You, Me and the Big C: Our top 5 chemo tips

The women ofthe 'You, Me & the Big C' podcastare your BFF’s, your sisters, daughters and mothers. They are you… but with dodgier cells and they’re too busy living to worry about dying.

As well as their honest and raw podcast, which includes laughter along the way too, they will create a weekly top 5.

This week, the #YouMeBigC team are sharing their tips on how to approach chemotherapy...

Here's a quick introduction (if you don't know the squad already):

R = Rachael Bland aka ‘Big C, Little Me' – Well known to BBC Radio 5 live and BBC audiences as a news presenter. Rachael has been in continuous treatment for recurrent breast cancer for a year.

D = Deborah James aka ‘Bowelbabe’ – Stage 4 Bowel Cancer doesn’t stop Deborah from getting to the party. This glamorous 35-year-old mum of two has even been known to drink champagne during chemo!

L = Lauren "Lolli" Mahon aka ‘Girl vs Cancer’ – Lolli was already a successful lifestyle blogger, so when cancer came calling at the age of 31, she styled it out by setting up a new community for young women with cancer.

And this week the team were joined by Kate...

K = Kate Lewis is a chemotherapy nurse at The Royal Marsden and helped treat Lauren.

L: When I was ill, people were like “Oh my God, you must go on this vegan, turmeric, take CBD oils diet” and I got really overwhelmed.

D: I got a bit angry. I wanted to punch people sometimes.

L: Because when you’re in that position, your body is craving starch and calories because it’s fighting. It needs it.

So my advice is, if you decide to eat a Big Mac meal every single day for the whole of your first cycle and that’s what you need to do to make yourself feel better, to get your calories, do it.

Put your head down, because everyone else is going to have an opinion, but they’re not you. Please don’t feel guilty about it, because for one time in your life, if you want to live off chicken nuggets, it’s going to be in chemo.

D: I would say do whatever you need to do to get through it.

I’ve done dancing during chemo, fancy dress during chemo, with my mates during chemo, on my own during chemo.

Whatever it takes, do it!

R: My advice would be: It passes…

D: Or not! [*laughter*] You see, this is the thing. People ask me “How long are you going to be on chemo for?”

L: Sorry Deborah!

D: ...and I’m like “Probably forever” and they’re like “Really?”. When you’re stage four, it’s one of those things where you hope to have a break and then maybe you hope the cancer doesn’t come back and then you might be on chemo again. So, maybe not.

R: A little break? It passes and you get a few weeks off...

L: It's a cycle isn’t it? And it does pass. You maybe feeling really rubbish, but you will always come around.

D: Let’s hope so.

L: Yes!

D: Positive thinking. PMT!

K: I think it’s really important to be in a routine: So getting your tablets on time and setting alarms.

It's really important to know that it might not all go to plan and you might have some good days, might have some bad days.

It’s just being in a routine and knowing you need to be flexible.

R: You talked about this earlier on Kate. Just about trying to get through it with some positivity…

K: Yep, being positive is I think the main focus of everything. I think if you go in with a positive attitude, you’re going to get through it. It’s just a blip in the road.

I’m always going on about bumps in the road and being neutropenic is a bump, losing your hair is a bump. You’ll get through it at the end and it’s just about being really positive and having a really good mental attitude towards it.

D: And even some of the worst side effects… I lose the ability to speak. Y’know. You’re poo’ing water basically, but it does get better.

Y’know, I might not ever get off chemo, but my pooing water might get better.

L: I think it’s perception and the way you see things. If you can go in and go “Oh my God, I’m having chemo” or you can go in and say “Oh my God, I’m having chemo to make me better” and I think that is what it is “you’ve got to get sick to get better”.

It’s that mindset. It’s hard and you can’t do it all the time, you have to have down days.

R: Yeah. If you have a down day, have a cry.

L: ‘Bear Grylls’ I call it. Bear Grylls, survival mode. Head down.

R: Just get to the end.