Guest luannie Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 mom, age 77, has started chemo and WBR for nsclc with mets to the brain, bone, adrenal, and lymph glands. she is getting carboplatin and taxol once a week for 3 weeks with one week off. right now they are looking at 3 cycles of this. this is her third day after the chemo and she seems to be doing pretty well as far as side effects go. she has some fatigue, a little nausea at times, and some achiness. does this in any way indicate that this is how she will do with the rest of her treatments or are the effects of chemo cumulative? has anyone having this treatment had good results as far as stabilizing the cancer? also she has started WBR and has completed two treatments so far. the radiologist mentioned side effects of fatigue and swelling. he has given her decadron for the swelling. any other effects we might see with the WBR? we know with the chemo she has to drink alot and are pushing water. does anyone have any info on diet or nutrition for patients with cancer undergoing chemo? any info would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hi Luannie, Your mom's side effects sound pretty typical. Unfortunately, the chemo does tend to be cumulative, especially with fatigue. The only way the cancer cells can be destroyed is to really bombard them with chemo, so yes, getting the chemo several weeks in a row could cause an increase in your mom's side effects, but then again, maybe not. Also, since she's getting WBR at the same time, it is very common for fatigue to be the biggest complaint. Almost everyone gets through all the side effects just fine, but of course, there can be complications, so just try to keep an optimistic attitude, but keep an eye on her and just report anything to the doctor that seems like it might be too harsh. Keep us posted. Love, Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karenl Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hi Luannie As Peggy said, the effects of chemo do tend to be cumulative, but that is not to say that your Mom won't continue to manage very well. If you do a search on diet and nutrition at the top of the page, you should find plenty of info. You may have seen the research that cancer patients should avoid sugar as tumour cells are glucose metabolisers. One of our members recently posted that he actually increased his sugar intake on the day of chemo and for a few days after, the theory being that this would increase the metabolic rate of the cancer cells and make the chemo more effective. I think this is the same idea behind Insulin Potentiation Therapy (you might want to do a search on that). Anyway, its one of those things that you have to make up your own mind about, but its worth considering. I agree with Peggy, keep up the fluids. Try to avoid too much fat. All the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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