First Chemo

Pumakitty

Hi,

My dad will have his first Chem Friday morning. It is a 2 hour session with the Cisplatin(?), I think. Could someone tell me what I should expect to happen and how he will be feeling. The doctors said we should not have to worry to much about the blood count issue, is this true.

Also, does anyone have any tips for dealing with the sickness and fatigue that comes along with the chemo.

On more thing, I post a question under the thread about mucus. I am concerned about the draining he is having from the tumor on his tongue. It is really bad in the morning. IT also causes him to clear his throat and cough a lot. He says it makes him sick to his stomach. Has anyone else dealt with this problem? The doctors acted as this was common for tongue cancer.

Thank you again for all of your advice. Being so informed really helped us know what to expect with the rads.

denistd

chemo
Hard to say how dad will react. I was given high dose cistplatin as well and had virtually no reaction to it except for the blood counts and slightly elevated kidney function(persists to day but does not cause me any problems) prior to the chemo I was given a drug named emend, it is, in my opinion, the only way to go. I took it for three days along with a steroid and another anti-nausea stopper. Never through up, never got nausea. I had three doses of the cistplatin. They will give dad IV's to get him really hydrated and a drug to protect the bladder and kidneys. So, we don't know, but make sure dad get's the anti-nausea medicine. Good luck

Pumakitty

denistd said:

chemo
Hard to say how dad will react. I was given high dose cistplatin as well and had virtually no reaction to it except for the blood counts and slightly elevated kidney function(persists to day but does not cause me any problems) prior to the chemo I was given a drug named emend, it is, in my opinion, the only way to go. I took it for three days along with a steroid and another anti-nausea stopper. Never through up, never got nausea. I had three doses of the cistplatin. They will give dad IV's to get him really hydrated and a drug to protect the bladder and kidneys. So, we don't know, but make sure dad get's the anti-nausea medicine. Good luck

Thank you
They told me about the medication for nausea. They said it will be an IV for that and also a prescription to take home. Does this sound like what you had. He will have on treatment a week for 7 weeks.

Hal61

Pumakitty said:

Thank you
They told me about the medication for nausea. They said it will be an IV for that and also a prescription to take home. Does this sound like what you had. He will have on treatment a week for 7 weeks.

Chemo
Hello Puma, I had only three infusions during concurrent radiation treatments, with Cisplatin. I don't know how your dad will do since I expect he will have smaller doses if his is more frequent.

I was sent three big pills to take before each treatment (Emed, Imed, something like that). They did a great job and I had no symptoms the day of treatment or the day after. But, on the third day after each treatment I would experience ongoing nausea, and what is sometime called "chemo head." For me it was like my head was inside a big tin drum. Sounds became noises, there was infrequent ringing, and I could get grumpy. These symptoms would persist, lessening, for two to three days.

The nausea pills took were of two kinds, and neither was effective when the third day hit, maybe they were better on preceding days. I took them anyway as directed, maybe it would have bee worse all the time if I hadn't.

So my advice would be give him some space, and a bucket, keep the noise level down, and he'll come through fine. Maybe, with his protocol, he won't go through any of this.

Wishing you, father, and family, my best.

Hal

Landranger25

Pumakitty said:

Thank you
They told me about the medication for nausea. They said it will be an IV for that and also a prescription to take home. Does this sound like what you had. He will have on treatment a week for 7 weeks.

First not too bad
I had my cisplatin always on a Monday. All day, first time anti nausea was added to the IV, other 2 times the 3 day pill. After the all day infusion I had to wear a pump that infused 5FU for the next 96 hours. This one caused me nausea and problems. The Onco said just before the 3rd round when I was really ill and crappy feeling that now that he knew my body doesn't metabolize 5FU very well he would change things up a bit and try to make my last round more tolerable. To answer your question regarding what to expect, for me the first one went OK. Still able to eat and drink, energy not too bad. Maybe a little tired by the end of the week. By the end of the 2nd chemo though, it had all caught up to me. 5FU was kicking my butt, wasn't able to eat, only sipping water, PEG was my new best friend. 3rd chemo was a grind. Knew what to expect, pushed through and things have been looking up ever since. Good luck. My best to your Dad. (Dad's are tough. He will make it through this)

Mike

ratface

Landranger25 said:

