I fully attribute this to drinking my Shakeology daily… Seems like it grew back really fast. The picture on the left is about 1 month post chemo, the right is 6 months post chemo (including two trims!).
Category: Cancer
Get in the picture!
Have you seen this article? It’s written by a photographer who wouldn’t get in front of the lens because she was ashamed of her weight. Or maybe this one? It’s a mom who realized that she was never in pictures with her kids. They didn’t like the way they looked and so they stayed out of the pictures. I think this is something that can happen so easily with cancer patients and survivors.
When I started to lose my hair, when it thinned out, when I got it cut so short, I stopped being in the pictures. I didn’t want to see myself that way. I can only think of one picture I have of myself when I was going through chemo. And I didn’t mean to be in it.
This was at my middle son’s birthday party. He turned three in March, so I was about ¾ done with my treatment at this point. My hair was getting pretty thin and it had been quite a while since it had been colored. It wasn’t me. But you know what? He didn’t care. And from the other side of the journey, I regret it. Now there is a big period of my life, almost a year, where I stepped out of the picture. I was there, but I didn’t think I would want to remember it. But I do. And I regret not being in the picture.
Product Reviews: Shakeology
Product Reviews:
There are so many products I use, things I’ve discovered by trial and error and I wish someone would have just told me from the gate… so this is the first post in a series of products I would recommend to someone going through cancer treatments. These are products I used, I loved, and I depended on during my treatment.
Shakeology
Shakeology is a nutrition supplement. You can add it into a normal diet or use it as a meal replacement. In my opinion, it is the best on the market. It is 100% natural, no artificial ingredients or sweeteners, and it contains more than $40 of fruits and veggies in each glass.
It also has over 70 super foods, including many that are associated with cancer fighting or cancer prevention (check out my board on pinterest for some of the ingredients that are thought to fight or prevent cancer and what they do!!).
I initially ordered Shakeology to lose weight after my youngest son was born. When I found out I had cancer and started chemotherapy, I decided to keep drinking it as a nutrition supplement. There are so many days that you just don’t feel like eating and I always felt that even if I didn’t have anything else to eat that day, I would feel good knowing that I had all those fruits, veggies, vitamins, minerals and super foods already in my body.
As I went through chemo, I realized that Shakeology seemed to be helping me deal with the side effects typically associated with treatments. Let me give you some examples…
One side effect of chemotherapy is constipation. On days of my actual treatment and 2-3 days after, I didn’t drink Shakeology. I developed an aversion to everything I ate on those days. And during those 2-3 days, I could not go to the bathroom. My nurses prescribed a stool softener for me but it didn’t seem to make any difference. I soon realized that as soon as I had my shake on Day 3, I would go to the bathroom within 30 minutes. It wasn’t a fluke. It happened every time. Even my husband noticed and when I would complain about constipation, he would tell me to go drink my shake. And this makes total sense! One of the things that Shakeology does is improve your digestion and regularity.
Another place I noticed reduced side effects was in my hair loss. One of the ingredients in Shakeology is Maitake mushroom (more on that in another post!). It is thought by the American Cancer Society to reduce hair loss during chemo (link) and it is in Shakeology! You can read more about my hair loss journey here or watch my YouTube video here but to sum it up – I didn’t lose all my hair! Over the course of 6 months, I only lost about 1/3 and kept enough that I never had to shave my head. And the rate it has come back in has been phenomenal. I’m not going to lie. My hair has always grown fairly fast, but since starting Shakeology, it’s growing at about twice it’s normal speed – almost an inch each month. And that’s not just my opinion. I’ve brought this up numerous times and my fellow Shakeology drinkers agree – it significantly speeds hair growth and improves the health of your hair.
I experienced very little nausea. I was given a nausea medicine via IV prior to starting each treatment. But I was also sent home with additional nausea medicine that I never had to take. And I think Shakeology might be part of the reason for that. The Maitake Mushroom among other ingredients is thought by the American Cancer Soceity to reduce the side effects of chemo, including nausea. And guess what. Yep, that’s right, it’s in Shakeology.
