Hi,
My partner was diagnosed with Follicular Cancer last Summer and unfortunately it has progressed rapidly so on 8th Feb started on O-Chop therapy. Day 1 , had a severe reaction to the O and so had to stop for a few hours, given drugs as he couldn't breathe before proceeding at a slower infusion. Took 11 hours instead of the 4 for O. So he had to go back on day 2 for the rest of the infusions. By day 6 he had not had any bowel movements for 3 days despite fibregel and plenty, plenty of fluid and exercise so rings the EAB. Goes down is given 6 sachets of liquid, no luck so has an enema. Early hours day 7 he wakes with a high temperature, pulse racing but blood pressure low, shivers, sweats, pains in leg -- straight to EAB. they said he had an infection possibly caused by the enema. Day 8,in isolation, not well enough to start week 2 of chemo, diarrohea and they are now saying he has sepsis, as temeperature starting to rise again and pulse. What is going on??? Any experience of this? Sorry for all this info but obviously new to this and my mind is swirling.
To add - He is a postie so usually does 30,000 steps a day plus cycling and walking for pleasure. Drinks a LOT of fluid anyway but even more so now.
Hi again susieq
I am so sorry to hear about the challenges your partner is having with and following his first treatment. Although I said to you in your other posy not to be looking for side effects that did not mean nothing would happen - unfortunately for some it does.
It is rather normal for the first treatment to take much longer as the clinical teams are looking out for reactions, will deal with these and this will be noted for his next treatment and this then will normally be quicker.
I had various reactions as I have a life long allergy problem with some drugs so had to get massive amounts of antihistamines.
Bowel movement issues like constipation can be a big challenge and as you see can develop into other more even more challenging infections. Again this is not unusual, I had Pneumonia and Neutropenic Sepsis a few times with me being blue lighted into hospital and a 7 day say each time on various IV antibiotics.
So the episodes of high temperature, pulse racing, low blood pressure, shivers, sweats are oh so familiar to me - and oh so scary.
The problem with these treatments is that the bodies immune system is weakened resulting in being more open to infections and as he is run down it's just harder to fight these infections.
His clinical team will get him back on track and yes, his next cycle of treatment may be delayed but this often happens - happened to me a few times but in the big picture the delays made no real difference to outcomes, just made the treatment period longer.
I do encourage you to check out the Lymphoma Action Regional Lymphoma Online Support Groups with two groups specifically for Family, Friends and Carers as there is nothing better (especially during these crazy covid times) talking with other who are walking the same support journey.
It's a bumpy ride indeed ((hugs))
