Chemotheraphy & Steroids

Hi to anyone who is reading this....
My mum has started her chemo today and is being given Fluorouracil (5FU) and Carboplatin (Paraplatin). Has anyone had these chemo types? I would be interested in your stories. I also would like to know why they give you steroids with the chemo as we have not been told?
Thanks.

Hi KT,

Don't know much about those two drugs as I'm on Doxil for ovarian ca. I have recently been given steroids though. They are given for a variety of reasons, mostly for side affects of the chemo. In my case, I get it for the blisters and rash that developed all over my body after I got the 3rd Doxil treatment. If you do receive steroids, it is most efficacious to get them at the same time as the chemo. If you wait until a week later, like I did once, they didn't work at all.

But steriods, like all other meds have their problems too. They can cause your stomach lining to be irritated and thus more nausea and vomiting. Also they can cause insomnia, mood swings and what is sometimes called "steroid psycosis"

You really have to weigh the benefit against the detriment. Since they really help me live for the next 4 weeks after my treatment, I put up with the stomach and psych. side affects--these seem to last for about 3-4 days afterwards. On the brighter side of things, steroids give me energy and I get up early in the AM, so that is a good thing. They do tend to make me more emotional though.

Hope that helps!

Blessings and love to you and yours

I take 2 doses od dexamethasone 12 hours before my tx and 6 hours before my tx. This is used to prevent an unfavorable reaction to the chemo. I receive taxol thru my port-a-cath every three weeks. I am also taking arimidex daily. I also take a course of Xeloda following my chemo. 5 days on then off 2 days then another 5 days on. 1500mg twice a day. Then I have about 2 weeks of reprieve. I was dx with breast cancer in 1993. I had a mastectomy and since the oncologist said there was 97% chance that it would not come back and I was single with a car payment and a mortgage I decided not to take chemo then. I went in for what was to be a laproscopic gallbladder removal. I am an RN and had worked with my surgeon professionally for years. He came up to my room before I got out of recovery and told my partner he found metastatic breast cancer tumors all over my liver. He didn't know how he would tell me. My mother(she was dx with stage 4 uterine ca several months prior to this)and father came to my room and my doctor brought in pictures he took during the surgery and said it was very bad. He had told my partner 3-6 months. I had numerous tests and scans and labs done. My chemo markers were very high, my liver enzymes were very high. And of course I was receiving pain meds and ativan IV. So things really didn't set in for a few days. I knew what was going on, but emotionally, I had shut down. I took sick leave and luckily I had purchased disability ins quite a few years previously. I saw my oncologist( a Spit-fire of a woman from Duke) then I went to Cancer treatment Centers of America. This establishment was superb. They fly me and my partner out to Tulsa. Everyone you met was kind and informative. You were seen as a person instead of a disease. The team of practioners (oncologist, naturopath, nutritionist,psychologist, and social worker) reviewed my hx and spoke with me individually and came up with a plan of treatment. It was what my own oncologist had presented to me so I returned home with my partner and proceeded with tx. I celebrated LIFE on my 6 month anniversary by swimming with the dolphins. We are creating a homestead on an acre with 270 feet of frontage on a wonderful trout stocked creek in the Mountains of western NC. Currently we live in a 16X24 storage building. We've created a wonderful cabin and the two of us and the 2 cats get along famously. Inspite of no running water. We have a portapotty which is emptied daily into one of those port-a-johns like you see at construction site. Our septic permit took 11 months to be awarded and it is installed. Our home will be rolling off the assembly line the end of January. Probably won't be finished in place with foundation et al, until the middle of February. But what a way to celebrate Valentine's Day!!! I am feeling well most of the time. Tire easily, hot flashes, night sweats, and bone chilling cold, but I am ALIVE!!! Becki says she wakes up and sometimes thinks Yul Brenner is in bed with her, But is just my beautiful bald head. I do miss my hair. I have certainly rambled...I guess you just shouldn't get me started. I am grateful for all the prayers of my family, friends, and co-workers and strangers who have offered up prayers. I am living...not just surviving. I will do it as long as I am able. Now that I am happy, why should I want to leave this all behind. God Bless all of you who are affected by Cancer. "Think positive" as my Father always says. That is part of the answer. Bye for now, dj