Medical Marijuana/When To Stop Chemo?

my mom has stage IV Adenocarcinoma and has completed 2 rounds of avastin/carboplatin/taxol.  she is dreading her third treatment on thursday because she feels lousy NOW and knows the chemo will make her sick again next weekend/week.  has anyone ever ingested medical marijuana to help with the overall malaise associated with these drugs?  did it help?

i am in tears writing this because i'm wondering if she should just not do another course of chemo..   the tumors are shrinking - but so what?  what is next?  the dr. has given us an open-ended plan (chemo for up to 6 or 9 rounds?!) but that is so depressing because mom feels so sick now.  is she going to spend the rest of her days feeling awful?  what kind  of quality of life is that.. how does she make the decision to stop treatment???

 

On 3/17/2008 PVGal wrote:

my mom has stage IV Adenocarcinoma and has completed 2 rounds of avastin/carboplatin/taxol.  she is dreading her third treatment on thursday because she feels lousy NOW and knows the chemo will make her sick again next weekend/week.  has anyone ever ingested medical marijuana to help with the overall malaise associated with these drugs?  did it help?

i am in tears writing this because i'm wondering if she should just not do another course of chemo..   the tumors are shrinking - but so what?  what is next?  the dr. has given us an open-ended plan (chemo for up to 6 or 9 rounds?!) but that is so depressing because mom feels so sick now.  is she going to spend the rest of her days feeling awful?  what kind  of quality of life is that.. how does she make the decision to stop treatment???

My heart goes out to you and I pray for God to give you strength.  My husband is going through this also since Dec 26th 07.  Medical marjuana may help but I worried about "controlling" it ..so I don't know about that.  The sickness from the treatment is not as one would expect but things will be better in time.  My husband's tumor shrank too but it is a wait and see game now with coughing so bad that he hasn't had a full nights sleep for 3 months.  It is hard on those of us that feel like we can't help. As far as the open ended plan...that seems to be the norm.  The patients usually know what they can or cannot tolerate and the doctors seem to respect their wishes and decisions.  Knowing the RIGHT thing to do is the hard part isn't it? 

 Only your mother can make that decision but quality of life counts. Even if you give the chemo a break it helps. As for Medical MJ go for it helps tremendously. Only thing that helped me and I had zofran pills, that was a joke...They also give Marinol but that was way too strong for me I took the real deal in cigarette form but it only need 4-5 puffs and that lasted 4-6 hours. Everyone is different.  Taking a break cannot hurt and if she is so far down the track on her recovery it will not hurt to wait. She should do what her gut tells her and the doctor is not the one suffering these awful side effects, facing life threatening illness, and truly has no clue how one really feels. All the best...

On 3/17/2008 PVGal wrote:

my mom has stage IV Adenocarcinoma and has completed 2 rounds of avastin/carboplatin/taxol.  she is dreading her third treatment on thursday because she feels lousy NOW and knows the chemo will make her sick again next weekend/week.  has anyone ever ingested medical marijuana to help with the overall malaise associated with these drugs?  did it help?

i am in tears writing this because i'm wondering if she should just not do another course of chemo..   the tumors are shrinking - but so what?  what is next?  the dr. has given us an open-ended plan (chemo for up to 6 or 9 rounds?!) but that is so depressing because mom feels so sick now.  is she going to spend the rest of her days feeling awful?  what kind  of quality of life is that.. how does she make the decision to stop treatment???

 

 

On 3/28/2008 mmsurvivor wrote:

 Only your mother can make that decision but quality of life counts. Even if you give the chemo a break it helps. As for Medical MJ go for it helps tremendously. Only thing that helped me and I had zofran pills, that was a joke...They also give Marinol but that was way too strong for me I took the real deal in cigarette form but it only need 4-5 puffs and that lasted 4-6 hours. Everyone is different.  Taking a break cannot hurt and if she is so far down the track on her recovery it will not hurt to wait. She should do what her gut tells her and the doctor is not the one suffering these awful side effects, facing life threatening illness, and truly has no clue how one really feels. All the best...

On 3/17/2008 PVGal wrote:

my mom has stage IV Adenocarcinoma and has completed 2 rounds of avastin/carboplatin/taxol.  she is dreading her third treatment on thursday because she feels lousy NOW and knows the chemo will make her sick again next weekend/week.  has anyone ever ingested medical marijuana to help with the overall malaise associated with these drugs?  did it help?

i am in tears writing this because i'm wondering if she should just not do another course of chemo..   the tumors are shrinking - but so what?  what is next?  the dr. has given us an open-ended plan (chemo for up to 6 or 9 rounds?!) but that is so depressing because mom feels so sick now.  is she going to spend the rest of her days feeling awful?  what kind  of quality of life is that.. how does she make the decision to stop treatment???

 

 

In addition to my lung cancer I have PAH and Scleroderma and have suffered right heart failure.  I use MMJ to control the pain of my Scleroderma and to stop the depression from all three diseases, and to basically just have a sense of well being which makes my days and nights easier.  I used to cough all night but with the MMJ I fall asleep and open my eyes 8-9 hours later with no recollection of ever falling asleep!  It is wonderful.  It is a dreamless sleep as well.  I have stopped taking xanax to be restful at night and just use my MMJ.  Its pain relieving effects are instant if it is medical grade.  I don't know how I'd do all of this without it.