Post Chemo - Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Today, I had my appointment with the naturopath. She reviewed my blood work from the last chemo treatment and found that, at this time, I am not absorbing my B vitamins as well as I should. Also, my red blood cell count was still low even though I have been taking more of the Marrow Plus supplement. However, in reviewing the blood work from before the operation, I realized that my red blood cell count was normal at the time of the diagnosis. I asked the naturopath whether the low count was due to the operation, the installation of the port one month after, then the administration of chemo. It was my thought that, because of these events, my body was unable to recoup its red blood cell levels. She thought that was a reasonable explanation. It helped to know this because I was concerned that anemia had been present all along. Also, she did not seem to think it was necessary to take anything special to help with the B vitamin malabsorption. In other words, in time and minus the interference of chemo, she believes my body will right itself.

Then the topic turned to establishing a new protocol for post-chemo and the trip to Rome. To make a long discussion short, the doctor gave me a great gift. She said that, while in Rome, I can eat cheese with dinner. She also said that for every chicken/turkey meal I have, I need to balance it with a purely vegetarian meal. In addition to this, I have been ordered to have at least one gelato and one tiramisu while I am there. I do not know how that news would effect anyone else, but I was ready to do a jig in her office. Until this time, I have been restricted to chicken or turkey twice and one or two slices of cheese per week. To tell you the truth, I really did not care as much about the permission to have dessert as I did about eating meat and cheese whenever I desired. According to her and others, the food in Italy is in season, local, and bio-dynamically grown. So even though it may not all be organic, it is generally healthy. Hence, my excitement knew no bounds. She also prescribed eight hours of sleep each night during the trip stating that this would do more to repair my body than anything else.

The naturopath then gave me a new list of supplements for the next two weeks and during vacation. Included in this regime was a detox formula. Hooray! However, it seemed as though she cut my regime in half. Although I am glad not to have to take so many pills, at the same time, I could not help but feel a little unprotected. I truly believe she knows what she is doing, but I still feel funny about it. I guess it will take some time to get used to the new regime and the fact that I may not necessarily need as much protection after the chemo treatments as during.