Chemo started today

[mstlyn]

Hey everyone I wanted to let you know that my son started chemo today and everything went very well for him. No nausea or anything and in fact when we got home all he did was eat!

I have his anti nausea medication here at home but before we left the chemo clinic I double checked with a nurse about when he should be taking it, since he had anti nausea meds in his port before they gave his chemo.

The nurse told me that the medication they gave him should be good for 24 hrs. but for some reason I feel like I should give him some compazine tonight.

He had the anti nausea meds around 9:00 am or shortly after. It is too late now to call the clinic to ask and I dont think it will hurt to take the compazine. What do you guys think? Should I or not?

His chemo is at 9:00 am tomorrow, so by that time it will be 24 hours and I am concerned that he may start feeling sick. I am guessing they will give him anti nausea meds in his port again before chemo but still ...

Anyway, I feel very good now that he is being treated and I feel good about the doctor. Today when I went to get some coffee I found two articles from our newspaper "The Flint Journal"
posted on a bulletin board about Dr. Danish. In March 2006 he was recognized as physician of the year and was given honors and an invitation to dinner at the white house with the president.

I also noted that the name of one of the doctors that developed the treatment that cured my son-in-law of his non-hodgekins lymphoma, was given as the one that reviewed my sons CT scan/Chest.

I think my son is in very good hands now. I can't begin to say how happy I feel about that.

[tccancercop]

Don't worry to much about becoming "sick" all the sudden. Everyone is different, for me it was gradual. . .i was sick during the weekend after a week of chemo. I was 24 when i started chemo and have had vinblastine, ifosfamide, cisplatin, carbolplatin, and etoposide as well as high doses. I never really got too bad although some weekends were worse than others. How old is your son and what is his stats??

[mercyriver]

I had forgotten I would have a chemo caregiver buddy.

I am glad to hear your son had such a great first day!

My husband is exausted and nauseated already. He has Kytril and compazine he is taking already.

The chemo nurse told him that nausea is about the same for the entire time, so what he feels now he will feel through out. I don't know how true this is, but I can always hope.

Here is to an easy first week!

Becki

[dadmo]

mstlyn:
That's great that your son had a good first day. Don't worry too much about the nausea but you're doing the right thing wanting to stay ahead of it speak with his nurses about giving him a pill at bedtime that one should ensure he makes it to the morning. One thing you may want to be aware of is constipation, it can get quite bad and warm prune juice seems to help with that. Keep us up to date and stay strong.

[mstlyn]

Don't worry to much about becoming "sick" all the sudden. Everyone is different, for me it was gradual. . .i was sick during the weekend after a week of chemo. I was 24 when i started chemo and have had vinblastine, ifosfamide, cisplatin, carbolplatin, and etoposide as well as high doses. I never really got too bad although some weekends were worse than others. How old is your son and what is his stats??

95% embryonal carcinoma 5%yolk sac

A scan from January 8th showed an enlarged abdominal lymph node

and a Scan done January 18th showed a tiny nodule in each lung.

The doctor said he is StageIII probably "A"

His treatment is 4XEP

For nausea they are giving him Zofran and I have both Zofran and Compazine at home for him. They said not to give the Zofran until the weekend when he is done with chemo. Compazine- she said if he even thinks about feeling sick just to go ahead and take some.

He is also on allopurinol

Did you have to get neulasta injections? They said my son has to get them every monday after his week of chemo.
Another chemo patient told him that the injections are very painful, and cause a lot of painful symptoms for a few days.

[mstlyn]

mstlyn:
That's great that your son had a good first day. Don't worry too much about the nausea but you're doing the right thing wanting to stay ahead of it speak with his nurses about giving him a pill at bedtime that one should ensure he makes it to the morning. One thing you may want to be aware of is constipation, it can get quite bad and warm prune juice seems to help with that. Keep us up to date and stay strong.

Yes he has already started having problems with bowel movements and they said it is from taking the vicodin. I have some senokot, milk of magnesia, and magnesium citrate for him. I will buy the prune juice today.
I asked the nurse about giving him the compazine even though he is getting anti nausea meds with his chemo .. she said.. if he even thinks about getting sick, just take it.
Chemo only lasted 2 1/2 hrs today and he is napping now. I see that I will have to stay on him about drinking a lot of liquid though.

[mstlyn]

Excellent !! It is good to hear that. From your posts he seemed like he was right on. I am glad the treatment has started, as the sooner it will be finished.

Did they go with the BEP or the EP ? Just courious.

Also, certainly ask your Dr about the anti-N schedule, but did they give you Ativan? That is actually helpful for anti-n and sleep, so maybe he can take that as a " bridge". If they didn't give it to him, ask them for it. It is pretty common so he shouldnt have a problem with it.

I am happy for you and your son. You did an excellent job getting him to the right place and treatment.

Robert

Hi Robert,
They are sticking with the 4XEP .. I spoke to the doctor about that after they found the nodules in the lungs and he said that 3XBEP is equal to 4XEP, so the treatment plan remains. They did not give him Ativan ... He has zofran and compazine.
They told me that the Decadron they give him with his chemo could make it hard to sleep at night and to let them know if its too much they may cut back on it. But they said it helps the anti nausea meds to work better.

This is what they give him at chemo

Zofran dose/32
Decadron dose/10
VP-16 dose/ 205
Cisplatin dose/ 41

[mstlyn]

I had forgotten I would have a chemo caregiver buddy.

