First day...

luvofmylif
luvofmylif Member Posts: 344
edited October 2012 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Today was day one of treatment. Finished first radiation and cisplatin. He feels ok , a little pale and lightheaded. Hoping we will be able to eat dinner. I feel like I am waiting for al the bad stuff to happen. Knowing that alot of you on this site has been there before helps. We will prevail...one day at time.

Thinking of all of you on this site and praying for you all. You are very special people.

Joan

One radiation down....29 to go. One cisplatin down..2 to go.

Comments

  • katenorwood
    katenorwood Member Posts: 1,912
    #2
    Positives sent !
    Joan,
    I will be thinking of you both throughout all of this ! I hear positives in this post...and that is a wonderful, powerful thing. Katie
  • blackswampboy
    blackswampboy Member Posts: 341
    #3
    best wishes
    ya'll will make it. after all, he's got a great caregiver. ;-)
  • cureitall66
    cureitall66 Member Posts: 913
    #4
    blackswampboy said:

    best wishes
    ya'll will make it. after all, he's got a great caregiver. ;-)

    One day at a time. Try not to look so far ahead. I'm doing all I can to keep my patient from doing that. It's a job....but, us caregivers can do it. Best wishes to you.
  • Joanielo
    Joanielo Member Posts: 55
    #5
    Me Too!
    His treatment plan is the same as mine...I start on October 29th.....Please let us know how it goes and I will be right behind you!!
    Joanie
  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #6
    got that over with
    Hi Joan,

    Pale and lightheaded sounds right to me. I wish him a smooth journey.

    Best,

    Matt
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #7
    You may be seeing all you're going to see
    on the Cisplatin....I never got sick, just tired....the rads are accumlative, so it will be a couple of weeks before you see anything. Ya know, the first 4 or 5 weeks of treatment I felt guilty that so many on here were suffering so much, and I wasn't...Nobody actually skates thru treatment, but some of us (for whatever reasons) don't react to the chemo drugs, or our skin is such that all we get out of rads is a bad sunburn.

    For now, he just has to follow the basic rules of the board....stay hydrated, feed thyself, and rest all he wants.

    You've got the countdown right...that's exactly how it'll go...and then one day you're in the single digits...and then it's 4, 3, 2, 1....OVER!!! :)

    p
  • luvofmylif
    luvofmylif Member Posts: 344
    #8
    phrannie51 said:

    You may be seeing all you're going to see
    on the Cisplatin....I never got sick, just tired....the rads are accumlative, so it will be a couple of weeks before you see anything. Ya know, the first 4 or 5 weeks of treatment I felt guilty that so many on here were suffering so much, and I wasn't...Nobody actually skates thru treatment, but some of us (for whatever reasons) don't react to the chemo drugs, or our skin is such that all we get out of rads is a bad sunburn.

    For now, he just has to follow the basic rules of the board....stay hydrated, feed thyself, and rest all he wants.

    You've got the countdown right...that's exactly how it'll go...and then one day you're in the single digits...and then it's 4, 3, 2, 1....OVER!!! :)

    p

    Ok, sounds good. Will follow
    Ok, sounds good. Will follow the advice. Good to hear how well you did. Hope he does as well
    Joan
  • ditto1
    ditto1 Member Posts: 660
    #9
    luvofmylif said:

    Ok, sounds good. Will follow
    Ok, sounds good. Will follow the advice. Good to hear how well you did. Hope he does as well
    Joan

    Wow I remember Day One
    No I cant, well maybe let me think LOL, I do remember it seemed like it would never end but it did and as P51 said before you know it your spouse will be counting down 3 2 1 finished. Then time to heal and put all this behind you. It seems unbelievable its been about 6 months since I was DX with BOT Stage IV with multiple lymphnodes. I had 33 RADS and 2 Cisplatin along with 9 Erbitux treatments. Rough at times but doable, and glad Im done well sort of, still got a Dental appt and ENT visit in the next few weeks plus Im sure a lifetime of followups. CT scan showed no cancer so hopefully that will be the case from here on out. Not sure if you and the other newbies would be interested in a slightly used Bus, P51 and myself as well as a few others rode it thru out our treatments, but now it needs a new driver so you and others can be together for a ride to the ultimate destination NEDville. Its yours if you want it.
  • luvofmylif
    luvofmylif Member Posts: 344
    #10
    ditto1 said:

    Wow I remember Day One
    No I cant, well maybe let me think LOL, I do remember it seemed like it would never end but it did and as P51 said before you know it your spouse will be counting down 3 2 1 finished. Then time to heal and put all this behind you. It seems unbelievable its been about 6 months since I was DX with BOT Stage IV with multiple lymphnodes. I had 33 RADS and 2 Cisplatin along with 9 Erbitux treatments. Rough at times but doable, and glad Im done well sort of, still got a Dental appt and ENT visit in the next few weeks plus Im sure a lifetime of followups. CT scan showed no cancer so hopefully that will be the case from here on out. Not sure if you and the other newbies would be interested in a slightly used Bus, P51 and myself as well as a few others rode it thru out our treatments, but now it needs a new driver so you and others can be together for a ride to the ultimate destination NEDville. Its yours if you want it.

