Chemotherapy...

...kicked my *** this past week. I had my first chemotherapy session as adjuvant therapy for my colon cancer surgery last month.

My chemotherapy consists of 5-FU (Flurouracil), Leucovorin and Oxaliplatin in a combination known as FOLFOX regimen.

I took it on Tuesday morning and then wore a pump overnight to get a 22 hour infusion then another high dosage on Wednesday then another pump overnight for a second 22 hour infusion. Now i'm off until Monday the 27th.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday i was worthless. I felt drunk, clumsy, and incoherent. I was taking all of my prescribed nausea meds but to no avail. I didn't feel good sitting or laying down. I have never felt that bad in my entire life.

I have a meeting Monday morning with my Oncologist to discuss my first round and to see if possibly there is a nausea patch i can wear to lessen the illness affects or possibly lower my dosage.

Any others with any chemo stories and what they did to help cope with the nausea affects.

LiveSTRONG :candle:

My own mother got chemotherapy 2 years ago and she survived her cancer. She was always optimistical although it was yet the second time in her life she had cancer. Always be hopeful, optimistical and have a rocklike faith. I pray for you, may God bless you.

My prayers are with you....

My grandmother went through "several bouts" with various cancers in her body - we were blessed with her for an additional 14 years!

Fight it, Fight it, Fight it!!!

Thoughts & prayers with you for sure!!

Our prayers are with you, it WILL kick your butt so rest as much as possible, I do not let my wife do anything around the house basically, she wants to continue working so that is ALL she does. My wife goes in Tuesday for the 7th treatment in a series of 8, then she will have Radiation every day for X number of days to be determined.

We found that if she takes her Compazine pill every 6 hours, the day of and the next few days after treatment the nausea is pretty minimal. If food starts to taste bad plastic silverware can sometimes help a lot.

Please take care of yourself and do not overdo.

I feel for you and I understand. It does get easier with time. Well I am not sure that it is really easier but maybe I should say that you get more used to it. When I was not posting much back a few months ago it was because I was so sick with the side effects of chemo. Make sure to report everything to your Doctor no matter if they have heard it a hundred times before. They may be able to change your drugs around and find something that works better. One side effect I am still suffering from is memory lose. Sounds wierd but I cannot remember anything anymore it seems. My memory was never good anyway but now it seems to be nonexistant.

I am not on chemo at this time (I begin another cycle in 2 weeks) and I dread doing it again. At the beginning of my 3rd week I have to have a high dose of methotrexate (sp?) plus folinic (helps with side affects) and I dread it so much every time. It, as you say, really kicks my butt. I also have to stay in the hospital during this time ( 2-3 days) and it sucks.

Hang in there and be tough. Just always remember all the children who go through the same thing everyday and if they can do it you (we) can do it. It will all be over one day and God willing you (we) will never have to go through it again.

I pray that your cancer never returns and God blesses you with a long, healthy, and happy life.

That's tough man, hang in there.

I thought everyone heard by now that pot helps with chemo -- google "chemotherapy marijuana" and decide yourself -- here's just one example of a very reputable hospital doing a very reputable study:

http://www.medmjscience.org/Pages/science/vinciguerra.html

(small excerpt)

The patient inhales deeply, holds the inhalation for ten seconds, and then exhales. After waiting 10 to 15 seconds, the cycle is repeated. The total dose is completed within five minutes. A flame-proof holder was available to permit delivery of nearly all of the cigarette appropriate to the patient's dosage. The dose schedule, which was calculated to the nearest one-fourth cigarette; was 5 mg THC/m2, starting 6-8 hours prior to chemotherapy and every 4-6 hours thereafter, for a total dose of four doses per day on each day of chemotherapy (one cigarette = 10.8 mg THC). In order to prevent cigarettes from drying out and causing harsh smoke, patients were instructed to keep the cigarettes in the refrigerator or humidified. :toilet:

My brother had a girlfriend that got breast cancer and underwent chemo. Her doctor actually suggested that she try smoking marijuana to ease the nausea. She just suffered through it, though.

