After chemo

stevev
stevev Member Posts: 8
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Finished up my chemo last week. I was on oxilaplatin 5FU every other week. My onc said to use condoms but I was wondering how long I should use them after treatment. I am also on Cumadin and have a port. Do I need to stay on the cumadin as long as I have the port?

Comments

  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #2
    Mornin, Steve -

    Well it seems my esteemed colleagues have a bit of stage fright about responding to this question... no, wait, most of them are old married guys so they don... well, never mind.

    Anyway, the reason for using condoms has to do with the fact that the chemo meds tend to infiltrate the semen and, without a condom, you will vicariously give your partner some of your chemo meds. Although sharing in an intimate relationship is usually a good thing, I think in this case that would be an exception. I used them for a few months (at least 4 times a day, every day, in case any of you Semi-Colons are lurking and wondering) to make certain that the meds had completely flushed out of my system.

    Drinking a lot of water will help speed up that process, and I probably went a bit longer than I needed to, but I am a caring partner. (yeah, y'all, make a note of that, too: caring partner, 4 times a day, every day... be sure to pass that around to all of your friends as well as any Hooters waitresses you know! NOW you know why Jennifer Aniston stalks me)

    Sorry, Steve - you'll have to read some former posts to get caught up on the joke there.

    Anyway; short answer: a couple months so that the chemo meds can get flushed completely out of your system. Drink lots of water in the mean time.

    Be well...

    - SpongeBob (maybe I should change it to "Sponge-Worthy"... Elaine, any thoughts?)
  • StacyGleaso
    StacyGleaso Member Posts: 1,233 Member
    #3
    spongebob said:

    Mornin, Steve -

    Well it seems my esteemed colleagues have a bit of stage fright about responding to this question... no, wait, most of them are old married guys so they don... well, never mind.

    Anyway, the reason for using condoms has to do with the fact that the chemo meds tend to infiltrate the semen and, without a condom, you will vicariously give your partner some of your chemo meds. Although sharing in an intimate relationship is usually a good thing, I think in this case that would be an exception. I used them for a few months (at least 4 times a day, every day, in case any of you Semi-Colons are lurking and wondering) to make certain that the meds had completely flushed out of my system.

    Drinking a lot of water will help speed up that process, and I probably went a bit longer than I needed to, but I am a caring partner. (yeah, y'all, make a note of that, too: caring partner, 4 times a day, every day... be sure to pass that around to all of your friends as well as any Hooters waitresses you know! NOW you know why Jennifer Aniston stalks me)

    Sorry, Steve - you'll have to read some former posts to get caught up on the joke there.

    Anyway; short answer: a couple months so that the chemo meds can get flushed completely out of your system. Drink lots of water in the mean time.

    Be well...

    - SpongeBob (maybe I should change it to "Sponge-Worthy"... Elaine, any thoughts?)

    Are you sure you were on chemo SpongeBob, and not VIAGRA??????????

    I can comment on one thing, Steve, that I still have my port, and am not on Cumadin, never was in fact. It's important to get the port flushed every 3 to 4 months. Unlike SpongeBob, who felt the need to "flush" another system 4 times daily...lol. Did the physician lead you to believe that the Cumadin was due to the port, or something else?

    Being through with chemo is wonderful! Keep up the good work!

    Stacy
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #4
    StacyGleaso said:

    Are you sure you were on chemo SpongeBob, and not VIAGRA??????????

    I can comment on one thing, Steve, that I still have my port, and am not on Cumadin, never was in fact. It's important to get the port flushed every 3 to 4 months. Unlike SpongeBob, who felt the need to "flush" another system 4 times daily...lol. Did the physician lead you to believe that the Cumadin was due to the port, or something else?

    Being through with chemo is wonderful! Keep up the good work!

    Stacy

    You mean those little blue pills the super hot, scantily clad chemo nurse (yeah, right! HIS name was Mike) gave me weren't 5FU?

    Steve, I refused to get a port (something about admitting I was "really" sick if I did? I don't know. In hindsight getting a port would have been better than having them fish for a vein for 40-60 minutes every week). Stacy, you left yours in for, what? 2 years?

    I guess I have to wonder why Steve is on Cumadin. Isn't that a blood thinner and anti-clotting med? Maybe that's the link to the port?

    I can say this, Steve, Stacy is right about flushing that contraption. I saw plenty of my chemo buddies have problems with theirs when they didn't flush them regularly.

    So anyway, back to thos blue pills...
  • Btrcup
    Btrcup Member Posts: 286
    #5
    Hi Steve, congrats on finishing your chemo. As for condoms, by hubby's onc told us to use them during treatments because he was very suseptible (sp?) to infection and needed to protect himself. If you are single, you should be using them anyway!!! Also, my hubby was never on cumadin with his port.

    Spongebob, you crack me up!!!!

    Linda (Baltimore)
  • stevev
    stevev Member Posts: 8
    #6
    I guess I should have said that I'm 43 yrs. young and married. The cumadin thing I guess I will ask my onc next month about. It came up after my first round of chemo and the nurse said I should still be taking it but I had stopped when I had finished the chemo. The onc said I might get it taken out next summer if all goes well.
  • JKendall
    JKendall Member Posts: 186
    #7
    spongebob said:

    Mornin, Steve -

    Well it seems my esteemed colleagues have a bit of stage fright about responding to this question... no, wait, most of them are old married guys so they don... well, never mind.

    Anyway, the reason for using condoms has to do with the fact that the chemo meds tend to infiltrate the semen and, without a condom, you will vicariously give your partner some of your chemo meds. Although sharing in an intimate relationship is usually a good thing, I think in this case that would be an exception. I used them for a few months (at least 4 times a day, every day, in case any of you Semi-Colons are lurking and wondering) to make certain that the meds had completely flushed out of my system.

    Drinking a lot of water will help speed up that process, and I probably went a bit longer than I needed to, but I am a caring partner. (yeah, y'all, make a note of that, too: caring partner, 4 times a day, every day... be sure to pass that around to all of your friends as well as any Hooters waitresses you know! NOW you know why Jennifer Aniston stalks me)

    Sorry, Steve - you'll have to read some former posts to get caught up on the joke there.

    Anyway; short answer: a couple months so that the chemo meds can get flushed completely out of your system. Drink lots of water in the mean time.

    Be well...

    - SpongeBob (maybe I should change it to "Sponge-Worthy"... Elaine, any thoughts?)

    Sex Bandit (that's you SB)...you 'da man!!!! Did you buy those things by the gross???

    Steve, you have our sincere condolonces (for weathering SB's storms and "fish tales"). This is one post I can't let my wife read, there's just too much material for her to use against me.

    Congrats on finishing the chemo!!! But the secret's out...we're on to how you're planning to celebrate. Using SB's advice for lots of water and condoms, it sounds like water balloons are just around the corner!!!!

    Jimmy

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