21:52:02Z")
I am sorry to hear that **aruvqan**. I hope your treatment goes well. I know what you mean about Zofran. I ran out of it for a few days and was miserable. Heading to the pharmacy now to get more. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875/120 "2018-06-09T11:17:15Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I am sorry to hear that **aruvqan**. I hope your treatment goes well. > > I know what you mean about Zofran. I ran out of it for a few days and was miserable. Heading to the pharmacy now to get more. my doc seems pretty pleased at my bodies response to chemo, though i admit i am not looking forward to crotch sunburn when it hets to a Radiation time. I have some compazine also, i am hording the 8 mg dissolvables and depending on the 4 mg enteric coated ones. Zofran is letting me work beef, pork and offal back into my diet which has raised my iron from 11.5 to 11.8 in a couple of weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-got-cancer-well-thats-fucking-great/809875.md?page=7)