Afraid to do chemo

They want me to do chemo ,I don't want to do it mainly because I did radiation and some chemo already and the cancer spread anyway.The surgeon say maybe the new area isn't cancer.He say he'll open me up and take hold of my colon if its hard its cancer if not it isn't. sounds crazy to me. Anyway I have no faith that they know what their doing.Chemo does have a lot of side effects.Your husband could feel different as time get closer.I took nausea drug when I was on it and they do work. He could try chemo and the nausea drug if it doesn't work he can stop chemo . As a cancer patient myself I know our feeling about whats happening changes daily. Just tell him you support his decision no matter what he decides. He will relax and really think it though other wise he'll feel pressured from you and the doctors. If he feels your on his team it will make him feel so much better. Hope his healing goes well. prays to you and your family!

          Cinda

Being sick can be so hard, especially when you just went through surgery.  Ask his doctor for some medication to help control that.  I'm surprised that they haven't addressed this issue before now.  Make sure that this is under control and then he will feel better about starting treatment.  Welcome to the board, and don't hesitate to ask more questions.  We have a great group of people here that have been through almost everything.  Hope your husband feels better soon.

Kim

Quality of life, mortality and chemo are all difficult issues members of this board face.  If the sole issue is nausea, there is a good chance medication can help.  But perhaps there are other issues at play as well.  It might be educational to spend a few hours reading through old posts to see the issues about chemo discussed here.  Members of this board have a unique perspective and experience that is unlikely to be known or shared by doctors.  This is a very difficult and personal decision and I hope you can undertand and support your husband with the issues he faces.  Best of luck to both of you.

I was originally staged as 3b a year and a half ago. 4 months later, after right hemicolectomy and xeloda they found 5 mets in my liver.  I did 6 rounds of folfiri with avastin, had liver resection for 3 mets, radiation (sbrt) for the other 2 mets, and then 6 rounds of folfox for clean up.  I have now had 2 clean scans.  It's been a bit of a battle, but I am now considered NED (no evidence of disease).  I didn't really have side effects with the chemo because of all the pre-medication.  Just stay on top of the side effects, report any problems to the oncologist, and keep a positive attitude.  It CAN be done!

Only eight days out of surgery life can be pretty tough.  Hopefully, things will improve as time goes by.

Is there any possibility the anti-nausea meds are making things worse not better?  Sometimes drugs affect different people in different ways.

I have had a heck of a time with "heartburn," especially since the surgery.  I find that drinking a teaspoon or so of baking soda in water helps, especially when I have problems while eating.  It may be worth a try.  Also, Cimetidine [second link] (tagamet) likely has an anti-cancer effect, especially in the time period around surgery (look for old posts on this subject).  It also might help calm his stomach.  I have found that ranitidine (zantac) is very effective, but it has a big kick-back effect when I stop it, so I do not take it regulalry.  But if the problem were wrecking my quality of life, I would probably just take it every day.  Both drugs are available over the counter, the prescription dose is generally double the amount on the otc product.

For what it is worth, I was a 3b, did a limited course of chemo that almost killed me, and I wish I had not done it at all.  I am 2.5 years NED.

Finally, I am of the opinion that exercise helps with everything.  It is hard after surgery, but walking every day and increasing the distance as he can, might have a positive effect.

wifetojeff69 said:

