One Year In — The Chemo Experience

During my first round of chemo last August

One year ago today I started my chemotherepy for my cancer. They called it the “Cadallac” of treatments and I agree. I am so lucky I received the kind of personalized care from the team at NYU Langone’s Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. They saved my life.

I believe they will cure cancer in my niece’s lifetime.

Lately, I’ve had a number of people tell me that they, or someone they know, is starting chemo and have asked me for advice. I thought this would be a good time to write something about my experience.

I’ll be adding more to this list as time goes on.

What They Tell You — the Starter List

• That your hair will fall out (and pretty quickly)
• That your nails on your hands and feet will get very fragile and that you might get “pins and needles” feelings in the extremedies
• That you could get mouth sores — change your toothbrush every couple of weeks, that seemed to work for me
• That everyone is different in their reactions (who will get sick, who won’t)
• That chemo immediately starts (i.e. SLAMS) you into menopause ($%*&!!)

What They Don’t Tell You — The Surprises!

• That you break out like a teenager — even on your bald head (they have meds for that and ask for them immediately — this was almost worse for me than the hair loss)
• That “Chemo Brain” is a REAL THING!!! I went through a really intense time grasping for words and short-term memory issues. Writing things down became my BFF. It’s getting better, but still have issues when I get tired.
• That you can GAIN weight on chemo — I wasn’t looking at it as a diet plan, but really??? Putting on weight???
• Your skin can be pretty fragile (Get Josie Maran’s Whipped Body Butter — saved me in many ways: cuticles, skin, just awesome! And use Aveno Body Wash, my skin was really soft)
• That everyone will want to tell you a story about someone they know that will inevitably end with, “well, they died, but that’s not what I was getting at…”

Chemo is one of those cancer milestones (having a port put in, radiation, surgery) that’s so scary, because it’s unknown. Your experience will be different than mine, but I’ll always be here to talk through it. It really helps to have someone who’s been through it.

I’m putting together a list of products that helped me throughout this year and will post them shortly — expect a lot of QVC brands (my not-so-secret addiction).