Food Jail, by Virginia Gill (my TNT Virtual Teammate)

Did you know that while undergoing treatment you can wind up in food jail?  A normal sentence is a week or two, no big deal.  Sometimes though, the sentence can last for months, or even years.  Today I want you to stand in your kitchen and imagine what it would be like if everything suddenly had to change.  What if suddenly these were the rules you had to follow?

• No fresh vegetables.
• Only thick skinned fruits like bananas or oranges…as long as someone else does all the peeling.
• No meats that aren’t cooked to the well-done stage.
• No raw foods like sushi or undercooked eggs.
• No unpasteurized dairy products.
• No foods from the deli counter (cross contamination issues).
• No cheeses that are soft or “moldy”…like blue cheese, feta or brie.
• No cold smoked fish.
• No uncooked sprouts (like alfalfa)
• No raw nuts, seeds or honey.
• No using salad bars.
• No fresh made salsas or dressings.

What would you make for dinner tonight? What would you do for weeks, months or years to keep meals interesting? How much would you risk for your favorite meal? Could you eat those foods in front of someone who couldn’t?

Cancer is a marathon that has many stops, sometimes that stop is a lab report that labels you neutropenic and you get handed “food jail” sentence.   We used to pray for days when Bill’s counts were high enough to eat salads, his favorite thing.  We’d rush from the doctor’s office to Applebee’s and order huge ones, best tasting salads EVER. Just two quiet people devouring salads but in reality it was a huge celebration of being released from jail.

Virginia Gill is a different kind of cancer survivor – she survived the 9 year battle of her husband husband Bill’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.  She volunteers in the LLS office in Anchorage and her writing and art have become part and parcel of inspiration for teams in the Far North.

28 December 2010 ·

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