My Stragtegies

Things that have helped me...

As part of my own survival I ignored many of the charity forms I received, the options for support and the stories of others. I was determined to fight this as though I was in a solo race and focus on my abilities. There was simply too much information in the public domain and I didn’t want to overwhelm myself.

I have found this a massive help as what I have learned along my journey so far is that everyone is different and the statistics are based upon multiple data sets. I couldn’t / didn’t want to get drawn into other people’s progress and statistics.

Now I am further down my pathway I have started engaging forums and charities as it is a way of giving back / supporting those that do want to ask and read.

Everyone is different and you must have believe in what suits you, not what is forced on you

My own strategies I have adopted are as follows:

Nutritionist

Adjusting my food and adoption of Keto.
My eating is around unprocessed food, max of 40g of net carbs per day and protein 1x to 1.5x grams vs my body weight in.
The logic is that the sugar and carbs are controlled and minimised so that the tumour has reduced “easy” foods for it to grow
I actually feel healthy and the old rumours of the difficulty of Keto I have not experienced. I have found books of receiopies I enjoy and some I don’t; but my family can all eat together delicious foods with only the addition of rice, pasta, potatoes, carrots, etc (high carb) for the family
The first three days of starting were horrible, going through what some call Keto Flu, but after those three days I was fine
Water intake has always been something I looked at but I ensured I paid more attention to this as it also helped in the medicine and constipation
In addition to dietary matters, I also looked at supplements to make sure my body was fighting fit. Some supplements need a resting period, so I have them fort 3 weeks, and then a week off. some are also reduced during second stage of chemo which was advised
To support the overall process I also have fasting which is a full fast at certain days rather than fasting for agreed periods daily.
I am happy to let people know who I used, but if you have your own contacts then feel free to use you is best for you, if at all.

Music and Podcasts

Sitting in a weighting room can be very boring and sitting at home can be lonley when the family is at school / work.
I sit and relax and listen to music or podcasts
The Radio and MRI visits also often have music playing when you are having the treamtent

Meditation, Calm and Massage

Yoga Nidra to help me sleep
Reduction of blue light from watching to before bed time
Calming with green tea and massage to help minimise all ther thoughts going through my head when trying to sleep and rest

Personal Journal

When I first started and was seeing someone everyday and receiving lots of information I had a diary
the diary / journal i tried to find a balance of what I struggled with but what I also found to be good so that I would walk away each saying knowing that I had had some bad things, but that there was also good news so overall I was in a positive place

Photos

I used to love taking photos but never did anything with my photos
To keep me entertained, but at my own pace, I reviewed my photos and started putting them into albums and posting on family and friends forums. I am a big fan of monochrome, so converted a lot of my photos to black and white

Messages rather than calls

Lots of people wanted to see how I was, but i struggled / was conscious about my speech and it’s always when you don’t feel good to take the call. Instead I asked people to message me and I found that a lot easier both for my self and them
Some people said they did not know what to say and focus it difficult to talk to me as they didn’t want to upset me. I was open to them and just said send me something funny or a emoji fist bump. It made both them and I feel a lot better and I received lots of funny memes and photos (depending on your humour)