First Treatment With Irox - Not Feeling So Good

My husband has his first treatment with IROX (irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and Avastin).  The night before his treatment they told him to take Ativan for anxiety and nausea.  I gave it to him but he was really woozy the next day which was the day of treatment.  I had asked the nurse if he had to take Ativan and she said that it was protocol for this type of chemo regimen.  She then gave him the second dose and let me tell you - he was really out of it.  It is just the two of us and I feel that if he doesn't need it that he shouldn't take it.  My husband has been through so many different treatments with chemotherapy that it isn't a question of being anxious - it is a question of whether it will work or not. 

 Does anyone else out there have to take an anxiety pill for chemotherapy?  I could understand taking it if you are nervous but he isn't, we just take each day as it comes.

Also on Saturday which was the day after treatment started he had the sneezing jags all day until around supper time and then he has had the hiccups every 15-20 minutes still continuing today. 

Has anyone ever had this problem with chemo before?

 He had been on Emend when he had systemic therapy several months ago and never had a problem with the hiccups but since I read all the patient info that comes with the drugs - Emend can cause hiccups.  Why would this be happening now since he has had it in the past with no problems or are the hiccups possibly due to the chemotherapy that he is receiving?

Hope someone can shed some light on this.  We plan on calling the doctors office tomorrow to tell them of what has been going on over this past weekend so any information that we find out I will pass it along.

Kathy

This is just speculation so I would ask your nurse or onc. doctor next time you see them.  Perhaps they want him to take the ativan not because he's nervous but because the chemo drug causes anxiety, anxiety attacks, insomnia, different behavior, etc.  I'm a registered nurse and I'm going through treatment for rectal cancer and I can tell you yesterday they couldn't get a blood return on my medaport, finally I got it when they were out of the room (I was getting inpatient with being there), then when they hooked up my continuous 5FU they put in a dose of .27ml/hr and I said it should be .34 ml/hr and she said Oh they adjust it weekly, bla bla bla.  I said no I don't think so it's been that rate for weeks and my blood counts were all fine so they shouldn't have changed it.  She went and double checked and the doctor accidently put the dose in wrong.  My point is YOU need to be an advocate for your husband if he can't do it.  Know his doses and why they are doing EVERYTHING.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, if they don't like it they're not much of a nurse/doctor.  They probably don't mind usually it's the patients that are intimidated and think we care.  I'm going to try and get a job as an onc. nurse when I'm through with this because I feel who would be better to do this than someone that's gone through it.

I hope someone on here has the answers your looking for, regardless take charge of your care.  Also, I get copies of all of my lab work, tests and doctors notes, you can too with signing a release your entitled.

Take care and God Bless!

Terry