Opinions about weekly chemo. Yikes!

CajunEagle

Oh....and by the way...

You are going to have to get used to being stuck with needles for the duration (unless on down the road they come up with a better way). Every month....then three....then six...then annually for the rest of your life you will have appointments with your Radiation and your Chemo Oncologists whereby they will have you complete Lab Blood work just to see how you are progressing.  Also they may order a scattering of PET and CT scans along the way.  It's all part of the scene.  Good luck !

Larry

CajunEagle

Hondo said:

Hard Choice

 

Sometimes you need to make one of those hard decisions. My first treatment was with Radiation only because my cancer was very small. My second treatment was with both Radiation & Chemo. Sometimes I wonder if it was necessary to do because a year later it came back a 3^rd time. I decided then not to treat and did some herb med from a Bush Doctor in Honduras.    

 

I hope and pray that what every way you good it will be the best way

 

Tim

 

Hey Tim

Hope y'all didn't get flooded over there in Acadiana.  Twas really lucky here at my place in Baton Rouge, being that we are located atop one of the few hills here in the Parish.  It really is a sad scene all around.

Larry

SylMarie

CajunEagle said:

Oh....and by the way...

You are going to have to get used to being stuck with needles for the duration (unless on down the road they come up with a better way). Every month....then three....then six...then annually for the rest of your life you will have appointments with your Radiation and your Chemo Oncologists whereby they will have you complete Lab Blood work just to see how you are progressing.  Also they may order a scattering of PET and CT scans along the way.  It's all part of the scene.  Good luck !

Larry

Larry, thanks, buddy!  ;)  I

Larry, thanks, buddy!    I am already stuck with needles every four months to check my thyroid hormone levels. My veins aren't what they used to be. That's when the needle fear began for me. 

Oh, and by the way, the goofy med. onc. who first tried to scare me away from chemo, right before he told me that I should probably have it, also told me that he did not believe in pic lines or ports. He says they increase the risk of blood clots. This is a lot to take in for someone who is just starting down this road.

SASH

Weekly Chemo with simultaneous Rads

I did weekly chemo with rads.  My chemo was Carboplatin and Paxitaxotere and had 10 sessions with my 46 rounds of radiation.  This was over 16 years ago so it does pay for itself in the long run, even with the side effects.

donfoo

chemo and rads

Chemo with rads does improve the rad performance, at least most will concur that is what they have heard. 40 is pretty low so you should not experience many of the side effects posted here. Remember, as in my case, induction chemo was done before rads on a 3 week cycle, along with 5FU. Let me tell you about feel like crap. I did have weekly chemo with rads and experienced zero side effects of the chemo.

My medical team was unified in the belief to hit it hard the first time, so everthing improving changes of total anniliation was in play. 

MichaelHill1

On the bubble

I was on the bubble too.  Could do Chemo couldn't do Chemo.  I asked the chemo people to show me imperical evidence that this will help the outcome.  I was looking for something in the range of 30% better outcome combined with rads.  They couldn't.  So I did just the radiation.  30 days and I ring the bell tomorrow.  Yaaaa.  By the way Donfoo.  Harley protocol is great therapy.  I ride for hours not thinking about a thing.  Usual surf for that kind of stuff but the waves have sucked for almost 2 months now.

SylMarie

MichaelHill1 said:

On the bubble

I was on the bubble too.  Could do Chemo couldn't do Chemo.  I asked the chemo people to show me imperical evidence that this will help the outcome.  I was looking for something in the range of 30% better outcome combined with rads.  They couldn't.  So I did just the radiation.  30 days and I ring the bell tomorrow.  Yaaaa.  By the way Donfoo.  Harley protocol is great therapy.  I ride for hours not thinking about a thing.  Usual surf for that kind of stuff but the waves have sucked for almost 2 months now.

They said for me, it would be 5-10% improving of odds.

Congrats on ringing the bell! That has to feel good. I hear you about the empirical evidence. They told me that because I was T2 N0 M0, which they consider early-ish stage anyway, the chemo would improve the odds of no recurrence by 5-10%. My family and I discussed it and decided to go with the chemo, just to make everybody feel better. I hope that my little body can take it. There is never any guarantee no matter what we do, but we all hope for the best.

I hope your road to healing goes smoothly for you. 

SylMarie

donfoo said:

chemo and rads

Chemo with rads does improve the rad performance, at least most will concur that is what they have heard. 40 is pretty low so you should not experience many of the side effects posted here. Remember, as in my case, induction chemo was done before rads on a 3 week cycle, along with 5FU. Let me tell you about feel like crap. I did have weekly chemo with rads and experienced zero side effects of the chemo.

My medical team was unified in the belief to hit it hard the first time, so everthing improving changes of total anniliation was in play. 

The more I read, the more I agree. Hit it hard the first time.

Thanks to all the great information on this discussion board, I went with the addition of the weekly chemo. My family and I agreed that it was best to hit it hard the first time, in the hopes that we could avoid a recurrence, if at all possible. Even though they said that due to my early-ish stage, I would get only a 5-10% improvement of odds of no recurrence, it seemed enough to us. 

You really got a heavy dose of chemo. No wonder you felt like crap. You must have been incredibly relieved when it was all over. You did the weekly chemo in addition to the induction and the 5FU? Did they give you Cisplatin, and if so, do you remember the weekly dose?

I keep reading that everybody responds differently, and that some people have terrible nausea even with anti-nausea IV meds and additional oral meds. The med. onc. himself listed some severe side effects without once cracking a smile. He seemed very much on the fence about chemo in my case. It was only after I asked him what he would advise a beloved family member to do in my shoes, that he said, "Get the chemo." 

 

Tmclaren

Chemo

I did the 3 rounds of cisplatin 3 weeks apart with 35 rounds of Radiation .I had to stay in the hospital for at least 24 hours while having my chemo as they told me with this type of chemo they needed to monitor urine output before I could leave .I myself found the treatments extremely hard in fact they had to somewhat lower my second and third dose as I was so nauseated and light headed . They told me because of my age and reasonably good health they wanted to hit me hard .Best to hit it hard the first time and hope for no reacurance .My chemo doctor told me they go very close to killing you to keep you alive .So far cancer free 3 years.

EWadeLaw

SylMarie said:

EWadeLaw, wow... I'm so sorry

EWadeLaw, wow... I'm so sorry you had such a rough time. It sounds like your docs were on top of the situation, though, and knew when to give you a break. Were you given IV anti-nausea drugs and a prescription to help control your nausea? 

Did your ears get back to normal after you were done with chemo? The med onc who will be overseeng my treatments told me that if I had hearing loss, it could be permanent, and that if I had kidney damage, that could be permanent too. The guy was just so filled with happy words! Seriously, my husband and I left that office with our heads spinning.  And it takes a lot for that to happen.  :-O

We did lots of things for

We did lots of things for nasea. The IV meds worked well for a short period, it was the 2nd or 3rd day following that hit. I couldnt even keep the meds down, and the best ones I couldnt swallow. My ears did go back to normal. My kidneys seem fine. I truely believe part of the issue was the meds they were giving me to try and control everything, it was all just too much.