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chemo

tomswife
tomswife CSN Member Posts: 3
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi my name is Denise. My husband Tom was diagnosed with stage 111 rectal cancer in jul 2003. He had 6weeks rad. and 5fu. He had surgery in nov. 2003 to remove mass he also had a temporary illestomy. It was reversed in dec. He just started chemo again 5fu/luecovin. He is in alot of pain and in the bathroom every 15mins. Does anyone know if this is normally or not. it's all so new to us. any reply would be welcomed thanks Denise.
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Comments

  • MelStar
    MelStar CSN Member Posts: 31
    #2
    Hi Denise. You don't say if the bathroom every 15 mins is diarrhea or vomiting, BUT if you go back and read some of the former posts, you will see that diarrhea is pretty common. Also the reaction to chemo is an individual thing. I too had 5Fu and Leucovorin, along with Camptosar. For the nausea, you might see if you can get an anti-emetic from the onc. For diarrhea, try Immodium. If that doesn't work, you might need to can call the onc to see if he'll prescribe some Lomotil. I had a supply of Compazine, Zofran and Lomotil in my medicine cabinet during my chemo and they worked wonders. Compazine made me sleepy, but naps are a good thing!

    Good luck to you and God bless you both.

    Mel
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  • spongebob
    spongebob CSN Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #3
    Hi, Denise -

    Ditto what Mel said. I used Decadron and compazine. Pain is never a good thing and not a typical reaction with chemo - that's usually a sign your body is telling you something is wrong. You never really described the pain - could it be gas pains? That's (unfortunately) normal - especially with the amount of time your hubby is spending in the "reading room". If it isn't gas pains, it could be adhesions - improperly healed scars from his surgery. Or it could be (c) None of the above. Talk to your onc about it soonest.

    Was his hemicolectemy on the right or left side? That tends to have an impact on how much diarhea patients have. Most important thing is that everyone is different in how they respond to chemo drugs. Just keep a good dialogue going with your onc and, of course, we semicolons will be here to answer as many of your Qs as we collectively can!

    Keeping you both in my prayers.

    - SB
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  • kangatoo
    kangatoo CSN Member Posts: 2,105 Member
    #4
    spongebob said:

    Hi, Denise -

    Ditto what Mel said. I used Decadron and compazine. Pain is never a good thing and not a typical reaction with chemo - that's usually a sign your body is telling you something is wrong. You never really described the pain - could it be gas pains? That's (unfortunately) normal - especially with the amount of time your hubby is spending in the "reading room". If it isn't gas pains, it could be adhesions - improperly healed scars from his surgery. Or it could be (c) None of the above. Talk to your onc about it soonest.

    Was his hemicolectemy on the right or left side? That tends to have an impact on how much diarhea patients have. Most important thing is that everyone is different in how they respond to chemo drugs. Just keep a good dialogue going with your onc and, of course, we semicolons will be here to answer as many of your Qs as we collectively can!

    Keeping you both in my prayers.

    - SB

    Hullo Denise--I had the same treatment and suffered the nausea and vomiting--both controlled by meds.--the meds. are usually a different brand name here in OZ and some of the guys here had entirely different meds. to me.I was given Metoclopramide(PRAMIDE brand name)here which stopped the vomiting. I found the diarrhea only a problem for 48 hours about 7 days after finishing a chemo session.
    As Mel and Bob said everyones side effects are different---I did suffer some stomach cramps(low down)--but only on odd occassions.Tom's pain is something to be investigated in my mind.
    best regards--hugs kangatoo n Jen
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  • rep801
    rep801 CSN Member Posts: 26
    #5
    As Mel and SB said. If in the bathroom for diarrhea, get onto Immodium or something stronger (prescription from the onc) if that doesn't work. You don't want to become dehydrated.

    It would seem that pain this far out from surgery should be discussed immediately. Start with the onc.

    Bob
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  • StacyGleaso
    StacyGleaso CSN Member Posts: 1,233 Member
    #6
    Hi Denise...

    I guess I am questioning why they reversed the ileostomy after only one month? Mine was after 6 months, to let the site heal, and only after 6 months of clean up chemo. I would ask the doctor why it was reversed so quickly. The purpose of the ileostomy is to let the surgery site heal, and maybe it hasn't had proper time to do that.

    Just a thought...

    Take Care,

    Stacy
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  • tomswife
    tomswife CSN Member Posts: 3
    #7
    StacyGleaso said:

    Hi Denise...

    I guess I am questioning why they reversed the ileostomy after only one month? Mine was after 6 months, to let the site heal, and only after 6 months of clean up chemo. I would ask the doctor why it was reversed so quickly. The purpose of the ileostomy is to let the surgery site heal, and maybe it hasn't had proper time to do that.

    Just a thought...

    Take Care,

    Stacy

    Thank you everyone for getting back to me. This is the first place I'v been able to get some feedback. Tom's been on chemo for two weeks with really bad diarrhea. He feels spasms in his lower stomach probaly bowels. We went to the onc this week the doc suggested taking 2wks off from the chemo to see if the diarrhea clears up. He's taking immodium and levin for the spasms. I to feel that they did not give him much healing time between the ileostomy and the start of the chemo. The doctor said that having the ileostomy for a month was long enough so they reversed it. thanks again to all denise
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