Chemo on Monday

[steven_hedges]

Another lurker comes out of the undergrowth ...

After consultations etc. which started in July, I am due to start chemo on Monday - delayed due to holidays and the incompetent bureaucracy of the NHS. I had a radical orchidectomy at the beginning of August. This was confirmed to be a seminoma. Since then, a PET scan confirmed that the cancer had spread to my paraortic lymph node. So, stage two metastatic germ cell tumour.

The chemo will be 3xBEP. There is a trial I can go onto - testing the best dates to give the Bleomycin - which the oncologist recomended I go onto. As he said, "They will pay attention to you on a trial". So I will probably do that.

I have done a lot of research on TC, so I know that I need to do the chemo. I was amazed to see that the survival rate for TC in the 70's was about 10%, compared with about 95% now that good chemo is available. So there really isn't any choice. But still, I am worried about the chemo and the effects it will have on me. Bizarrely, I've never felt healthier than I do now!

I think the problem has been that the cancer has almost been unreal - it hasn't effected my life at all, it doesn't impact on what I do at all - yet now the chemo makes it all a lot more real and, so a lot more scary.

Will let you know what happens.

[Chris'Mom]

Steven, keep us posted on your chemo journey...my son went thru it...we are here if you have any questions or concerns....thinking of you...Mary Ellen

[dadmo]

steven:
The chemo won't be easy but just keep reminding yourself that you will win. The Bleo trial sounds interesting, as you get information could you please post it.

[drom]

My son also went through the chemo and while it took a lot out of him some days he did fine once the nausea was under control. The nurses who administer the cehmo are a big help, trust them

Alex did 4x BEP. The Bleo was ok, not as bad on the lungs as it could have been. He was 3rd stage, the cancer spread to the lungs and was given a 50% chance of survival. The chemo did the trick and he is in total remission and back at school. Your outllok is very good indeed.

Domenic

[Lori]

When someone asks my husband how he feels his answer is "disturbingly good". He also feels like he has never been healthier but yet is doing two rounds of high dose chemo to try to kill this nasty disease. Hydration is one of the keys to staying strong during chemo!

[steven_hedges]

Out now

I'm out now. Really, apart from the frustration of having to work with the NHS (you just have to keep pressing them or everything slips...), and not really having much sleep, and having multple needle marks and cannulae, I don't feel too bad.

I went onto the trial but unfortunately I was randomised into the traditional treatment. The regime is Day 1: Etoposide+Cisplatin, D2: E+C+Bleomycin, D3: E, D8+D15: B as outpatient. The trial is looking at administering the bleomycin in days 1 and 3 by long infusion, rather than on days 8 and 15.

What amazed me was how long it takes. The cisplatin is the worst. By the time you've had the diuretics, the chemo, and the rehydration it takes more than 15 hours. The etoposide was only about two hours and the bleomycin was 30 minutes. But with the antiemetic drugs and flushing the line etc the longest day's drugs took about 19 hours.

Since they are so concerned about the effect the cisplatin has on your kidneys they make sure you drink lots of water and they measure urine output. So I was up every half an hour or so to wee into a bottle. (When my three year old soon came to visit, he thought this was hilarious.)

Now I am just waiting for the side effects to cut in. I am stocked up with ant-emetics and mouthwashes. With luck I won't have anything too serious, but I guess expecting the worse will leave me pleasantly surprised.

Amazingly, I put on 6 kilos over the course of the chemo. The nurses were confused about this but I was discharged anyway and told to keep an eye on my weight.

[dadmo]

It sounds like you're doing ok. Just keep drinking those fluids you still need to flush that stuff out of your kidneys.