Treatment After Effects ?

Oh no!  Sepsis is not something we have heard much about as a response to treatment here.  I can see where the radiation side effects of diarrhea are probable, but sepsis...have to look in to that.  At this point I hope you can eat whatever you can and get back on track soon.  More soon....and let us know how you are doing.  Hugs

Hey there.

I had 28 rounds of daily radiation and two rounds of cisplatin at the same time on week 2 and week 4. Beginning with the cisplatin, I was on anti-nausea pills pretty much round the clock until I was done with radiation. That was back in December 2016. My nurse described it best. Think of radiation treatment as a trying to boil pot of water. After every round, the water gets warmer and warmer until you reach a point it starts to boil. That's the point where they stop radiation. After it stops, it takes awhile for the water to get to room temperature. Basically, radiation can be cooling down up to six months and working its magic. For me the nausea went away just short of a month post radiation. I also had straight chemo (carbo-taxol) about a month after radiation so my symptoms were compounded by that but I didn't feel really well until around the 6 month mark for radiation symptoms and the 3 month mark after 4 rounds of additional chemo.

Interestingly, I never got a UTI until I was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. Now I've had four UTI's in the last 3 years. Radiation can cause scarring, change the elasticity of your bladder and other organs and cause long term effects in general which may make you more prone to things like UTI's. I've definitely noticed a change in how I pee but it could have been the radiation, surgery, chemo, and/or menopause which hit me like a truck. Good lord, hot flashes in your 40's is awful. You may have been put on some strong anti-biotics too which messes with the good bacteria in your bowels. I always use pro-biotics during and after a course of anti-biotics just to help things recover faster and I never use soaps near my hoo-hoo anymore. Soaps seems to irritate me down there and twice led to UTI's. Hope you feel better.

So sorry that you had to go through this.  I am glad you got your sepsis takin care of.   Sorry I can't give you any more information than you have.   But maybe try some popsicles to at least get something in you until you start feeling better.

Hugs and prayers,

Kathy

I'm surprised that your dr. let you travel so soon after radiation when your immune system was probably still under impact from the radiation. Did you know what your WBC count was?

I finished similar radiation (they called mine a "vaginal boost") in mid-December. A month later my father passed away from Norovirus and I wasn't allowed to travel for the funeral because my bone marrow hadn't recovered from the radiation yet and my WBC's were below normal. Your hips are huge producers of blood components so it's to be expected that you are going to be feeling the effects of low blood counts on both your immunity, appetite,and energy for some time yet. Add that you've already gotten laid low by the UTI and septicemia and it's no wonder you are having a poor appetite while fighting that and taking antibiotics that often cause stomach issues. You are in a fragile place right now, so please be careful about going about in the world.

You may want to keep in mind that you are still vulnerable to infection for a good six months after radiation, especially with flu and cold season around the corner. Do what you can to protect yourself till you feel more normal and stronger and your blood work is back to where it should be. Everyone thinks you should be back to normal when you finish treatment, but it can take longer than one expects to recover from something so prolonged and intense. Don't worry about what your eating for now. You need protein for your immune system, so if yogurt is what you can handle...enjoy without guilt! You can get back on the wagon when you've recovered more. 

You can still get a flu shot as long as it's not a live form of the vaccine so definitely get one, but a shingles vaccine, if you're at that age, would be a no-no because it's a live vaccine.

Hang in there, but be cautious, cautious, cautious about exposure to places where coughing, sneezing people leave their germs for a while. You've been through enough already!!