As a newer member I'm quite impressed with the quality of the topics and posts here.
I'm interested in hearing about fatigue; I seem to be running into this and then finding out (after the fact) that it should have been expected.
For example: I finished a dose of 5 days of 5-FU after 2 days of Cisplatin a few weeks ago. Felt like crap for about 5 days and then thought things were getting back to "normal". Last week I began to become progressively weaker until it was all I could do to take a few steps without "whiting out" (everything goes white and you lose your balance). My homecare nurse told me that this was fairly normal. My oncologist NEVER mentioned it.
My question is: do I have any other surprises to look forward to?
Thanks in advance - this is a GREAT group!

Charles, I had an energy issue during and immediately after rad/chemo as well. Turned out it was blood issues with the white and red cells. My counts were in the toilet. They put me on Procrit for 8 weeks to get my counts back up and that took care of it for me. Procrit is very expensive ($800 per shot, 1 shot per week, 8 weeks), but my insurance paid for it. You might want to check with your oncologist because I had to ask for it, even though my cell counts were so low. Are you having radiation along with your chemo? If so, there may be some additional "surprises" coming. Rad is an interesting treatment and can have some interesting side effects. Hope all goes well.

Kirk: I had radiation at the same time as the chemo. The "final" chemo was 2 weeks after my final radiation. I've had 2 shots of ProCrit with 2 more due (1 per week). I'm curious about what other "surprises" may be in store from the radiation.

Hi Charles

My ongoing fatigue turned out to be hypothyroidism. Has your doc checked your thyroid blood levels? The main site here has info about it.

More than one year out from end of rad I still get tired easily. It is one of the effects that I have had to accept as part of my new normal way of life.

Best wishes for your treatment, from Helen with love

Hi Charles, First, welcome to our group hope you find plenty of information and maybe make some freinds on the wey.

Aside from the above mentioned low blood count, hypothyroidism which are both major causes of fatigue and need to be checked, in general you are going to feel tired as a general side effect of the radiation. We use a general rule of thumb around here, one month of post radiation healing for each week of radiation. What you are feeling is quite normal and to be expected.

Need to eat as much high protein stuff as you can, and get penty of rest. At this point your body is healing from the radiation, and the fatigue is to be expected.

If you go back to some of the earlier posts, you'll see a variety of post treatment things that we've all had to deal with to a varying degree, so a lot of what you are feeling and going to feel is normal. You won't have all of the side effects, but maybe it will help guide you through which ones are normal an which ones are not.

Take care
Bob

Hypothyroidism usually won't show up this quickly. It's a latent problem that can appear as much as a year or 2 down the road. That's why a baseline TSH test should be done prior to Tx and every 6 months post Tx for several years.

Since Cisplatin is an adjunct to radiation I am going to assume that you have had RT. What type you had will have a bearing on future quality of life issues.

Most likely you're suffering from poor nutrition, dehydration, radiation sickness, low RBC & WBC and possibly even a little toxicity from the chemo - typical for this stage of the game. "Whiting out" is perfectly normal.

As far as other surprises, well there's always thrush, constipation, slow healing response, depression, permanent "texturing" in the muscles in the radiation field, etc. Many (me included) feel that the healing process doesn't even start until 3-4 weeks post radiation. Your progress will be measured in three week increments and it takes one month of recovery for each week of radiation.

Charles-
I started my radiation treatment in May and finished third week of June. Had two chemo weeks during treatment, one mid summer and last one first week of September. When I started treatment I had just gotten married and was looking forward to a honeymoon in Hawaii. The oncologist said I should be ready to go in September. Was way too wiped out to go on vacation and it was postponed until May! But I was able to start back to work part time in October along with my peg tube and cans of food.

Everyone is different in their recovery times, but the most docs do say give yourself one month for each week of radiation like Gary mentioned. If you can afford to take the time off from work to let your body heal I would certainly go for it! I am now two years out from treatment, cancer free, but the energy level is still not what it was. Good luck on your journey! - Kris