immunotherapy affecting kidneys

Hi Squeak,

My name is Keith and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists

Welcome to the online community we hope you will find the support and information helpful.

This sounds like a worrying and confusing time for you all right now.

As we are a charitable organisation, we don’t have access to any NHS records so our advice can only be general.

In a situation like this we would always advise contacting your husband’s treatment team as soon as possible, especially with immunotherapy treatments as symptoms can be vague and need the clinical experience of your husband’s treatment team to fully assess any ongoing, new or worsening symptoms.

Duration of side effects vary from person to person from short term to chronic.

In your husbands case it sounds like there is a lot going on medically. When was the last time he was reviewed? If the situation has changed or worsened since his last review you should contact his team as soon as possible.

You also mentioned he has a dry mouth this can be a side effect of many different types of cancer treatments. So, talking to his treatment team about this may be helpful as they would try to isolate the cause and give the appropriate advice or take the best possible actions to manage this.

You also mentioned he feels cold and shivery this could be a sign of an ongoing infection, another situation where his treatment team need to be contacted as soon as possible to get this investigated to rule out any potential infection risks.  

Treatments can sometimes be paused /delayed until any side effect or any unusual blood results are resolved.  

You should be able to contact his team 24hrs a day via the specialist nurse, the day unit where he gets his treatment and the 24hr support line number all accessible via the main switch board of the hospital where he is being treated if you don’t already have these contact numbers.

You mentioned the appointment next week with his consultant. Firstly, if you have any immediate concerns his team can be contacted before this appointment if required.

There is no such thing as a wrong question to ask, looking at this link may be helpful to give you food for thought in relation to possible questions to ask.

If you think it may be helpful why not give our support line a call and have a chat with one of our nurses.to discuss this in a little more detail if required.

The Macmillan Support Line offers practical, clinical, financial, and emotional support. You can call us free from landlines and from most mobile phone networks on 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.

take care.

Keith, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.

Ref KM/CF

Thank you Keith.

He was reviewed Monday after we called the emergency line on the Sunday but after 4 hours he was so tired he just wanted to come home. We are 2 hours away from the hospital, so by the time we got home we had been out for 8 hours. This meant the the review wasn't completed and we felt the doctor was completely barking up the wrong tree and not listening to us. He said the dry mouth was from dehydration but my husband drinks lots of water throughout the day. He wanted to screen for diabetes but his glucose level was 6 so no idea what that was about. It's clearly a kidney issue.

Anyway, since then he's been feeling better and the swelling is no worse and I haven't been able to persuade him to contact the emergency line or our GP again.

It was mainly thoughts about whether the treatment could continue if the immuno is affecting his kidneys, which looks like the most likely scenario. But I guess that can only be answered by the oncologist.

The cold and shivery seems to be from the hypothyroid.

The triedness is also from the hypothyroid but is worse for 10 days after the immuno then settles down.

Thanks for the reminder about your support line.