Finally, there’s the energy factor. Shakeology fuels your body with the food you need and the difference it makes in your energy level is amazing. I felt tired for 2-3 days post treatment but once I was back on my shake, my energy shot back up. I literally had more energy during my treatments than I had had for the four years prior. And I still had a newborn baby waking up several times a night!
This product literally helped me so much, I wanted to share it with everyone I knew. I signed up to be a health and fitness coach through the company who produces the product so I that could continue to share it with my friends and family as well as other people who are going through cancer treatment. It’s a product that I fully believe in and have been drinking daily for a year and a half. And the way it makes me feel is so amazing, I will continue drinking it for the rest of my life.
*Just as a disclaimer – Drinking Shakeology did not cure my cancer. I believe that was caused by completing my treatment plan and through the power of prayer. But I do believe that Shakeology lessened the side effects of chemo because mine were significantly less than anyone else I know. I also believe that changing your diet will decrease the chance of cancer returning in the future. I AM NOT A DOCTOR. I am just an ordinary person, sharing my personal experience. You will have to decide what is best for your future.
Read more about Shakeology here!
Foreshadowing
I’ve noticed a trend in my life. Anytime I start to get complacent or cocky or think “that could never happen to me,” that exact thing happens to me.
For example, I watched Super Nanny one time – remember that show? And I remember thinking “I’m so lucky; my daughter would never act that way.” And later that day, she acted exactly that way, throwing an outrageous fit in front of my friends. Completely embarrassing.
Another example. I was at church one time, listening to someone asking for prayers because of a situation going on in their lives that required a lawyer. I specifically remember thinking how lucky I was that in my life I never dealt with situations like that, and that same day, I ended up needing a lawyer.
Seriously. This happens to me a lot. And when it happens, it’s like I need a lesson in humility.
A few days before my youngest son was born, my mom called me to tell me my grandfather had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We had a long conversation about what his treatment options were. I thought he shouldn’t even attempt chemo. I had seen what it does to people, especially older people, and I didn’t want to see him go through that. I thought he should just enjoy the rest of the life he had left. My mom disagreed. She thought he should have chemo and fight it, prolong life as long as he could.
I clearly remember thinking “I’m so glad I don’t have to make this decision.” I knew what I would do. I would fight. I had two (almost three!) kids to raise. They would need to know their mama. I didn’t want someone else to be their “mom.” But I never thought I would have to make that decision within a few months. I never expected to be going through chemo with my grandfather and comparing out war stories and our port scars. It was like a smack back to reality – don’t get too comfortable. Don’t get too cocky. Because that’s when the hard lessons have to be learned.
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Symptoms
You know how people say when you are sick, the last thing you should do is search your symptoms? Web MD is going to make it sound much worse than it actually is… Well, here is some irony for you. When I found the lump in my neck, of course I googled it. I found this crazy type of cancer called Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I read all the symptoms for it and I had them all! But my husband convinced me that I was just projecting – like how when someone talks about your eyes watering, they actually start to water? Or when someone mentions chest pains, you automatically have chest pains? So I didn’t pursue it. I ignored my swollen lymph node, sure that I was overreacting and didn’t need to worry about it. I probably just had an infection, and besides, I didn’t fit into the group that makes you “more likely” to have it. The only thing I had in common with those people was my age!
Luckily for me, I had a persistent doctor who referred me to a ENT specialist. He took my symptoms seriously and now, the symptoms that I had had for several years, things I had just accepted as a part of my life, are all gone. And because I think there are people out there who would also be tempted to ignore these things, I just want to share a bit about how my symptoms appeared and how they felt.
Itching
In retrospect, my most obvious symptom was severe itching. It’s a very common symptom for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. And when I say severe, I am not exaggerating. It started in my legs and I was pretty sure it was the weather. I started buying a special exfoliator to use on my legs and shaving more and more frequently. It didn’t help.
