folfiri

oneagleswings
oneagleswings Member Posts: 425 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Can all survivors or caregivers who have experience with FOLFIRI (5FU + irinotecan- aslo referred to as CPT-11 or camptosar) please answer some questins for me please??
-does the pump make a noise as it is infusing
-is it difficult to sleep with the "bottle" around your waist
-what is the average amount of time being on it
-any other bits of info would be helpful

We are grateful for your replies.
Bev

Comments

  • goldfinch
    goldfinch Member Posts: 735
    #2
    My pump made some noise, but i didn't find it difficult to tolerate. The infusion was placed in a fanny pack with enough tubing so i could take it off and lay it on the floor by the side of the bed.
    I can't answer the other questions as this was part of my pre surgery treatment more than 2 years ago. Not the same as the folfiri regimen.
    Mary
  • mindy10
    mindy10 Member Posts: 182 Member
    #3
    Hi Bev, my dad has this and he said you can only hear it at night when your sleeping because its real quiet then. But it does not keep him awake. He was on it for 6 months every other week. He didnt have any problems with it. Any questions feel free to email me. Good luck to you. Mindy
  • midnte0708
    midnte0708 Member Posts: 166
    #4
    Hi Bev,

    FOLFIRI is what my father is on +plus Avastin. He wears the pump for 44 hours (a nurse comes to the house after his chemo treatment at the doc office to hook him up to this pump.)
    He claims that even though it isn't that bothersome to wear that it keeps him up all night the two nights every other week that he has to wear it. It does make a little noise that you probably would not notice during the daytime hours but at night when it is "quiet" and you are trying to sleep you can hear it.

    Good Luck,
    Sue
  • KFalvey
    KFalvey Member Posts: 118 Member
    #5
    Hi Bev,
    I just finished the FOLFOX, which has Oxaliplatin. The pump is for the 5FU. The pump sounds like a digital camera when you take a picture. It pumps approximately every 13 seconds.
    I slept on my back with a pillow over the fanny pack to mu;ffle the sound. That worked so well, I'd have to lift up the pillow occasionally to hear if the pump was still working(although it beeps loudly if it malfunctions). It wasn't nearly as uncomfortable or annoying as I thought it would be. Bathing was the only time I was bothered by it. I used it 2 days every 2 weeks for 6 months. The fanny pack is about the size of a ladies fanny pack purse with a bag of drugs and and the pump is approx. 3.5" X 6"X 1.5". Hope all goes well for you. Kandy
  • neeliec
    neeliec Member Posts: 106
    #6
    Hi, Bev,
    Ditto to what all have said. I had the pump in a "fancy" purse because I did not want people to see it -- and the "fanny pack look" just didn'd suit me. People just wondered why I never put my purse down...LOL!!!! At night, I placed the pump on the floor or hung it by the bed and got used to its noise, I guess cause I could not hear it. To shower, I hung the purse from the shower rod just outside the bathtub---, put a plastic bandaid on the port.... and showered away!!!

    I had it on for 36 hrs. every other weekend.

    blessings, neelieC

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