Life as a cancer patient: ‘it feels like dying from the drugs meant to save me’

I took care of a relative following a mastectomy. Making sure she got adequately hydrated brought her fever down. I got two hours sleep her first night back from the hospital because I devotedly pushed fluids at every opportunity.

She coughed up phlegm after I made her get enough food and drink into her to drop her temperature a degree. She said I probably prevented post-operative pneumonia.

My late father had colon cancer in his late sixties. He lost a third of his body weight before it was diagnosed.

My parents were told to get their affairs in order. He wasn't supposed to live.

His surgery that was supposed to be two hours lasted six. The cancer was much more extensive than they expected, but it hadn't invaded other organs. They peeled it off the outside of them instead of cutting out parts of them.

He had a thirteen inch scar from sternum to pubic bone with a dent going around his belly button. My mother treated the scar with German Penaten cream and treated his skin with Penaten cream.

Her mother died from uterine cancer when my mother was in her teens. My mother was convinced that radiation treatments killed her mother. She always had some excuse why my dad couldn't make one of his radiation treatments every week.

He lived about another two decades.

The cancer clinic at Martin Army Hospital was impressed with the condition of dad's scar and asked what they were doing. My mother explained it was the Penaten cream. They added it to their regime.

After my father defied his sentence of death, the civilian cancer doctor that treated him interviewed my mother on tape for two hours and changed the practices of his clinic based on what she said. The doctor knew my mother is the person who kept my dad alive.

Their big thing was hydration. They calculated how much fluids he needed and they made sure he got enough every day. Caffeinated drinks and alcohol did not count.

When he was too sick to eat, she made him homemade milkshakes or slushies once or sometimes twice a day in place of meals. On not so bad days, I think she used milk, good quality ice cream and fresh fruit. On super bad days, she used ice, frozen fruit and fruit juice.

He was gaining so much weight during a time when most cancer patients are continuing to lose weight that his doctor yelled at her to slow it down. He had a long-standing heart condition and her doctor was afraid she was kill him by putting too much strain on his heart with the rapid weight gain while he was still undergoing treatment.

My mother wanted to be a doctor in her youth. She delivered babies in her teens. She never got to be a doctor, but she was always patching someone up as long as I can remember.

There are different forms of marijuana. We tried a few. It took a few attempts to get one that worked.

If she is able, try the different forms. Edible, topical, etc...

One that worked early on was simple. Heat it for a half hour at 235 degrees F. This converts the THC to its active form.

That raw plant material, ground fine and put into empty capsules worked and was easy to consume.

We had to titrate and get it to a modest, but effective dose.

She is vaporizing now. But that edible capsule got her going. She seemed to need to feel it work to overcome displeasure associated with consuming it.

The mental effects are a PITA, but I saw her ability to function improve rapidly.

Good luck with her. I feel your struggle.

There are finite amount of resources and keeping a patient overnight, when it could be out-patient, means another patient, who needs that bed more, has to go without.

It’s not due to profit. And actually, the hospital would likely make more profit if they could keep you overnight.