Enlarged lymph node 1 year after orchidectomy

Hi Dean,

You can check the thread "Seminoma stage 1, dilemma between surveillance and Carbo" for more details ( link is here- 

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/testicular-cancer-forum/f/diagnosis-and-treatment/198887/seminoma-stage-1-dilemma-between-surveillance-and-carbo ) where I discussed my 2x cycles of Carboplatin (3 weeks apart for each).

I did mine instead of surveillance after my surgery.

The Carboplatin was fine, felt like a bit of a hangover.

Cheers, Kevin

Hi Dean

I had 1 cycle of carboplatin and it isn't too bad. I think even 3 cycles will be quite tolerable compared to other multi cycle treatments.

I did get very mild tinnitus from my cycle. I only notice it in a completely silent room and I haven't lost any hearing.  I think there is about a 30% chance of getting tinnitus.

I took 4 weeks work off for my cycle. I could have probably gone back a week earlier.

Best wishes

G

Thanks Kevin and G. Feel a little bit more relaxed about the chemo after reading your experiences. Just waiting on a start date now. Hopefully within 2 weeks. I'll keep the updates coming.

They forgot to tell me a couple things. The anti nausea meds they give you really work, but they didn't tell me the 3 day ones are steroids and really send your appetite through the roof. I was craving cakes and pies lol. Try and eat normally.

The day itself can be a surreal experience. I was surprised by the scale - about 80 people a day get chemo at my hospital, and you'll quickly realise that you're among the least sick there. I felt survivors guilt pretty much immediately.

Try and arrange a space in your house as a relaxing place to just sit and read or do whatever you do to relax.  It really helped me, and it feels really good when you get to the stage of not needing it anymore and you can get rid of it.

Stay out of direct sun completely for a few days at the start of each cycle. You can really feel it burning after just a few seconds.

I'm sure you'll get through it just fine.

G

Thanks again G. I'll take all that advice on board. I know what you mean about feeling guilty, whenever I visit the oncology department I feel that way. 

Cheers,

Dean 

Stressful couple of days. Important thing is that my 1st Carboplatin AUC 10 still scheduled for Friday fortunately.

Yesterday:

I phoned the chemo unit yesterday (Monday) with a couple of questions, one of which was about the lack of any CT scans or blood tests between diagnosis from the latest CT taken back in May and start of chemo treatment at the end of this week. I was told at that point that I should have had some pre-chemo bloods taken and that without the necessary results I was not having chemo this week,  everything would be put back.  As you can probably imagine, this really knocked me sideways.

My oncologist and support nurse are both on holiday, so I spent the next 4 hours phoning the hospital back and leaving voicemails, trying to get things back on track. I had a callback in the afternoon saying as long as I could book in with phlebotomy at the hospital and get the bloods taken in the next couple of days, we'd be back on track for my 1st chemo on Friday. The oncology department said they would put the necessary test requests on the hospital system for my visit. After another round of calls, I managed to get the bloodtests booked in time. 

I thought that was the end of the problem, but it wasn't....

Mid afternoon, I received a phone call from a nurse, who said without a kidney function test at Nuclear Medicine, I was not going to be able to have my chemo on Friday.  This really did me in. I started phoning around again and at 5pm got confirmation that the chemo could go ahead on Friday!  Really not what I needed to have gone through. But very relieved that things were back on track.

Today:

Today (Tuesday), I attended the hospital for my blood tests. I made it clear that the tests were for chemo and that in particular, kidney related tests had been mentioned by the oncology department.  I noticed the phlebotomist only had one form, I asked if everything I needed for chemo was on there, they said obviously they weren't oncology specialists, but it all looked good. Only one tube of blood was taken and I was told I was free to go, prompting me to remark that it was impressive that only one tube was required for all of the tests. I then asked the phlebotomist to check one last time if they had everything they needed. They went back to the computer to check and came back with 2 more forms, from oncology! They took those tests from my other arm.  If I hadn't hinted and prompted so many times, I would have left the hospital with a single sample (tumour markers) and nothing else taken. This might have again derailed my chemo appointment on Friday.

I'm hoping that's the end of the surprises! Roll on Friday.

That sounds awful, but I still think you might have a problem. Those blood tests weren't the kidney function test you refer to previously. You should have been injected with a radioactive dye and had blood taken every half hour for a few hours to see how efficient your kidneys are. They work out your chemo dosage from that. High performing kidneys means higher dose because your kidneys remove it from your system faster.

I hope it all goes well

G

And that would have been done by nuclear medicine, not phlebotomy.

Hi G,

I was told that the consultant would prescribe my chemo for Friday, based on the bloods I gave today, FBC, U&E, etc. One of the people I spoke to late on Monday said I could have the nuclear medicine kidney function test (mGFR?) later on in my treatment. 

Over the last 2 days, I've gone from having complete faith in my hospital, to questioning everything. I'm really disappointed that I feel this way. I'm hoping for a successful chemo appointment on Friday to restore my trust in them.  

GFR booked for next Wednesday at Nuclear Medicine. 1st chemo today, went well, estimated GFR used. No side effects yet.

I've piggybacked on to another post on the TC forum. As this is the introductions forum, I won't tie up this channel. I'll continue updating progress on the chat sub forum.

Thanks again for your help guys.