Chemo side effects - Fatigue

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zealdin92
zealdin92 Member Posts: 2
in Skin Cancer #1

Hi everyone, one of my good friends has been undergoing chemo. He is on his second round. I've noticed that he has had a significant drop in energy and is suffering from fatigue. I know this is normal and to be expected.  I was hoping that some people who have gone through this before might share their own tips and suggestions on how to deal with this. He told me he feels very frustrated being so tired all the time which is totally understandable. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Sorry if this is a bit vague! ThankS! 

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  • CajunEagle
    CajunEagle Member Posts: 408
    #2
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    Okay, I'll give you some personal feedback.

    Going through chemo therapy is a mixed bag of physical feelings and emotions.  Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with stage 4 left tonsil cancer.  The tumor was agressive and was controlling my Carotdid Artery on my left side and parts of the spine area of my neck.  Surgery could not be done due to total damage in main parts of my head, so only Chemo and Radiation could only do the trick.  There was alot of doubts I would make it by the medical field, so the protocol was 8 Cisplatnin treatments every two weeks apart (most only can tolerate 6) along with 36 daily rounds of radiation.  As you can see.....I made it.  Somehow.  The 1st round of Chemo, I was just fine.  Played golf....ran/walked each day...ate well....etc.  After the 2nd round, I still pretty good when I got home.  The next morning I got out of bed, and it hit me like I was hit with a baseball bat.  I was totally exhausted and felt no desire to eat at all.  Reason being is the body and it's cell structure is being attacked by a platinum based chemical.  To get to the cancer cells, it has to kills lots of the good cells, and all you want to do is just sleep.  So that's what I did....mostly.  I had a feeding (PEG) tube for nutrition, and only got out of the house for daily radiation appointments.  Your friend's body is going to dictate what it is to do, so let it.  I'm only on this site due to having a re-occurance of Melanoma on my right ear area.  It was so severe that in surgery they removed my right ear, and placed a flap (tissue...muscle...blood veins) from my front left thigh to cover up the surgical site.  It's taken some getting used to since the 14 hour surgery was 8 weeks ago, and I'm working hard to get my strength and emotional well being back to some form of normalcy.  Tis a chore.

    Larry

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