Chemo before Radiation..

Hi Prettypinkroses, I had the Mitomycin infusion on the morning of first day of radiotherapy.  I’ve not seen any research about exact timings.  You will get precise instructions about when to take the Capecitabine pills but as it turns out they’re not that important (my daily ambulance trips for treatment were at unpredictable times so the morning pill was guesswork!)  x  toni

Thank you Toni8776  I had it in my mind it had to be done earlier and just thought I’d check! 

Thank you so much!! 

Hi Prettypinkroses,

I had my mitomycin infusion on the morning of my first radiotherapy session & this as I believe is standard procedure. I was advised that the capecitabine tablets were to be taken 12 hours apart, I took them at 8am & 8pm. The capecitabine as I understand is a cell division inhibitor, an anti-metabolite, it basically holds the cancer cells stable & stops them reproducing whilst the radiotherapy does it’s thing & although the radiotherapy is the main part of this treatment plan the chemo side if tolerated well is an important element of the treatment too. 

Nicola 

Fantastic.  Nikki65  Thank you also for the info on the Capecitabine, As it happens my team called me after I had written this and have asked me to come in and collect some Capecitabine which I will have to take today (Tues) at midnight before the Weds Mitomycin infusion at 11:45  and radiotherapy at 14;50. I’ll ask why when I go and let you know! 

Hi again Prettypinkroses, most capecitabine instructions suggest a 12 hour gap between doses *and* within a half hour of a meal.

Macmillan says: “Capecitabine works best if it's broken down in the stomach with food. Take them in the morning after breakfast and then after your evening meal.” - this seems a more practical & common sense approach…

Here’s the link, scroll down to “How capecitabine is given”  x  toni

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/treatments-and-drugs/capecitabine#how_given

Sorry, that should’ve read - scroll down to “Taking capecitabine tablets“.

That'd be great Prettypinkroses thanks, I took one dose of the capecitabine on the evening of my first radiotherapy, following the mitomycin infusion in the morning, then twice daily each day of radiotherapy. These things can vary a little from hospital to hospital so I wouldn’t worry too much just follow the instructions given by your treating team & you’ll be absolutely fine. All the very best of luck for tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of you, once you’re in that daily routine of Monday to Friday hospital appointments it’ll fly by. I made a point of taking my treatment schedule with me & as soon as I was done with that days appointment I put a big old line through it on my schedule, it’s amazing how quickly it fills up. 

Nicola

Toni8776 yes exactly, so hoping I’ll be able to change the timings of this! I can’t be eating at 11:30pm at night  x

Nikki65 Great minds think alike.. I have my treatment list in my bag for that very thing! I shall be crossing out each day as it goes!!! Thank you lovely Nicola, you’re such an angel! What would we do without you lovely people on here!!! 

Hi Nikki65 just to confirm I had the Capecitabine 8am the morning of treatment and Mitomycin infusion about 3 hrs before my first radiation in the afternoon then more Capecitabine at 8pm.

I have completed my first 3 weekday treatments and all fine except nausea. Saturday and a Sunday off but both these days I’ve had terrible pain in particular from my pelvic tumour (and wind, great!) . I have the big guns ie Oromorph but even that hasn’t really helped. Tried cycling the paracetamol and ibuprofen you suggested too. Finally broke out the Instillagel (syringe of anaesthetic) and that seems to have worked! Wish I’d tried it earlier!!! 

I will speak to the oncologist tomorrow and ask what I can do about the pain or what is causing it to be worse this weekend (imagine it’s the treatment but probably better check). Plus I think trapped wind increases pressure on the tumours which also exacerbates things. I know I have worse to come so I want to make sure I know what I can take safely. I’m not a big fan of the Oromorph as it keeps me awake at night and I loathe the sugary liquid!! I’ve been taking 7.5ml as a one off dose in the morning if it’s bad which I think is a fairly big dose (although was told I could take up to 10ml as a dose) but I worry about the side effects (constipation). Take Pregabalin at night (can take this 3 x a day but i find it makes me quite tired which is also why I had to stop the Amitriptyline which pretty much knocked me out during the day). 

Not looking forward to the burnt skin sores etc! If I’m finding it hard to cope with the pain at the moment but my oncologist did warn me both my tumours are quite large which doesn’t help (the pelvic one is pressing on large nerve). So maybe once we can shrink them a bit that will help with that at least. And I always thought I had quite a high pain threshold (2 c sections didn’t even phase me) but this is a whole new ballgame!!!! 

Hope everyone else is doing ok!

M x