I was convinced it was a dermatology issue, but I didn’t really have ready access to a dermatologist in Japan. So I self-prescribed treatment – I changed soaps, I changed laundry soap – to no avail. I googled it and read that it might be caused by soda, which I no longer drank, or by silver amalgam fillings. So I didn’t worry about it. All the while, it was getting worse and worse. My husband told me I would scratch in my sleep to the point it kept him awake and I literally would scratch my legs every time I sat down. I was at the point that I didn’t even notice anymore; it was just my life.
The pinnacle of my itching came when we moved to Arizona. This was about three weeks before my youngest son was born, about six weeks before discovering the lump. We bought a new bed and new sheets and when I went to bed that night, my whole body itched, I couldn’t sleep. I jumped out of bed and tore the sheets off, washed them in the hottest possible water on allergy mode, dried them and while I was waiting for them, I took the hottest shower possible, shaved and did the “treatment” I typically did on my legs – shaving, exfoliation, nothing extreme. No relief. When I laid down again about two hours later, I was still just as miserable as I had been.
About two months into my chemo, my itching went away completely. My husband was the one who noticed. I quit scratching in my sleep and don’t even worry about my exfoliation that I couldn’t live without before. It’s pretty crazy how much that was affecting my life and I didn’t even realize it any more.
Fatigue
This was my least obvious symptom. When I first started experiencing fatigue (about the same time my itching appeared!), I was pregnant with my middle child. Shortly after he was born, before he was even sleeping through the night, I got pregnant again and miscarried. A few months later, I got pregnant again with my youngest son. So over the course of the four years, I was pregnant, nursing a newborn, getting very little sleep, and then doing it all over again. I just thought it was normal to be that tired. So for about four years, I went to bed around 8/8:30 every night unless I had somewhere to be. And regardless of how much sleep I got, I woke up tired still. I honestly thought that was normal but it is not. About two months into chemo, my fatigue went away. Completely. And I still had a newborn to get up with every night and take care of AND I was going through chemotherapy. And I was less tired than I had been in over four years.
Night Sweats
This was one of the last symptoms that appeared for me and I attributed it to being pregnant. But after my son was born, I was still having night sweats. It literally was like I was in menopause but I was only 28. I would wake up at night completely drenched in sweat. I started wearing fewer clothes, not sleeping under covers, turning the AC down, turning on the fan but it didn’t matter how cold it was, I was waking up completely drenched. This is actually considered one of the more aggressive symptoms, which makes sense since it showed up about six weeks before I noticed the lump and about the same time that the itching because completely unbearable.
Swollen Lymph Nodes
This is the most obvious symptom and the one I eventually went in for. Both of the lymph nodes in my neck were swollen, one felt about as big as a nickel (what I could feel) and the other about the size of a pea. They were hard, almost like rubber, not soft at all. I honestly just thought I had an infection, probably strep throat because my throat also hurt and that’s why I scheduled a doctor’s appointment.
When I had my surgery to remove the largest node and have it biopsied, it was about the size of a golf ball, much bigger than it had felt on the surface. The PET scan also discovered four other large spots as well as many small spots forming that I couldn’t feel. Common places that you will notice swollen lymph nodes are in your neck or under your armpits and if you feel any, I strongly recommend that you get them checked out, especially if you are experiencing any additional symptoms.
Other symptoms I didn’t have
- Fever and chills that come and go
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss that cannot be explained
Due to the nature of the symptoms with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, people rarely go to the doctor before they discover a lump. Most of the symptoms are not ones that you would expect to accompany cancer. And as a side note, all of my initial blood work came back perfectly normal. If my doctor hadn’t been persistent, I wouldn’t have worried about it and just gone on living in denial because I had normal blood work. Take it seriously. The sooner it is diagnosed, the better the prognosis.
Telling your kids you have cancer
I have three kids. When I found the lump in my neck, my youngest was about three weeks old, my middle child was only two and my oldest was almost eight. Of course the younger two were too little to understand what was going on, but my daughter was scared. She didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know what to say to her. Sitting down with her, trying to find a way to explain to her what cancer is, what it can do, and that I had it was one of the hardest things I have ever done and in retrospect I probably did it all wrong.
