Positive Cancer

I wish that the doctor had a handy list of things I should or shouldn’t eat, or places I should or should not go, but they really don’t have anything more than guidelines. I decided to write down a few things that I avoid due to the negative effects they have on my health.

Getting wet is a big problem for me. If I’m out in a rain for a few drops that’s okay but if I start to get wet hair, or cold, then it’s a guarantee that I’m going to get a cold. This isn’t scientific, but for me its nearly 100% of the time. I can remember power washing my fence in over 30 degree Celsius weather and getting fairly soaked, and by that night I had developed a cold which turned into an infection. It must have something to do with the humidity but all the same I avoid rain and getting wet outdoors. In my own house I can have a bath but again if I’m in there too long I start to feel sick the next couple of days.

Celery is another thing that I find bothers me. It could be the chemotherapy pills I take, but something about the consistency of chewed celery makes me feel ill and immediately throw it up. The reaction is fairly intense and so I decided to just avoid it from now on.

Chicken is usually one of the things I eat often, but sometimes when I eat it I get a whiff of smell, something that almost registers as “urine-like” to my senses. I’ve learned that if I smell this, and usually nobody else does, I had better not eat that piece of chicken and if I do eat it I can expect to throw up immediately. It is strange, but that’s the way it is.

Water for the longest time made me want to choke, if only slightly. I think it had something to do with the speed in which it hit my doctor made stomach pouch, but I have slowly gotten more used to it. It only took 3 years for me to be able to drink a glass of water, but that’s just the way it is.

I cannot eat and drink at the same time, though I can have a drink and then eat, as long as I don’t have another drink of any liquid for at least a half hour. If I mix the two, I have immediate dumping syndrome, which is something I try to avoid. It makes taking pills interesting since I have to take them before I eat rather that with a meal.

I’m sure if I think about it I could find many more items and situations which bother me, but the main reason I did this list is to show that we all have problems, but by identifying the things that bother me I have been able to overcome. Also by sharing what goes on in my life, I hope you can relate it to yours.

While not every type of Cancer will destroy your ability to eat, most will negatively affect your ability to hold, or gain weight. I am one of those few people who has not lost, but in fact gained 50 lbs of good weight, with good muscle I might add, and I am proud of that.

One of the things that helped me the most was weight lifting, specifically using free weights in heavy exercises such as bench press, squats, and dead lifts. Never mind that I could only do the bar for 4 times, it was the start of things. Like all starts you begin with nothing, but as you continue you can see the goal. In my case it was a three hundred pound bench press. I haven’t hit the goal yet, but I did do 265 lbs the other day, so that day may yet come.

I found that doing the heavy movements made me hungry, and while I couldn’t eat more than one cracker with a slice of cheese on it, I started having the urge to eat more often. I am not kidding about the portioning, one cracker, one slice of cheese on it was my lunch at one point. Even now I don’t eat much for my size, but I still eat often. I started feeling hungry, and so every hour on the hour I would eat one cracker or whatever until I started stopping the weight loss.

It was at this point that my mind said, “Mike you need to gain weight, in case you get sick again and to help you put on weight.” Inside myself, I agreed and tried to start eating every second hour. I would have eaten more frequently but I cannot eat and drink liquids at the same time, so on the off hour I would try to sip on some Gatorade, Tea, Coffee, or Coca Cola. I did not eat every second hour but I did end up eating a lot more than usual. Unfortunately I had dumping syndrome quite often, so I needed to eat and absorb you nutrients as much as possible.

I though to myself, “How do I keep the food in me longer?” This would allow my intestinal tract to absorb more nutrients, calories, protein and carbohydrates, and so became the next puzzle to solve. I started asking my wife to make very dense rice filled with potatoes, onion, and green peppers. This allowed me to have leftovers which I could eat for three days, if I ate it twice a day, which I did. Once in the morning when I woke up, and once in the evening when I went to bed, with that one being more important since I could store the carbohydrates and turn them into energy or fat.