I am in my first week of teatment, I have had 3 Rad treatments and 1 chemo. The rad has been ok, but the chemo hit me hard the next day. I am on Cisplatin.
My treatment is 3 doses 21 days apart. Trying to drink all the water I can, but 2 days after chemo,
I am not eatting that much. I guess I will feel better soon, but I am wondering about Chemo treatment 2, will it be about the same or will it be worse. This is all so new to me. I feel very good about my doctors here at The Emory Winship Cancer Center, but I have a long road ahead.

Ray,
Cisplatin can be kind of rough. It is vital that you drink between 2-3 liters of water every day. Cisplatin needs to be flushed from the system both for it's effectiveness and to lower toxicity to other organs, especially the kidneys. If you are vomiting you will also need to replace the fluids you've lost- it's very easy to become dehydrated. Also, if you need hydration try to have it done in infusion rather than the ER. They are much faster in infusion - 1/2 hour in and out. ER can take 4 hours to infuse the same amount because thay are mandated to do a slower drip since they can't monitor you all of the time.

You'll feel better the further you get from the ct infusion then it will start over again when you get your next one. Follow the instructions they gave you very carefully. Ask for some compazine suppositories if you are too sick to swallow anything or keep it down. There are also other antiemetic meds besides Zofran - I would ask for those as well as Zofran loses it effectivity after 3-5 days.

My second Ciplatin treatment was considerably worse and they decided that I wasn't going to get a third due to adverse reactions.

Remember that we all respond differently to treatment and meds and your response may be much better than mine.

Ray,

I didn't feel much with the first Cisplat but the 2nd one hit me hard. But by then I had also had 15 rad Txs so that may have combined to make things worse. They gave me Emends (sp?) 1 tablet a day for 3 days...the day of chemo and the 2 days after and then I took Zofran. The Emends cost $120 per pill but they seem to work. Unfortunately nothing worked for me after the Emends. Nausea was my worst enemy. I finally stopped talking all pills and swallowed with pain but at least my nausea lessened.

WARNING....drink 48ozs water and 2000 cals minimum daily...every day. Don't think you will make up tomorrow what you can't drink today. Tomorrow never seems to come.

Hello Ray, I also am having my tx at Winship. I had the Cisplatin 3x at 21 day intervals. The second chemo was the worst for me. I sailed thru the first but did number 2 make up for it. Number 3, I went into the prevent mode and it was a lot easier than 2. Who is your MO? Is it Dr. Saba? If so maybe I can help you before your next chemo. I live up by Lake Lanier so if you need to talk let me know. Bill B