Giiselle: A Case Study

Giiselle: What were your first thoughts when you received the diagnosis?
Alice: I was in complete shock. No one is ever prepared to hear those words and, you know, I just started crying because it’s just, you’re just worrying about death and dying, and you’re having to kind of, sort of talk to yourself about all the possible outcomes. It’s a very lonely place because the really difficult thing of that period is just, is the uncertainty. I remember hearing about a friend who had cancer in 2012 and that was devastating, but for it to happen to me – it, it was a lot, you know. I felt like I was in a completely sort of separate place from everyone else. And, though my family and friends were, you know very caring, very understanding, you can’t
I had four rounds of chemo, and after the first round I took my treatments on Thursdays because my I still had school, and work, and a life -you know. I was in the infusion center for about four hours at a time, so at the end, my mom would drive me home. We went home after the first one because I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t get sick, I still had my hair – I felt fine. After the second treatment, I remember getting really sick. I got a little cocky after the first one, and I decided to have a hamburger after the second one. And so, I think that was part of the reason I got sick after the second one. The third and the fourth weren’t that bad. I don’t recall getting sick any other times. I did experience some side effects from radiation. The typical side effects were discoloration, and somewhat of a sunburn, as to be expected. But aside from the physical effects on the breast tissue itself, I was very tired. I had my radiation treatments every morning, and once I left radiation, I would go straight back to class. But during that time I started to take vitamins so that it would increase my energy. I don’t think my energy decreased as much as I anticipated, or as much as my oncologist
So for the first couple of days after my treatments, I had some fruit and some light things like that, I think maybe I would have a sandwich every once in a while until Tuesday and thereafter, I would kind of resume my regular diet. Unfortunately, I didn’t lose any weight; I actually gained weight while I was on chemotherapy. So after eating all that fruit, I deserved some kind of treat and my treat was probably some fattening chocolate cake, or something, so I did gain