Accept and don’t see yourself as a victim: MY MOST IMPORTANT RULE. Our lives will never ever be the same again but remember that you’re not alone. There are so many of us!
Of course, we have the right to ask ourselves, why me? To cry, to scream, to complain, to be upset, to be tired, to not get out of bed, to say no, to stay inside, to hide, to isolate …But these need to be exceptions, not a new way of living and a new habit. Why? Because that is the easy way, the shortcut.
And, because of the fact that we’ll never get the answer to “why me”, there is no proof that it’s just due to stress, to smoking, there are many theories, but we’re all different. One thing is sure, is that we’re not responsible, even if many will seek the reasons why we ended up with breast cancer, and they will come back and tell us they think they know the reason why… etc. This way of thinking is very harmful, and I felt that it would only lead me to feeling guilty. This is very unfair. So, I forgot about that immediately, let sadness give way to positivity and strength, let people talk, I don’t care.
Don’t look back, look ahead! This was the best protection and the most powerful physical and mental painkiller for me.
I applied this rule within my whole journey, i.e. before surgery, post-surgery, before cell therapy, radiotherapy, I saw my side effects being minimized big time and… I was able to keep my smile and be that superhero!
This is the introduction I’ll repeat in all posts; I can’t repeat it enough, for me, acceptance is the best painkiller!
Today, let’s talk cell therapy
This is the only time in life that you’ll be happy to connect with “serial killers.” Oh yes! Cell therapy is what it’s all about. In my case their names are FEC 100 & Taxoter. I met them 6 times…every 3 weeks. Just by mentioning their names my body and brain reacts instantly…I can smell the floor where I sat, feel my throat tightening and the sensation of getting off of a roller coaster.
Just like their names and their role of being serial killers they are not really inspiring friends, but again, they became my best friends. They will kill absolutely everything in their way. I needed to accept and welcome these new friends into my body. Acceptance changed my mindset and built a protective wall against the heavier side effects and made sure that I got my mindset back on track as possible. I felt some nausea, but never more than that, and only for one day
Very often you hear about woman getting sick and going underground. My perspective is that you have to decide which role you want to play, and it impacts the side effects. Therefore, I kept the “I’m the boss attitude!” I found that there were a few tricks that helped me with decreasing side effects, like drinking water with lime, sucking on a piece of ice and eating bananas. My doctors gave me pills for better digestion, vitamin D and minerals etc. I also looked up other non-medical well-being support that positively impacted my journey.
Turbans & More
I also decided to not leave the pleasure to my enemy to attack my nails and hair. Indeed, it’s a big shock losing your hair, but I closed the “loophole” by acting before the treatment did.
So, I started by cutting my hair quite short. And as I approached the known delay of approximately 10 days after my treatments, I started having hair loss, and I said to my girls…“It’s time to get rid of this now as you know. So, I’ll leave you for a few minutes, and when I’ll get out of the bathroom, you’ll see mom without any hair. I laughed, joked with them…and I think it was the right thing to do…They waited for me behind the door, and when I came out, after shaving my head, they were amused, amazed and told me that I was such a beautiful and strong mom.
I also went to get a wig, hats and turbans before losing my hair. I wanted to be the step ahead here as well. I found a wig with exactly the haircut I had before. But guess what? That wasn’t me anymore, so I never wore it…I found myself very beautiful with scarfs, earrings. I felt less sick without that artificial hair. But some women can’t live without hair, so you’ll find your way. Just, get prepared before so you can choose while still feeling good.
In every shower, I continued to clean my head just like I had my hair. Important to stimulate the hair follicles so that your hair will easily grow again. Because it will! Only a few days after you stop cell therapy, it will grow. Not sure it will look the same, who cares! Anything will be great.
I also made sure to look “alive” with my kids and husband. Some make up, earrings, scarfs. Rarely perfume because I did become more sensitive. So, perfume was banned from the house.
I also did my nails every day. A nail polish containing silicon, designed to protect the nails from UVs and from cell therapy impacts. This helped me to not lose them or see them become black due to the chemicals.
Some hospitals propose ice helmets and gloves…I have to say that they do hurt but they might be beneficial if you have a light protocol. Personally, I didn’t ask for it, easier to manage like this, I think, in the long run.
I was also part of a program with Neulastan injections in order to boost production of white blood cells that are also killed during cell therapy. That’s a tricky one. My advice: Ask for having it in the evening and go to sleep. You’ll feel like having a bad flu for 12 hours. But right after, you’ll be back on track for another 3 weeks, until your next one.
During these 3 weeks, I had great weeks. I was outside with the kids, receiving friends, playing sports every day to sweat and to get rid of the dirt. Partying (without alcohol…), picnics by the sea, travelled to see a few cities in Europe, planning for the “after”. During cell therapy I even did a photoshoot. My best friend came, and I asked her to translate what I felt inside into pictures. Now I have amazing pictures, alone, and with my family.
It was a great therapy to accept the situation. The view of this androgynous body in the introduction is so strange; but so amazing on the same time.
Looking back, my body was a piece of art.
EMPOWER YOUR BODY
Under cell or hormonal therapy, working-out and sweating were my best friends to contain weight issues whilst reducing side effect such as nausea, tiredness etc.
Pain in the articulations and in the muscles are known for being the main reason for some woman feeling bad and sometimes stopping their hormonal treatments, and this is something we want to prevent them from doing while they expose themselves to recurrence and reducing their chances to heal.
Sweating felt like it was evacuating everything I felt was “dirty” inside of my body, I felt like each and every drop falling from my forehead contained the cells and dirt my enemy brought into my body.
Unless you had a surgery before, we would suggest the previous planner. If not yet, you have a large freedom here in the type of activities.
When I was told that 3 cardio session in a week, has the same effects on my enemy as a cell therapy injection, I can promise you that my motivation went sky high.
You’re the eye of the tiger, build up that body and your winning mindset for the rest of your journey!
Thank you for reading my posts, You’re all my heroes!
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