starting chemo thurs.

Oxy = neuropathy (tingling in extremities).......ask about Magnesium Sulfate to alleviate those symptoms.

Oxy = fatigue...rest when you need to.....nausea...can be managed by meds.

Avastin = watch for irregular heartbeats over time.

Xeloda = upsets stomach lining....very hard on feet....buy tin of bag balm or moisturizer and run your feet down and then put socks on to hold in the moisture...do 3x a day if you can.....can be hard on fingertips...same thing mosturize them.

Feet can get bad though so get started now to head off any trouble....by the time you discover it will be too late and you'll never really catch up.  The xeloda makes your feet peel and blister....they can also develop deep cracks....which can inhibit your ability to wear shoes....or even stand up and walk....and if so, with quite a bit of pain.

Report all symptoms to doctor.....

IV chemo can be toned down....they can lower the dosage....and they increase the infusion time to help facilitate the distribution of said chemical. 

Good luck.

Sundanceh said:

Kenny

Oxy = neuropathy (tingling in extremities).......ask about Magnesium Sulfate to alleviate those symptoms.

Oxy = fatigue...rest when you need to.....nausea...can be managed by meds.

Avastin = watch for irregular heartbeats over time.

Xeloda = upsets stomach lining....very hard on feet....buy tin of bag balm or moisturizer and run your feet down and then put socks on to hold in the moisture...do 3x a day if you can.....can be hard on fingertips...same thing mosturize them.

Feet can get bad though so get started now to head off any trouble....by the time you discover it will be too late and you'll never really catch up.  The xeloda makes your feet peel and blister....they can also develop deep cracks....which can inhibit your ability to wear shoes....or even stand up and walk....and if so, with quite a bit of pain.

Report all symptoms to doctor.....

IV chemo can be toned down....they can lower the dosage....and they increase the infusion time to help facilitate the distribution of said chemical. 

Good luck.

Start moisturizing your hands and feet now, because mine cracked after a few days and healed very slow.

Laz

Okay, others have covered the cold thing with oxi, here are a few other oxi problems that could occur:

Also expect jaw pain when you first start to chew food, it only lasts for the first couple of bites then goes away so don't be too worried about it.

Also your fingers and legs might go spastic on occasion, this does not happen too often, but enough to worry you, it also goes away in short order (not as quick as the jaw pain).

Crying, not recommended, it hurts your eyes when you cry.

Be careful of air conditioning and fans, you could lose your breath, remember you will breathe again if this happens, it's scary (happened to me twice, I was scared) but put your hand up to your mouth and nose and it will bring in warm air and it will be okay a lot faster.

Gloves help a lot when dealing with the cold side effects.

After a few days you will be able to drink cold things again, it was 5 days at first for me, but as time went on it would take up to 10 days before I could drink cold things.  It's kind of like drink glass shards if you drink cold stuff.  Warm drinks or hot drinks until you can handle the cold, get plenty of tea, coffee, hot cocoa, apple cider etc., as you need to keep hydrated, very important.  Another thing about the cold, it will hurt your feet if you get up on a cool morning and go to the bathroom without thinking about that cold tile floor, ouch, ouch, ouch all the way, keep your slippers handy.

As for nausea I used marijuana instead of nausea pills, it worked very well for me, didn't lose a pound while on that chemo.

Remember if you get diarhea start the immodian right away, and it's two tablets every two hours (I would usually end up with 6 tablets per episode but wasn't too often) but check with your onc to make sure.  If your bum gets sore, get some A+D medicated cream to put on, it's used for babies diaper rash and is great for grownups bums too!!  Also soft wet wipes that are flushable are good to have around, but don't try to use them right after oxi, a little too cold on the hands.

As for the Xeloda, I was on the 3000 per day, 1500 in morning, 1500 in evening, two weeks on, one week off. I did what my onc said, didn't use my fingers for much for very long lengths of time, I never suffered cracked fingers or feet, never had to do the lotion.  I wore sandals instead of shoes and socks.

And onto the Avastin, watch your blood pressure, this can cause a rise, and you need to be very careful.

And I don't remember which one you have to do this for, (I was on the same combo as you are going on) but you need your protein checked before every infusion, make sure they do that, they often forgot and my protein was a bit out of whack once, had to do that 24 hour protein check and everything was okay.

Good luck Kenny.   It isn't as bad as you imagine, I had imagined much worse and was pleasantly surprised it wasn't as bad as I imagined!!

Winter Marie

Let your doctors know aNy and all side effects you are feeling.  I had developed neuropathy from FOLFOX...the Drs were able to cute the oxaliplatin portion for the last few treatments... This helped minimize the cumulative effects of the drug. .  Best wishes to you.