What does radiation therapy followed by chemo consist of in practice?

Hi Lemonpip

i will be glad when it gets slightly cooler.

i did this treatment.  In terms of the Cisplatin, it was administered via cannula (for me).  They administer some pre meds intravenously to help protect kidneys before tha actual Cisplatin, and then after the Cisplatin you have saline intravenously to also flush things through. So the chemo sessions lasted about 4.5 hours for me.  They warn you you will be going to the loo quite frequently.  For me, on the days I had Cisplatin, I had my radiotherapy immediately afterwards, and because I had had so much flushing didn’t have to do the drink of water and wait 30 mins before the radio.

i was told not to drive to first chemo, as they wouldn’t know how I would react, but I was able to drive myself to the second Cisplatin( saying this as for the Paclitaxel/carboplatin I was told not to drive as the potion includes alcohol).

for the follow up Paclitaxel/carboplatin …which I assume you are having, I was in hospital for about 6.5 hours generally, and didn’t do cold capping which would have added further time.

in terms of doing the Cisplatin/radio over the 5 weeks, I did really well with coping etc, until 2 days after the second lot of Cisplatin when fatigue cut in. 

Hope this helps, and good luck

I was diagnosed stage 3C and with activity in my lymph nodes too. I also had Cisplatin via cannula infusion, weekly, whilst undergoing radiotherapy. I found that my chemo sessions took a bit longer, closer to 6 hours, though that was mostly due to delays with the drugs coming up from the pharmacy.

On some days I had my radiotherapy whilst still attached to the drip so it was a matter of traipsing from the chemo ward down to the radiotherapy suite pulling the drip stand behind me.

When the Cisplatin/ radiotherapy infusion regime was finished I too had a 3 week break before the Carboplatin/Paclitaxel  started. I was given an interim CT scan during that break which was to give them a new baseline to work from and it encouragingly showed improvements in the lymph nodes.

I then had 4 cycles of the new chemo and each session was about 5 hours. They finished on 2nd July.

The only drug I have had to self-administer is an anti-coagulant injection as unfortunately I developed clots in my lung and leg. I don’t find that a problem at all and I was told during the consent stage that this was one of the possible side effects.

Hope that helps

Thank you so much for this information Waidh! That’s really helpful to know. I hope you’re on the mend now

Thanks so much for this EP17 as I need to plan in lifts from family so the length of time is really handy to know about. I’ve had to self inject before after my hysterectomy so that’s useful to kno Wishing you all the best for your recovery x