Lily --

One reason they say not to eat right before chemo is because of the so-called "Sauce Bearnaise Syndrome" -- if you experience severe nausea after eating something your mind tends to associate that food item with the illness and you will have a hard time ever enjoying it (or perhaps, even eating it) again. The syndrome was named by a well-known pyschologist who suffered serious illness after a meal containing sauce Bearnaise, which had been one of his favorites. Even though he later discovered that his sickness was not due to the sauce (his whole office had caught some stomach flu) it was months before he could even think about the sauce again. He did some studies and found that rats and other animals also avoid any food associated with nausea following ingestion, it seems to be a mechanism by which we avoid being poisoned. Thus the instructions in our chemotherapy booklet "not to eat a favorite food within two hours of chemotherapy" -- in order to avoid being turned off it forever.

Hope the chemo and radiation is going well -- it is not a easy road by any means but one that must be taken...

Gail