Julian

Julian, 41 diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in May 2011. Receiving Irinotican, Oxaliplatin and 5FU chemotherapy

Letter written by Julian for a friend starting chemotherapy

For eating little and often is definitely the rule. I would advise eating (if you can) about every two hours. I got a mixture of sweet and savoury snacks - Cheese Straws, Bread Sticks, Crackers with butter or Peanut Butter, salted nuts are very good for protein. Cheese and crackers, though if you are being sick then I've found cheese a bit of a no no. Sweet snacks - Cereal Bars, Chocolate, High Energy Carb Bars (Holland & Barratt are good for these). Boiled or Chewy sweets, anything that will help to hydrate, as you will find keeping fluids down a pain in the bum too. And my top tip is Ginger Nut Biscuits, these are great no matter how nauseas you are feeling!
 
Try to mix up your fluids too, I've found just water and squash terribly boring! So I got still Lemonade and fruit juices and some different squashes I wouldn't normally have, like Vimto and Ribena. Flat cola is also good if the old tum is giving you gyp too. Tea is ok, but I've been told no on the coffee as it dehydrates. Try this booklet too http://be.macmillan.org.uk/be/p-245-diet-and-cancer.aspx but you'll need to log in to be able to get a copy.
 
Try to get yourself referred to a dietican too, this was automatically allocated to me from the start. They will monitor your diet and weight (you'll need to keep a food diary) and give you advice as to what prescriptions you can get from your GP. One fab piece of advice I got, was to ask my GP for Ensure Drinks - these are a meal in a bottle, loads of minerals, proteins and vitamins and you can drink up to five a day. Milkshake style are the best, loads of flavours and tolerable even if you're a bit sick or not hungry.
 
Couple of final points, you can get free prescriptions and a blue disabled car badge DEPENDING on your local council. The prescription exemption card I was given has saved me bucket loads and it's usually an automatic giveaway upon cancer diagnosis. Ask your team at the hospital for the forms, as they complete one bit and you do the other. You'll need to phone your council and ask for a blue badge if you want one and again they just post you the forms.
 
I wish I'd been told all of this at the start, but hope it helps you! No hairloss for me, it's just gone a bit thin. It grows back thicker so I'm told, so no worries there. I get strange side effects, apart from sickness and diahorrea. Tingles in my fingers and odd bouts of hiccups and where I've lost weight through not being able to eat, I feel the cold much more. Your Chemo team will advise you to listen to your body and this is great advice. If you want a nap, have one - it really helps. Make the most of days when you can be active, but if your days are restricted to the sofa, don't let this bother you! In terms of white blood cells, I am given a jab each fortnight, which instructs the bone marrow to make more white blood cells, so that's how they get around possible infections for me. I bought a thermometer, as I was told to monitor my temperature once a week or so just in case.