So, I was allocated 5 weekly sessions of Cysplatin to start on 25 November alongside 30x radiotherapy sessions.
I duly turned up for my first 5 hour infusion, 2 hours of saline (I think) drip followed by 1 hour of Cysplatin followed by another 2 hours of fluids to flush me out, punctuated by increasingly frequent visits to the loo to empty my bladder!
The session started off with a hot chocolate, an anti emetic pill and three steroids (dextramethasone). The whole thing went smoothly and afterwards I had to get straight down to radiotherapy and jump the queue to be zapped as soon as possible. So far so good. Once home I took more steroids and made a check list of things to look out for, as well as meds and people to contact if things started to go wrong. But nothing much happened.
The following two days I took the daily anti emetic and steroids and by the weekend felt I was in the clear. But then I started getting the tinnitus. I always have a bit of tinnitus going on but this was on a new level and stopped me getting to sleep. Admittedly it was intermittent but it was a worry. So when my SALT team rang me on the Monday morning i told them about it and they said I must tell my nurses at my next session.
So session #2, I turned up on schedule and told them and they immediately paused the treatment while they tried to contact my oncologist. Eventually they told me they were changing my chemo to Carboplatin due to the tinnitus. I had to wait a couple of hours for the meds to be made ready. I took the usual pre meds and then the whole infusion was done in an hour. (Apparently you don’t need nearly the amount of pre fluids and flushing out afterwards so the process is much faster.) But being a worrier, I was anxious that the new drug would be just as effective as the Cysplatin and I was assured that it was. (So why don’t they use it all the time? It would cut chemo time by 80%.) They told me that it’s quite common for the switch to be made due to side effects and that I could just carry on and wouldn’t have to start all over again. Relief!
I’m now into week 4 of chemo so only one left to go after this Wednesday. Again, there are no noticeable side effects yet; perhaps I get a little more weary on the weekend after? I’m not really sure. But so far so good....
(So why don’t they use it all the time?
Hi Mark
It's because it isn't as effective. Overall survival rates are better with cisplatin and there is lots of research to back that up. BUT Chemo therapy increases the effectiveness of radiotherapy by around only 5 to 8%. It's the radiotherapy that is the important part. Lots of people have their chemo abandoned for one reason or another and still achieve a cure.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
You write very well and describe your experience very clearly-have you thought of starting a blog?
I agree...these blogs do help other people going through treatment and recovery and are very easy to set up
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
Exactly. I had no nodes up and was told I wouldn’t be having any.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