First not too bad
I had my cisplatin always on a Monday. All day, first time anti nausea was added to the IV, other 2 times the 3 day pill. After the all day infusion I had to wear a pump that infused 5FU for the next 96 hours. This one caused me nausea and problems. The Onco said just before the 3rd round when I was really ill and crappy feeling that now that he knew my body doesn't metabolize 5FU very well he would change things up a bit and try to make my last round more tolerable. To answer your question regarding what to expect, for me the first one went OK. Still able to eat and drink, energy not too bad. Maybe a little tired by the end of the week. By the end of the 2nd chemo though, it had all caught up to me. 5FU was kicking my butt, wasn't able to eat, only sipping water, PEG was my new best friend. 3rd chemo was a grind. Knew what to expect, pushed through and things have been looking up ever since. Good luck. My best to your Dad. (Dad's are tough. He will make it through this)

Mike

Sit as close to the bathroom as possible!
Thats also where the sweet table and frige are usually located.

denistd

ratface said:

Sit as close to the bathroom as possible!
Thats also where the sweet table and frige are usually located.

chemo
Yes that does sound like the meds. I too only had 3 infusions and I was kept in the hospital overnight. The emend is the important one, it's very expensive so they may try to give you a prescription, it is $300 for six of them, if your dad is on medicare and has a plan d imagine how much will go to the donut hole, I got the prescription and had it filled at WalMart, my co-pay was only $5 but $295 went toward my donut hole, I explained this to the hospital and they gave me the next two session pills. Dad will be alright, I suffered a little more from the rads, but that was not all bad either. Good luck

Skiffin16

First Chemo
First isn't too bad, you can check my post under blood count to see the effect on my blood at the time. I was also doing Taxotere and 5FU along with the Cisplaten.

Good Advise here, get the Emend, it's pricey about $450 for three pills, but absolutely no sickness for me. You take it about an hour before the chemo, and one each for the next two days. I had those for each of my nine week (three weeks cycles).

The first day will usually take the longest because they need to find out how fast or slow they need to feed in the chemo. First day when I had all three I was there about 8 hours. My last probably around 5 hours.

Also, like mentioned, try to get a chair close to the bathroom. Once you start peein from the fluids to flush the chemo, you'll be going every 20 minutes... They called me the PEE KING....

Another tip, bring a lunch or someone to go get you some. The patients that are used to the routine will have their's, you'll smell it and be starving, both you and your dad.

The way mine went was like this;

First thing when I got there, they drew my blood and ran the labs, takes about 30 minutes.
When all is good, you take the Emend, wait for another 20 - 30 minutes while they start getting the drugs mixed and the pump ready, blood pressure, etc....

Plug in the pre-drugs to the port through a portable pump, different meds to help you also from being sick, hydration, lasix, steroids, etc.... Then the chemo through a port if he has one.

Then I came back the next Monday for hydration and Neulasta which helped with the white blood counts. You'll probably feel flu like a few days late if you get the Neulast, but it only last a day or so.

He might lose his taste for a week or so, but it'll come back, at least mine did for each cycle.

John

delnative

Skiffin16 said:

First Chemo
First isn't too bad, you can check my post under blood count to see the effect on my blood at the time. I was also doing Taxotere and 5FU along with the Cisplaten.

Good Advise here, get the Emend, it's pricey about $450 for three pills, but absolutely no sickness for me. You take it about an hour before the chemo, and one each for the next two days. I had those for each of my nine week (three weeks cycles).

The first day will usually take the longest because they need to find out how fast or slow they need to feed in the chemo. First day when I had all three I was there about 8 hours. My last probably around 5 hours.

Also, like mentioned, try to get a chair close to the bathroom. Once you start peein from the fluids to flush the chemo, you'll be going every 20 minutes... They called me the PEE KING....

Another tip, bring a lunch or someone to go get you some. The patients that are used to the routine will have their's, you'll smell it and be starving, both you and your dad.

The way mine went was like this;

First thing when I got there, they drew my blood and ran the labs, takes about 30 minutes.
When all is good, you take the Emend, wait for another 20 - 30 minutes while they start getting the drugs mixed and the pump ready, blood pressure, etc....

Plug in the pre-drugs to the port through a portable pump, different meds to help you also from being sick, hydration, lasix, steroids, etc.... Then the chemo through a port if he has one.

Then I came back the next Monday for hydration and Neulasta which helped with the white blood counts. You'll probably feel flu like a few days late if you get the Neulast, but it only last a day or so.

He might lose his taste for a week or so, but it'll come back, at least mine did for each cycle.

John

Dittos on Emend
That stuff is a wonder drug. They gave it to me in IV form when I was getting Cisplatin, then I'd take a pill once a day for three days afterward.
I think I puked maybe four times during my whole course of chemo/rads, and I think two of those episodes were more attributable to the rads than the chemo.

--Jim in Delaware

Kent Cass

Skiffin16 said:

First Chemo
First isn't too bad, you can check my post under blood count to see the effect on my blood at the time. I was also doing Taxotere and 5FU along with the Cisplaten.

