Hello All,
I thought I would update what was going on with my daddy and once again ask another question. What happens when you miss a chemo treatment?
I mentioned his extreme nausea after his 1st chemo treatment in an earlier post. My mom had told me how bad it was but until I got to their house, I did not understand. I went the night before he was to go for chemo so that my mom could rest and take a bath. Daddy had been so sick that she had not been able to even shower. Anyway, it was unbelievable. He would throw up and throw up and throw up, throw his head back and gasp for air, and it would start again. He got about 1 1/2 hrs sleep in the recliner and I slept on the couch. I woke up to him vomiting again.
Needlessly to say, when we got the drs. office for his next treatment he was too weak to receive it. Our doctor has is very knowledgeable and has been great but when momma was trying to describe how sick daddy had been I got the feeling that she was thinking 'it couldn't be that bad." He spent the day in "clinic" (where the administer chemo) receiving iv fluids and zofran because there was no room available on the oncology floor. It turned out to be a good thing, though. The chemo nurses got a good dose of how bad his nausea was and called the drs. office to report on how sick he was several times that day. I hated for him to be sick but this at least validated what had been described to the doctors.
He has been in the hospital since Thursday. They started him on reglan Thursday night and this helped the nausea tremendously. They gave him a patch that helps to cut down on the production of secretions-starts with an s-the name escapes me. They also gave him ativan. This worked well the previous hospital stay but they sent him home on zanax instead of ativan. Maybe because his PC dr. had prescribed it when all this started(???) Things went well the first night and the 2nd night he had diarrhea throughout the night. They have taken stool samples every 24 hours since that time (the diarrhea has slowed to a loose stool occurring maybe 2x per day). They took him off the reglan today. He has not been nauseated and I understand that reglan promotes digestion and could possibly be part of the diarrhea culprit. They want to get another sample tonight at 11:00 pm. I don't know what they'll do if he doesn't produce a sample at this time :>)
They have also cut back on the ativan and daddy has become a little aggitated. Not sure if this is a side effect but I really don't know why they don't leave him on it. It helps the pain, nausea, and anxiety that he has. I know it comes in a oral form and could be put in the feeding tube. He has been on a few short walks since he's been there and has been sitting in a chair a lot instead of lying in bed. The drs. say he may go home tomorrow.
Anyway, back to my original question. What happens when you miss a treatment? He missed Thurs. so I assume he will start back this coming Thurs. Does it have any impact? If so, then what?
Thanks!