how do you guage weakness?

[loretta]

my husband sclc, with mets to brain and liver so far 3 rounds of chemo etopside and carboplavin? with 25 days between treatments, 10 WBR daily for 10 days last treatment was Jan 18, was weaning off decadron until this weekend when he experienced vision problems and I was told to put him back on, I wanted and MRI but doctor said could still be swelling from WBR. We have MRI's scheduled March 8 for everything to see where we are at.

My real question is are side effects of chemo cumulative? he seems to have bounced back reasonably well after the first two rounds, this last round which ended Feb8th. seems to have really done him in

He is so weak he can barely get up to go to the bathroom, I know that some of the weakness in his legs can be attributed to decadron but it just seems like he seems to be going downhill to me and the doctors keep saying this is normal after having chemo and radiation. What degrees of weakness have you or your loved ones experienced?? It is so hard to watch a man that was so strong and vibrant seem to be withering away.

I come and read everyone's posts everyday and feel a kinship to all of you, I don't really have anyone else around me who understands how I feel or what is going on, I really appreciate all of you and keep all of you in my thoughts daily, You feel like family.

Thanks, Loretta

[Tanner]

Loretta -

I can completely relate! I have been so worried these past few weeks and don't know where to turn either.

Karen literally hasn't left her comfy purple chair in 3 weeks. She is weak and can no longer lift the kids to her lap. She says she is lightheaded and can't hardly get to the bathroom by herself. I am doing all of the cooking, cleaning, parenting etc. She sleeps in the chair during the day and I bring her meals to her in the chair. At night she comes to bed. But she is sleeping like 18 hours out of the day. We have seen the doctor twice and she sees no reason for the lightheadedness or the sleepiness. We are weening off of decadron - down to 1mg a day and next week should be off completely. Her brain mets are shrunk. No swelling (MRI). The cumulative chemo should be wearing off by now we are told. We are all baffled by Karen's symptoms. I try to get her to eat more protein, but chemo messed up her tastebuds and she has no appetite. I am at my wits end as well. I hope the 4 of us can get thru this.

Tanner

[hockeyma]

Oh my, I can relate too. My husband has been between sleeping, sleeping and more sleeping for more than 3 weeks. He can barely climb the stairs to our room. His radiation was palliative. He has not had an urge to eat for 3 weeks either. Fortunately my sister in law is up from away to help us out. She is making him eat and trying to motivate him while I get cleaned up at work so I can work from home and run the kids to their sports etc.

They say this is a part of the disease too. Where do you draw the line on knowing if it is the disease (bad thing) or the treatment (ok thing). Seems the more he rests - the lest he eats, more weight and muscle he loses and the weaker he gets. He is starting to come around a bit now - so maybe it is just timing....I sure hope so. Loretta - I know when my husband did his chemo the effects were cumulative - he was on it for 17 weeks when he bottomed out. He is on Tarceva now so we are hoping that will be more tolerable and give him time to build his system back up. Tanner - his last chemo date was Jan 5th and had time off then radiation for 5 days only ending Feb 5th. So if that is anything to go by it may help. Heather

[wendyr]

Hi Tanner: Maurice stays in the bed most of the day. His strongest time of day seems to be between 4 - 7pm when he gets up & sits in his chair a while then he's off to bed. Appetite very poor, has lost about 8 lbs during the last 1-2 weeks. I think the high pain level is taking away the appetite. Hopefully the docs can come up with the right pain combo for both of them. Good Luck

wendy