tumor fever???

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indydaughter
indydaughter Member Posts: 21
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Has anyone ever heard of tumor fevers? My mom has been spiking 102.plus fevers and the have her on antibotics/tylenol right now(they are doing infectious diease tests as well)..she is in the hospital at this time. I tried to ask her onc. last night when I bumped into him at the hospital, but he informed he was not her onc. last night, someone else was in charge of her, and he had already worked 14 hours!!! Let's put it this way...after she does this trial thing (he has to okay her to participate)...I put on my boxing gloves and he is one sorry onc.....guess I'm a little peeved!! Any help on the tumor fever thing would be great!!

Thanks to all!!

indydaughter

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  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #2
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    Indy -

    Good morning. It is very common for folks on chemo to get fevers, although I am not personally familiar with the term "tumor fever".

    Bear in mind that chemotherapy - in most regimes - is done for the purpose of killing cells. One of the biggest problems - and the cause of many of the side-effects - is that that killing is rather indiscriminate. As a result chemo patient's immune systems are significantly weakened. Beacuase of this they are much more susceptable to infectious diseases. Patients are typically warned of the need to stay away from young children (especially those with runny noses!) and certain food - like sushi (but I didn't heed that particular warning!)and to wash their hands like maniacs to keep the risk of infection lower. Sometimes it works and sometimes folks catch a bug anyway.

    I'm not saying that that is the case with your mom - there are any number of possible causes that I'm sure I'm not familiar with, but that is one very common cause of fevers and subsequent hospitalization during chemotherapy.

    Hope this helps.

    - SpongeBob
  • pattieb
    pattieb Member Posts: 168
    #3
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    boxing gloves?? NO I say lets have a neck tie party. How dare he say that to you, now I'm peeved too.
  • nynut622
    nynut622 Member Posts: 1
    #4
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    tumor fever..
    Well, I have heard that everyone is and responds different. my mom has been having this problem with the highest being 102.7 and I was almost going to the hospital. However the doctor told us to alternate between tylenol and motrin every two hours.
    A nurse friend told me to put the ice packs under moms arm pits and a cool cloth on her head. I did not bundle her up under the covers and just kept checking the temp. We also used aleve once a day.. but for the most part... got to keep pushing as much fluid as possible.
    Mom was told she has multiple myeloma and they removed T10 of the spine. The Neuro Surg opened her up from T-2 to L2 and she healed up nice.. however.. the chemo is horrible.
    I wish you well and hope you find some comfort.
    Good luck and God bless.
  • CherylHutch
    CherylHutch Member Posts: 1,375
    #5
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    Tumor Fever?
    Hmmm... I've never heard that term either, although, like SpongeBob said, it is very common to get fevers if you are on chemo. I was told, prior to starting chemo, that if I got even the slightest fever when I was on chemo, I was to call in immediately... and not to leave it because it could result in being put in the hospital and then the chemo being delayed.

    As for the onc who wouldn't give you the time of day... is he technically her primary oncologist, and were you at any time aware that her primary oncologist had changed?? If not, then I'd dump him like a hot potato, go get your mom another onc that you can feel you can ask questions of and when this guy asks why you are switching oncs you can tell him that he obviously has way too much on his plate and isn't able to give your mom the time and attention that she (and you) need. The nerve of him!

    Hugggggs,

    Cheryl
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #6
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    CherylHutch said:

    Tumor Fever?
    Hmmm... I've never heard that term either, although, like SpongeBob said, it is very common to get fevers if you are on chemo. I was told, prior to starting chemo, that if I got even the slightest fever when I was on chemo, I was to call in immediately... and not to leave it because it could result in being put in the hospital and then the chemo being delayed.

    As for the onc who wouldn't give you the time of day... is he technically her primary oncologist, and were you at any time aware that her primary oncologist had changed?? If not, then I'd dump him like a hot potato, go get your mom another onc that you can feel you can ask questions of and when this guy asks why you are switching oncs you can tell him that he obviously has way too much on his plate and isn't able to give your mom the time and attention that she (and you) need. The nerve of him!

    Hugggggs,

    Cheryl

    Fevers...
    ..I was told to take my temperature once a day at the same time, and if it ever gets to 100.5 that I was to go to the ER immediately, since that is a sign of infection, and needs to be treated immediately.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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