enormous changes at the last minute

thanks to mary schook's previous work and ruba abu-nimah giving me a load of creme de la mer, the texture of skin doesn't look nearly that bad.

on the other hand, my skin has taken a sort of orangey-yellow cast and my eyes are totally sunken in and tired-looking almost all the time.

my eyelashes and most of my left eyebrow have fallen out or are falling out. losing them was making me sad but i'm getting over it.

here are a few of my immediate pieces of beauty advice to anyone with cancer or undergoing chemotherapy.

as an aside, unlike most of the cancer advice people give you, in this case, it doesn't matter what kind of cancer you have. it will work.

(most of time, when they say, eat reishi mushrooms at 6am or something like that, what they don't realize is that different therapies work for different cancers and different body types and immune systems. the most irritating thing about healing in general is that our bodies all different and react differently so who knows what will work?)

but this advice is really one size fits all.

ONE

drink a ton of water.

if they tell you to drink 2 to 3 liters of water daily, believe it.

do it.

basically, the chemo is cooking you from the inside. every part of your body is dehydrated and desperate for the same molecules of water. they need them to flush out the chemicals and to revive themselves.

drink

(the

water)


TWO

moisturize like crazy.

if you are a weirdo like me, you will notice immediately that the skin on your body has changed to that dry, papery skin of a very old person.

this is because you are dehydrated.

keep drinking the water and slather on moisturizer as much as you can.

previously, i was never a fan of creme de la mer because it was too much like crisco for me. thick and greasy. and it smells like nivea.

but post-chemo, i put it all over my face and also my scalp and my skin seems to drink it in. i LOVE it.

THREE

give up sugar.

especially white sugar.

it really is bad for you.

there is stuff that is still open for discussion, like grass-fed beef, like cheeses and yogurts, organic vs non.

but sugar causes inflammation. lots of people say cancer feeds on it and it makes tumors grow. i don't have the statistics on that.

what does seem clear is that sugar is hard on all your organs especially your liver and kidneys. those are the ones processing the fall-out from the chemo and fighting all the other toxins in your body.

you are reading a jelly-bean-addicted psycho here. i LOVE LOVE LOVE white sugar. i adore candy in almost every form. i am not a natural broccoli-eater. i can make myself eat cabbage and pretend i love it but i'd really prefer chocolate mousse.

so even if it's just out of vanity - knowing that sugar breaks down the collagen in your skin, so you will definitely age faster if you are eating it - give it up.

i am not going to argue with anyone about fruit or carrots or beets or maple syrup (unless it's to excess) but even agave nectar and high-fructose corn syrup are evil.

do not eat them if you are doing chemo.

or cut back as much as you can.

your face will thank you.