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Kidney Damage from Chemo


renij

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My Dad Started chemo on May 12 (Carbo/Taxol).  He had treatments once a week for 4 weeks then a week off.  The last few visits, his bloodwork wasn't what the Dr thought it should be, so they didn't give him the Carbo, just Taxol. Last week, Dr called out of the blue and said he wanted Dad to get an abdominal ultrasound immediately.  The following day, Dr asked us to come to his office. It seems the chemo has caused some damage to Dad's kidneys. Now they've stopped chemo until kidneys recover. 

Question to anyone is, what does this "really" mean?  Are we facing a small blip or hitting a wall?  Amy insight is appreciated.

As an aside, I don't have lots of confidence in the Doctor- frequently forgets Dad's situation, brings in week old labs to appointments, etc. However dad likes him and wants to keep him. 

Thank you!

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My husband was getting Carboplatin once every 21 days and nab-paxalataxil every week for 4 cycles at 21 days per cycle. He ended up with something in a kidney but not sure what. They wanted to wait until the chemo was over to check it out. Thanks for the reminder because he has been off chemo for over a month. I hope your Dad gets better soon. Check around and see what may help him support his kidneys getting better like whether or not to drink lots of water or if anything might have a cleansing effect... I just don't know but thinking out of the box so your not just in the waiting game without feeling like something is being done.

He is lucky to have you looking out for him.

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Renij,

I've had a lot of delays of scheduled infusions, never for kidney problems, but for low red and white cell counts.  My infusions were every three weeks and I once skipped two infusion cycles.  My doc told me that the two-cycle delay should not adversely affect my treatment.  I was declared NED after the infusion course was complete so the delay likely had no effect on my treatment.

I don't know enough about kidney function and chemotherapy to give you insight.  So, I wouldn't know about a wall.

Relying on old labs during a consultation seems odd.  That never happened to me.  It might be a problem with the practice administration not loading the labs into the medical record.  Most records are computerized these days and one would think information technology would solve a problem like chronological ordering of labs.

I agree with FLgirl in drinking water.  That was something my chemo nurse told me - drinking lots of water 2 or 3 days prior to the infusion.  I am not sure I can remember the reason but I did consume lots of water.

Stay the course.

Tom

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