anrena18
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Dear Duke,
Whenever i come on these discussion boards, your words always made me feel better. thank you. thinking about you and your family.
Serena
my mom has issues with constipation. to help alleviate her symptoms, she takes Senna (natural laxative) – 4-5 tablets. Genearally you wouldn’t want to take too many laxatives daily but our oncologist said since its natural and if it helps her go , then its fine! She takes them every other day. She also added on a stool softener every evening. In the morning, I make her either oatmeal and I throw in flax seed and oat bran – lots of fiber! or I make her a HIGH fiber waffle- lots of OAT bran and high fiber waffle mix ( I like the brand Red Mill, you can find at whole foods or trader joes). In a previous post, I also asked about constipation, and someone recommended smoothies with coconut water – that really gets the bowels moving too! And of course, lots of green veggies, and less meat. Hope this helps.
Serena
Agreed to all the of above… as much as I read devastating news on here… I try to end my discussion board education with reading something form the “good news/what’s working” section – gives me a glimmer of hope. I really hope many others continue to share their amazing success stories or other good things that are happening in their lives..
I guess my question is… has anyone experienced chills, fevers, sweating 3-4 days AFTER the chemo infusion? How long does this last? and how do people best deal with this?
I’ve read a few posts where they have had fevers and chills and did not have to go to hospital, as it was more of a side effect rather than an emergency.. however most of those posts were dated back a few years. i’m just really concerned that my mom may have another infection.. Im sure most of you understand how horrific trips to the ER can be and I am just officially traumatized (maybe more than my mom!).
Thank you all,
Serena
Thank you Lainy, Julie T, and Marion. Just had a doctor visit and she reassured my mom that the pain is most likely from the cisplatin making her nerves more sensitive and thus the pain. I think mom feels better now. Thanks for your suggestions ladies
Serena
Thank you Lainy. I actually remember reading one of your posts a few months ago and you mentioned starting a low dose anti-depressant, Lexapro? I told my mom she should consider it and the onc gave her a prescription however my mom has yet to start it.. Prior to her diagnosis she was on zoloft… and suddenly stopped prior to surgery. I think my mom has convinced herself that taking anymore pharmaceutical drug will do more harm than good.. I’m hoping I can talk her into starting the Lexapro.. Thank you.
and they did not do a brushing or biopsy prior to surgery since having something block the bile duct was urgent enough for them to continue with surgery. However, like Pat, my mom went into surgery not knowing 100% it was CC. I’m praying things go well for you and your husband.
Hi Louie,
I’m sorry to hear about your husband but I’m glad you were able to find this place to ask questions. I definitely felt very alone and scared but after receiving advice, tips, and generous support here, I did feel a little more at ease.
My mom had a similar case to your husbands. Jaundice, then scan revealed klatskins tumor. Her CA-19 was normal. Resection of liver (35%), along with bile ducts, and roux-en-y procedure was performed. Surgery took 11-12 hours. Mom’s recovery took a little longer than others (4 weeks in hospital) due to PICC line infection and bile leak. Once my mom finally got home, she recovered a lot faster. She had to go home with a drain however that was removed a few weeks later. After the infections cleared, my mom finally started to eat and get her appetite back. I posted a few times inquiring about recovery times, you can search under my postings. Recovery is different for everyone, some people on this forum seem to recovery relatively quickly. I would think my mom’s recovery was on the slower end, however she is getting there and sometimes I forget my mom even had the surgery! Please continue to ask questions and keep us posted. Take care.
Serena
Thanks for everyone’s suggestions. She was a trooper and handled the first cycle fairly well. My mom just started her second cycle of gem/cis today and she was feeling a lot more fatigue (and more crappy) than the first cycle. My question is, and I know everyone handles each cycle differently, do the side effects improve or get worse with each cycle? I’ve read through numerous posts that some may experience a drop in platelets or WBC over time, and that fatigue is cumulative. Other than that, have people experienced the same side effects each cycle or does it get better/worse? Thank you all.
Serena.
Julie – thank you ! Its weird how I have all these questions once we get home! I should have asked them during the 5 hours we were there!
Serena
Thanks everyone for their helpful responses. My mom had her first infusion this morning.
Julie – good call on the Ativan.
I also made sure to bring extra bottles of water and snacks which came in handy.Catherine – you were right about the coldness of the drugs running through the veins. I did some online shopping during the infusion, and ordered my mom a down-feather vest
Duke – purchased ginger ale and ready to use it in case. Repeated your joke to my mom, she actually laughed!
Gavin- thanks for the extra links, I could always use a little more education on these chemo drugs.
Btw – I noticed everyone mentioned feeling jittering and wired from the steroids… now from what I’ve read and studied, cisplatin is considered a “HIGH emesis drug” and so the best regiment to prevent n/v would be Emend (aprepitant) on days 1-3, Dexamethasone 12 mg on day 1, and 8 m on days 2-4, and Zoran (ondastetron) 16 mg on day 1…
Did everyone follow that same regimen? I ask because after my moms first infusion day (day 1), she was only instructed to take the Emend, and not the dexmethasones on days 2-4… i’m wondering if my mom’s oncologist forgot to mention that in the directions.. or is it because my mom’s cisplatin dose is a “mild” dose.. any insights?
THANKS so mcuh everyone
Serena
