Chemo

Hello

I was diagnosed with lung cancer and about to start chemo, im a wreck, and I know the doc has explained his "verbiage" so to speak, but can any of you tell me how chemo is administered and what to expect? I need reassurance from others that the chemo wont kill me, im frightened. How long does chemo take, Im choosing the IV, so what does that entail? I know my doc can answer all these questions, but newly dx makes me want to read and google myself to exhaustion. Thanks you and god bless. Im a 45 yr old female and a smoker (former) I feel like many would say I deserve this because I smoked, I have not told my daughters yet!

I am sorry you are dealing with this, I hope you have a support system already in place with whom you can talk, cry, yell.

My mother, 61 years old, was diagnosed in June of this year with Stage IV NSCLC which had already metastacized to her brain.  She had surgery to resect the brain tumor, then radiation to her brain and is in the middle of her chemo treatments. 

Her chemo is scheduled 1 times every 3 weeks.  It is given via IV.  She gets two different chemo meds.  Her chemo day begins with labs, then she sees the Oncologist, then she goes up for the chemo which once it is started, lasts about 4 1/2 hours.  Her MD has given her 2 different anti-nausea meds which are supposed to prevent her from getting sick, I highly recommend taking them if you are starting to feel nauseated.  My mom did well the 1st 2 rounds, however, after the second round, mom became very nauseous so much so that she could not eat or drink and became dehdrated.

 Good luck to you and good luck telling your daughters, and NO ONE deserves cancer!

 

On 10/11/2009 ann16 wrote:

I am sorry you are dealing with this, I hope you have a support system already in place with whom you can talk, cry, yell.

My mother, 61 years old, was diagnosed in June of this year with Stage IV NSCLC which had already metastacized to her brain.  She had surgery to resect the brain tumor, then radiation to her brain and is in the middle of her chemo treatments. 

Her chemo is scheduled 1 times every 3 weeks.  It is given via IV.  She gets two different chemo meds.  Her chemo day begins with labs, then she sees the Oncologist, then she goes up for the chemo which once it is started, lasts about 4 1/2 hours.  Her MD has given her 2 different anti-nausea meds which are supposed to prevent her from getting sick, I highly recommend taking them if you are starting to feel nauseated.  My mom did well the 1st 2 rounds, however, after the second round, mom became very nauseous so much so that she could not eat or drink and became dehdrated.

 Good luck to you and good luck telling your daughters, and NO ONE deserves cancer!

Hello,

When you are going thru chemo, pls make sure DRINK a lot.  Water is helping a bit but try other antioxidant drinks or healthy juice.  Chemo drugs make your body dehydrated badly so pls please drink drink before it becomes a problem.  Since your mom is 61, pls ask for shingles shot to prevent complication in the future.

Best wishes,

Vic

 

On 10/11/2009 hopeb wrote:

Hello

I was diagnosed with lung cancer and about to start chemo, im a wreck, and I know the doc has explained his "verbiage" so to speak, but can any of you tell me how chemo is administered and what to expect? I need reassurance from others that the chemo wont kill me, im frightened. How long does chemo take, Im choosing the IV, so what does that entail? I know my doc can answer all these questions, but newly dx makes me want to read and google myself to exhaustion. Thanks you and god bless. Im a 45 yr old female and a smoker (former) I feel like many would say I deserve this because I smoked, I have not told my daughters yet!

I am a Stage IV  lung cancer patient and when first diagnosed I needed 2 friends sitting at the table with me to just help me fill out some paperwork.  I was not able to think rationally.   I could break out crying at any moment about just anything, especially my loving family.   Thankfully, I know God and know he will lovingly care for me the way I need it.   I was on a clinical trial with Tarceva which is a pill chemo taken daily and had about no side effects, just a bit of rash.   The Tarceva made my tumors go down to about nothing.  After about 8 months, the Tarceva quit working and I was put on 4 rounds of Carboplatin plus Alimta by IV.   I don't like it because it makes me nauseated, but I did find that zofran was a help with the Nausea.   I'm probably done with that chemo and will have 6 months to a year of free time before the tumors may start growing again (VACATION)..   The IV and getting the chemo was not hard, actually the time (4 to 5 hours) was spent with several family members and we entertained each other in the room.   The worst part of all this is the anxiety about what isn't going to work to keep the cancer controlled.   We just never know what is going to happen, what the next ct scan is going to show.   I've learned from many on this chatroom to learn to forget about it, although that's about impossible as the day for the ct scan approaches.  It's about like final's week at school.   You can gradually learn to enjoy each day most of the time.   You'll see that many of the fears you're experiencing will go away soon.   It's not that bad at all.   The chemo will give you more days or months to live, the actual treatments are no worse than going for your flu shot, and time spent with loved ones who support me has been very rewarding.   As I say, I had to learn to live the week or so with the nausea each time.   That comes a day or 2 after the chemo.   The docs have many things they put in that chemo soup to make the treatments a lot easier than they were formerly!     You'll learn that what you've seen in the movies and read about was hype or old times.    Hope some of this helps.   Oh, I forgot, I've been eating right and exercising and part of that was quitting sugar.   All this helps to keep the body stronger and help in the cancer fight.   Anyway, to make the chemo treatment more fun, and possibly seriously to help the treatment, my naturopath said to eat something really sugary the day of the chemo treatment so the cancer cells while gobbling sugar would also gobble more of the chemo poison.  The first time I had pancakes right before with lots of syrup, and last week I brought 2 Hostess cupcakes. to the treatment.  My kids also bought me a fruit tart at the hospital cafe.   Delicious.

