My husband

@SandaJH

In the first instance you should speak to the 24 hours hotline so they know he is still having difficulties with diarrhoea and not eating. Eating little and often is supposed to help but when my husband had trouble on Capox he just couldn’t manage it so had to stop. He is currently on Folfox after having had his surgery and tolerating that much better. 
Unfortunately the tiredness is the same with both however walking just a little each day can help the tiredness seems odd but it does seem to work. 
I too cannot do anything right at the time he is feeling poorly, I just try to grit my teeth and ignore although it is not easy at times.

I hope things improve soon.

All the best Karen x

Hi Karen,

Thank you for replying I appreciate that.

He has been advised by the hospital what to take for the Diarrhea so that’s kind of in control.

I asked him to go for a walk today and he said he’s not up to it. So not sure what to do.

I will phone the helpline tomorrow about eating and tiredness as he has his 4th round of chemo Saturday. 

ahh ok it is hard to accept being shouted out when it’s out if character but I guess I will just have to except it.

Did your husband have surgery and then have chemotherapy afterwards ? Has he got rectal cancer?

my husband is having chemo first then maybe surgery, he is in capacitabine and oxiplatin. 

Maybe different hospitals do things different.

I hope your husband is doing well too x

SandaJH 

My husband had a primary tumour in his Caecum and a solitary met on his liver. He was put on the Capox supposed to be for four cycles but only managed two. He ended up in hospital for a month having had severe sickness and diarrhoea for a week. Oncologist would not allow him to continue however the chemo had shrunk both tumours a lot so was able to proceed with a combined surgery on both the bowel and liver successfully removing them with good margins. 
He is now on the Folfox which is oxaliplatin plus 5Fu in a pump he has to wear for 46 hours. The 5Fu was reduced to start with as it was the tablet form of this that caused his issue previously. After a couple of cycles it went up to 100% for both. We have two cycles left of nine, next one tomorrow. He prefers this version of the chemo. Keeping our fingers crossed all this is enough to keep it at bay.

It is hard when they get angry especially if it isn’t normal. I can’t imagine what they are going through. They say you take it out on those you love the most so I take some comfort from that.

Good luck with chemo next Saturday and future surgery.

Karen x

Oh wow, your poor husband he’s been through so much and still is.

I wish your husband all the luck in the world and I hope he gets through the next lot of chemo .

I am glad I’m not the only one that was finding my husband snappy, I think I will just let it go over my head and help him as much as possible.

thank you Karen x

Hi there1  

My husband was on CAPOX but unfortunately he had to stop it too after the 4th cycle. He got really ill and then had a break and was put on 5FU but could only complete one session of that as he became dehydrated and his kidney function dropped. He was admitted to hospital because of that and it was found that the chemo had damaged his kidneys. At the beginning of this year he developed a very bad infection which turned out to be sepsis so because of that his chemotherapy has been stopped altogether for now. They are not ruling out further treatment but as the sepsis takes a few months to get over they want him well enough again before they can consider further treatment. Just taking things a day at a time.

Vicky x

Hi SandaJH 

Chemo was very similar for my mum . She slept a lot . Lost three stones . We made every mouthful count by adding cream to mashed potatoes , milk shakes with lots of calories she could slowly sip . Very calorific m and s desserts .

Small portions and also used complan chicken soups to make she got all the nutrients .

However two weeks after chemo stopped I started to see things move in a more positive direction . Slowly the weight returned and she also quickly moved back to her normal diet . The horrible taste in her mouth went and allowed her appetite to pick up .

I think the steroids are quite tough on them .

Take care ,

Court 

Hi Court,

Thank you for letting me know what to feed my husband, the only thing he does not fancy anything to eat. I am trying sweet things, savouries just no appetite there.

I am so pleased that your mum has done so well and she’s putting weight on.

Best wished

Sandra