[quote=rosymonroe]I had the "3 big bag" Cisplatin and I guess looking at these post I was pretty lucky. Besides the extreme N&V after the first dose, nausea for a few days after the next 2 doses and the usually taste and lack of appetite problems and hair loss so far so good. As far as I can tell I have no lasting effects yet. I take that back, I get an occasional ringing in my ear, and I mean very occasional, maybe once a week for less than an hour. And I get a tingling in my left shoulder blade sometimes that the docs don't seem to think is connected to any of the treatment but it was never there before. [/quote]

It is from treatment and some from inactivity during treatment. The tingling and numbing is usually from vascular constriction and nerve impingement. Scalene muscle entanglement with the brachial plexus is instant relief for shoulder pain, numbness and tingling in limbs.

Cisplatin x 3 here. Tinnitus got worse. No n & v that I can directly attribute to the cisplatin. Chemo was what I most feared going in and it was pretty anticlimatic. I was given the choice (cisplatin or Erbitux) and was told the "book" says cisplatin kills it every time. By "the book" I think he meant conventional wisdom and by every time I think he meant it was very successful. For me, he was right.

I had TPF Induction Chemo, which is high doses of Cjsplatin 160mg, Taxotere 160mg, and 5-FU1600mg in five days. That put me in the hospital for 270 days.

For my 2nd chemo, last October, I had Erbitux, and Taxore, which Taxotere was cut out the in the 4th week, due to worsening of the preexisting neuropathy, and was hospitalized for three days for blood transfusion due to low hemoglobin, dehydration.

Hello everyone,
Thanks for the article Paul. According to the research article the Cisplatin once every 3 weeks was actually better in terms of less toxicity and adverse side effects than the lower dose every week.

In discussion with my Chemo oncologist, she wants to try a less concentrated (75 mg/m squared) once every 3 weeks approach during radiation. The therapy should begin next week, still waiting for the phone call from my Radiation oncologist.

Take care,
Steve

Good luck with treatment. Watch out for constipation. Cisplatin and/or anti nausia drugs really screw up the whole solids processing. Have a piece of paper by the medicine stash. Write down date, time, and drug. I found it very hard to remember what I took and when. Strap yourself in tight, the next 14 weeks are brutal. Have a driver on call at all time, you might not need them but its good to have. For me chemo days, driving was impossible.

But for me, 9 month out, the ligering side effects are just a mere inconvience. Although having to get only mild chicken wings at the bar is not quite the same.

I had 8 weeks rads with the 3-bagger of Cisplatin. The Cisplatin kicked my butt everyway but loose. I lost 38 lbs in less than 90 days.

But - I drove myself to the hospital every day, even though I had to be very alert, looking for a place to pull over and call for my cousin, RALPH, if I ever went over that thin line between feeling like I'll lose it and actually losing it. Oddly, I never lost it on that drive, despite the fact that it was 24 miles each way.

I've experienced neuropathy with every bout of every form of chemo I had. I was warned to be alert to tingling in my toes or fingers and never experienced that. HOWEVER, I did get some dandy neuropathy in my toes, only because it feels like my toes are being crushed by a shoe that's too small, that's what I thought was going on. Surprise! It's annoying, but not the end of life as we know it.

As an old cannon-cocker and paratrooper, I'd lost a good deal of hearing range already. My tinnitus is always (still) around, but it comes in handy at night because when I tune it IN, it sounds like sitting at the edge of a clearing in a forest, complete with katydids, tree-frogs and crickets. Very relaxing!

Black clouds and silver linings, eh?

I've had some loss of fine resolution of feeling in my fingertips, but it's minor. Still, I have to be careful about holding folding money and trying to carry on a conversation, the paper slips out when I'm not concentrating on it, and I never know it.

So far, no damage to my "grin" muscles, thoug...