First Chemo Treatment on the 9th

Hi Kaniksu,

I went through several chemo treatments and am now NED (no evidence of disease).

Good luck!

Sten

 So what kind of cancer do you have? Let us know what your treatment plan will be. Odds are pretty godd that at lease one of us have had it. 

Kaniksu,

I still can't believe how fast things moved after I was diagnosed. CT, PET, bone marrow, liver biopsy, port placement, spinal tap, etc.  and now I've finished my 4th cycle of R-Chop with 2 to go. 2nd methotrexate is Monday.  I'm more than half way through! 

You will be amazed a few months from now when you look back At how fast it goes. Good luck! We'll be here.

Sharon

Kaniksu said:

How are you doing?

Thanks for the reply Sharon. My first chemo got moved out till the 18th and I'mreading all I can, wondering if I will be able to work.Do you ? I did find out good news I am stage one and it is not in my bone marrow. Is the chemo as bad as you thought?..And what about your hair...so many questions...Nancy

Nancy,

First I will say I was stage 4 follicular non-Hdgkins lymphoma. It is likely that the amount of drugs you get will not be the same as what I got. So the following comments could be different since your drug dosages may be less than what I received. 

I strongly recommend you get a port put in, if the dr is not already planning on doing it. My first R-Chop was scheduled before my port was put in so the drugs were given through a line in my arm. Two of the drugs can cause some numbness if they get outside of the vessel so the nurse was being very careful. As she pulled the needle out I'm not sure what happened but I ended up with a bruise, meaning some blood got into the muscle tissue. It was small enough that it did not cause any problems. That was back in January. It took months for the bruise to go away and I can still see a shadow of it on my arm. I did not need to worry about it happening after that because I had the port. 

My hair started coming our just before the second chemo. It was so bad that the second day I had my husband shave my head. 

The chemo itself is not bad in that there was no pain or discomfort. The one exception is the first day of Rituxan. I was given Tylenol & high dosage of Benadryl to avoid the side effects of the Rituxan. Inspite of this I did have an alergc reaction to the Rituxan that first time. After that, no problems. I also found out that the high dosage of Benadryl can also cause restless-leg syndrome. Getting up and walking around seemed to less the effect. 

Part of R-Chop is Prednisone. For me I was taking 100 mg for 5 days, starting the morning of chemo. It definitely made me light-headed which wore off as the day went on. By the evening of the 3rd day I felt like I had so much energy I could have cleaned the whole house and then some. It seemed to wind down a little by the 5th day. On the 6th day I felt fine, no light-headed feeling because I was off the Prednisone. Day 7 morning wasn't too bad but by the afternoon all I wanted to do was sleep. Day 8 the same except I ahd to see my oncologist. She informed me that the "wrung" out feeling crashing from the Prednisone. Went through this for the 3 cycles. The 4th cycles the high didn't seem so high. The 5th & 6th cycles there was almost no high. A co-worked who is a cancer survivor warned me that I would be more tired with each cycle of chemo and this was part of it. Again, for me, with each cycle of chemo the count went down but did not come back up to where they had been before that cycle of chemo.

My dr recommended a stool softner because the chemo can/will cause constipation. One thing I learned from someone online was to start taking it the night before chemo. It helpd to aovoid some uncomfortable days after chemo. 

Good luck to you and to Sharon too. 

Everyone reacts differently...and the same to chemo.  I lost my hair about 2 weeks after my first R CHOP infusion. I had some really lousy nausea symptoms, and terrible constipation, but got support from my oncologist to just set up my own regimen for a laxative. I've found being proactive there has eliminated nausea and even the need for nausea meds. I went with good old Phillips Milk of Magnesia, I'm regular, and feel good after 3rd infusion.  I'm due for three more rounds and now feel much more confident about my post infusion time. I can back off the laxative toward the end of my 21 day cycle, but I start it again nightly the night before my next infusion. That program works great and I feel so much better.

overall, for me, chemo has been quite an adventure, but not a real bad one. My energy levels are down and on a RARE occasion I may have a sleepless night.  The Prednisone (the P In CHOP) didn't agree with me so I'm now taking dexamethazone instead with much fewer side effects.

Neulasta shots cause some people bone aches, but I was fortunate to get good advice to take Claratin to counter that and it worked great. 

i hope you can find that your anticipation of chemo is greater than your reality of chemo.  Stay on here and keep asking for advice. Everyone here has been where you are and ready to help!

Best wishes!!!

