cancer tips

Healthy Eating with Cancerwife

I love to eat.  Food delights me.

Even when I stayed in the hospital for chemo, I looked forward to each meal and snack. Some of the hospital food was not that great, but I found some appetizing items!

How to Minimize CT Scan Radiation Damage

3 Tips to Minimize CT scan radiation damageOne major concern with CT scans is the radiation damage it can cause.

This becomes more of an issue when you get frequent CT scans, as in the case of routine cancer monitoring. Ever since I was diagnosed, I have had an average of 4 chest CT scans each year.

 How much radiation do I get from a CT scan?

Healthy Snacking: Kettle Chips Real Sliced Potatoes

Potato chips are one of my guilty pleasures.  When I started the low omega 6 diet, I realized that most of the chips  have a ton of omega 6 fats.
 
Chips are usually fried in large amounts of sunflower or safflower oil, which are high in omega 6 (4g or 10g omega 6/ Tbs, respectively).

Freekeh Mediterranean Salad

 In looking for healthy grains that are low glycemic, I found freekeh.  It's an ancient grain that is readily available at Costco (Village Harvest Organic Freekeh).

An added benefit of this dish is that I have fun saying "I'm eating freeky" :-)

 

Blueberry Chia Egg Oatmeal

I've been searching for a good breakfast food that is fast to make, low in carbs and high in protein.

I may have found it with this recipe!

 

Overnight chemotherapy treatment

Some chemotherapy regimens require overnight hospital stays.  I had to stay in the hospital for 5 days during my chemotherapy sessions.  The first time I went in, I had no idea what to expect, so I want to write about my experience to help those who may be going through something similar.  This is based on my experience at a private university hospital.

What to bring:

- a blanket.  They provide sheets and thin blankets, but the wards are usually so cold.  It's nice to have a fleece blanket or something that is warm.

Diet, lifestyle and supplement strategy for cancer patients

 Here's a table that lists various principles to follow in fighting cancer, including various strategies on achieving them.

Cancer care during head and neck radiation therapy

IMRT is short for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. The intensity of the radiation in IMRT can be changed during treatment to spare more adjoining normal tissue than is spared during conventional radiation. Subsequently, an increased dose of radiation can be delivered to the tumor using IMRT. IMRT is a type of conformal radiation, which shapes radiation beams to closely approximate the shape of the tumor.

Honey for oral mucositis

Honey is made by bees. Bees collect nectar, and carry it back to the hive. They regurgitate the nectar into the  cells of the honeycomb. They beat their wings to dry the nectar and excrete saliva into it. Their saliva contains enzymes that alter the nectar. Ultimately, what results is honey which possesses antibacterial properties - meaning that bacteria cannot survive in it. 

The question for cancer patients is: Does honey help against oral mucositis? I'll try to compile some relevant links to build a case for that.

L-Glutamine for oral mucositis

Radiation-induced mucositis is a normal accompaniment of radical radiotherapy to the head and neck area. Normally, the oral mucosa has a relatively high cell-turnover rate. Exposure to ionising radiation leads to mucosal erythema, small whitish patches and ultimately results in confluent mucositis. Mucositis is a result of imbalance between cell loss and cell proliferation. The intensity of mucositis can be aggravated by chemo and/or radiation.

Syndicate content