We found out I had cancer on a Friday. My husband took me to the doctor. When we got home, he went into work, shared with his boss the situation and was immediately sent home. On Sunday, we went to church and I shared that I had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and I wanted prayers right away. We had only lived in Arizona about three months so I was amazed at the outpouring of emotion I saw there. People were praying for me, hugging me, crying… there was an outpouring of emotion that was not at all what I had expected. Up until this point, I hadn’t really talked with my daughter about what was happening beyond saying I was sick, but when she saw people crying and hugging me, she started to realize the severity of the situation. At this point, I knew I should have talked with her prior to sharing it with other people. Hindsight is 20/20.
You never want to tell your kids you might be dying. I didn’t want to scare her. I never mentioned the word cancer or talked about dying, although she eventually realized that lymphoma is cancer and cancer is deadly. But I never said I wouldn’t die either. I didn’t want to lie, and that’s a real possibility when you have cancer. Ultimately, I just shared that I had something called lymphoma, and that even though I didn’t look or feel sick right now, there was a sickness in my body that I had to fight. And that fight, going through chemo, was going to make me a lot sicker before I got better. I think presenting it that way was a good way to explain it – she was prepared for me to be sick and knew that it was normal, nothing to be scared about.
Now we are past it, I have been trying to pay it forward. My husband, the kids, and I participate in walks to raise money for Lymphoma research and I think it really increases their awareness of how many people this affects. Being diagnosed with cancer is not something that just happened to us – it’s something that changed our lives – and from the other side of that journey, I can see that it was a blessing. Nothing but good has come from this and now I want to make sure that my kids can see that. Even in times of adversity, search for the positive.
Chemo and Hair Loss/Regrowth
When I found out I had lymphoma, I was in denial. I honestly had no idea what it was. I remember sitting in the doctor’s office – my kids were in the waiting room with my husband and I was back in the office by myself waiting the results of my biopsy. I didn’t expect to hear cancer but I was braced for the worst. My doctor came in, led me to the chairs and we sat down. In retrospect, I should have see it coming. They don’t sit you down for good news.
As soon as I heard lymphoma, I kind of tuned out. I didn’t know what it was but I was relieved not to hear the word cancer. Then he started referring me to an oncologist and scheduling me for surgery. I remember going through the motions without really realizing what was happening. I scheduled the appointments and went out to tell my husband. Somehow I managed to make it out of the waiting room without crying which is unusual for me because I am normally a crier. This was the start of a roller coaster ride of emotions. Up to this point, I had convinced myself that there was nothing to be worried about but now it was real. I had to call my mom and dad. I had to tell my kids I had cancer. And I thought that would be the worst of it, but nothing prepared me for losing my hair.
All of my doctors told me, with ABVD treatments, to prepare for my hair to fall out on Day 16. That’s how it happens – it starts to tingle and then falls out in chunks. I went to the wig shop to find myself a wig to wear when it happened. While I was there, I met a lady 6 months post chemo with such short hair and she told me to think carefully about the wig I chose because chances are I would be wearing it for over a year – not just through chemo but also for the year afterwards as I waited for my hair to grow back in. I left the store crying. That was news no one tells you and I was completely unprepared for it.
But for me, Day 16 came and went. I was living in fear, tempted to just shave my head to avoid the trauma of waking up to hair on my pillow. But my hair didn’t fall out in chunks. Every other week I went in for treatments and my nurses joked about how well my hair was still holding on. Over the course of the next six months, I gradually lost hair. I tried things to hold on to it – used special shampoo, tried different hair cuts, drank supplements – and all that helped some. In the end, I lost about 1/3 of my hair and eventually started wearing a wig or a baseball cap because it was so thin. The wig gave me severe headaches if I wore it more than about 2 hours so I only wore it to church and wore my one baseball cap everywhere else.
I have my own theory on why I didn’t lose all my hair, as I shared in the youtube video at the beginning of this post, but the bottom line is NOTHING prepares you for the emotional stress caused by losing any or all of your hair. I looked in the mirror and I felt ugly. That was not me. In my mind, I was still the girl with long blonde hair that I had always been and when I walked by the mirror, that was a stranger looking back. It was the single most tangible reminder that I had cancer and it doesn’t go away as soon as the cancer is gone. You have to continue to live with it.