 

On 10/11/2009 hopeb wrote:

Hello

I was diagnosed with lung cancer and about to start chemo, im a wreck, and I know the doc has explained his "verbiage" so to speak, but can any of you tell me how chemo is administered and what to expect? I need reassurance from others that the chemo wont kill me, im frightened. How long does chemo take, Im choosing the IV, so what does that entail? I know my doc can answer all these questions, but newly dx makes me want to read and google myself to exhaustion. Thanks you and god bless. Im a 45 yr old female and a smoker (former) I feel like many would say I deserve this because I smoked, I have not told my daughters yet!

 

 My 64 year old mom is going for another bout of chemo with stage IV lung cancer, she was diagnosed in January. She is a former smoker too, and she apologizes for putting us kids through this, so in an indirect way I understand what you mean. You don't deserve this, for sure. Secondly, please please don't google and internet yourself into panic. It's unfair isn't it, that more information is available to you on the internet than at your doctor's office! My mom has recently started googling and doing her own research (against her doctor's wishes) and started to put an expiry date on herself based on the information she found and that is SO dangerous.

She had about 6 or 8 (estimate) visits when chemo was administered and at first she was frightened too - more than I had ever seen her before. But once she got there, the cancer clinic was amazing. They took her in and did it all for her. She would see acquaintances who (unbeknownst to her) were there for their own chemo, and started to meet others who were seasoned veterans at the chemo game. By the time she had been there a couple of times, SHE was talking to the newbies and reassuring THEM that the process will become routine for them too. It's not a party, I don't mean to sound like it's any kind of fun because it isn't, but she did the first half and is going to be starting the next. Now I realize it doesn't answer very much, but I know once you get in there, the staff who do this for a living are trained and experienced in this - and they are a very special group of people who can make the unbearable somehow bearable. It's not just about the medicine, they have great hearts too.

I am on this site because I am trying to learn how to make it better for my mom because she's been very distraught. Sometimes I can't seem to help her, but I would like to be able to help you in any way I can. Please let me know how you are doing.

 

On 10/15/2009 shortstopmommy wrote:

 

On 10/11/2009 hopeb wrote:

Hello

I was diagnosed with lung cancer and about to start chemo, im a wreck, and I know the doc has explained his "verbiage" so to speak, but can any of you tell me how chemo is administered and what to expect? I need reassurance from others that the chemo wont kill me, im frightened. How long does chemo take, Im choosing the IV, so what does that entail? I know my doc can answer all these questions, but newly dx makes me want to read and google myself to exhaustion. Thanks you and god bless. Im a 45 yr old female and a smoker (former) I feel like many would say I deserve this because I smoked, I have not told my daughters yet!

 

 My 64 year old mom is going for another bout of chemo with stage IV lung cancer, she was diagnosed in January. She is a former smoker too, and she apologizes for putting us kids through this, so in an indirect way I understand what you mean. You don't deserve this, for sure. Secondly, please please don't google and internet yourself into panic. It's unfair isn't it, that more information is available to you on the internet than at your doctor's office! My mom has recently started googling and doing her own research (against her doctor's wishes) and started to put an expiry date on herself based on the information she found and that is SO dangerous.

She had about 6 or 8 (estimate) visits when chemo was administered and at first she was frightened too - more than I had ever seen her before. But once she got there, the cancer clinic was amazing. They took her in and did it all for her. She would see acquaintances who (unbeknownst to her) were there for their own chemo, and started to meet others who were seasoned veterans at the chemo game. By the time she had been there a couple of times, SHE was talking to the newbies and reassuring THEM that the process will become routine for them too. It's not a party, I don't mean to sound like it's any kind of fun because it isn't, but she did the first half and is going to be starting the next. Now I realize it doesn't answer very much, but I know once you get in there, the staff who do this for a living are trained and experienced in this - and they are a very special group of people who can make the unbearable somehow bearable. It's not just about the medicine, they have great hearts too.

I am on this site because I am trying to learn how to make it better for my mom because she's been very distraught. Sometimes I can't seem to help her, but I would like to be able to help you in any way I can. Please let me know how you are doing.

