Tips From Cancer Survivors

A Note From

Maris Schilling
Ovarian-Cancer Survivor, Diagnosed 2003

Suzanne Holley, RN, OCN^®
Breast-Cancer Survivor, Diagnosed 2002

Not everyone will experience nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. And we truly hope that you are one of those people.

Nonetheless, we’ve found that it’s important to be prepared before you go through chemotherapy. So, on the next 2 pages, we've included some food tips that helped us deal with nausea and vomiting after chemo. And we’ve included a snapshot below of our personal experiences and the tactics we took to get us through. Good luck!

How We Got Through

Although we were on different chemotherapy regimens for different cancers, both of us were particularly affected by delayed nausea and vomiting after chemo. We found that we had to get creative when it came to eating and drinking. It also became more important to communicate our needs to family and friends.

Maris: One of the obstacles I faced was a heightened sense of smell, especially when foods with strong odors (fish, broccoli, etc) were cooking. We ordered food in often, so that I wouldn’t get too turned off by the odors. But sometimes, well, everyone just wants to feel “normal” with a home-cooked meal. Of course, broccoli happens to be the favorite vegetable of both my husband and daughter. So, I taught my husband how to cook it. And while he did, I hid out in the bedroom until it had been cooked and the kitchen had been aired out.

Suzanne: I love spices and lots of flavors. While I was on chemotherapy, that all changed drastically. I told friends and family that I was on a “white diet.” My taste buds could only assimilate 1 flavor at a time, therefore, most of what I ate was white—baked chicken, cottage cheese, baked potatoes, vanilla shakes, plain yogurt. When I was feeling a little more daring, I ate chicken noodle soup. More than 1 flavor just seemed to get confused in my mouth and tasted terrible! I did, however, gain an appreciation for Earl Grey tea while on chemotherapy. Five years later, I’m back to all things spicy.

We know how important it is to eat and drink during treatment, but we also know how hard this can be. So read on to get some of the food tips that helped us through it.

This site is intended only for residents of the United States, its territories, and Puerto Rico.