The FOLFOX adjuvent protocall is state-of-the-art! If you wore a Folfusor (TM) for the two overnight 5FU sessions, me and that product's predicessor go back almost 20 years. Colon cancer survivor rates are very high! Hang in there guy!

Larry

indiglo...a very heartfelt good luck with your treatment...I lost my father to cancer a little over a year ago, and he unfortunately had a form of cancer that offered no treatment. Found out in Aug, and had passed by Oct.

I am happy to see that you and LifeNRA are on a better road, and I am sure with friends, family and hope you will do well for years to come.

Prayers going your way. Hang in there!

I second the marijuana, it will really help. My best to you

I worked in pediatric oncology for 15 years. I would not wish chemo on my worst enemy. Though I don't know what you are going through personally, I will pray for you and wish you all the best. Chemo sucks!

Take Care

Good timing for this thread. I might have to have chemo in the near future. The sarcoma I thought I had beat last year turned out to have spread into my lungs. Still need to get a PET scan to determine how much/how bad it is. So far the best case is "just" surgery on both lungs with the intent to cure it. I'm going to expect a bit worse, not the worst case, but something in between.
What are some of the typical side effects and treatments for those. I know the nausea and that Compazine, and a couple other meds help with that. Of course the ones that block the seratonin in the stomach cause their own problems (horrible, horrible constipation).
And of course everyone knows about hair loss.
Weakness, general malaise.
What else is there?
I've had radiation on my head/neck and that was bad enough. I can't even imagine being any more tired that that. I slept for almost 16 hours a day I think, and could have done more if I wouldn't have had to make at least the morning and afternoon formations, and go to treament.
What are the odds that I might actually be able to still work? Not anything hard, I'm just a guard at a truck yard and the most physically demanding thing I do is stand up for a few minutes to guide a semi into it's slot. I can not afford to lose income, I'll probably have to beg money (that's what it'll feel like anyway) if I have surgery just to pay for rent and a couple other bills.

Unicorn,

My prayers are with you and your family.

As far as other side effects, there can be nose bleeds, fingernail and toenail lose, very dry skin (I never had dandruff before chemo), memory loss (in my case anyway), diarriah (sp?), vomiting, wounds will not heal as fast, and more that I cannot think of right now.

Unicorn you are also much more prone to infection and catching colds etc, your immune system is basically being killed off at the same time. So take steps to avoid any kind of contact with germs. WHen I do dishes I put a few drops in the dish water. I use clorox wipes a lot all over the house when I clean so my wife does not contact things people touch. I wipe down the shopping carts with Clorox wipes, hell I probably look like freaking Monk to everyone who sees me.

When she is at work she wears a hospital mask, she works as a Nurse at a Nursing home and is in contact constantly with sick people. She carries and uses hand sanitizer constantly.

It might sound like going overboard, BUT, she got a staph infection in her blood from the Portocath (sp) they put in her chest for her chemo and hse was in the hospital for two weeks, she was very close to death. She had high fevers and had to have three operations to clean out infection in her foot, knee and around the port where it pooled. The doctor told me that 15 years ago, 99 percent of the people who got that type of infection died. So I take every precaution I can to try and keep her from getting another infection her body cannot fight down.

Wow, it just gets better and better doesn't it. Still don't know if I'll need it or not though. Waiting for the PET scan, and will meet with the surgeon next week.

You guys ever just wish that instead of cancer, it was something simple like getting hit by a semi? The wondering what is next, and the worry sucks. I'm beginning to think that it's almost as bad as the disease itself.

Yea my grandma currently has incurable cancer it started in the colon then spread to a football sized one on her liver and now in her adrenal gland and who knows where else i doubt shes going to make it to my 16th birthday in July but hey thats life its hard and cruel and im surely not taking it easy

I feel for you dude good luck

Hey Jeff,

Good to see your posts, I was wondering how you were doing. My prayers are with all you folks going through this trial. I lost my mom many years ago to an inoperable brain tumor - came upon her so fast there was no time to do any type of treatment. Hang in there and beat this.

Cliff

My prayers are with you