treatments

kapper48

Hi, again I am going back for treatment #8 on tuesday. I wasnt gonig to finish my treatments but After talking with my wife and kids I have decided to go through with it. I am going to see if my dr. will let me not take the chemo that is in the pump that I take home for 46 hrs. Has anybody out there stopped using the pump, I think I can handle the other 2 chemos but I am having problems with the pump. Also I posted a thank you note for everyone who commented on confused stage 3, I posted it on confused stage 3 I wasnt sure how to post but I have it figured out now. anyway thank you all.
Pat

usakat

Ask Your Doctor!
Hello Pat,

Glad to hear you are going to continue...you've made it this far...you can make it! If the pump is for 5FU, you might ask your oncologist if you can switch to the oral form, Xeloda. I was on Xeloda and it was great - just a few pesky side effects, but with preventative measures you can stay in front of it. Most folks will get six caplets daily (three in the AM - three in the PM - 3000 mg) for two weeks, then one week off = three week cycles.

Your onc can tell you if you are a candidate for Xeloda...

Good luck and keep us posted.

Stay strong...you'll make it!

kristasplace

5FU pump
The 5FU is supposed to help the oxaliplatin, if you're doing the FOLFOX treatments, which i assume you are. If your side effects are really that bad, i would first ask your onc to reduce the dosage. That's what i had to do around treatment six or seven. It helped me enough to get through 11 of the 12 treatments.

I also had him dose reduce my decadron because it was horrible. I think they give most of us steroids, but not everyone takes decadron.

Hang in there, you are way over the half way mark, so the rest is simply tolerance. My onc didn't give me hardly any side effects medicine next to anti-emetics, so make sure you ask them for meds. I didn't know they had meds for neuropathy or mucositis which i had and still have really bad.

Good luck with it, and keep us updated!
Many hugs,
Krista

apache4

kristasplace said:

5FU pump
The 5FU is supposed to help the oxaliplatin, if you're doing the FOLFOX treatments, which i assume you are. If your side effects are really that bad, i would first ask your onc to reduce the dosage. That's what i had to do around treatment six or seven. It helped me enough to get through 11 of the 12 treatments.

I also had him dose reduce my decadron because it was horrible. I think they give most of us steroids, but not everyone takes decadron.

Hang in there, you are way over the half way mark, so the rest is simply tolerance. My onc didn't give me hardly any side effects medicine next to anti-emetics, so make sure you ask them for meds. I didn't know they had meds for neuropathy or mucositis which i had and still have really bad.

Good luck with it, and keep us updated!
Many hugs,
Krista

Side effect medicines
I think that I am still upset with my oncs for not making me aware of side effect medicines that are available. My first onc, two years ago in Texas, did not even give me anything for mouth sores until I showed a nurse a really bad one I had about a 14 treatments into the Folfox. She seemed horrified and got a prescription for the Miracle mouth product right away. The sore went away in three days and I was also able to eat comfortably again. Another incident is with my onc here in Fl. where I had no meds for the Erbitux rash until my sister found something on the internet to ask about. I suffered the burning and itching which was so severe that I really got depressed and that is not like me. Three weeks of that! for nothing. I am still pissed off. I just don't know why they wait...they could at least let us know so that we could make informed decisions. Oh! I have this side effect called "paronychial inflammation" on a couple of toes and my thumb right now. I got the info from the fda.gov info on Erbitux. I even told him that is what I thought it was and he just didn't say anything. Not to mention that when I looked it up, it is a staph infection. We know that this could be deadly with a chemo patient! Meanwhile, it is so painful I am a bit handicapped in taking care of things. Fortunately, I had some antibiotics which I started taking a week ago and it is really helping. I think I needed to vent about this

msccolon

apache4 said:

Side effect medicines
I think that I am still upset with my oncs for not making me aware of side effect medicines that are available. My first onc, two years ago in Texas, did not even give me anything for mouth sores until I showed a nurse a really bad one I had about a 14 treatments into the Folfox. She seemed horrified and got a prescription for the Miracle mouth product right away. The sore went away in three days and I was also able to eat comfortably again. Another incident is with my onc here in Fl. where I had no meds for the Erbitux rash until my sister found something on the internet to ask about. I suffered the burning and itching which was so severe that I really got depressed and that is not like me. Three weeks of that! for nothing. I am still pissed off. I just don't know why they wait...they could at least let us know so that we could make informed decisions. Oh! I have this side effect called "paronychial inflammation" on a couple of toes and my thumb right now. I got the info from the fda.gov info on Erbitux. I even told him that is what I thought it was and he just didn't say anything. Not to mention that when I looked it up, it is a staph infection. We know that this could be deadly with a chemo patient! Meanwhile, it is so painful I am a bit handicapped in taking care of things. Fortunately, I had some antibiotics which I started taking a week ago and it is really helping. I think I needed to vent about this

side effects medicine
I am so verbal with my family about the various side effects and the treatments not only so they can "be there with me" but so when they hear of somebody else with the same situation they can tell them to ask their docs for meds, etc and it has helped others! I am AMAZED that other doctors don't offer the various remedies for the very common side effects until you ask; my doctors and nurses are very proactive ... of course, it could just be that i have a big mouth and am not quiet about some of the more disgusting side effects! Hey, why suffer in silence! I mean, you aren't going to continue with treatments if it gets to be TOO unpleasant so it's in EVERYONE's best interest to minimize them! Keep up the fight all! Mary

kapper48

usakat said:

Ask Your Doctor!
Hello Pat,

Glad to hear you are going to continue...you've made it this far...you can make it! If the pump is for 5FU, you might ask your oncologist if you can switch to the oral form, Xeloda. I was on Xeloda and it was great - just a few pesky side effects, but with preventative measures you can stay in front of it. Most folks will get six caplets daily (three in the AM - three in the PM - 3000 mg) for two weeks, then one week off = three week cycles.

Your onc can tell you if you are a candidate for Xeloda...

Good luck and keep us posted.

Stay strong...you'll make it!

xeloda
Thank you for the advice about xeloda I am starting it tomorrow. I hope it works out for me anyway thanks you so so much
Pat