Luxury products for use during chemo

[coffeeeandtv]

My very best friend has recently started a course of chemo and will be having radiation therapy. It's her birthday soon and our gang would like to buy her some luxury products that will make her feel better or at least less yeurkkkkk.

Any suggestions??? Any chemo veterans what product did you find invaluable???
TIA

My husband really appreciated the l'occitane shea butter hand cream. He got really dry hands during chemo. It was the only hand cream that seemed to do the job.
Also not luxury but a friend got him a load of Graze snack boxes. His taste buds and appetite were all over the place so he enjoyed having small portions of different things he could choose from.
I hope everything goes as well as possible for your friend.

Thank you bloddersmum they are both brilliant suggestions and I shall buy both. Anyone else???

My mum ate ice cream when she wouldn’t eat anything else. Maybe some really special stuff if they like it?

I made SIL something similar when she was having chemo. The things she found most useful were hand cream and lip balm

I am having chemo not radiotherapy and my best things have been
Cashmere socks
Lip balm
Hand cream
Bluetooth headphones ( Chemo is 90mins - radiotherapy is different )
Self heating eye masks
Ginger sweets
Insulated cup
Silk pillowcases
Nice candles for my room
Pillow spray

I am very tired at the moment and anything that makes me comfortable on or in my bed has been very welcome .

Hand cream, lip balm and water sprays for face helped me immensely.
Sweets, boiled sweets! Tastebuds can almost disappear, so really flavourful ones such as rhubarb and custard, chocolate limes, cough candy, aniseed twists etc.

Chemo is very dull.

Trashy mags/books, puzzle books and maybe but her a voucher so she can buy apps?

Hope that helps, you sound like good people

Yes lip balm. Mum found only Carmex did it for her though. A few books that she’d like to read. Mum was a big reader anyway so got through loads. As well as passing time, it took her mind somewhere else.

You sound like really lovely friends. I haven't had chemo myself, but my DW did and I second all of the above suggestions for a 'care package' gift. Just a thought, though; I remember one birthday where pretty much all the presents my DW received were cancer-related (think headscarves etc.). She appreciated the gifts, of course, but I think she'd also have liked something that wasn't linked to her illness and that would have reminded her that she was still the person she was before.

There is a website called Not Smither bunch of flowers that selksctgibks that the founder would have liked during her chemo treatment and gifts for others having treatment.

Not Another Bunch of Flowers!!

Not “smither”!

It sounds really lovely, but during chemo is not the time to change any skin products and find you react to them. So would check before buying anything like that.

My mum's most appreciated gifts were an ironing service, a cleaner and a gardener.

As well as the cream and lip balm, etc that other PPs have mentioned, I got my husband stuff to help him pass the time that didn't take too much brain power (chemo brain and being tired), so simple word puzzles, etc.

...but I think she'd also have liked something that wasn't linked to her illness and that would have reminded her that she was still the person she was before.

This was also v important for my DH, so I 'booked' his favourite breakfast place for an all in breakfast for when his stem cell transplant was done, and his taste buds returned.
Could you as a group plan something a little special for when your friend is feeling a little more herself - something to look forward to?

Thank you all again.... our friend is the most generous lady and we just want to be there for her and her family, I totally agree sanjunipero, our friend was diagnosed at Christmas after we had all chipped in to buy ourselves vouchers for meals and tickets to watch comedians so 🤞🤞🤞🤞 she will be well enough to attend, so for this birthday we want to get stuff that her husband won't think to buy her that are more luxurious that she won't buy for herself.... these are great suggestions and to those who have experienced the horror of a diagnosis and treatment well done to you all and wishing you continued health and happiness.

I liked nice bath soak as having baths really helped my muscles (worth bearing in mind that chemo is an umbrella term so people have different drugs and also everyone reacts differently). Also second reading/watching/listening material (I was regularly in for 7 hours!).

I also second what the PP poster said about gifts not related to chemo. I bought myself some nice perfume which I wear in between treatments when I'm feeling better.

If she is on a typical 3 week cycle of chemo, theres a good chance that she will have a few days where she may well be feeling 'normal '. If you live local to her, how about organising a meet up for coffee, or a walk in the park?

As a veteran of 2 cancer diagnoses and 2 courses of chemo, I would say that she may be at risk of lasting memories from smells and sounds. I cant hear George Ezra now without immediately being back on the chemo ward - he seemed to be on the radio everytime I went there! The minute i walked into the ward I could smell the drugs, cleaning wipes etc and I felt sick.

So I would hate for her to build a negative association with luxury scents if ever she used the products in the future.

That just be my experience, other people may have been absolutely fine! What worked for me was mindless TV, candy crush and lots of spicy food when my tastebuds packed up

Mintyneb I totally agree about the negative association of smells and sounds- I almost wrote the same thing but thought i was weird! My friend gave me some musical toys for my wee one just after a really bad spell and the sound of them makes me shudder. That's why i keep nice things for when I'm feeling better.

Default - no you're not weird! My dd spent 2 months in neo natal when she was born and nearly 13 years later if I hear a monitor beep I'm straight back there.

But coffee I dont want to derail your thread. Just being there for your friend is the best thing you can do

Yes you sound like a lovely friend and it is definitely the thought that counts. All the best to your friend.

Chemo has left me with awful associations with some foods, smells, tv programmes, music, places. It consumes your entire being and your memories. Maybe some books? A lovely new coat?

Thank you again for everyone who has taken the time to make suggestions and you are so right about the associate with smells, there's a particular scent used by.... 'the older generation' that automatically reminds me of when I had my tonsils out when I was 4, it's actually not a bad memory as I remember a hospital visitor spending hours sat by my bed reading me the famous five.
Over the years I've met many people undergoing treatment and obviously I enquire how they are and they reply with the usual 'I'm fine thanks' whilst probably screaming inside.... 'actually I feel like 💩'. This is all food for thought. As I say my friend is the kindest, funniest lady around and chemo is not changing her, she is on the 3 week cycle and she does have many good days, she's just scared at the moment about catching any of the many colds that's going round. I'm so glad to have connected with you all educating us to the difficulties of the treatment.

I totally understand your friend being scared of colds, I was the same.
One of my friends turned up in a white boiler suit, gloves and surgical mask and presented me with a box of masks that she’d decorated with various faces or phrases.

So ridiculous, I laughed so hard.
I adored her for that.

I've just finished chemo. I wasn't interested in toiletries, candles or that kind of thing. Wine gums were a bizarre favourite - they mask the taste of a nasty pre-chemo anti emetic. I ate a lot of ice cream.
People often think buying flowers is naff. I absolutely loved it when people bought me flowers. A couple of people bought spectacular flowering plants.
What I didn't want which is equally important IMO was people trying to encourage me to go anywhere or do anything. Like Trumpton above I spent a lot of time on my sofa.

Incidentally I know it's hard to know what to say sometimes. There were a few things that I hated with a passion.
Anything related to "battles" or "journeys".
Anything to do with "staying positive" Please don't ever say that to me.
This blog is brilliant.

Brave must be awful too. My mum hated that,like she had no choice. If she did she’d have run in the opposite direction.She also hated being told to be positive.