... it shouldn't really come as a surprise but it has... to hubby. He walks up a few steps and is out of breath. If life had gone to plan he would have been climbing Killimanjaro next week and here he is, struggling to get upstairs and nothing to do with altitude. He's also been feeling nauseaus alot. He's not actually sick but feels lousy. This last couple of days he has gone to bed for the afternoon - he probably would have slept through dinner too had I not woken him. He has to take medication (steroids & anti-sickness) for the first 3 days following chemo and I think it's this that is making him feel bad. I'm not sure how he's doing it but he is managing to eat well, thank goodness and he does eat 3 meals a day - he's maintaining his weight.
With all the Swine 'flu paranoia we've decided to keep a low profile. Lucky hubby doesn't have to tag along to the shops any more and when I had a routine hospital check up last week, we thought it best that he stay in the car. We're fortunate in that he works from home...
Now we are in the 2nd cycle, we can sort of see a pattern to the ups and downs of the chemo. If it follows Cycle 1 then he will be back to 'nearly normal' self tomorrow - ready in time for Day 2 of the chemo on Monday! I have to keep thinking 'only 3 more chemo sessions - it won't be long'.
Perhaps we can even start thinking of getting away for a bit of a break in September...I don't know that I even dare think about it....
T
x
FormerMember
My onco told me "we are going to fill you up with as much poison as possible without killing you" and therein lies one of the problems. Chemo is pretty nasty stuff and while it attacks cancer cells it also batters the shit out of the good guys as well. Couple this with the fact that it is cumulative and the other unfortunate effect is that it does get worse as the doses mount up.
Sorry to be such a killjoy but you do get over it. i am now on three weeks since my last chemo and i am still not 100%. You can still light candles on my feet! But is still incerdible medicine. Nasty! Yes. But nevertheless pretty amazing when you consider that in 1973 my mother had surgery and nothing else.
I hope the sun will come out for you and your hubby soon, it's a hard thing to deal with. I hope you don't mind but i want to share some tips with you.
My daddy had those side effects too including a "pins and needles" sensation when biting into something for the first time after chemo.. so he stuck to hot food. For sickness, since dad suffered from constipation which is a side effect of some of the steriods, he only took the first one in the hospital after the chemo and once he gets home, he stick to warm ginger tea, which is just thinly sliced ginger in boiling water, cooled down for drinking. It's been a chinese remedy since forever and it works well as long as ur not allergic to spices.
As for swine flu, I bought daddy alcohol hand washes you get from supermarkets, a big one with pump for home use and a smaller one to put in his pocket for when he's out. It kills 99.99% of germs so it's pretty useful.
