Cisplatin and Radiotherapy Advice please

Hi Chloe 

welcome . I cisplatin and radiotherapy, cidplstin once a week combined with rads daily for 5 half weeks . I did it by public transport, which wasn’t to bad but unfortunately I only had 3 out 5 cisplatin due to my bloods not being good enough . I had had another regime of 6 weeks chemo prior . I wore elasticed trousers whilst doing rads. Yes you are monitored whilst having cisplatin for urine output . I think you will be having 25 radiotherapy sessions not 25 brachytherapy. I had 3 brachytherapy sessions. We all experience different side effects but there is always someone available if you’re having problems . As for how long it takes , well on day of cisplatin and rads it can take up to 6/7 hrs . On rads day only the radiotherapy it self’s only take 5-10 minutes once your all in place . Just make sure you have a fairly full bladder . Rads can cause bowel probs wind and sometimes diarrhoea . Radiotherapy is not at all painful . You can eat as normal and when I was going through treatment I ate little but often , make sure to drink plenty of water . When your doing chemo cisplatin you will be given anti sickness meds , radiotherapy can make you tired so rest when you can. I hope this helps and please ask anything else you want to know . They are a lovely lot of people on these forums and they will help you with any questions etc . It all sounds very daunting but it is doable . Good luck val 

Hi Chloe1306 

I’ll go through my experience, though I didn’t have brachytherapy. I presume you mean 25 sessions of radiotherapy in your post.

Cisplatin-I tried to arrive a bit early as the set up of cannula etc can take some time. Typically the whole thing took 6-7 hours as in addition to the chemo there are also other bags to go through with magnesium and anti emetics etc. Wear easy to remove bottoms as you will be going to the loo a lot and dragging your drip stand with you, so you need to be able to pull down your bottoms with one hand. I wore leggings with elasticated waist. Urine input and output is all monitored so I I had to write down all I drank and wee into a cardboard bowl to measure it. 

I had no feelings of sickness or nausea with chemo and found the day quite relaxing. I was given anti sickness tablets to take home, simple cream to moisturise my skin and steroid tablets to take for 3 days after each chemo treatment. My skin felt very dry so the Diprobase cream helped with that. 

Radiotherapy-I had 32 sessions as I couldn’t have brachytherapy as the chemo gave me a pulmonary embolism. The treatment itself doesn’t take long, but you can be there for quite a while. I needed a full bladder so had to drink a set amount first and let my bladder fill. Sometimes I had to wait for my treatment if machines were out of action or under maintenance and if I needed to go to the loo I’d have to start the drinking again and wait. I had to pull my leggings/knickers down a bit for the treatment but could keep them on. On chemo days my radiotherapy happened after chemo so it was a very long day overall. My longest day out of the house was 12 hours, as we had quite a long trip to hospital and back.

I was told to reduce green veg and fruit while doing radiotherapy as you want to minimise wind and bowel issues. I had diarrhoea and radiation cystitis from week 3 of treatment and was prescribed cream and Imodium. For me, these side effects were quite bad but disappeared quite soon after treatment ended and didn’t persist. A bland diet is better during radiotherapy-white breast rather than brown for example, and simple food. You may lose your appetite a bit anyway. Speak up if you experience anything at all, and you will get help. Don’t use cream on your skin down below just before radiotherapy-use it afterwards if you need to. I didn’t experience any type of burns from radiation but I’ve seen others report that. 

I was very tired during radiotherapy and needed to have naps, but I was older than you. The tiredness is different to normal tiredness-it’s called cancer related fatigue and I found it exhausting. 

Don’t assume that you will get all or any of the side effects that others have had as we all react differently to treatment. I’d recommend trying to have your bowel empty for the planning scan-I wasn’t told about this and when I went the scan couldn’t be done. I was sent home with suppositories and had to go back for the scan to be done. They want the radiotherapy to be done to mimic the same bowel and bladder conditions each day as you had at the planing scan, and filling the bladder helps push it out of the way of the radiation. If the bowel is as empty as possible for treatment it is seen easier when you are getting treatment.

Anything else you need, ask away but that’s probably enough to be going on with for now!

Sarah xx

Thank you both that really helps, how long before you start is the planning CT? 
im having chemo at the moment carboplatin and pacitaxil… the treatment nurses have been giving me snippets of info each week about the Cisplatin and radiotherapy, so it’s been good to have an all round idea…  

I can’t actually remember when mine was as I did my treatment 7years ago now. But I was diagnosed mid September and started treatment in the first week of November, so my radiotherapy planning scan would have been some time in October I think. Others who have had treatment more recently will probably remember better! 

Sarah xx