TGIF.....
I had never really looked forward to a Friday like this one before. It's the end of the week and I had my first round of chemo on Monday, so today, I almost feel like my old self again, aside from the following symptoms that have developed over the past four days:
chills
fever
nausea
nausea
nausea
diahrrea
nausea
tingling in the hands and feet
sensitivity to cold-as in when I drink my mouth feels like pins and needles
joint tenderness and pain-primarily in the knees and shoulder joints
nausea
fatigue
fatigue and
nausea.
Tomorrow is the pride parade, but I don't know if we will be going or not. We went to see the Omen tonight, the movie was okay, but it was nice to actually get out of the house for once and have some normacly if you will. My port is driving me nuts, as in when I lay, I can feel it in my chest. I've lost 6 more pounds, that of course due to the chemo, not that I am complaining, I am sure I could stand to lose a little more. I talked with Dawn, I don't know if I will go for the next round of chemo, but if I do, work is certainly going to be a challenge.
chills
fever
nausea
nausea
nausea
diahrrea
nausea
tingling in the hands and feet
sensitivity to cold-as in when I drink my mouth feels like pins and needles
joint tenderness and pain-primarily in the knees and shoulder joints
nausea
fatigue
fatigue and
nausea.
Tomorrow is the pride parade, but I don't know if we will be going or not. We went to see the Omen tonight, the movie was okay, but it was nice to actually get out of the house for once and have some normacly if you will. My port is driving me nuts, as in when I lay, I can feel it in my chest. I've lost 6 more pounds, that of course due to the chemo, not that I am complaining, I am sure I could stand to lose a little more. I talked with Dawn, I don't know if I will go for the next round of chemo, but if I do, work is certainly going to be a challenge.
posted by Christy at 11:19 PM
3 Comments:
Christy,
Fridays are good. I get my chemo on Mondays too. This past Monday was round #63 since Feb 04. I've been on 3 different protocols of chemo. I had chemo first for 6 months then surgery, then more chemo, then more chemo, surgery, then the chemo I'm on now (holy shit, that's a lot). I did the FOL/FOX one with Luecavorin, 5FU (gotta love the name), Oxyplatin and Avastin. The Oxyplatin is the one that got me the worst. I had the sensitivity to cold and being an ice cream-aholic, it was rough. I still have some loss of feeling in my feet, in my hands it's very minor. But the good news is that if I had NOT taken the chemo, the tumors in my liver would not have shrunk adn I wouldn't be here today. I didn't experience too many of the side effects you've listed. I actually kayaked for 81 consecutive days prior to my first surgery. When I started my second round of drugs(mainly the CPT11) I've had constipation issues of biblical proportions. It is in conjunction with severe stomach cramps. Just when I was figuring out how to handle it (juicing, laxitives, less food in) I started getting diahrrea. This was after about 30 or so treatments. I'm sorry I'm going off on a tangent here (chemo brain). Oh, and I sometimes smoke a little hooch if I do feel nausea and sometimes just because I've been delaing with cancer for 2 1/2 years and I'm sick of it. But Christy, my advice to you is to do the chemo your Oncologist wants you to do. I hope you trust your Doctor and that you are at a good facility. As much as I hate chemo and I have 24 more weekly treatments then I may be done, I feel if I stopped early and it came back, I'd never forgive myself. Hang in there. A very good site for us Semi Colons is this one by the American Cancer Society. There is a whole group of just colon Cancer people who are very nice and supportive.
BTW: It takes a few months to really get used to the port, but I'm very happy I had mine put in. It just makes it all so much easier
-phil
Hey Christy,
My first chemo session absolutely sucked. I was extremely sick. I couldn't keep anything down. When I went in to have the pump deconnected, they had to give me IV fluids because I was so dehydrated. Then for the second session, my oncologist tweaked my anti-nausea drugs. I was still nauseated and vomited a few times, but it wasn't as bad. I even flew from LA to Minneapolis the day after I finished. It wasn't pleasant, but I was able to do it. Now, after 6 months of treatment, I have it down pat. I go in on Mondays and I just know that I'll spend Tuesday and Wednesday sleeping - I only get up to eat a little and to go have the pump disconnected. By Thursday, I am able to resume normal activites.
There were some side effects that were cumulative. The cold sensitivity lasted the whole two weeks between sessions. I was definitely feeling more fatigue. I've also just recently developed some numbness in my fingers and toes.
I would really urge you to give the treatment another session or two before seriously considering quitting. Talk with your oncologist about all of the side effects because there are a lot of drug options out there to treat them and when you find the right combination for you, it can really help.
Also, another site that you might want to check out (if you haven't already) is The Colon Club. There are quite a few people on the message board who are in their 20's and 30's and dealing with all this crap. It's a really great support site and any time I've had a weird symptom, or something unexpected happened, I've been able to go there and find others who went through similar situations and to find out how they dealt with it.
Christine
Colon Cancer Sucks Ass
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It's
The Colon Club
and
Colon Cancer Sucks Ass
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