Another piece of the puzzle and an answer to prayer:
Early in our diagnosis a friend (Kristin) had set up an appointment with a Nutritional Counselor. We had forgotten all about it.
Around Monday or Tuesday out of frustration with all of the supplements, “dos’ and dont’s” James vented, “I really wish we could find someone with knowledge to help us go through all of this and tell us what is truly needed.”
Not long after this we received a text from Kristin asking if we wanted to keep our appointment with this doctor. Our first response was one of reluctance because we are kind of tired of doctor appointments. Slowly the light finally came on and we realized we had JUST asked for this very thing. 🙂
It took considerable effort to make this appointment, but we plowed ahead and made it.
We are SO glad we did. We took all of my lab work, supplements etc.; he went through all of it with us and told us specifically what we could eliminate, what to keep and what to take after treatment for recovery, and he explained why. Some of the stuff I was taking could have blocked the chemo from working as effectively.
He also talked about my diet. I feel like he cleared up so much for us. We walked out of the appointment feeling like we had received a piece of freedom! He added some things back into my diet that I had been avoiding (and missing). He also gave me instructions on some things to eat that will help me stay healthy through chemo but not interfere with the chemo. For instance, I need to be eating only cooked vegetables and eating easily digestible foods and cooking with meat (bone) broth to support healing of my gastric track. He also gave some tips to minimize weight loss as this could be dangerous going forward.
He spent close to 2 hours with us instead of the allotted 1 hour slot. We closed his office down! We are getting good at this!
We are still processing much of what he taught us. We feel so much better about what we are doing nutritionally. We keep learning and absorbing as we go through this. There is so much information to filter.
God has given us a peace about what we are doing and an assurance that He will see me through it. To have this doctor come along side of us and provide knowledge and experience to compliment the chemo is just priceless to me.
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