PoOp

Poop, or bowel movements, have always been an entertaining topic for me.  Years ago I had a daily desk calendar with poop facts for every day of the year. (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-gift-2019-daily-calendar-whats-your-poo-telling-you/32591234)  Why people shy away from poop boggles my mind.  Everyone does it. We have to train our kids to do it in a toilet. It's a natural thing.  Sure, it can be stinky, but who cares? It’s a fun, and funny topic. 

When you are on any kind of strong medication, whether it's an anti-nausea medication or a pain killer, a common side effect is constipation.  You know what else can constipate you? Chemotherapy.  So, picture if you will, receiving chemotherapy which makes you nauseous, so in turn you take an anti-nausea pill to ward off the pukes, and although it's bearable, you end up stopped up for a week after from both!  I can tell you without a doubt that just about all of the 16 rounds of chemo I had to withstand had the same result.  I’d suffer through it until FINALLY I would take a good shit and feel better.  There is something so amazingly satisfying about cleaning out your system after not having been able to go for a few days.  It’s like all that toxic waste you’ve been accumulating finally gets out and you are a whole new person!  I’m not wrong.  Think about it… I can’t think of a time I feel physically better than right after I take a good dump.

So, who do chemotherapy and other medications cause constipation?  Mostly it’s your body’s natural reaction to something that should not be in there.  Would you believe CIC (chemo-induced constipation) and CID (chemo-induced diarrhea) are among the leading causes of having to reduce a patient’s chemo dosage?  Each type of chemotherapy has its own special set of bullshit, but one thing they all have in common is they cause constipation, diarrhea, or both. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5093116/)  Think about that… not being able to shit, or not being able to stop shitting, lead the way in reasons someone would have to stop receiving the medication killing the cancer inside of them.  What a crazy thing to imagine!  Here I am complaining I can’t poop the first 5 days after treatment, and there are people who can’t even RECEIVE treatment because there issues are so bad.  Go ahead and check out the chart of all the different chemotherapies… it’s crazy! 

Side note: In the 5 months I received chemotherapy, the first 3 months I received Paclitaxel (Taxol) and Carboplatin (Paraplatin), and the last 2 months I received Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) and Doxorubicin (Adriamycin).  They all sound fun, don’t they?

The American Cancer society has a whole treatment page dedicated to helping patients poop: https://www.cancer.org/treatment/survivorship-during-and-after-treatment/staying-active/nutrition/nutrition-during-treatment/constipation.html  Diane, the NP who works with my oncologist, wasted no time at the beginning of treatment telling me exactly what I had to do to try to stay regular… and I DID everything she told me to.  Even after following her instructions I struggled for days after, but luckily I never had any long lasting and serious issues. 

Today is day six since my last round of AC.  My stomach was killing me yesterday because by then I’ve usually gone, and I hadn’t yet.  Let me tell you… this morning I finally let loose, then was able to go again after lunch.  I feel amazing this afternoon, all thanks to being able to take a poop!