I am glad to hear your son had such a great first day!

My husband is exausted and nauseated already. He has Kytril and compazine he is taking already.

The chemo nurse told him that nausea is about the same for the entire time, so what he feels now he will feel through out. I don't know how true this is, but I can always hope.

Here is to an easy first week!

Becki

How many days has your husband been on chemo? The nurse told my son that it would probably catch up with him over the weekend, but today is day 2 and he did very well again. Of course it is still early in the day so we shall see. So far everything has been good and he feels hungry when we leave the chemo clinic.
Maybe they should try a diff. anti nausea med for your husband.
My son is on zofran and compazine, and Robert mentioned Ativan as being very good too.

[Savin16]

Hi there,
Maybe this will help. For my brother whose first round of chemo was 4xBEP and is now 2 rounds VIP this is what they had him do. Keep in mind everyone is different. And this wasn't perfected until the end. Trial and error at least this time we are on top of it. When he would wake he was to take 1 ativan (sorry about spelling) along with a prevacid (something about the chemo meds bothering the esophogas, check into it) then when he would get to the center, with all his meds, he was also givin IV Ativan, it helps relax, sleep, and with nausea. After his 6 or now 8 hour day there, he would come home, eat, take a compazine, or if really sick Zofran, before bed Ativan again, 2 stool softners Sennocot S, and a previcid. By Wed. of chemo week they would give him Emend. He took that every morning Starting that Wed. until Sun. Worked GREAT for him, as long as it's taken before nausea. So chemo was Mon-Fri and on that Sat. along with the usual, since he wasn't receiving IV anything, he took compazine or mainly in his case Zofran 3X a day. Until Sun. He would get really nauseas so he with the Dr.'s ok, just took meds on a regular basis, in the begining they would say whenever nauseas, but by the end, we knew what worked and just stayed on a schedule. Also when my brother was really sick and unable to eat or drink, the Dr. would have him come in on his "off days" and give him extra fluids to flush him out. Also we give him fluids on the weekends 2 hours Sat. and Sun. just after chemo week.

[Trisha]

All good advice here from lots of people who are thinking of you. Compazine tended to make my husband jumpy so we used Reglin (metoclopramide) instead with Ativan. Ativan was great because as others have said it can relax you in additon to helping with naseau. Everyone is different but it sounds like you had a great start! Good Luck!

[mercyriver]

My husband is on day two as well. He is doing 3xBEP and did his first B today.

It is interesting you mentioned the constipation, my husband was talking abou it today as well. So we grabbed some prune juice as well.

His chemo lasted 4 hours today, including the bleo test and the bleomycin itself. I am so glad the day goes so quickly.

My husband is currently off resting as well.

Hope your son's week continues to go well.

Becki

[dadmo]

mstlyn:
The neulasta injections are standard and I don't know that the shot itself is painful but the results can be some fairly severe bone pain. My son's bone pain was really bad in just the right thigh (same place every time) you could actually see the cartoon yellow lightning bolts of pain raditing form his leg. He took that as a sign that the marrow was re-growing.

[Savin16]

Forgot to mention the neulasta. Every Mon. after chemo, the shot was givin to my brother. And it did and does bother him. Actually he just got his shot yesterday, and today he didn't get out of bed. He will be ok by tomorrow and continue to get better. All he is told to take is motrin.

[boyce]

Drug ideas

The Neulasta burns quite a bit when it is injected. It's a teeny needle, but the medicine burns. I had some bone pain with it but it kept my white cells up during the week.

I took a "cocktail" of Compazine and Ativan together. My Dr. said they work well in tandem and I went through 4 X BEP and did not vomit. I also took Kytril for nausea...it is WONderful stuff!

Bleo is a real tough one. I struggled with it throughout (Got it every Tuesday for 16 weeks). It caused me a chemical fever every damn week and one day I stayed over 104 for a couple of hours. Went to the ER and it eventually broke, but my Onc. was upset that I went to the ER. Blood counts get so low that you really do need to stay away from as many germs as possible, and ER's are really big petri dishes.

Also, I do have some decreased lung capacity from the bleo, but it is minimal. I'm past my prime anyway, so nobody but me will notice..

Here's the good news....I am in remission! Your guys will be there too. This is a very stable protocol, and if they can do so much as get up every day and just DO it. Just grit it out for these indescribably difficult 16 weeks...they can get this done. This disease is beatable. The drugs are helpful but the spirit drives the healing.

Stay Strong my Brothers. Please fight every day. Please fight when you're at your weakest. Please live on and share your story with those that will follow. Fight until your fight is done and then fight alongside the new fighters!!!

[Jilleighn]

neulasta was always given to my husband 24 hrs after his last treatment of the week long. The very first shot he got literally knock him on his butt. He basically passed out. It did get better, but he was in bed for the rest of the weekend sick. Sorry to say but my husbands first round of Chemo was "okay" it only got worse from there. he did 3 rounds. Adtivan was a huge helper and he took it in the morning during chemo and then at night. Kytrl and phenagren did not work for him. Zofran did "okay", but truefully nothing helped a great deal. He did get a medication in his IV of a N medicine that lasted 3 days at a time. Encourage them to eat and drink plenty to flush that chemo through. My husband ended up at the treatment center unable to get bleo many times and had to get rehydrated then come back the next day to get chemo.