Why didn't anyone tell me how I would feel?

On Treatment2009
Written By Liz Salmi

Things are going well in physical therapy. I am afraid they'll soon accuse me of faking this whole brain tumor thing. They assured me that for now I'm still a legitimate patient since I can't keep my balance in the dark. That's a small price to pay for major tumor resection.

Chemotherapy week was not so bad. I experienced mild nausea Monday through Thursday, but life sucked Friday and Saturday, and I was still nauseated on Sunday.

This time I had no idea what type of food to eat so next month I am going to be more prepared. Of course I will be sick if I have oatmeal for breakfast—it's harder to digest. Of course my stomach will churn when I have pasta with tomato sauce—it's acidic. The rest of the month I try to eat well, but I now know that an uneasy stomach wants bread, saltines, broth soups, and ginger.

Why didn't anyone tell me?

Liz Salmi

Liz Salmi is Communications & Patient Initiatives Director for OpenNotes at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Over the last 15 years Liz has been: a research subject; an advisor in patient stakeholder groups; a leader in “patient engagement” research initiatives; and an innovator, educator and investigator in national educational and research projects. Today her work focuses on involving patients and care partners in the co-design of research and research dissemination. It is rumored Liz was the drummer in a punk rock band.

https://thelizarmy.com
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Snippets from: The Brain that Changes Itself