anal cancer

mak1970

Hello my friends! Sorry I was away for a while dealing with life stuff. I have been feeling stronger, and am in Canada (Montreal) for holiday.

The pump was not a bad experience for me- they attach it and you have tubing, the most tricky part is making sure you have enough slack to be able to function, but not too much that you get tangled. Honestly, I planned and in fact did not move too much at all for the days I had the pump- sofa party and catch up on tv shows and movies. (And since it was only a few days I did skip the shower just to be safe). Fortunately, it was planned for over the weekends so I did not have to drive back and forth to radiation with it. (It may be a good idea to get help with the driving if you have to drive anywhere on these days if possible, but like I said, I only had one trip home and one trip back to the center so I did it myself). Because it is chemo, you must take the normal precautions- drink lots of fluids, including electrolytes, protein drinks and not much else. Watch for the fever and call the oncologist nurse if it happens. Take the nausea meds beforehand if the doctor or nurse says it is okay, do NOT take the diarrhea med unless and until you have dirrahea, then take it immediately. Continue the Imodium on schedule until it ends but if it is more than a few days, let your doctor know and they may ex lomitil which is a wonder drug. For me, the first round killed the tumor so it was a good thing. The second round, not so much- not to scare you but this is when I had all the side effects.

Bless my friends- I almost feel that if we all lived in the same city we would be meeting for breakfast!

kittpugh

Dear Cinderthistle and Mak1970; I don't mind sharing my cancer story but I'm going to hold off for tonight because I'm just as anxious to hear from Mak1970 all about this Pump business as you are. Drink lots of fluids, yes, that seems to be the order of the day. I've discovered that I'm not the only one who finds drinking straight water a turn-off. I've found a few other birds of this feather. I know it is an absolute must to be well hydrated and come to the Radiation table with a full bladder, but water never seems to make me feel hydrated at all! Very strange that. And it's just so bland! Mushroom broth does the trick for me. Even a cup, 8 oz. and I feel hydrated. Perhaps it's the salt - though it has the least salt of other broths. As for diarrhea and constipation, Restoralax vs Immodium, that situation is a cat walk on a tightrope. I still struggle to know what foods and when to eat and when not to eat, going from one condition to the other. I can say that towards the end after many Radiation treatments, my body made more runs to the toilet with diarrhea than with constipation. But I never felt like the diarrhea was going to send me to the hospital. Cinderthistle, when you get your pump, let us know the schedule of its use and how its affecting you. As cumbersome as it may be I'm quite in favour of this device delivering an exact dosage at precisely the right time in the right way. Suffice to say that Chemotherapy has come a long way since the Terry Fox Marathon. I'm stunned at how much money has been raised for research, what some 950 million I think the ad says?!! Yes to Mak1970's comment that if the three of us were in the same city we would hang out at the breakfast bar. I wish we could. God be with you Cinderthistle and Mak1970.

cinderthistle

Dear mak1970 and kittpugh—-Yes! Breakfast would be great! Or even just coffee. I'd like that very much.

Went to Chemo today, but I knew there'd be no treatments. Just fluids. Told the doctor about all the sickness; she wants me to drink even more H2O (last week I felt as if I would float away, I drank so much!). She's also sending me some meds for the nausea. But another thing: She wants me to do, instead of the pump, some medications that I'll take at home. That will begin next week. (Thank you, mak1970, for all the pump info. We'll see what happens next week.)

I'm exhausted. Between the Chemo sickness and the ongoing weakness, plus I actually took down an old shower curtain + liner and hung new ones, I'm beat! Just wanted to get back to both of you as soon as I could. You've both been so faithful to continue communicating and it means so much to me. Bye for now! You're always in my prayers.