Fatigue

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Doc_Hawk
Doc_Hawk Member Posts: 685
edited June 2012 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Here's another "has anyone else experienced this" question. I wear my chemo pump for 48 hours every two weeks. About the last hour that I wear it, I get very tired and have to fight sleep until I get home from the center. Last night I had a good 9 hours of much needed sleep and felt great until about 2:30 and then as usual I just ran out of energy just like someone had pulled out my batteries. At the center while waiting for the infusion to end and then getting another infusion of magnesium, I was able to sleep (pretty deep, which I very rarely do in public) and then I could barely keep my eyes open during dinner and then the rest of the way home. So does anyone else get this at the end of their treatment?

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  • RobinKaye
    RobinKaye Member Posts: 93
    #2
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    Yep
    My husband did pretty well until time to remove the pump. You are probably getting a steroid as a pre-med which helps you to feel 'good' for about two days and then it wears off. Jim went to bed after the pump was removed and barely got up for three days - as he said, indescribable fatigue. I don't think you are alone. He was never able to drive home from either the infusion or the disconnect.

    Robin
  • jjaj133
    jjaj133 Member Posts: 867 Member
    #3
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    Oh yeah, I remember thinking
    Oh yeah, I remember thinking turning over took too much energy. Holding my head up was an effort. not fun, but not much ya can do about it.
    Judy
  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #4
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    pretty much the same
    I get my full infusion on Tuesday then Wednesday with pump all day sleep off an on Thurs around noon get pump off. Tired Thurs the rest of the day. Fri and Saturday are the worst as far as fatigue and no appitite. Start to come around Sunday but not great. Monday I usually over due myself because I'm so tired of being tired I wear myself out. Pray we do good this treatment week.. jeff
  • Luckygirl2
    Luckygirl2 Member Posts: 308
    #5
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    chemo
    I would do fine through the treatment but as soon as it was over and I stood up my husband would all but have to carry me to the car and that would be it for four or five days at least before I moved out of the bed much. Me and the pump were not compatable so I got good ole Xeloda, another butt kicker for 14 days on and 7 days off but the 7 days usually fell on my chemo week...

    I finished treatment week before Thanksgiving last year, I'm still waiting on the fatigue to go away... have I said this cancer thing just really sucks! :)

    On a lighter note, my husband has a bike and we took a week long bike ride around Harrison, Jasper, Ponca, Branson, it was a blast (my first ride) it was in October and the weather was perfect, got to see a herd of Elk. But since my bout with this, he's not comfortable
    putting back on the back, he's afraid he'll hurt me. I have to smile at how much he cares about my well being and I admit I'm a little hesitant too but I trust him with my life. anyway, Ive rambled. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

    Debbie
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #6
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    Luckygirl2 said:

    chemo
    I would do fine through the treatment but as soon as it was over and I stood up my husband would all but have to carry me to the car and that would be it for four or five days at least before I moved out of the bed much. Me and the pump were not compatable so I got good ole Xeloda, another butt kicker for 14 days on and 7 days off but the 7 days usually fell on my chemo week...

    I finished treatment week before Thanksgiving last year, I'm still waiting on the fatigue to go away... have I said this cancer thing just really sucks! :)

    On a lighter note, my husband has a bike and we took a week long bike ride around Harrison, Jasper, Ponca, Branson, it was a blast (my first ride) it was in October and the weather was perfect, got to see a herd of Elk. But since my bout with this, he's not comfortable
    putting back on the back, he's afraid he'll hurt me. I have to smile at how much he cares about my well being and I admit I'm a little hesitant too but I trust him with my life. anyway, Ive rambled. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

    Debbie

    Yes, I was also very tired,
    Yes, I was also very tired, towards the end I had to have my husband or daughter pick me. I was working 10 hours and had an hour commute twice a day, then had to go 30 mintues further for my chemo. You need to rest and take all you can get... Your body needs its
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #7
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    I was always exhausted when
    I was always exhausted when the pump came off. I was always nauseated about an hour after the pump started. Every time I ran to the loo before the first part of the treatment was finished.