Kaniksu said:

Thanks for the good

Thanks for the good information Lindary..I do have my port. I guess the it's the not knowing what to expect is the worst..Are you finished with your treatments ? I will definitely ask her about the stool softener. I am trying to do as much as I can for my husband now, because I'm pretty darn sure I won't feel like doing too much then.I have atrial fibulatin that I manage with drugs..just hoping the chemo doesn't throw me back into afib...time will tell l guess I need to practice living in the moment...nancy

Kaniksu, 

I am working through my treatment, but am lucky enough to be able to work from home. I work for a group of ophthalmologists managing their billing office, so most of it is done via remote computer.  My husband picks up and drops stuff off for me when needed. They understand if if I have to logoff and rest, and it keeps me away from sick people. Although there are days I probably could work most of the day in the office, my WBC count is hard to keep up, and the last thing I want is a secondary infection.

I have had no nausea at all and hope it stays that way.  Tiredness would be my biggest complaint at this time. I'm in the hospital right now and just finished a methotrexate treatment, which is prophalactic.  I am stage 4, DLBCL.  #5 chemo on Monday so the double whammy week does tire me a bit more. I agree with Lindary, the prednisone week is nice and then the crash. But once I knew what to expect it was easier. Stool softener is important. miralax is wonderful for me.

i did lose my hair right before my second treatment. I also got to the point where I had it shaved. Hair was everywhere once it started coming  out.  I'm not much of a turbin or scarf person, so I bought several hats at Kohls. They have a lot of cute ones this time of year. i prefer ones with brims, and a cute scarf to keep my neck warm.  I also have a wig that is ok, and plan on getting a shorter one to ease into my hair growing back if all goes well. 

I try to stay positive, it's hard at times especially when I think of the future and what it might bring, But staying positive certainly makes me feel better. 

sharon

Kaniksu said:

Hoping I do..

I am supposed to be on some special meds for a week prior because I have afib and if they don't get here by Thursday I will be delayed agai..fingers crossed..i appreciate the advice about the constipation..that's a side effect I did not expect to hear about..This just really isn't a fun time for any of us right now...looks like you have a great pal with your dog to help get you through it..take care and I'll be checking back in on everyone..

Kaniksu,

How are you doing? Did you have the chemo on the 18th?  

Kaniksu said:

Had it on the 18th

Thanks for asking...it ended up being a long day..they thought it would take six hrs but ended up 10 hrs, because I had a small reaction..the nurses were great and got me out of it, so they just slowed down the infusion..This site and everyone's comments totally got me prepared for everything I experienced...Consipation,check, bad nausea,check, bouncing off the walls from prednisone, check...now I am expecting  the prednisone let down...Just pretty rough on me for the first few days. Only one nausea pill today and actually went in to work for 6 hrs today. My daughter came yesterday and shaved my head... I must say I will Never complain about the hair God gave me again..I'm hoping to go to the office tomorrow for a while, and then telework. I'm curious to find out if they increase the dosage with each treatment? I forgot to ask.. oh, birder if you read this since you were the one to comment on the constipation, I will now recommend Smooth Move herbal tea...I will drink a cup of it the night before the infusion and as long as I am on the nausea pill.... Best to each and all of you as we go through this together...nancy

I was lucky in that I never had nausea but constipation yes. Although that was a problem before I had chemo. I'll have to look for that tea. 

With your next treatment you should not have any reaction to the Rituxan so it should go faster. With each treatment they can speed up the Rituxan a bit as long as there is no reaction. I am getting Rituxan every other month now and it takes about 5 hours. 

Glad to hear all went pretty much as expected. Enjoy the holidays. 

Linda

Kaniksu said:

Nausea

I am amazed you didn't have nausea....mine was severe for three days even with the meds..Good to know about no reaction next time. I did have the doc prescribe some numbing ointment for the numbing shot. How long have you been going through this? One of my very dearest friends passed away from this 15 years ago....I'm thinking positive that the treatments have really advanced since then...Making myself a fancy purple cap to wear for Christmas...Keep in touch and enjoy your family....nancy

Nancy,

What drug combination are you receiving ?  I saw were someone asked you, but do not see an answer from you (sorry if I somehow missed it). I did see where two replies mentioned their own experiences with R-CHOP, the most common first line NHL therapy. Is your therapy R-CHOP ?  Knowing this will determine the best replies to your quesions.

Ranger work is so cool !  The building in your pic looks like some of the old ranger facilities here in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains where I live, built by the WPS and CCC around the President Roosevelt/ World War II era.  The Smokies -- most popular national park area in the United States.

For my part, welcome, and may your chemo experience be relatively problem-free, and most of all, successful,

max