kvolland

Pretty much every treatment is different. My husband didn’t have a lot of nausea but he did his nausea meds regularly after chemo. As a nurse this is a trick we did with our chemo pts. I made sure he took his Zofran (ondansetron) three times daily for two days and then he also had dexamethasone he took twice daily for two days. Finally he had prochlorperazine he took as needed. His biggest issue was tiredness.

Hugs, KrisV

Thank you Lainy,
I have been up to no good mostly….haha. Actually just trying to get my life back in order after Mark. It’s been a rough few months but I am alive and well. New job and new goals in life and now it’s time to get back to what I really love doing.
Happy Valentine’s memories to you too!

Wow Lainey, sounds like I missed a lot in my absence. I will have to read through and see what all you have gone through.

Hugs to you,
KrisV

Karol,
Welcome to the best little family no one really wants to be a part of. You will find tons of support here and lots of information. Remember there is no such thing as a silly question around here.
My husband had an extra-hepatic tumor. He had surgery first with a liver resection with a left lobe and caudate lobe resection. He had a heptaicojejunostomy with roux-en-y…..they removed all of the bile system including his gallbladder and then brought a portion of his small intestine up to replace that. He had many nodes removed with that of which one was positive but he did have extension along nerves and the lymph system. He had negative margins on the second try.
They are always pretty complex surgeries. The biggest thing I can say is lots of protein (unless doc has said not to) to assist with wound healing. If you are having trouble eating proteins you may need to try protein drinks and such. Also take things slowly. Keep moving but don’t overdo it.
Good luck,
KrisV

Diane –
You have to go where you are comfortable and that is the most important thing. I live halfway between Portland and Seattle and the last thing I wanted to do was drive either direction. We have a cancer center in our town but it’s so small and I knew they wouldn’t have a clue and certainly could not do my husband’s surgery. We went to Seattle for treatment. That meant a 2-3 hour drive up there and what could stretch into a 4 hours drive home – so dependent on what traffic was like.
I did it for 2 years and for a 6 week period of time, it was daily M-F for his radiation. I would not change one moment of that either. Often times he slept but more often he was awake and we talked…..about everything and probably more that we had in the 11 years of marriage before that.
I wish you such good luck with your trial.

KrisV

Lee –
My husband’s was only on the Left. The initially did a needle drainage of the effusion to look for cancer cells but found none. He did 10 days of IV antibiotics at home after that. He truly felt fine and other than some breathlessness especially at night. We went back a few days after the antibiotics were done and they found it had the effusion had returned. The next day they went in with a small video camera and biopsied the site which was now a mass then drained the effusion and the the pleuradesis which is the talc in the space to make the pleural stick to the lung. He had a chest tube in for 3 days then out it came. We went home 4 days after the surgery. He was on oxygen now though which was new for him. We did find out if was the return of the cc. And he did unfortunately pass away a few days later.
I will say that his was a very unusual case and VERY surprising to all of his docs. They all said it does not go where it did. My husband also had significant underlying lung issues from previous radiation to his chest as a teen. So there were a lot of other factors in this too.
Lee, please feel free to email me if you wish. I am more than will to help and guide. My email is;
dazoo3563@comcsat.net.

Hugs and Love to you both,
KrisV

Lee –
So sorry to hear of the change in your husband. It’s hard to deal with stuff like that. I wonder did they do general anesthesia for the placement. My husband just did a local and some pain meds for his placement. I know that plleural effusion can be a result of anesthesia. Sounds like docs have a good handle on it now.
Hugs,
KrisV

Michelle –
Sounds like you guys have a plan. Mark was on blood thinners through about half of his 6 months of chemo due to his clot after surgery. We didn’t have any issues other than he got nose bleeds off and on but they usually stopped without an issue.
Weight is always an issue. Mark was 245# when he had his surgery. He got down to about 190ish after surgery then leveled out finally at about 210# after just chemo. When he did the chemo (5FU) with the radiation he got down to 158# but like I said he had rare and severe reaction to the chemo….they told he could stop but he refused. We got him back up 210 after that. We did a lot of protein shakes. And you might out GNC or other health food store for flavored protein powders….we used several different flavors in his protein shakes.
KrisV