Following surgery, it was recommended Don have adj chemo, once a week for twelve weeks. It was set to start 12/27, carbo/taxol. He had two weeks to think it over. He had been exercising a little (10 min some days on treadmill, lifting hand weights a little), but he stopped when he started thinking about chemo. He has had four treatments and had decided to quit. His side effects (compared to others that I know who have had chemo) are minimal--a little nausea on day 3 and 4, controlled with compazine (appetite really good, has gained a few pounds), the worst thing is some neuropathy in his feet, the bottoms burn, and it has kicked his RLS into high gear. RBC started at 32 and down to 29. But.....he says his incision pain is much worse, he was doing so much better before chemo. I think most of it is mental. he sits around holding his head for hours at a time. He has always been type A, we had our own business for 27 years, we have 25 acres and he cuts hay every year, runs a chain saw, and general upkeep around here. He is convinced he will never be able to do it again. His doctors all tell him it isn't so, but he doesn't believe them. He has NEVER had any medical problems until 2005 when he lost a lot of weight and finally went to the doctor. After a complete work-up (they were looking for cancer then) he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism (Graves disease), and treatment had pretty much returned him to normal, but all the muscle mass he had lost is gone he has never believed in exercising for the sake of exercising, his life style has always provided all the exercise he needed.
Now he just gets weaker and weaker. He says he can't drink more than 3 or 4 small glasses of water a day He has been told that exercise is the best thing for fatigue, but he says he can't. He told the onc that his legs feel like jello, and the onc said it was the chemo. I think a lot of it is from lack of doing doing anything. I think he is severely depressed and I don't know who to talk to about it. If I leave a message for his doctor to call me, he'll get the call (he always answers the phone), I don't know where to turn.
I need to know how long it will take him to return to pre-chemo condition if he stops.
He's never been easy to live with and is now approaching impossible.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Barbara
