Chemo Treatment Plan - Help!

littlemisskitty

OK Question for everyone who has gone through this prior and had chemo treatments. My mom has to go through chemo and radiation treatment. We were originally told by her doctor that there would be 6 weeks of radiation and 3 chemo treatments spread out to every other week of the treatment. We were coming to terms with this but when we arrived at the chemo doctor's office today (the medical onologist) he said she would be going through 8 chemo treatments, one per week. I questioned how she can possibly have 8 chemo treatments when she was only having 6 weeks of radiation. He said he would just do treatments of chemo before the radiation to fit them all in. Somehow this didn't sit right with me. Is this how it's typically done? Further more, is chemo given two weeks prior to radiation just to 'fit them in'? Help! 

KTeacher

Mine

that's how I had my treatment when I had chemo and radiation.  I think it's a lower dose of chemo given weekly.  I would't have wanted it stronger and every other week.  They give you an anti-nausea med and benadryl before they give you the chemo.  They will give you a prescription for anti-nausea pills, get them, take them at the first sign of nausea.  I only felt sick on the second or third day after chemo.  If your mom doesn't have a port, I highly suggest it.  I went through chemo without it an my veins have all collapsed, very difficult to finish chemo and now difficult to get blood work done.

hwt

KTeacher said:

Mine

that's how I had my treatment when I had chemo and radiation.  I think it's a lower dose of chemo given weekly.  I would't have wanted it stronger and every other week.  They give you an anti-nausea med and benadryl before they give you the chemo.  They will give you a prescription for anti-nausea pills, get them, take them at the first sign of nausea.  I only felt sick on the second or third day after chemo.  If your mom doesn't have a port, I highly suggest it.  I went through chemo without it an my veins have all collapsed, very difficult to finish chemo and now difficult to get blood work done.

Chemo

Originally, I started Cisplatin in higher doses but it took its toll on me and I did the smaller weekly doses with less difficulty. 

avisemi

Hi,
my husband had 3 cycles

Hi,

my husband had 3 cycles of chemo (taxotere, 5fu and cisplatin) before radiation and carboplatin once a week during his 7 weeks of radiation. The carboplatin dose was very small. The onc explained that it was to act as a potentiator (to help radiation work better). 

 

phrannie51

The plan sounds right to me....

Smaller doses given every week is easier on the body.  I had three large doses given every three weeks over 7 weeks of rads....this way will be easier.  Many people have chemo before they start rads....with the majority of the chemo given concurrent with the radiation treatments. 

p

yensid683

Dosage or medication change

You don't mention what chemo agent your mother was going to have.  I had rads and chemo and had the 8 chemo sessions through the 33 radiaton treatments, but with a different drug than Cisplatin.  I had Eribitux, which was much easier to take than Cisplatin.  No nausea, no queasiness, no hair loss, just a slightly embarassing acne-like rash.

here's hoping your mom has an easier time of things

hrowe

I had Cisplatin

once per week for 6 weeks. I also had 6 rad treatments per week (35 total). Two were on Thursdays. I would have a rad treatment at 8am, chemo for 5 hours (takes awhile to do the hydrations, along with the chemo bag) and then a 2nd rad at 3pm.

Med and rad oncologists have slightly different treatment plans but the protocol is pretty much the same with everyone. Understand, they see THOUSANDS of patients and I am quite confident they know what they are doing. 

My treatments finished June 2012.

littlemisskitty

yensid683 said:

Dosage or medication change

You don't mention what chemo agent your mother was going to have.  I had rads and chemo and had the 8 chemo sessions through the 33 radiaton treatments, but with a different drug than Cisplatin.  I had Eribitux, which was much easier to take than Cisplatin.  No nausea, no queasiness, no hair loss, just a slightly embarassing acne-like rash.