About 6 weeks after my treatments ended, I got a pixie cut to even out my hair. I couldn’t dye it blonde, my normal regimen to disguise my gray hair, because I was warned that the chemicals in your body from chemo could affect the hair dye and not react with it properly. I actually got a lot of compliments on this hairstyle, but I didn’t believe them. I just felt like the girl with cancer, who everyone feels sorry for, and people were just telling me it looked good to make me feel better.
About 9 months ago post chemo, I got my third hair cut. It was a pretty short bob with even shorter bangs but for the first time in over a year, it actually fetl like I have a hair style that I might have chosen. It was blonde again too. And just like that, I could finally move on. That tangible reminder is gone. Just yesterday, someone complimented my hair and for the first time in 18 months, I believed them. When I realized that, I started to cry.
I know I’m not the only person to feel this way: My hair was part of my identity. When I lost that, it was like losing a part of myself and I wasn’t prepared for it because it wasn’t in any of the books I read. No one mentioned how much that impacts you, how much it affects you mentally. It’s not a superficial thing. It’s not being vain. And you are not alone in feeling this way.
My journey with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
About Amy
My name is Amy. I’m many things, but among them, I’m a military wife, a homeschool mom, a cancer survivor, a health and fitness coach, and an avid reader. I have moved more times than you can count on both hands AND both of your feet, so I’m also an expert at being the new girl.
I met my husband, Matt, in high school – he was my high school sweetheart – and we married shortly after graduation. He joined the military and I went to school to earn a BSE in Elementary Education and a MS in Education Technology. We stayed in one place long enough for me to finish college, and then I started following him all around the globe.
Together, we have three very sweet kids. The first is a daughter who is 10 and in 5th grade. I have homeschooled her since she turned four. She was preschool age and about to be enrolled in her fourth school because we were moving (again!). So we pulled her out of school and never looked back.
A few years later, we added our two crazy sons to the mix – ages 2 and 4. An interesting fact about my kids… none of them were born in the same place – Missouri, Japan, and Arizona. I love being a full time stay at home mom and wouldn’t trade that job for anything.
When my youngest was just three weeks old, I found a lump in my neck. When he was 5 months old, I started chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. That year was the hardest year of my life and it really made me realize how I hadn’t been taking care of my body. I had taken my health for granted, and 6 months of chemo taught me not to do that any more.
When I was diagnosed, I decided to start drinking Shakeology. I knew I wouldn’t feel like eating or taking care of myself, but I thought if I could just get this one thing in my body everyday, I wouldn’t have to worry about what I ate.
Once I started drinking Shakeology, I was hooked. I couldn’t believe how good I felt. Here I was, going through chemotherapy, and on my off weeks, I was feeling better than I had in years. And the more research I did about the product, the more I believed in it.
Towards the end of my treatments, I decided to become a Beachbody coach. I had no experience in health and fitness, only my personal story and the desire to help other people discover what I had found in Shakeology, and to help them reclaim their health.
Now I run monthly challenges to help others reach their health and fitness goals. I help them learn to eat clean, exercise, and take care of their body. Aside from being a mom, it’s the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had and it’s something I truly believe in.
Fast forward 18 months: In the past I had tried other at home business models (like Tupperware and Stampin’ Up) and failed with them. I had been to the gym approximately 4 times in my life and my husband laughed when I became a “coach.”
I had every excuse to fail in this business, but I chose to succeed because I truly believe in the product. Now I am in the best shape of my life and I’m earning a full time income working from home while I homeschool my kids.
I would love to have you join me, wherever you are in your journey. Whether you are looking to change your nutrition habits and start eating healthier, you want to lose weight and get in the best shape of your life, or you want to learn how to make a full time income working from home, contact me! I would love to set up an appointment with you and figure out how to help you succeed!
Amy Allen Fitness 