    Wish we were done with
    Wish we were done with treatments like you. But knowing you and others made it thru helps us. It's a scary trip...scared of what might be around the corner.
  • ditto1
    ditto1 Member Posts: 660
    #11
    luvofmylif said:

    Wish we were done with
    Wish we were done with treatments like you. But knowing you and others made it thru helps us. It's a scary trip...scared of what might be around the corner.

    Dont Blink
    it will go faster than you would think. Yes it is scary at times, but as strange as this may sound it also brings things into your lives that only a journey like this could. You will be there for each other in ways that you may have never experienced, each day will be precious and when its all said and done you will have added an experience to your relationship that no one would choose but it will deepen your love for each other, and considering the name you are using you love him a bunch. Prayers on there way.
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #12
    ditto1 said:

    Dont Blink
    it will go faster than you would think. Yes it is scary at times, but as strange as this may sound it also brings things into your lives that only a journey like this could. You will be there for each other in ways that you may have never experienced, each day will be precious and when its all said and done you will have added an experience to your relationship that no one would choose but it will deepen your love for each other, and considering the name you are using you love him a bunch. Prayers on there way.

    Joan & Joanie
    Advice to Joan, the caregiver, and Joanie, the patient: Take it as it comes and deal with it if/when it comes. Don't spend energy worrying about how to treat a side effect that may not be encountered. My best to both of you as you and your families make this journey.
  • luvofmylif
    luvofmylif Member Posts: 344
    #13
    hwt said:

    Joan & Joanie
    Advice to Joan, the caregiver, and Joanie, the patient: Take it as it comes and deal with it if/when it comes. Don't spend energy worrying about how to treat a side effect that may not be encountered. My best to both of you as you and your families make this journey.

    I will try doing that...one
    I will try doing that...one day at time. That needs to be the mantra from here on out.

    Thank you so much
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #14
    Day one
    This brought back memories but remember this was 16 years ago. I had my first treatment and then stopped by my office and I remember telling them "this is no problem, I will kick it's ****" I went home on cloud - 9. Now the doctors had given me some pills and they insisted I take one every eight hours. Well I fell asleep and slept through it all (I didn't realze they had injected anti nausea meds in my IV). Well when I woke up 10 hours later all I could think about was that I had a million little Pac-Mans in my body eating my cells one at a time and I could not stop pacing..in fact I paced for six hours non-stop before they took me back to the hospital where I got another IV which got rid of the bugs. Needless to say I NEVER missed my pills after that. This is also when the dr. recommended I smoke weed (no I did not get high nor did it make me want to eat more but it did settle my stomach so I could keep my meds down) before taking my meds to prevent vomiting them up every time I took a pill.

    I am glad to see the changes they have made in meds now; it makes it much easier for patients. My mom take a three day pattern of meds and she has zero nauseau.

    Hang in there and remember ATTITUDE_ATTITUDE_ATTITUDE it makes all the difference.

    Denny
  • dales2loud
    dales2loud Member Posts: 45
    #15
    Day 9?
    It goes by faster then you might think, the name of this thread brought back many memories. I to did pretty darn good until #31-35 and the third chemo. Got my butt handed to me physically, emotionally and maybe spiritually to some degree. I sure hope you and pray you are doing well and taking care of yourself.

    Prayers sent, your going to make it!

    Dale
  • luvofmylif
    luvofmylif Member Posts: 344
    #16
    dales2loud said:

    Day 9?
    It goes by faster then you might think, the name of this thread brought back many memories. I to did pretty darn good until #31-35 and the third chemo. Got my butt handed to me physically, emotionally and maybe spiritually to some degree. I sure hope you and pray you are doing well and taking care of yourself.

    Prayers sent, your going to make it!

    Dale

    Yep
    yep, today is day 9 and everyday we cross it off the calendar. Tomorrow is treatment number 10 and people have told us that is when things start to get rough. So, nervous now waiting for the bad stuff. he had chemo the first day of radiation and had nausea the first week but now is doing much better and even gained weight...go figure. Next week will be second cisplatin trx. Due to finish up the day before Thanksgiving. I thank you for your kind words and encouragement. No one knows like the people who have been through it. We all share that common bond.

    Joan
  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #17
    luvofmylif said:

    Yep
    yep, today is day 9 and everyday we cross it off the calendar. Tomorrow is treatment number 10 and people have told us that is when things start to get rough. So, nervous now waiting for the bad stuff. he had chemo the first day of radiation and had nausea the first week but now is doing much better and even gained weight...go figure. Next week will be second cisplatin trx. Due to finish up the day before Thanksgiving. I thank you for your kind words and encouragement. No one knows like the people who have been through it. We all share that common bond.

    Joan

    You still may not see any
    real bad stuff...honest. My neck got red and rough, but only a little sore. I never had a sore throat, and I stayed ahead of mouth sores from radiation. I had little nausea from chemo...all this the first three months. It wasn't until I had 5FU that I sported some misery, but I can tell you...now that's it's over, it's like it almost never happened.

    Just stay in the day you're in...take care of body parts separately...bowels, neck, mouth, food, etc etc...(that part was hard for me, to care for everything individually, instead of the old sleep well eat well, and all will be fine)...

    You're getting close to the half-way mark...a big milestone in my book...

    p

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