here's hoping your mom has an easier time of things

Chemo Drug

Honestly as horrible as it sounds, we are hospital shopping. She has been going through Yale in New Haven for her surgeries. She loved the surgeron and he was wonderful. But for treatment, The chemo guy at Yale didn't leave her feeling so good. He at first mentioned a trial. He explained it totally differently than the papers he handed her. So that left us feeling quite uneasy. Since we live in Connecticut, there are many hospitals to choose from. She's spending this holiday weekend on the computer going through trials, drug information and trying to find one that she can feel confident with while making appointments at all the hospitals to find one that might make her feel confident. So far the only drug that has been offered to her is the Cisplatin which is the one I guess that's more popular. She wanted something different that wasn't going to wipe her out as she and I care for my 86 year old grandma (her mother) and I think shes' afraid to be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks and then some. I told her to make her focus on getting herself better to have a merry christmas with her grandchildren (my sister has two kids and are planning to come for a visit for Christmas). 

phrannie51

littlemisskitty said:

Chemo Drug

Honestly as horrible as it sounds, we are hospital shopping. She has been going through Yale in New Haven for her surgeries. She loved the surgeron and he was wonderful. But for treatment, The chemo guy at Yale didn't leave her feeling so good. He at first mentioned a trial. He explained it totally differently than the papers he handed her. So that left us feeling quite uneasy. Since we live in Connecticut, there are many hospitals to choose from. She's spending this holiday weekend on the computer going through trials, drug information and trying to find one that she can feel confident with while making appointments at all the hospitals to find one that might make her feel confident. So far the only drug that has been offered to her is the Cisplatin which is the one I guess that's more popular. She wanted something different that wasn't going to wipe her out as she and I care for my 86 year old grandma (her mother) and I think shes' afraid to be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks and then some. I told her to make her focus on getting herself better to have a merry christmas with her grandchildren (my sister has two kids and are planning to come for a visit for Christmas). 

Ya know....

I have yet to meet anyone here in the last three years who wasn't "out of commission" for a few weeks at the very least....regardless of what drug was given.  Was Erbitux one of the drugs mentioned?  Not saying that it doesn't have it's share of side effects, but it seems to me that many of the people who got it have said it wasn't the knock'em down, and drag'em around bad as Cisplatin. 

p

MrsBD

Confidence

It is important to have confidence in your doctor and part of it depends on asking questions if something doesn't make sense. I found the P.A. and nurses to be great sources of information. As far as having chemo before radiation, several of the drugs used require a "loading" dose a week before radiation starts. Most people have cisplatin, but I had Erbitux. The big side effect was a rash, which was manageable. Radiation's effects were worse. As far as downtime, according to my cancer team, the treatment for H&N cancers is one of the most intense, and most people miss some work. My treatment took place during summer,  but I did not return to teaching the first semester. I slept a lot but was able to do laundry and the important household chores. You are in for a bumpy ride, but you can come here for suggestions, support, and prayers.

 

 

 

 

wmc

That is all great advice from those who have been there.

That is all great advice from those who went through it. I only had surgery, but they lived it and everytime it is always just about the same advice. Have faith in your doctor is very inportant on how it will go for you. The finest doctor in the world, and you don't have faith and full trust, is not as good as having a good doctor whome you beleive in and have faith he is the best for you. He will be the best for you because you conected. Next you better beleive in YOURSELF, with all you have and get an attitude as well that nothing can stop you and you will do this and you will be the winner of this fight. You will recover better and faster with this belief. I have lived it and seen it first hand several times. For me, only five persons thought I would make it and I was one of them. I did and I'm great. My wife had severe nerve damage and fibercitus and was told not to try to exersize as it would make her joints worse, and a severed nerve in her leg and numb from the knee down. She would be confined to living in a wheelchair, this was 25 years ago. She did not listen and did exersise and the nerve rerouted and she got the feeling back, and she walkes one to two miles every day and rides a bicycle up to six miles a day. Never give up on yourself. She is turrning 67 this year and has stage 3+ kidney failure. Like I said, never give up. Her doctors can't explain how she did it as there is no medical reason that she ever could do it.

Hope this helps you some, you're doing great.

Bill