So I finally read my way through one of the patient education booklets from MSKCC while on my way work this morning (I do, after all, have 16 subway stops between me and the office), and according to Breast Cancer: A Road to a Healthier Lifestyle, I cannot have grapefruit while on tamoxifen...FIVE YEARS! AGH!!!Maybe I can sneak in a few during the radiation treatment phase, if I don't start the tamoxifen during that portion yet...dunno...WAH!
But you know how as soon as someone tells you that you can't have/think of something, it becomes all you want to eat/think about? GRAPEFRUIT. And its relatives...the pumelo (I have 2 in my fridge I'll have to bequeath upon someone...)
So today I drown my sorrows in my leftover mango from yesterday (our undercounter pantry fridge is packed these days, despite the layoffs) and my giant glass jug of water (thank you, Bed Bath & Beyond...$7.99!) which holds 52 fl. oz. That should fulfill most of my daily requirements of 8 glasses.
Now while it's a general good health guideline, when on chemo, it is a directive, since it helps flush the chemicals out of your body. Likewise, an enzyme in the grapefruit somehow prevents the chemicals from exiting, so people on certain meds can never have it. Ever. (Oh the horror...) But...but... FIVE YEARS! Argh!
Okay, I am going to go sniffle now and wash my lunch dishes (homemade beef veggie soup w/ 7-grain bread). And when I say sniffle, I mean it: one of the odd side effects of CMF is that some of the olfactory cilia (i.e., nose hair) falls out, and this results in runny noses, even if you are not sick. (It also lowers your defenses against germs, but that's a whole 'nother issue.)
Time to go gnash my teeth on some salted plums or something. BAH! Feh! And phooey!
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