Mom's chemo on Thursday. What should I know and do?

deelightful

Hello everyone,

I want to do what is best for my mother.  I'm so scared.  I want to be strong for her.  I'm praying that this will be smooth for her.

Can you all please tell me how I should prepare?  What kinds of food and drink I should have for her?  Does she need hot and/or cold packs?  Are energy drinks good?

What would you have love to have when you were going through your treatment?

Thank you for all of your help.

Moderators

Hi deelightful. You can learn much more about what your mother and you can expect from Chemotherapy at its major section on the main Breastcancer.org site. Just click the link to go there. 

Here in the forums, the Important Links for Newbies About Chemotherapy thread that's pinned to the top of the Chemotherapy - Before, During and After forum  will point you to several active threads discussing chemo.

Best wishes, to you both.

ziggypop

deelightful, I would go to one of the chemo threads and check the suggestions, there are a whole list of things also when chemo 'hits' you depends on which chemo you are doing. For sure a variety of liquids & your mom should hydrate before during and after. Most women recommend taking a stool softener every day as chemo can lead to constipation. Try to get your mom out for a walk every day - this helps with fatigue.  

MsPharoah

Hi deelightful!  You are such a sweet daughter.  I also have a sweet daughter and daughter-in-law and despite the distance between us, they were both so supportive when I was going through treatment.  One of the things they did was to play Words with Friends with me while I was having chemo.  It made the time fly by.  If you can't be with her during treatment, maybe you could be there in the "virtual" world.  My daughter-in-law sent me several gift baskets that contained healthy snacks and candy, aromatic body wash and bath salts, a cookbook and some music. They also made sure I had lots of grandchildren pictures.   Loved it!

If you are with your Mom, make sure she has plenty of bottled water and some various flavorings to add to the water.  She will need to drink a lot of water during chemo and sometimes even water tastes "funky".   The energy drinks have a lot of sugar and I avoided them.    It's hard to know what kind of foods she will prefer.  Some people like bland foods and some like spicy.  When I was having taste issues, I liked spanish rice.  Who knew?  It's good to have some Ensure or other meal supplement on hand for those days she doesn't feel like eating.  If you are cooking for her, it helps to keep the cooking smells down to a minimum.  I found that when I smelled the food cooking, it would be repulsive to me.  Serve food in small quantities. That way if she doesn't eat it, you aren't wasting food and she won't feel like she has to "eat it all". 

 She will be tired, so I really appreciated having beautiful, comfortable pajamas, slippers.   

All the best to you.  Your mom will do well with you at her side.

MsP

deelightful

Thank you so much.  I'm definitely going to be with my mother each and every minute.  I'm so grateful that my job is offering me flexibility during this time.  I plan on treating her like a queen.  

I'm definitely going to have plenty of water.  Thank you for all of the advice.