Losing Weight is Good?

Skinny me, a long time ago

Today I learned that I have lost twenty four pounds since I started on Chemo.

Of course, the good thing is that I lost weight.

The not so good thing is what caused me to lose weight.

Not  being able to take my stomach medicine because it interferes with the absorbtion of  Dasatinib ( Sprycel ) by sixty percent made it necessary to go cold turkey with my tummy meds. I'm sure I have mentioned this before. Yes?

So the results were instantaneous. Tummy problems full force. It's taken these many months to get to the point where it's not so terrible to live with, though I often question quality of life. Do I want to be sick the rest of my life by not treating tummy problems? Or do I want to be sick with the long term results of untreated leukemia

I haven't even mentioned the meds I cant use anymore for pain. Have I? We wont go there right now. Tummy is the biggest problem.

Needless to say, it has gotten down to experimenting with various foods to learn what my tummy can handle and what is no longer my friend. Right now I can eat apple, banana, asparagus, oatmeal, white meat turkey and occasionally, a little bit of red meat. I'm sorry my vegetarian friends. I cannot eat soy products either. My favorite food, a good salad is a touch and go situation. One day I can have a little, another day it will sit in my tummy heavy and nauseating.

This really bothers me. Losing twenty four pounds without an adequately balanced diet is concerning. I've got to look at the contraindications on the Dasatinib labeling sheet again. I hadn't given it much thought in the beginning, but there are several nutritional supplements that are not to be taken.

Well.... Who knows? At the rate I am going, perhaps I will look like the skinny wench in the picture again!

Diet Barbecue

My health is much better than last winter. Right now, it's just the usual balancing act. Have been on prednisone and recently came off it, and always feel good at this point. Hope it lasts the summer, at least.

I have stomach issues, too. Been back and forth to Gastro doc over the years and many tummy meds tried. Some work for a while.

But, I am having the best success now, of not having any tummy problems with the Dr. Oz diet. Not necessarily to lose weight, just am following his recommendations for healthy food, and it is making me feel much better. Every time I get stuck in a situation of eating foods he doesn't recommend, I find the symptoms pop right back up immediately. It is amazing.

Memorial weekend is coming up.

My parents always went to the gravesites of family. But, I just can't do that, due to distance, and if they were close, I wouldn't anyhow. It's just not me. So, for years it has been a non-holiday for me and I have done nothing to observe it at all.

So, now it has become the kind of holiday that many others around me observe... a party.

My Kats bought me a Barbecue last week. It was quite an exciting moment. He has wanted to do this for years, and I have told him NO, as I had no interest in it.

I had pictured myself standing outside over hot coals in 95 degrees temperature in a backyard full of weeds! I just couldn't relish the idea. Not mustard or catchup either!

But, when we were in Home Depot last week, I saw him hungrily eying the barbecue equipment and suddenly I realized how dearly he wanted to buy it. I know how much he loves to cook. Why hadn't I understood all those years I turned him down, that the barbecue, though a present for me, would be used by him? Duh!

The price was incredibly low and the unit was amazing. So, when he started hinting for the zillionth time about getting me one, I said, yes. And suddenly I was just as happy about it as he was.

So, tonight he will spread all the parts out in the living room, put it together and take it outside to cook.

It will be interesting to see if he will be cooking in the dark or not.

I told him I won't go outside because of the local " forest fire" polluted air. But he wants to be the cook anyway, and doesn't mind that I wont be out there with him and will bring the cooked food into the house for me.

He's such a good and kind man!