deb10653 Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 I have not been around much but am curious as to your answers concerning sleep vs hydration after chemo. Dave had his 2nd chemo on Wednesday and until today things were pretty good, today that stubborn man has returned who refuses to eat and/or drink and just wants to sleep... so is that okay for a day? Last chemo we ended up in the hospital with infection (E. Coli) and dehydration...I do not want a repeat, so do I wake him up and have this continuous nagging go on to get him to eat and drink??? I would think he also needs the rest. The other issue is that they added a new drug infusion to his chemo that was supposed to help with the bone met pain in his shoulder, well it hasn't and if anything the pain is worse. The time his pain was the best was when they had him on 20mg of prendisone, which they have slowly cut back to 5 mg and now removed completely... the pain has increased although they have increased other pain meds a bit. The fear of steriod side-effects seems to be the motivation but I hate seeing him so uncomfortable....our primary doctor added a non-narcotic to the mix on Friday and we are to try that this weekend but I am seeing no improvement. When do you decide to interrupt the chemo and have the radiation treatment for pain to one met location? Any input on that situation? Sorry to have so many questions, I got a copy of Dave's file on Wednesday and have been reading through it while he sleeps today... absolutely overwhelming and have a lot of medical jargon to look up but I want to know what we are dealing with! Thanks, Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 Sorry to hear your husband is having difficulty. Unfortunately, unless he wants a repeat of last month, you're going to have to go into full nag mode. He's obviously very sensitive to the treatments and how they affect his system. He does need fluids and plenty of them. Nutrition, for a few days, probably isn't as big of a deal. If he'll drink something like Ensure, then it's getting fluids and nutrition into him. I hope this begins to go better for him. Some people do have a rough time with chemo and there is no rhyme or reason as to why. He probably received Zometa with his infusion on Wednesday. Zometa is a bone strengthener that helps to prevent future bone mets. It will not get rid of the current ones, that is what the systemic chemotherapy is hoping to accomplish. I don't know anything about interrupting the chemo for rads, but I'd be asking the doctor about the timing. His comfort should be the most important thing, but it is a balancing act. Is he on some type of chemo that he can't do radiation at the same time? I'm not too familiar, but my husband did do 15 rads for one stubborn tumor and only skipped 1/2 of a treatment to do the rads. I wish you much luck and some easing for your husband's pain. Warm regards, Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellit74 Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 Hi Deb, Sorry to hear that your husband is having a rough go of things right now. Here is my thoughts as someone who was a caretaker for my Dad for 3 years and as a former employee of University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center. You need to get him to drink as much as possible. even if its in little bits, of anything. A few tricks for nausea, if that is whats making him not want to eat... Lemon Drops... this really actually works... When I was at the Cancer Center the drug rep that brought in the Anzemet (antinausea drug) also would bring a case of lemon drops in... it took me awhlie to put two and two together... My Dad said they helped (and I actually loved them while pregnant for morning sickness) Another is Starlight Mints, the round candy cane flavor ones... I havent actually used them but others have told me that works, and now that I am thinking of it, at Christmas time, we would have them out at the Cancer Center! Dad was never one to drink much.. toward the end we stocked the fridge with dozens of different drinks, Ensure, Gatorade, Vitamin Water.. (FYI... give that one COLD) Those small cans of sodas... so it does not seem so overwhelming to hav to drink a whole can.. There is an orange soda that Dad really liked and would drink when he wouldnt drink anything else... its called Bireley's Orange... Its a non-carbonated soda.. I know its hard to see them not want to take care of themselves... but hang in there... Hope this helps... Shelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchurchi Posted May 4, 2008 Share Posted May 4, 2008 Hi Deb, appetite is one of the biggest battles I have with my husband. Sometimes it is like getting a child to eat Alan has lost close to 100 pounds since his DX 3 years ago. Alan has lost 40 pounds since his latest recurrance in Dec. If he doesn't eat, we make sure he gets as much fluid as possible. We have learned that keeping dehydration at bay is most important. Trying leaving easy to eat foods, meaning something that can be eaten with fingers, within close reach of your husband. He just might eat without even realizing he is doing so. Also foods that do not take much effort to eat, such as scrambled eggs, pudding ect are also good. The simple act of cutting food and chewing just is too much effort for those already exhausted from treatment. I hope things start to turn around for the both of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb10653 Posted May 4, 2008 Author Share Posted May 4, 2008 Thanks so much for the responses and good ideas, I will concentrate on fluids today although he chose ice cream for breakfast and fruit cocktail for a snack so obviously is doing better tody, that is more than all of yesterday. I do try to keep things near him to munch on but he is having that sensitive mouth problem at present and smooth, cool things seem to be best. Am I right that if he has soda it should be de-caf? I think I read that somewhere but I have ingested so much information the last month...well could be dreaming. If I remember the oncologists discussion of the radiation for pain treatment it would mean a suspension of the Taxol/carbo/avastin until after completion, what effect that would have...well we have our first scan after chemo started the 15th so we shall see. Thank you so much for being a source of info and sharing your stories. I do not want a repeat of the hospital and am feeling more positive this AM. He has a slight case of "thrush" but is using the oncologist formular Prevention mouthwash as Dr suggested and seems to be handling it, last time that was a major problem. Not sure of fourth infusion drug on Wednesday, it was to help with the bone met PAIN and near as I can tell ...it didn't! Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellit74 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Hi Deb, Glad that your husband has some appetite today... You mentioned a sensitive mouth issue. I have a suggestion for you if the problem should worsen. (and if you are aware of this, Sorry for the repeat!) When I worked at the cancer center, (FYI, not sure if I said what i did there, but I worked in the Pharmacy part, I made the chemo) we would make this concoction to help with that. We called it MALIDOBEN there, the name meaning MA-from maalox, LIDO- from lidocane and BEN from benedryl. this is a liquid that you either swish and swallow or swish and spit. Some Dr.s call it Magic Mouthwash, it can have other ingredients too like prednisone and another that I cant think of at the moment. If his pain gets to bothersome, you should ask his Doc about getting a prescription for it. Hope this helps... Good luck to you both. Shelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Deb, Also glad to hear things are easing a bit. Ice cream and fruit cocktail both count toward fluid intake, with the bonus of being food too! Typically the oncologist will order Nystatin oral suspension for thrush issues. My husband also used Biotene mouthwash up to 4x per day and took B50 that was recommended by the doctor for mouth sores due to chemo. The B50 was amazing for the sores and they went away nicely. Two different types of mouth ouchies -- thrush and mouth sores from chemo. I do know people use that triple ingredient magic mouthwash for mouths/esophagus problems, but I thought that was more for radiation after-effects. Maybe not. The Biotene mouthwash has no alcohol in it to irritate the poor mouth any more than it already is. Welcome to the roller coaster and hang on tight. It's quite a ride. Best of luck, Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb10653 Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 Just an update, we have survived the first week after chemo #2, WBC was good this morning and he is slowly getting his appetite back. The great suggestions by your responses helped and even with that he lost 2 more lbs... and I probably gained them! The thrush issue was totally handled by the OTC Prevention mouthwash our oncologist told us about at Walgreens, doing that swish/spit four to six times a day really worked. The infusion shot for bone mets was Zometa, first three days his pain was unbearable but since Sunday he has had on and off pain and slowly cutting his breakthrough meds at times. We now have CT scan next week to see if this chemo is working and if shoulder pain does not worsen will discuss the radiation for pain scenerio with doctor on the 21st when we hear about scan results. Thank you for your time in answering the questions and for sharing your experiences. Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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