Thanks everyone, so right

Thanks everyone, so right before he was diagnosed he started getting nauseasted but it ws only a couple short times during the span of a week so he just blew it off as he just had a couple off days. Then a week and a half later approx. he got the cancer diagnosis. He then had a lot of anxiety (which I'm sure everyone does after getting this diagnosis), so his doctor gave him some ativan until he saw his surgeon, his nausea at this time was still not a huge issue if was very ocassional. It gradually kept getting worse, they gave him zofran, phenergan and ativan. He did not think the nausea had anything to do with anxiety as he had it before finding out so he went to his doctor because he was having a lot of heartburn, but his pcp blew it off to anxiety nerves and put him on an anxiety medication and told him to follow up with his gastrointerologist, so we did that, being he was going into surgery in a week he did an upper endoscopy a few days before to rule anything out, ulcer, reflux ect.everything came out good, he wants him to do a gastric emptying study but we went to do that a couple days before his surgery but he was to nauseated to eat so didn't do the test. Post op he continued to have the nausea in the hospital, his surgeon doesn't believe it has anything to do with the surgery since he had it before hand. They gave him more nausea pills to take home.  During this time we reached out again to his pcp and said he still has the nausea but he dropped it back in the gastrointerologists lap. Meanwhile these last few days the nausea has gotten so much worse and it seems none of the nausea pills are working, his gastro interologist is doing a MRI of his head and we are having his thyroid tested. My husband had a benign brain tumor that was removed about 5 years ago, it was a very rare calcified tumor and the doctor did not believe it would ever come back but so hopefully we will get results from these soon.

 

As for the chemo thank you, it is hard to think he wouldn't want to do it to be safe. So when you had stage 3 did you have surgery and all the chemo before it moved to your liver? That is what he is afraid of, he thinks whether he does it or not it will come back, just because we have known someone that this happened to although he had colon cancer in 1992 and they didn't expect him to live longer than 5 years however in about 2016 he got lung cancer and died so I think his was 2 separate things.

I think he would feel much better going into chemo if he wasn't already so nauseated. I will look through all of the posts and see what info I can find. I would be curious to know how others did on folfox. thank you

Sorry the nausea is such a problem, I had a minimal amount through Folfox, so I haven't any suggestions. I was 3b at diagnosis, but two years or so after surgery and chemo, it pops up in the liver, 3 places. The onc/surgeon said he believed it was there before chemo. It popped up in one more spot in the liver 2+ years later, but I'll be 5 years NED come Sep 5th. I don't know if the chemo did anything, like in the bloodstream or elsewhere, but they didn't call for it after the liver stuff, so I guess it didn't work well enough, but everyone is different. Good luck to you...................................................................Dave

It's going to be a roller coaster of emotions along with appointments and decisions.  It's going to be hard to decide on what to do and weighing all the options.  It's a good thing that you have many doctors involved in your husband's case so he has more opinions.  It's hard to stay positive in a time like this, but you have to make sure that you can trust your doctors.  If you do, then get their opinion, but also make sure you ask lots of questions.

I'm glad that you are proactive in your husband's care and it's good that you go with him him to appointments.  Better 4 ears than 2.

I'm hoping that he can find some answers to his nerve issues.

Kim

Cancer instills fear in everyone.  I was petrified all thru this journey yet continued by taking 1 day at a time.  I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC colon cancer in 2007 and after emergency surgery was given a 50/50 chance of surviving 1 year.  I completed 11 of 12 Folfox treatments over 9 months. (Thru much prayer and family encouragement).  My nausea was horrific..my pain management doctor suggested Marijuana as a means to deal with nausea and keep my appetite up. (I lived in California which was one of the few states at the time that permitted medical marijuana).  For me marijuana was the only way to control the nausea.  I had all the nausea drugs on board and they did not control it.  It was a hard decision back then wheather I should use it.  I completed my chemo regimin except for the last of 12 due to a allergic reation.  I am a miracle and have been NED for all these years.  It was very difficult to say the least but it was worth it.  Yes, I am different than before cancer ( chemo brain, neuropathy etc) but I am here and able to enjoymy family as the NEW ME continues on.  Will keep you in my prayers.  And hello to all my old friends from 2007 

po18guy said:

Forewarned is forearmed

I have been in treatment constantly for just over 11 years. 20 drugs and counting. I was on one drug which was known for nausea for 5 years. I carried Zofran with me and at the first sign of nausea, I dissolved a tab of Zofran beneath my tongue, as heart patients do with nitroglycerin. Within 2-3 minutes, the sensation was gone. In those 11 years, I have thrown up exactly four times. I was taught early on to prevent, as the cure still allows you to go through the nausea cycle.

It is encouraging for me to hear that maintenance chemo can work for that long. Any tips to keep body healthy to take the chemo?