Goodbye, Happy Hour...Hello, Healthy Liver (Cancer Post)

I'm getting my groove back. I can feel it. I stay awake all day (well, most days). I've been organizing up a storm. I'm enjoying cooking and baking again. The hideous acne/rash I had as a result of one of my chemo drugs is almost gone - I've actually left the house without cover-up on and not scared people. Yay for summer! Yay for recovery! Let's drink to that!

June 2013, at the mountain house. God, I miss my hair.

But wait. I don't have the energy I want. And I get terrible edema if I have drinks. One or two glasses of wine seems to be okay, sorta. But if I decide to have a vodka and soda, or if I have, over the course of an evening, more than two drinks, then I wake up the next morning having gained - and this is not a lie - at least 4-6 pounds. It's water weight. So then I start taking my edema drugs, which make me pee every 45 minutes all day long, for about three days. Then I am back to my regular weight, and then, sooner or later, the edema starts up again. It's very frustrating to fit into one's clothes - and I love clothes - one morning, and have them not fit the next. Talk about a blow to the self-esteem.

Now, I'm not saying that drinking is the only trigger for this edema, because it happens all the time, and I'm hardly a big drinker these days. I'm just saying that it's the only one I've figured out. So, after having drinks with our favorite neighbor the night before yesterday and waking up not able to put on the jeans I'd worn just the day before, I've decided, sadly, that the drinking has to go. Ugh. I loathe this idea. I come from a family of drinkers (they drink beer and I drink wine but they still like me anyway). It makes me feel like a normal person to enjoy a glass of wine while I'm making dinner. Or on a picnic. Or hanging out on the patio after the kids have gone to bed and all is city-quiet and peaceful. So, yeah, I enjoy wine very much, and I don't find that to be a problem. But I need to be nicer to my liver. Over the last year and 4 months, it's endured not only the cancer itself (5 lesions), but major surgery in which they removed a little over half of it (which it dutifully grew back), and four sessions of highly targeted radiation therapy. It's also been forced to process the toxins from over 20 chemo sessions. And if my cancer comes back, I'm putting money on it coming back in my liver. So. No more overtaxing my liver. 

I proclaim the launch of Operation Restore Liver. Along with no drinking, I'll also be more mindful of my diet. After some internet searching, I've found that lots of medical sites agree that certain foods will help your liver perk along at optimum health. The list generally includes beets, leafy greens, grapefruit, carrots, broccoli, apples, lemons and limes, walnuts, turmeric, and avocados. (They also include garlic, but I haven't been able to eat garlic for a long time and I'm not about to try, and brussel sprouts, but f that. No one should eat those little bitter alien balls of horror.)  I already take a turmeric capsule every day, and I'll be having at least 5 items from the "cleanse your liver" food list each day. It's funny, though, because my body has already been trying to do this. I drink lots of water every day, and I always add lemons or limes. I crave avocados and beets, and I eat carrots like crazy. I also have been adding a big handful of spinach to my daily smoothie (can't even taste it!). So really, I'm just following my body's lead with this new no drinking approach. It's amazing what your body does for you and what you can learn from it. I've never been so appreciative of my body than since I've been sick! 

So, cheers to a healthier liver and thus a much longer life. And if you see me in real life, please do me the favor of not offering me a drink. 

Give me a shout out and promise to support me. This is going to be difficult.