Serious Side Effects

Sounds Like....
She may be having a blockage. Does she have a colostomy, or are her bowels moving? I have been in and out of the hospital with quite a few of these, the pain is very intense, and I've had the vomiting and all, which they gave zofran through the IV for, and gave me Dilaudin for the pain, through a pain pump, and I've had to spend days in the hospital, just to wait on the bowels to move, and if they didn't, they would have to surgical go in and repair the blockage, which I was in the hospital 3 weeks for, I hope she doesn't have to spend Thanksgiving there either, I managed to not have a blockage in a couple montha now, I am also on the Folfiri with Avastin, but the doctors believe scar tissue from surgeries are more of a cause of blockages, then the chemo. Hope she feels better soon, let us know what happens!

Hugsss!
~Donna

davidh03 said:

Thanks
Thanks so much, Shayenne. She doesn't have a colostomy but I guess she might have a blockage. But if she's going diarrhea isn't there some passage of bowels happening? Hopefully she can get some kind of pain treatment at the hospital and maybe rest at home for thanksgiving. Is it the folfiri and avastin that causes blockages?

Thanks again,

David

Hi Dave...
Yes, if it's a partial blockage, some bowels may get through, and some won't, which is causing all that pain, I've had both, whole and partial blockages, where some stool was able to pass, but there was still a big blockage. I was put on a pain pump with dilaudin, which let the pain meds flow continously, while you pushed a button every 10 minutes or so for extra if needed, they will try to get her pain under control, that's for sure, the hospital I go to has that pain and pallitive team to help with that, and they were awesome. The surgeon told me that the Folfiri and Avastin was not causing the blockages, it was the scar tissue from my previous colostomy surgery, Irinotecan can tend to make things "sticky" my onc said, but it wouldn't keep causing blockages.

Folfiri and Avastin did wonders to shrink my tumors, but I also found that eating little all day long, and she needs to watch what she eats can also help prevent blockages. Like, don't eat alot of cheese at once, that actually caused a blockage for me, eat small meals throughout the day, watch the portions, give it time to digest, and since I been doing that, I have not had one blockage. Until her body gets used to the changes, of her digestive system, the docs just said the body may need time to get used to eating things like popcorn and peanuts and all that. I'm sure she'll be feeling good once she gets that pain under control, and then it's all about moving those stools before they may let her go.

Hugsss!
~Donna