Urgent Need Some Help With Recovery After Chemo

As many of you know my husband finished his chemo in November. In December the PET scan showed no cancer. it was in remission. He had problems with nausea at first following the chemo ending. This was contributed in part to the drugs he received. He is still having some problems with nausea, but now also has trouble with constipation and acites in his abdomen. Is this normal and is it due to the lack of peristalisis? He had a CT the other night when he was in dire pain. It showed the acites, but it showed the kidneys, liver and other organs to be normal with no signs of anything. His blood work was also good. Has anybody else had these problems and would probiotics, good bacteria, help get things going right?

I'm curious sweetheart, what stage was he diagnosed at?  When was he diagnosed and when did he start chemo?  Thank GOD he is in remission. 

He was diagnosed May of 2006. At that time he was a stage IV. They did not realize the extent until they tried to do surgery for a partial gastrectomy. When they opened him the tumor had grown through the stomach and there were splatters on the peritoneum. He had this surgery about the middle of May and then started chemo 5 weeks later. He was on a very strong regement and finished #6 on November 2. The initial PET showed all the cancer, on the lining and the tumor, but no other organs were effected. The PET after the 3rd treatment showed nothing but a shrunken tumor left. The PET after the 6th treatment which was done the first week in December showed no active disease at all.

I hope that your husband is feeling better.  I hope I can offer a little bit of advice based on our experiences with my father, who also has gastric cancer.  By the way, what does your oncologist say about all the stuff your husband has been dealing with since he finished chemo?  Our oncologist ordered an endoscopy when my father was done with this chemo.  Also, perhaps a colonoscopy may be appropriate given your husband has problems with constipation.  Have you tried anything over the counter to help with consipation?  We have used a combination of magnesium, senokot-s, benefiber, and kefir to help.  Also, there is a lot of discussion that PET scans are not reliable for gastric cancer.  In fact, Sloan Kettering in New York does not even order them for their patients - they simply do CT scans.  It seems like if you have a PET scan, the PET/CT combination is much more accurate.  Which ones have you had?  You may want to consider getting another opinion from a different oncologist if your doctor isn't addressing all the problems your husband has been dealing with.  I really hope that your husband begins feeling better - it is not fair to have all these issues after chemo.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Don't know if this will help -- but -- I finished my treatments in June and did not start to feel any better till sept.  My oncologist told me symptoms from chemo can last 6 months or more.  Its been 7 months now and I finally feel great, but I also had periods of nausea well after finishing.  In fact sometimes I still get a little nausous in the morning only. Does anyone else experience that? Doc's suggest that I take medication once a day such as prilozec or pepcid but I'm not sure I want to.

You may want to try yogurt for constipation. I sound like a broken record when it comes to eating organic yogurt but -- it helped  sooth the stomach and  normalize  bowel functions.  The natural bacteria in the yogurt helps keep the stomach and intestines working well. Make sure it is organic such as Stoneyfield or it won't have all of the different bacteria.   Other yogarts only contain one or two types.

Also the only tests I've had are cat-scans, my oncologist also doesn't think pet scans are needed.  My Gastro Doc has scheduled a colonoscopy and endoscopy for July. That will be more than one year after finishing chemo.