nhl w/ r-chop help

clutchy
clutchy Member Posts: 2
My mom was diagnosed on may 5th, 2010 with B cell Non-hogdkins lymphoma NOS with splenic involvement. About a week later, her spleen was removed and was the size of a nerf football. They doctor said that was around 90% of the cancer. So last friday, she went in for her first R-CHOP chemo treatment. It lasted about 8 hours. After getting home, she was tired from sitting still all day. Saturday she rested all day. Sunday she kind of got up and around, we thought gradually improving and that would be the end of it. Then monday and tuesday she returned to work. Wednesday and today have been awful. Nausea and aches and pains all day and night to go with the sleeplessness. Her ankle has been hurting quite a bit. We think she may be dehydrated, so tomorrow morning she's going in for a checkup with her onc and we're gonna see if they'll give her some fluids there. But I was wondering how normal is this nausea with r-chop? I mean, we've been through three different nausea meds now, and none have worked. Prometh, ativan, and I'm not sure of the other but there is seemingly no improvement whatsoever. I'm not sure if anyone out there has been through this or not.. When she was first diagnosed it was stage 3. But after tests revealsed it WASN'T in here bone marrow or spine, he moved it to stage 2. 100% curable is what we're told. I'm seeing these awful stories of getting rituxan over and over for months and months after chemo is done, and if that's what's making her so sick, I don't want that.. Thanks!

Comments

  • dixiegirl
    dixiegirl Member Posts: 1,043 Member
    Nausea
    It's likely not the rituxan. Rituxan has very little side effects and is generally very well tolerated. It depends on if her cancer is aggressive or indolent (slow growing). They don't generally do rituxan maintenance with aggressive lymphoma, its more common with indolent.

    As for nausea, I got the greatest relief from Zofran. It's very important to take it for several days after treatment. It's much easier to control if you take it preventatively than trying to stop it after it happens.

    I'm sure her doctor will do whatever he can to help her. Take a deep breath and realize it's going to be ok. Chemo is hard, no doubt about it, but she can do this.

    Take care,
    Beth
  • clutchy
    clutchy Member Posts: 2
    dixiegirl said:

    Nausea
    It's likely not the rituxan. Rituxan has very little side effects and is generally very well tolerated. It depends on if her cancer is aggressive or indolent (slow growing). They don't generally do rituxan maintenance with aggressive lymphoma, its more common with indolent.

    As for nausea, I got the greatest relief from Zofran. It's very important to take it for several days after treatment. It's much easier to control if you take it preventatively than trying to stop it after it happens.

    I'm sure her doctor will do whatever he can to help her. Take a deep breath and realize it's going to be ok. Chemo is hard, no doubt about it, but she can do this.

    Take care,
    Beth

    We're just hopeful that this
    We're just hopeful that this won't be how it is after every treatment. The doctor says it is a moderately aggressive form. He thinks he can get rid of it all completely with only like a 50% chance of relapse. So we're hopeful. She's gonna have to get a lot of scans done but that's a small price to pay for your life. This morning she woke up with ankle pain, but is going to see her onc today for blood work since she has low iron anyways. We're hopeful the bag of fluids they're gonna give her will perk her up a little. I understand itsd very important to stay hydrated and stuff furing it, but she is having so much trouble eating or drinking anything. So we'll see. Just continued prayers and positive thinking is all I can do. I need my mom, so many people depend on her. This shouldn't have happened.
  • winthefight
    winthefight Member Posts: 162
    clutchy said:

    We're just hopeful that this
    We're just hopeful that this won't be how it is after every treatment. The doctor says it is a moderately aggressive form. He thinks he can get rid of it all completely with only like a 50% chance of relapse. So we're hopeful. She's gonna have to get a lot of scans done but that's a small price to pay for your life. This morning she woke up with ankle pain, but is going to see her onc today for blood work since she has low iron anyways. We're hopeful the bag of fluids they're gonna give her will perk her up a little. I understand itsd very important to stay hydrated and stuff furing it, but she is having so much trouble eating or drinking anything. So we'll see. Just continued prayers and positive thinking is all I can do. I need my mom, so many people depend on her. This shouldn't have happened.

    nausea
    Hi clutch,

    I think since the anti nausea meds doesn't seem to be working right now, I think it is something your doctor is going to have to monitor...to find the right anti nausea medicine for her. When I was treated, I was given anti nau meds during and a rx of anti naus meds after tmt.

    Now that the drs know what isn't suitable for her, they should continue to introduce new meds to help her fight the nausea. It is a good idea to keep salty and pickles on hand to help with the nausea feeling.

    Your mom is a trouper to return to work so soon. She sounds like a wonderful women.

    I agree with the previous commenter. Nausea may not be from the Rituxin, it may be one of the other chemo drugs.

    However, I do disagree with the previous commenter about Rituxin not given to aggressive lymphoma. Rituxin is a targeted drug for lymphoma especially the aggressive lymphoma. I have friends as well as myself that were all treated for aggressive NHL. Rituxin has worked very well for all of us. We are all in remission.

