Some questions i have answers appreciated

Hi CJ62 ,

Yes, no lymph node activity is major good news.

There have been a few people here that have had PICC lines for their chemo, it all depends on what chemo regime your particular oncologist chooses to use. Some have chemo during the first & last week of treatment which is usually administered via a pump that you carry with you, this is the regime that often involves having a PICC line & apparently it makes things much easier. 

I presume that your ultrasound was to check out a suspect lymph node? All kind of things show up on PET scans due to inflammation & other things so it’s great that they’ve followed that up for you so efficiently. 

Standard treatment for anal cancer is 28 days of radiation, Monday to Friday with weekends  off treatment. Personally I had 23 sessions of chemoradiotherapy as I was in a clinical trial, my chemo was an infusion on day 1 of radiotherapy & then oral chemo every day of treatment thereafter.

Hopefully someone that has had their chemo through a PICC line will be along soon to share their experience with you.

Nicola 

Hello CJ62 

This really is the worst time when there are so many appointments, tests and scans.  But everything is looking promising in the results that you have had so far.  The standard treatment for anal cancer is the Nigro protocol (unless you are on a trial like Nicola).  I had the same 28 day treatment, combined radiotherapy/chemo five days a week.  I a sure your treatment will be the same drugs, just administered in a slightly different way.

From what I know other forum members found the picc line painless and helped make the process easier, however this isn't the voice of experience!  Your oncologist should tell you all about what the treatment involves.

I do hope you get a start date very soon.

Irene xxx

Hi CJ62 

No lymph node activity is good. I had the standard 28 sessions of radiotherapy plus chemo. My chemo was via a picc line and it was fine, I had a pump attached week 1 day 1 which was changed day 3 and then removed day 5, this process was repeated on the last full week of treatment ( wk 5 ). I had to have the picc line flushed and dressed weekly. I bought a limbo sleeve for showering on the advice of somebody on here and it was brilliant I even managed to get the pump and wires in it when it was attached. I was concerned about having one but like I said it was fine my only moan was it was put in two weeks prior to treatment starting and I was told not to do certain things at the gym. Sending hugs. Xx

Thank you all.

I am having an infusion on the first day and then tablets as far as i know. I will discuss the picc line with my oncologist but prefer not to have it unless there is a reason he thinks i should.

I have a nurse specialist ringing on the 14th with dates etc.

I am nervous about the chemo more than anything.

I gave a fab family who will get me through this. My mum is a wonderfull cook and will keep us well supplied.

CJ

Hi again CJ62 , unless there’s a specific reason I think it’s quite unusual to have a PICC line in for the single infusion/oral chemo regime, they went for a vein in the back of my hand to start with but it kept disappearing so they ended up putting the cannula in the base of my thumb & the infusion literally took a couple of minutes, a nurse pushed it through from a syringe, I had a saline flush through the cannula first & that took way longer than the actual infusion, I hope this turns out to be the case for you too. 

Please just ask if there’s any more questions you think we may be able to help with. We’re here to help support you however we can. 

Nicola 

Hi CJ62,

I had a PICC line for 5 of the 6 cycles of chemotherapy which I finished in May. I found it made life a lot more comfortable for both the remaining 15 treatments over the 5 months from January, and also for the regular blood tests. No more needles! A community nurse came to my home once a week to flush the line and change the dressing.

That said, I think it depends on the length of time you'll be having the infusions (several months or just a one-off). I found the process of PICC line insertion and removal very straightforward and painless. I would certainly have a PICC line again, should the need arise in the future. But, I hope it doesn't!

Wishing you all the best with your treatment going forward.

Kathy

I would think it very strange to have a picc line for a single chemo infusion. Mine was done through a cannula in the back of my hand and took no more than 10 minutes to infuse. I have gone on to have chemo and I've done 11 of 18 so far. Nobody has suggested any sort of line for that - I'm cannulated each week. And when I asked my oncologist if I should have a port or a picc line she said that she'd only do that if it became impossible for them to find a suitable vein for cannulation. So I would definitely suggest you push back and ask why it's needed for this treatment. Good luck!