Hi there. I have had one round of chemo on 1 October and about to have second one tomorrow. I have stage 4 bowel cancer with liver mets. I had no symptoms it was all picked up on a FIT test. Just wanted to reach out to anyone else who is on the same treatment to compare notes on side effects. I went in one the 1 October at 10am and came out about 4pm. I had antisickness, 30 minutes of Irinorecan chemo, then 2 hours of Oxaliplatin with fluorocil. I went home with a pump for 2 days with Fluorocil. I felt like I had been hit by a truck, very fuzzy in the head and tired. They gave me anti-sickness drugs to take home and steroids. I had to take the steroids for 3 days afterwards. They were very effective at keeping any sickness at bay, but although tired the first night I was wide awake at 2.30am! The next night 4.30am and ever since I'm up about 6am. I have managed to go out for walks everyday and I even went to a Zumba class last Wednesday. I find it is good to keep moving and getting fresh air is good for my mental health. I have hot flushes and then I feel cold in my head. My feet and hands are sensitive to cold and I have to drink warm drinks and avoid anything cold. The Oxaliplatin gave me spasms all over my body. These eased off after a couple of days. My legs felt like jelly and I had pins and needles in my fingers one morning 5 days later. On the 7 October I developed a face rash, it felt like my skin was coming off. I was advised by chemo nurse to try anti-histamine which seem to have worked as well as lots of moisturiser. I have felt much more like myself the last week but obviously not looking forward to tomorrow. Good luck to you all out there currently dealing with a cancer diagnosis and to anyone who is going through treatment right now. Take care and any hints and tips on how to cope with side effects would be gratefully received.
