Tips to Make Chemo Day Better: Creating a Chemo Ritual
At chemotherapy during ovarian cancer treatment, my Starbucks coffee and bottled water at my side.
During my treatment for ovarian cancer, creating a ritual around Chemo Day was really helpful for me. Because of my Chemo Day ritual, rather than dread going to get chemo, I actually looked forward to and enjoyed it! (Just to be clear — I did NOT enjoy the side effects.)
I got chemotherapy infusions every week, and the familiarity and structure of having a recurring ritual was comforting. To give you some ideas for your own chemo ritual, here was mine:
While I was getting dressed and having breakfast in the morning, I listened to soothing music. I usually chose music from Tori Kelly’s Gospel album. Here’s a YouTube playlist with those songs.
Once I was ready, I walked to my local Starbucks, where I got a cup of coffee and a bottle of water to stay hydrated.
My infusion center was in my neighborhood and I was able to walk to chemo. On my way there, I stopped by my best friend’s place to pick her up. (I created a Chemo Squad and split up each chemo appointment into two to three shifts; my best friend who lived nearby usually took the first shift.)
Then I had my chemo appointment at the infusion center.
Afterward, I walked back to my apartment. On my way home, I stopped at a local bagel shop and got a bagel and cream cheese for lunch. The guy who worked there knew I was coming from chemo and always let me pick out whichever cookies I wanted for dessert, and gave them to me on the house.
When I got home, I ate my bagel and cookies on paper plates so I wouldn’t have to do any dishes. Then I got into bed and took a nap for a few hours. I gave myself this day off from all responsibilities, with permission to rest as much as I needed to and not have to accomplish anything. It’s extremely rare to get a day truly off like this in “regular life” and this was one of my favorite things about Chemo Day — permission to have an escape from all the demands of the world.
When I woke up from my post-chemo nap, I’d have dinner. Since I was always so tired after chemo, I planned out my dinner for that night in advance: Either I’d make a big meal with leftovers the night before, or, earlier in the week, one of my friends would drop off Tupperware containers of meals she’d prepared that I could just heat up.
During treatment, I was working my way through a TV series or two (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was one of them), so I didn’t really have to think about what to watch — whenever I wanted to relax, I just climbed into bed and watched an episode or two of whatever I was working my way through.
Depending on how private of a person you are (I am not one at all!) and how comfortable you feel sharing personal information, you could tell the people who work at the stores that are part of your ritual that it is your Chemo Day. I shared this information with the people who worked at my local Starbucks and the bagel shop, and they were always so warm and welcoming to me. If you feel comfortable involving others in your Chemo Day like this, my experience was that helped me feel like I was embraced and supported by my community. The Starbucks baristas even bought me flowers on my last infusion day!
Flowers from the Starbucks baristas on my last day of chemo.
Do you think having a Chemo Day ritual would be helpful for you? What are some things you could do to create this? And survivors, chime in! Did you have Chemo Day rituals yourself? Share what you did to make the day more tolerable for you in the comments!
Newly diagnosed? Check out my Cancer Resource Guide for lots of free, helpful resources.
For more of my favorite chemo tips, read the other blog posts in my Chemo Tips series here:
