I just finished my first week of having chemotherpy and would like to know from others that have cancer what their side effects were and just how long they lasted.

my prayers are with you. i have not had chemo but a very close friend had ovarian cancer and 1st let me say its completly gone and she is doing excellent anyway she had 3 rounds of chemo 10 days apart
her side effects were a little hair loss swollen feet she also said her tastes changed making her have no appetite so she drank lots of ensure and boost. she also had some nausea but had a pill for it and also 2 other pills to keep her blood counts in order. her last chemo was in sept and her hysteremotery i know i spelled that wrong was in oct by christmas she was back to herself gained back her weight. i hope all goes great for you.

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Tim
My Husband, My Love....Best Dad
You Were Taken From Us Way To Soon
Forever In Our Hearts
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I have no idea, but wanted to let you know that you'll be in my prayers.

I am an RN in a cancer center. If you tell me the meds I can help you better. Check out this website too. CHEMOCARE.com

I don't have any words of wisdom, but, I wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and praying for a speedy recovery. HUGS!

Depends on the drugs you are taking. Every cancer has it's own set of drugs.


So sorry your going through Chemo. I hope you'll be well and cancer free soon. {{{{{HUGS}}}}}

No info from me either ~ just wanted to send you hugs!

Do you know the name of the chemo? I'm a nurse on a surgical/oncology floor and every chemo is different. If you know, I can try to find out for you.

You are in my thoughts and prayers!

I am not sure either, but it looks like 2 posters will be able to which is great. Just wanted you to know that I am saying a prayer and wish you a speedy recovery.

Just wanted to say you are in my prayers.

Hugs to you and many prayers for a quick recovery and to be cancer free!

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Without Health you have no Wealth!

I am an 8 year breast cancer survivor and had 2 different rounds of chemo. Just make sure you get a good anti-nausea drug. My doctor gave me Zofran before & after my infusion and I never threw up! My friends' oncologist prescribed Compazine which did nothing to help.

Always remember "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger". I'm about as strong as I can be and much stronger than I ever THOUGHT I could be.

Love & prayers are with you.

My younger sister had breast cancer in both breasts in 2001, chemo never made her sick, she was put in quaranteen a few times because her blood count ( I think white ? ) went really low.

The thing she still jokes about is that she lost all her hair everywhere, she had no eyelashes-eyebrows etc.......
Except for her Legs ! She still had to shave her legs ! LOL!!!!

Carol1209 and rcsilverspring,

Just wanted to let you know how inspired I am by both of you!

Carol1209 - please keep us updated. All our prayers are with you!

Rcsilverspring - wow - that is wonderful, and I'm so glad you shared it with us. Congratulations!

Devinmom

I have no info to offer but do know that you are in my thoughts and a prayer is going up for you right now! Hugs...

Carol,

You will now be in my thoughts and prayers!!! I had stage 3 brain cancer 7 years ago. When they removed the tumor they has also put 10 dime size chemo wafers in my head. I had radiation and almost 2 years of chemo (monthly). I was extremly tired (with 3 kids) and my blood counts really never (especially my white) recoupered. I had weekly shots of epogen for the red counts. When I had neupogen for the white it whould increase, but bottom out even lower right after. The most important thing is to listen to postive stress free tapes during treatments and fight tooth and nail. The one lesson I did learn though all of this was to put things in priority. Enjoy my family first! I started working part time at my daughter school in the office and gave up my old stressful job. Contact the American Cancer Society for information. They are so helpful!! If you have younger children they have events that the family will be invited to so everyone's spirt is strong and happy during this difficult time. I also had the Zofran and dexamethasone (hard on the stomach lining). The days I had chemo I just chilled out at home and ordered pizza. Just take it easy and look things up in the computer. When going to the doctors have a list of quesitons (if you have any).

Best of Luck!!!!!

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Carolyn
At the Jersey Shore

Carol,

It depends on which drugs you take. I had Ovarian cancer in 2004, and I took Taxol and Carboplatin. My side effects of those two drugs were: loss of hair, neuropathy in both hands and feet (The tingling feeling), nausea, muscle aches, joint pain, and swelling. I would have those side effects for about 5 days after chemo. (Except for the neuropathy, which I ended up struggling with as a permanent side effect.)

Some good news: when you lose your hair, you lose it EVERYWHERE! Which meant NO SHAVING! YAY!

Carol, good luck-- be strong-- a great attitude will carry you far. ((hugs))

Holly

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Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. -Anonymous

Just wanted to say you are in my thoughts and prayers also.

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

Carol, I can't offer any advice, in fact I have questions myself. First of all hugs to you and sorry you are going thru this. Secondly, for the professionals out there(or anybody who has had this done), my 18 year old niece just had her thyroid removed and will have to be on some sort of radiation drug soon. Has anybody been on these or known anybody on them? She has to go and stay with my Mom so she won't be around any of her siblings. How dangerous is this to the ones around her?

I am a stage 3 ovarian cancer survivor...i was diagnosed in feb 2004 at the age of 25...
I went through a clinical trial ....my main side effects were being very tired all of the time...no energy to do anything (seemed like too much work to lift my arms, let alone do anything else) tingling in toes, being cold all of the time, loss of hair, no appetite, body pain,etc....

I am sorry that you have to go through this but please know that if you need someone to talk with, we are here for you

jodiacala, i know someone who had thyroid cancer and she was able to go home...they kindof had her quarantined in her home though...different bathroom than everyone else, etcc....i wondered about the safety of the rest of the family as well..


Haynes94, Glad too "see" you again!!! Hope you are doing fantastic!!!

Oh my goodness Carol, my best wishes for you and your recovery. I hope taking the first step towards recovery by starting your chemo helps you feel empowered. Looks like you have alot of folks here who can offer support from personal experience.

Holly, glad to see you too. Wanted to ask how you were doing when I saw the sad post about your dog, but didn't want to mention your battle with cancer on this "new" board until you did.

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Raising my baby RIGHT!!!!!!

All the cool babies are wearing cloth!

Carol,
Everyone here is right-the effects vary depending on the drugs . However, I can offer one great bit of advice. I am caregiver & POA for my brother who has been battling leukemia for 21/2 years and now has cns leukemia& a brain tumor. One thing we found that really helps thru all this, that the Dr.s shockingly know so little about is nutrition. I am dumbfounded at what they feed patients at the hospital-they offer diet sodas, many that clearly have sweeteners that are known to have cancer causing effects and the food itself is not very good/nutritious either, in my opinion. This is at the Cleveland Clinic-supposed world class care. The one thing that really helped my brother,especially through chemo was Shaklee's soy protein drink- it was one of the few things he could drink/get to stay down. It also gave him strength and helped him to feel better overall. We found it best served very cold or shaken with ice. (it's a powder and can be mixed with any liquid -ie. milk, water)It contains all the essential vitamins& protein and unlike boost or ensure is made with all natural ingrediants-not synthetics that are harder for the body to process and retain as well. Good nutrition is essential to healing your body. I will pray for you and I hope that you have a good support system-don't be afraid to ask others for help, you need all your energy to fight this -you can beat it !
Good luck to you.

I was wondering how you were doing! You are one heck of a gal and I'm proud of you!

All of you are the best with your thoughts, prayers and hugs!!!
I was first diag. with stage 3 cervical and was step up with 3 rounds of chemo and 25 radiation treatments. After I started the chemo last week, they found that the tumor has started in invade my colon and I am now at stage 4. I believe the chemo drugs were Cisplatin and 5-FU. I was given Vicodin for the pain, which didn't work and now am taking Oxcontin every 12 hours with the vicodin inbetween. They have now stopped all my treatments and I have to go up to Chicago tomorrow to meet with other doctors to dicuss surgury to remove the tumor, which they didn't want to take out in the first place because of it's size. But now they are afraid that it won't shrink fast enough before it does damage to my colon/rectum
I also take compazine for the nausea. It really did help.
I do have to say that on the first and second day of chemo I had all this energy. That was wonderful.
I had the lab work done yesterday on my blood for the white cells and it came back great.
I will let everyone know what is going to happen to me after I talk with these other specialist late tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and hugs.
carol

Hey girl!! I lost your email address!! Pm me with it please!

I'm doing great health wise. Feeling good-- my last CA-125 was up a little, but nothing too major right now. My hand has healed nicely from the surgery in June (The nueropathy). How's about you?? Give me an update.

Thanks Tessa for asking too. I'm actually doing Advocacy work now for the American Cancer Society!

Holly

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Forgiveness is love in its most noble form. -Anonymous

Carol,

I don't have first-hand experience with the chemo meds, but I work with a lot of cancer patients, and my son was treated with vincristine, cisplatin, and 5-FU for his cancer so I know what he went through. The side effects we saw with him were a lot of nausea/vomiting (this was in 1991, he was an infant and treatment for n/v has improved tremendously since then). He did lose what most of his hair but not all of it, and when his hair re-grew it changed texture. Other problems you may run into: sore mouth, "chemo brain" (people have described it as sort of feeling foggy or not quite awake yet), nervous system things like tingling or numbness (especially in your hands/feet)...
If you have any problems that are upsetting to you or really concerning to you call your doctor and ask them if it's ok. Hopefully they have given you information about what to expect and when it's important to call the doc.

I hope you get good news from the doctors when you go back. Best of luck with whatever course of treatment they decide on.

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Panda

The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits. -- Plutarch

Hey Carol,

I just wanted to say that we are thinking of you and pray daily that they find a cure for cancer.

My daughter went thru 14 rounds of chemo, no radiation, but had 5 different drugs, all with different side effects. Just be sure to speak up about what you are experiencing.....my daughter was prescribed Zofran for nausea, which worked but gave her migrane type headaches. The nurses were not too concered because the nausea was controlled, but she was miserable. Another mother told me about Kytril which worked better with no headaches!!! Sometimes the best advice is from networking.....

Her tastes changes thru the chemo....she suddenly loved Chinese food, and would eat ravioli and spagettios cold straight from the can.......ick! I can't even smell them now without gagging, but at least she was eating!!

best of luck, let us know how it goes and if there is anything we can do to help!

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"It's not about how much baggage you have, it's about whether or not you can carry your own baggage with grace and dignity."

Well, we went yesterday and met with the specialists and they seem to think that the chemo and radiation should shrink this thing so I am now back to where I was to start. 2 more rounds or chemo and 25 radiation treatments. I did, however, find out one thing that I didn't want to know and that is that out of 10,000 women that have stage 4 cervical cancer only 30% of them had their tumor shrunk enough to not worry about it. So that gives me something more to worry about for the next 6 weeks.
Please keep the prayers coming, I sure can use them.
thank you, carol