Fearful of next cycle - cisplatin and vinorelbine

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Hi everyone 

I am here because my dad had his first cycle of cisplatin 2 weeks ago and he was very ill from it! We are not sure if it’s to do with the bout of bad diarrhoea he had the day before which he declined telling them as he didn’t want to postpone his treatment. But basically for one week he was bed ridden, barely ate. We couldn’t get the sickness under control. Dad weighed 56kg and lost 3.7kg in one week.

I finally got him to agree to hospital last Sunday (1 week today) where he has all bloods done etc. everything was fine other than some raised inflammatory levels. 

For the last 6 days he had been eating. I’m trying to get extra things down him but his confidence has been knocked massively. He’s due his next cycle on 12th Feb and I’m desperate for him to have it. The oncologist is reviewing him by telephone on Tuesday 6th Feb. I think we may need to discuss a change of plan as he was also due to start radiotherapy combined for 6 weeks as I don’t think he’s strong enough at this point. 

i am reaching out because I wanted to know if anyone has had any similar experiences? And those with experiences of chemo how can I best broach this with my dad? He said he wants to give it another go but wants to feel 100% before he does 

  • Hi  sorry to hear about your dad…… the chemo journey can be such a challenge and bad treatment experiences can have a detrimental effect on the mindset to be able to go on and do further treatment.

    Over my 24 years I have had a lot of treatment including over 800hrs of chemo and I had at times to fight through and keep going.

    I, along with my family agreed that we had to keep pushing as basically this was a fight for life. My family at times had to challenge my pity me parties as once my head went down it would be hard to fight back…… from my point of view if your dad wants to give it a go then that is an indication of your dad has still got the fight in his heart.

    Having had 45 sessions of radiotherapy I will say that I found this far less demanding with less side effects.

    My type of cancer and therefore my chemo was totally different but let’s look for others who have navigated the exact same treatment to come along and help you out.

    You may want to put your question up in the Lung Cancer  and the Carers only groups as this will help you further connect with others who are on the same treatment and/ore support journey and allow you to talk with patients and family who face the same challenges ((hugs))

    Mike (Thehighlander)

    It always seems impossible until its done - Nelson Mandela

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