Side effects of chemo and radiation treatment

Hi PaulS1,

I remember being absolutely terrified before I started treatment, I wish I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have been so worried.  Side effects of chemoradiotherapy vary from person to person. If I remember correctly did you have a stoma fitted a while ago? The chemo side of things varies, I had no symptoms from it other than my hair going a little thinner, not that anyone else would notice, some people have a bit of nausea & loss of appetite, I had neither. The effects of the radiotherapy are cumulative therefore manageable. I think generally the main discomfort with the radiotherapy is the skin reaction, many people get to week 3-4 before this kicks in, it causes effectively what is a burn, before I began my treatment someone likened it to sunburn which in my opinion was a good analogy. You’ll be supplied with creams etc., as & when needed by your radiologist/oncologist. My skin was pretty good throughout treatment, a little sore & it was uncomfortable going to the loo but if you have a stoma you’ll not have that to contend with. The radiotherapy can cause bowel disturbances also, mostly diarrhoea but I swung completely the opposite direction, again medication will be supplied to counteract this. I think the biggest thing for me was the fatigue, it kind of hit me like a brick wall, I think this is a result of both treatments, I had no option other than to rest when I was tired, it was fatigue rather than tiredness & stopped me in my tracks some days.

Please if there’s anything more specific you’d like to know feel free to ask. 

Nicola 

Hi Paul,  I had nausea days 3-7 after the one infusion of mitomycin in day 1 of chemo. I wasn’t actually sick and didn’t lose my appetite. I also had 28 days of capecetabine chemo tablets  . I didn’t have any side effects, no hair thinning. I had 28 sessions of 50 gy radiotherapy. I had diarrhoea in the last week of treatment and for a few weeks after. If you have a stoma you will avoid the uncomfortable toilet times after radiation. I was exhausted for about a week afterwards then that slowly lifted. The radiation also caught some of my bladder so I had radiation cystitis but just urinated in a cold jet of  water in the shower which was fine. Hope this helps. 

Hi Paul,

I gradually got more and more tired. For the first 4 weeks I could drive myself and park the car, but by week 5 parking was getting tricky because I couldn’t focus.

I only felt sick after a nurse told me I didn’t need to take the anti emetics, so I didn’t. Took a couple of days of taking them again to feel better.  

Overall I was sleepy and vague and quite cheerful. After the terror of diagnosis and waiting for scan results, mentally the treatment was OK.

 The thought of it was worse than the reality.

Best wishes,