Good Advise here, get the Emend, it's pricey about $450 for three pills, but absolutely no sickness for me. You take it about an hour before the chemo, and one each for the next two days. I had those for each of my nine week (three weeks cycles).

The first day will usually take the longest because they need to find out how fast or slow they need to feed in the chemo. First day when I had all three I was there about 8 hours. My last probably around 5 hours.

Also, like mentioned, try to get a chair close to the bathroom. Once you start peein from the fluids to flush the chemo, you'll be going every 20 minutes... They called me the PEE KING....

Another tip, bring a lunch or someone to go get you some. The patients that are used to the routine will have their's, you'll smell it and be starving, both you and your dad.

The way mine went was like this;

First thing when I got there, they drew my blood and ran the labs, takes about 30 minutes.
When all is good, you take the Emend, wait for another 20 - 30 minutes while they start getting the drugs mixed and the pump ready, blood pressure, etc....

Plug in the pre-drugs to the port through a portable pump, different meds to help you also from being sick, hydration, lasix, steroids, etc.... Then the chemo through a port if he has one.

Then I came back the next Monday for hydration and Neulasta which helped with the white blood counts. You'll probably feel flu like a few days late if you get the Neulast, but it only last a day or so.

He might lose his taste for a week or so, but it'll come back, at least mine did for each cycle.

John

John and Puma
John- I got the Emend. Had forgotten all about it, but the name and price of it reminded me. Only used the two times, because of my being pre-chemo only twice, but do now remember it. Memory jogged, by the pill bottles I still have- was also prescribed Dexamethasone to take for 3 days during my Chemos. Had forgotten about that, too! The only one I had remembered:

Compazine was the nausea drug I was prescribed- both pill and suppository. Fortunately, I only had a couple bad times with the vomits in the morning hours, and only used the pills- they did seem to help. Was told, however, that the suppository is the more effective form to use.

Puma- keep us informed on how your Dad's doing, and keep looking at the Positive that's down the road for your family.

Believe

kcass

Pumakitty

Kent Cass said:

John and Puma
John- I got the Emend. Had forgotten all about it, but the name and price of it reminded me. Only used the two times, because of my being pre-chemo only twice, but do now remember it. Memory jogged, by the pill bottles I still have- was also prescribed Dexamethasone to take for 3 days during my Chemos. Had forgotten about that, too! The only one I had remembered:

Compazine was the nausea drug I was prescribed- both pill and suppository. Fortunately, I only had a couple bad times with the vomits in the morning hours, and only used the pills- they did seem to help. Was told, however, that the suppository is the more effective form to use.

Puma- keep us informed on how your Dad's doing, and keep looking at the Positive that's down the road for your family.

Believe

kcass

Again Thank You
So far he has been doing great with the rads. I was concerned about the mask making him nervous, but it finds it neat to watch the light change on the machine. The nurse said he is the best Head and Neck rad patient she has ever worked with.

He has been having a issue with dehydration the past week I think. Like I posted he has been having muscle weakness in his legs, dizzy when standing and not going to the bathroom much. When I convience him to drink the problems clear up. I am hoping they will check all of this. When I talked to the nurse she told me that dehydration was what it sounded like.

Again thank you for making me understand what is going on and being able to prepare him.

You guys are the best.

Greg53

Pumakitty said:

Again Thank You
So far he has been doing great with the rads. I was concerned about the mask making him nervous, but it finds it neat to watch the light change on the machine. The nurse said he is the best Head and Neck rad patient she has ever worked with.

He has been having a issue with dehydration the past week I think. Like I posted he has been having muscle weakness in his legs, dizzy when standing and not going to the bathroom much. When I convience him to drink the problems clear up. I am hoping they will check all of this. When I talked to the nurse she told me that dehydration was what it sounded like.

Again thank you for making me understand what is going on and being able to prepare him.

You guys are the best.

Hearing Loss
I was on high dosage Cisplatin - 3 treatments running concurrently with rad. I had similar results using the Emend as a lot of the other posts here. That is, I really had no issues with nausea. But about 5 days after each Cisplatin treatment I would get a major case of fatigue that lasted 2-3 days. I'm assuming the fatgue was from the Cisplatin since it peaked at theses times. I only made it thru 2 treatments of Cisplatin though. I had major, constant ringing in both ears. I had audiograms after each treatment and by the second one I had lost 30% of high frequency hearing. ONC was afraid I would lose all hearing permanently so he switched me to Erbitux for last 3 weeks. Just maybe something to monitor as I haven't seen anyone else posting that thad this situation. 3 1/2 weeks out from last treatment and just had another audiogram. Hearing has improved. Good luck with everything.
Greg