present to help a person receiving chemo

Vixen24

Hi I know someone going through chemo at the moment,I will be visiting them regularly during the process, Is there any product I could buy them that might help with some of the side effects? The person in question is pragmatic and i think would appreciate a present like that as opposed to flowers/chocolates etc. Thank you

macsauce

For testicular cancer I was on a chemo regimen of BEP. It left an awful metallic taste in my mouth and I needed strong flavours to make any drink palatable. Pineapple juice became my best friend. Is your friend make or female?

By the way, that's a great thing you're planning on doing for your friend. There may be days she's not very talkative but if s/he's anything like me they will appreciate you being there an awful lot.

LegacyUser

Something to help with dry skin and dry mouth.

Something to help keep skin cool and perhaps with hot flushes. Then also something to help with coldness. Cancer sucks!

Skin care. Sucky sweets. Manuca honey the burning is throughout body tisses inside and out so the honey soothes insides.

Something to help with nausea, ginger or something. Salty crackers maybe.Try crystalized ginger.

They will need something to keep them both warm and cool as their body goes through the roller coaster.They will hypersensitive to temp.

Books , kindle ,dvds .

I got my Dad a chemo survival kit online. The bag had '**** cancer' on it. :-)

Pick a few items.

Best of luck to your friend. xxx

Vixen24

Thank you, I hope you have made a full recovery. It is a she. She is quite private and doesnt like discussing details but I know appreciates visits. That is exactly the kind of suggestion I was looking for, something useful like that she would appreciate. Thank you.

macsauce

I did thankfully:)

I was actually thinking of posting something like this. While I was very grateful for everything people did for me, some gifts were quite useless at the time.

A couple more ideas (these may not apply as side effects will vary!)

As well as my hair falling out, my skin became extremely dry and my nails stopped growing so hand or nail cream might prevent the nails from getting too brittle.

There is a special toothpaste for people on Chemo that helps prevent gum problems. Only for the fact my brother worked for Colgate did I find out about it. I think it's called Duraphat. That could be another practical gift.

In the days immediately after each cycle I would sweat out chemo and the smell used to make me feel an awful lot worse. I used to soak in a tub with bath salts to help leech it out and mask the metal smell off my skin.

Also, as my regimen had me floored, I became fairly bed bound and as a result I developed a blood clot in my leg. If you notice this in her perhaps get her compression socks like the ones for long haul flights. I had a horrible 6 months of self administered injections of clexane to break down the clot.

And lastly, if she's in a public ward maybe get her those soft ear plugs. Nothing worse than being woken up all the time at night.

If I can think of anymore I'll let you know.

red one

Hands can get really dry when you're on chemo so a nice hand cream would be a good present. The chemo nurses recommended aveeno as being the best and I found it worked really well for me.

Vixen24

Thank you both! Great advice there just what I was looking for, particularly re toothpaste, salts,support socks and hand cream, the things Ive been looking for . Good to hear from people out the other side and living their lives.

Vixen24

Hi yall wrote: »

Something to help with dry skin and dry mouth.

Something to help keep skin cool and perhaps with hot flushes. Then also something to help with coldness. Cancer sucks!

Skin care. Sucky sweets. Manuca honey the burning is throughout body tisses inside and out so the honey soothes insides.

Something to help with nausea, ginger or something. Salty crackers maybe.Try crystalized ginger.

They will need something to keep them both warm and cool as their body goes through the roller coaster.They will hypersensitive to temp.

Books , kindle ,dvds .

I got my Dad a chemo survival kit online. The bag had '**** cancer' on it. :-)

Pick a few items.

Best of luck to your friend. xxx

Thank you for your tips, thats great, I hope your dad has recovered now, love the **** cancer label!

Nightingale

Hi Vixen,


I was in the same situation as you earlier in the year with a friend of mine, and I came across a really good site set up by a woman who went through breast cancer.
I can't put the link here but if you have a look for Notanotherbunchofflowers you will find it.

They sell gifts suitable for people going through chemotherapy - things like skin creams, lozenges to help Nausea, cooling cushions, these lovely little beanie hats and lots more. They will gift wrap the parcel if you like and send it either to you or whoever you want it to go to.

My friend loved the gifts

Meauldsegosha

When my dad was going through chemo he had a craving for icepops. The freezer was full of them. They help with the metallic taste and sweats other posters have mentioned.

Vixen24

Thanks everyone, I will check the website out, the name could have been decided with my friend in mind!!and the ice pops so simple i never would have thought of it

The_Conductor

The large colourful thinsulate hat with ear muffs in a cheerful colour?
I got my little wifey a few of these- and they made her feel a lot less self conscious when she was out and about (and kept her head nice and warm!)

blond45

when i was having my bad days my taste buds were awfull the only thing that was strong enough were sour cream pringles,but the signs are on me now as in have to lose the weight. but those pringles worked for me.

Vixen24

Many thanks to everyone for great ideas, and to those who have gone through the treatment themselves, I hope you are healthy and happy, now and in the future