Chemo Break – Recuperation
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Hi Jan,
I didn’t respond to your other post since a month after finishing 3 Gem/CIS cycles, Mom went onto a SIRT treatment. Although she was better by the time she went onto the radiation, I do not think she was back to her normal self at 4 weeks. Even two months after the SIRT, she still had some tiredness. However, I think that 2 months after chemo without additional radiation treatments would have but her back to feeling herself.
It is frustrating. With the radiation, they said 2 weeks of exhaustion…. Mom was a bit depressed that two weeks came and she still felt lousy. However, they did go for a very high treatment dose and once 3 weeks hit, every day after that was grealty improved.
At 5 months since treatment, she’s walking everyday and just spent a weekend babysitting for 5-year old twin grand daughters. I’m cancer free, but the energy of the girls might be beyond my capabilities. She thrived having them.
I worried that we’re going “chemo free” until we see a progressive scan, movement on bloodwork, or until she starts feeling symptomatic. It’s so tempting to say shouldn’t we keep killing/shrinking as much as we can. However, I am starting to understand that chemo is nasty stuff and we need to balance its curative properties versus the toll it takes on the body. So, at this point, going along with the doctor’s advice to enjoy life, and wait until next tests in Sept .
Best wishes for a speedy recovery from symptoms…
Catherine
Thanks, Jan, for passing on the helpful information for all. Hoping for the side effects to diminish with each day. Wondering, dear Jan, where are the tumor markers at this point? I seem to recall that you had an appointment on July 7th for scan and blood test.
Hugs,
MarionAfter further reading, I realized that I probably should have posted this question in the chemo discussion area, but looking there I believe I may have found an explanation for what my husband is experiencing.
After being on break from his chemo treatments for a month, he still has the swollen legs/feet and is running the fevers and has the fussy problems with food tastes and appetite that he experienced while actively regularly receiving treatments. An overly simplistic comparison might be if I (call me chemo) walked into a room (call it my husbands body) I could turn on the lights (effects and side effects). Then if I walked out of the room, the lights would remain on. So essentially the effects and side effects remain active for a substantial period of time once treatments have discontinued. It doesn’t change his situation, but at least we have a basic understanding of what’s going on with him. I’m not sure why it is helpful to know that, but it is.
I gleaned this from reading descriptions of experiences from people several years back. To those of you who shared those experiences, where ever you are, we thank you.
Doc told my husband that chemo was beating him up and he needed to take a break for a couple months. I have a question: From the date of the last chemo treatment (gem/cis over two 8 week sessions) has been almost exactly 4 weeks. Is there a point at which he will “turn a corner” and I’ll start to see the pre-chemo hubby? He still has the swollen feet and some of the other symptoms that I associated with chemo effects. I was hopeful that there might be a bit of a bounce back, but not yet. I can’t find anything that would provide me with some guidelines here. I’m wondering what I could realistically hope for. Thanks.
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