    I continue to get the Rituxin treatment as a maintenance plan by choice. The Rituxin works very well.

    I understand your concerns. But this whole treatment thing is a process. It getting the right medicines to work to make her better. I'd like to suggest a book that may be helpful to you: 100 questions and answers about Non Hod Lymphoma. It has answers to just about any question you may have and it will also provide more insight to medications (chemo, steroids, and anti nausea drugs).

    It talks about fatigue and is just an overall well written book. You should be able to obtain a free copy from your mom's Oncologist. If his/her office doesn't have it, some local Leukemia Lymphoma Society offices may have copies to mail you free of charge.

    Continue to pray for your mom. Your prayers, love, and support is the medicine that she needs to get through this.

    Please provide updates so that I may add your mom to my prayer lists.

    Take care.
  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member

    nausea
    Hi clutch,

    I think since the anti nausea meds doesn't seem to be working right now, I think it is something your doctor is going to have to monitor...to find the right anti nausea medicine for her. When I was treated, I was given anti nau meds during and a rx of anti naus meds after tmt.

    Now that the drs know what isn't suitable for her, they should continue to introduce new meds to help her fight the nausea. It is a good idea to keep salty and pickles on hand to help with the nausea feeling.

    Your mom is a trouper to return to work so soon. She sounds like a wonderful women.

    I agree with the previous commenter. Nausea may not be from the Rituxin, it may be one of the other chemo drugs.

    However, I do disagree with the previous commenter about Rituxin not given to aggressive lymphoma. Rituxin is a targeted drug for lymphoma especially the aggressive lymphoma. I have friends as well as myself that were all treated for aggressive NHL. Rituxin has worked very well for all of us. We are all in remission.

    I continue to get the Rituxin treatment as a maintenance plan by choice. The Rituxin works very well.

    I understand your concerns. But this whole treatment thing is a process. It getting the right medicines to work to make her better. I'd like to suggest a book that may be helpful to you: 100 questions and answers about Non Hod Lymphoma. It has answers to just about any question you may have and it will also provide more insight to medications (chemo, steroids, and anti nausea drugs).

    It talks about fatigue and is just an overall well written book. You should be able to obtain a free copy from your mom's Oncologist. If his/her office doesn't have it, some local Leukemia Lymphoma Society offices may have copies to mail you free of charge.

    Continue to pray for your mom. Your prayers, love, and support is the medicine that she needs to get through this.

    Please provide updates so that I may add your mom to my prayer lists.

    Take care.

    Seems like you are really up
    Seems like you are really up on the latest news. Which is great. I am fairly new to the site but need all the info I can get. Any idea on how fast they are making progress on follicular lymphoma. I was diagnosed in April and with stage 4 in June after bone marrow biopsy. Starting r-chop in a couple of weeks. I see you been a member for a while so you may have a lot of info. If anyone else has info please let me know. Thanks for your time
  • dixiegirl
    dixiegirl Member Posts: 1,043 Member

    nausea
    Hi clutch,

    I think since the anti nausea meds doesn't seem to be working right now, I think it is something your doctor is going to have to monitor...to find the right anti nausea medicine for her. When I was treated, I was given anti nau meds during and a rx of anti naus meds after tmt.

    Now that the drs know what isn't suitable for her, they should continue to introduce new meds to help her fight the nausea. It is a good idea to keep salty and pickles on hand to help with the nausea feeling.

    Your mom is a trouper to return to work so soon. She sounds like a wonderful women.

    I agree with the previous commenter. Nausea may not be from the Rituxin, it may be one of the other chemo drugs.

    However, I do disagree with the previous commenter about Rituxin not given to aggressive lymphoma. Rituxin is a targeted drug for lymphoma especially the aggressive lymphoma. I have friends as well as myself that were all treated for aggressive NHL. Rituxin has worked very well for all of us. We are all in remission.

    I continue to get the Rituxin treatment as a maintenance plan by choice. The Rituxin works very well.

    I understand your concerns. But this whole treatment thing is a process. It getting the right medicines to work to make her better. I'd like to suggest a book that may be helpful to you: 100 questions and answers about Non Hod Lymphoma. It has answers to just about any question you may have and it will also provide more insight to medications (chemo, steroids, and anti nausea drugs).

    It talks about fatigue and is just an overall well written book. You should be able to obtain a free copy from your mom's Oncologist. If his/her office doesn't have it, some local Leukemia Lymphoma Society offices may have copies to mail you free of charge.

    Continue to pray for your mom. Your prayers, love, and support is the medicine that she needs to get through this.

    Please provide updates so that I may add your mom to my prayer lists.

    Take care.

    Hmmm
    I wonder if different forms of lymphoma are treated differently in regards to maintenance. The docs where I go say they don't really do maint. rituxin for DLBC. Maybe it had to do with how well she responded to chemo and rads. They are doing new things all the time and this was about 3 years ago, thankfully she is still in remission and doing great.

    With mine this is the 2nd time I've done maintenance. Win...I know you have had a much harder time getting to remission that I have and hope you are doing great! We all have to fight this stuff the best way we know how.

    Take Care,
    Beth