I am the actual Stage IV lung cancer patient, 65 years old, who wrote before that I've learned the treatment times are not something to be feared, although some of the side effects can be unpleasant.    My children have been wonderful.   Several of them come along with my husband to all my dr. appointments to make them actually pleasant and to help me make decisions.   We go out for meals or maybe pedicures after the appointments, make them a pleasant and/or fun day.   The support is almost physical.   I don't know how they can get away from work, but they do.     My husband and I got into the internet and wondered if we were doing the right thing for my cancer trusting the medical community and drug companies.    We went to a naturopath, an oncologist 2nd opinion, and talked a lot.   At a camping trip, the children were willing to sit around the campfire and help us digest a lot of the info we were getting from the medical community and the internet.   The naturopath said he used to believe that he could fight the cancer, but he now believes he'd have his family go to an oncologist.  He just doesn't have the proven and strong enough drugs to fight.  He just can help the body stay strong to also fight.   The 2nd opinion oncologist said he'd use these things suggested on the internet if they could be proven, but they cannot, so he'd stay with the tested things.   My encologist was willing to spend a whole appointment with us, sharing things like the chemo doesn't kill you, it's the cancer that does it.    He believes in quality of life and controlling the cancer as long as possible with quality of life.  I've decided to trust his judgment.  That was a hard decision to make because some of my family was strong the other way.

Just make your mom's life as happy as you can.   She wants you happy also.   Just enjoy your time.

 Hope some of this helps.

 

Chemo depending on the type and schedule of treatment can be hard on a person.  My husband did 6 rounds of chemo the first time.  They were for 3 days every 3 weeks.  The first day was all day and the second and third days were 3 hours each.  My husband had a port which made things easier because on the first day they put the needle in and left it in for the 3 days, so he did not have to be stuck with a needle each day.  Depending on your treatment plan that may be the better.  It was easier for them to use the port for different thinks.  The doctor gave him a cream that he put on the skin at least an hour before treatment so when they went to insert the needle there was no pain. 

The first chemo treatment for him was not that bad.  After the second treatment he was tired and nauseous alot.  But the doctors gave him medicine to help with the side effects.  When he started to loose his hair we shaved his head so it wouldn't be so up setting to watch it fall out (he had a 14 inch pony-tail).  It did grow back, in fact it is thicker now then it was before chemo.   

kzfamily

 

You are very fortunate to have an oncologist who spends that kind of quality time with you - and treats you like a person, not a number. This is not meant to criticize the docs - they do an amazing job in their way, that's not meant as a slight. It is unfortunately true, however, that my mom has had the experience of being a pseudo-assembly line patient sometimes, a doctor who is stressed, pressed for time or simply not a people-person has often caused a ripple effect. My mom will leave the office without the vital information she needs because the doctor's bedside manner is less than it should be...and from there the self-research begins and it's never a good thing.

 

On 10/16/2009 shortstopmommy wrote:

 

You are very fortunate to have an oncologist who spends that kind of quality time with you - and treats you like a person, not a number. This is not meant to criticize the docs - they do an amazing job in their way, that's not meant as a slight. It is unfortunately true, however, that my mom has had the experience of being a pseudo-assembly line patient sometimes, a doctor who is stressed, pressed for time or simply not a people-person has often caused a ripple effect. My mom will leave the office without the vital information she needs because the doctor's bedside manner is less than it should be...and from there the self-research begins and it's never a good thing.

I have the same thing with my Dr. I  had to look everyhing up on the computer pretty much. He was in the oncology dept. while I was having chemo one day & never came over to me or any of his other patiences that were there either. Sometimes I wonder why some Dr.'s are even Dr.'s!

 

 

On 10/16/2009 PattyL. wrote:

 

On 10/16/2009 shortstopmommy wrote:

 

You are very fortunate to have an oncologist who spends that kind of quality time with you - and treats you like a person, not a number. This is not meant to criticize the docs - they do an amazing job in their way, that's not meant as a slight. It is unfortunately true, however, that my mom has had the experience of being a pseudo-assembly line patient sometimes, a doctor who is stressed, pressed for time or simply not a people-person has often caused a ripple effect. My mom will leave the office without the vital information she needs because the doctor's bedside manner is less than it should be...and from there the self-research begins and it's never a good thing.

I have the same thing with my Dr. I  had to look everyhing up on the computer pretty much. He was in the oncology dept. while I was having chemo one day & never came over to me or any of his other patiences that were there either. Sometimes I wonder why some Dr.'s are even Dr.'s!

This is Nevah again.   Actually, my dr. did not spend that whole session with me because he had actually triple booked himself that day so I could come to get some questions answered before I could go on with treatment.  He had his assistant spend 45 minutes with my family helping us with questions we had and then came in.  He made it possible for us to get our questions answered, however.   Before my cancer diagnosis, I had my first bad experience with a doctor, one who was busy, abrupt, quit treating me before the symptoms stopped saying he couldln't find anything.   I'd never had anything but a caring dr. before.   If I got an encologist like that, I'd seek a 2nd opinion, maybe try another onc..  Actually, my onc. says a dr. should not mind 2nd opinions at all.   Sometimes it just reinforces that you're on the right track.   But, I need tlc and a dr. I trust cares about my care.    Of course, a dr. does not have umlimited time.   I know a patient and wife (wife a nurse) who sit down before each dr. meeting and write out questions they have.   The internet has so many things out there and I don't trust myself to pick the qualified sources or understand propaganda.   I also have a hard time since I'm the one witht he trauma there remembering or understanding.  Several of my family members are always there to help me remember and thoroughly understand later what we discussed.   There are often decisions to be made.  Hope all of this helps.