My dad was to have his 3rd and Final Cisplatin today and they held off because he is just feeling plain lousy. Only has vomited a total of 3 times during all of this but feels nauseous and has his low grade fever. Here's the deal: The tumor has shrunk-no one can feel it. The MD's said that my dad looks better than most at this stage and they want to go ahead with the last chemo. My dad and I are waffling-he's at the hospital tonight and I'm at home desperately trying to drum up a sound feeling of what we should do. Our point is: If it is so unknown about the amount of chemo to use for the cure and that radiation was the exclusive treatment for this-why push him to the edge of vomiting uncontrollably, suppressed marrow and even more extreme fatigue?? Its like they want to keep pushing until he is crawling on the floor. I feel very tentative about the 3rd. They gave him the HIGHEST doses 250 mg-
We need to make the decision tomorrow-what do you all think????? Brian, Gary, Steve et al???
5 more rads! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat doooo weeeeeeeee doooooooooo??

I puked my guts out -so often in fact that the stomach acid polished my teeth like glass. It's disconcerting to watch people throw up. I was watching Dr. Phil the other night and a gal on the show had a phobia about people throwing up. She was really extreme (good thing she wasn't married to me or I would have been in deep s**t). I suffered all of the problems you describe and had to be hospitalized several times as well. I was crawling on the floor - literally - but hey, almost three years later I AM ALIVE and feeling better than ever I might add!

Cisplatin is supposed to do little damage to the bone marrow, unlike other forms of chemo.

The bummer about OC is that a lot of the time you don't get a chance to second guess whether the treatment was adequate or not, or to correct mistakes. If it were me, I would lean heavily on the medical advise that the doctors are giving you.

I lived with my head in the toilet and the sink every day for months. The fatigue made me sleep almost the whole day, getting up only long enough to grab the bowl again. To a significant degree it is part of the process.... My nights were nothing but broken sleep, getting up to take pain meds which thankfully helped me sleep as a by-product. It got worse as the weeks added up. By week seven I wanted to literally die. Only others around me kept me on track and going...I was ready to give up it was so bad..... Totally emotionally and physically broken from the process.

ShawnaMargo
What your Dad is experiencing is relatively normal for the treatment that is needed to save his life .
I know it is terrible to watch your loved one in so much discomfort and pain, we have been there.

Please Kids , encourage him to stay with his treatment protocol, his life depends on it.

Take Care
Marica

Hi Shawna,

Steve here. Stay with the treatment regimine. It is important. I know how lousy he feels, but if the S@#t ever comes back, you will kick yourself for not doing everything now. GO FOR IT.

Steve

Thank you, thank you. I called him and pumped him up-we're going to go for it.
I will keep you updated all you wonderful fighters! You all came through for me just in the nick of time.
Love to you-

I am glad that you guys decided to stick with the plan. It has to be the hardest thing in the world to go as the patient and get that chemo knowing each time what it is doing to their body & spirit. But I agree....get the last blast for the added insurance that he will never have to revisit this chapter again! Let us know when the decide to start the next run and how he manages.
Tami

I would lean towards the medical advice as well. This treatment seems to be curing a whole lot of people. One thing is for sure. They are getting better results now than they ever have with this protocol. I was lucky, I never got sick. Not once. I had the full monty treatment wise.
I did have diarhea to the nth degree. I was so sore down there most of the time I wished I was barfing. I guess everone has there own little hell that they have to live through. Key word there is "LIVE".

Take it easy.

-r,c,a,r,t,b,,s Hamilton