    It gets better.
    Best Always, mike
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
    #8
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    thxmiker said:

    I was always exhausted when
    I was always exhausted when the pump came off. I was always nauseated about an hour after the pump started. Every time I ran to the loo before the first part of the treatment was finished.

    It gets better.
    Best Always, mike

    Yeah, I found disconnect
    Yeah, I found disconnect day I was the most fatigued. Also as time went on, I did folfiri for 10 months, that the fatigue started to linger on longer than just disconnect day. How many months of chemo. have you done so far, seems like so long?? What are your scans like now...sorry for all the questions!!!
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #9
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    Crashed
    The minute they pulled the pump out I'd crash. They also added steroids to mine so for three nights I'd be up wired like a toy and then wow it would hit me and then it would be hard to get me off the couch. This is a very normal part of the process, but get as much sleep as your body wants you to as this will help you feel better faster. Sweet Dreams!

    Kim
  • Doc_Hawk
    Doc_Hawk Member Posts: 685
    #10
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    smokeyjoe said:

    Yeah, I found disconnect
    Yeah, I found disconnect day I was the most fatigued. Also as time went on, I did folfiri for 10 months, that the fatigue started to linger on longer than just disconnect day. How many months of chemo. have you done so far, seems like so long?? What are your scans like now...sorry for all the questions!!!

    treatments
    I just finished treatment 27 of who knows. Before that I'd been two months without chemo due to a low WBC. Turns out, that two month break nearly killed me because my liver functions were starting to crash. My onc figures that when I resumed treatment I had about a week to ten days before my liver failed on me.

    I managed to get 11 hours of sleep last night, only getting up at 11:30 this morning to see if my niece from San Diego had got in yet. Of course, my dad always calls me around noon to make sure I'm alive (literally) so I would have got up anyway. Still feel like I could get another couple of hours.

    My last PET scan a couple of months ago was excellent: the tumor in my right lung is gone and for the first time we could count the ones in my liver and the biggest one there was a fifth of it's size from a year ago. I'm scheduled for an Alien Abduction ... I mean a colonoscopy on July 17, first one since my dx two years ago.
  • Doc_Hawk
    Doc_Hawk Member Posts: 685
    #11
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    Annabelle41415 said:

    Crashed
    The minute they pulled the pump out I'd crash. They also added steroids to mine so for three nights I'd be up wired like a toy and then wow it would hit me and then it would be hard to get me off the couch. This is a very normal part of the process, but get as much sleep as your body wants you to as this will help you feel better faster. Sweet Dreams!

    Kim

    Pop goes the plug
    That's about what it's like, Kim! I swear you can almost hear motors and servos winding down and stopping. Guess dad's gonna have to start taking a furniture dolly to roll me out to the car soon.
  • Phil64
    Phil64 Member Posts: 838 Member
    #12
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    ditto for me
    I did my first treatment last week and had the same experience.
  • pscott1
    pscott1 Member Posts: 207 Member
    #13
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    I have been on a 4 month break until June 8th...
    I started another round of Folfox w/Avastin. It hit me so hard. Last year when I was on treatment, I would only miss the day of treatment and then went right back to work on the Monday after my pump was disconnected. I remember being tired and weak but nothing like this time. I was exhausted this time. I couldn't get out of bed on Sunday after I came home from getting the pump disconnected and then I missed work until Thursday of that week. I felt like my legs couldn't hold my body weight. I was weak and shakey all over and didn't have an appetite nor the energy to sit up in bed. I went on the 22nd and today for treatment but couldn't have either time due to my wbc being so low. In fact, it was lower this Friday than last. I have to try again on July 6th. I'm scared about my tumor marker growing and the lesions growing. I was at 1.0 in January when I went off maintenance chemo (Avastin only) and after my May 30th MRI my tumor marker was 13.8. Last Friday it was 23.7 and I guess I have to wait until Monday to find out what it is now. Neulasta shots are the only thing that helped bring up my wbc last year so he is going to put me back on those. Good luck to you; you're my hero having that many treatments. Don' know how you've stood up to it. Best of health to you!

    Pam

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