got told today i start chemp thursday.
What supplies should i get?

Some kind of vomit pail or bucket an easy to clean and dump one.
Actually i should probibly get a small bathroom waste bucket i can put small trash liners in with a tight top so smell dont get out.
Actually it would be just eaiser to vomit in bags and tie them now that i think of it.


I need to get a thermometer what kind are good?

I stocked up on paper towels.
and

Do i bring food and drink with me to the chemo session they say it will be 4 hrs im getting 3 chemo drugs Erbitux carboplatin and taxol.

Some at my crappy doctors office is going to meet with me for an hour tommorrow for a chemo lesson they told me.

I read about orange peels and ginger what kind of ginger?

Im sorry to sound rushed but they told me 2 weeks after i got my teeth pulled now their doing it a week ealier im only getting chemo for the first 6 weeks.

Thanks Victor Brown

Victor:

Best of luck with your treatments. I hope you have an easy time of it and your side effects are minimal.

Have you been given anti nausea prescriptions? If so make sure you fill them and take them as directed. Dont wait thinking that you feel ok, thats when the nausea sneaks up on you and its too late to take meds that wont stay down.

Do you have someone to drive you to chemo? Are you getting radiation?

Thermometers, I had used just the basic drug store brand of a digital thermometer. It worked fine, when my mouth was sore, I put it under my armpit to take my temp.

I carried triple plastic grovery store bags lined with paper towels with me on the car trips to my chemo and radiation treatments. I never used them once, but I was ready.

Another idea to stock up on tissues and get some of the anti-bacterial hand soap and sanitizing gel. Your body's white blood counts will probably drop and that means you can pick up colds or any other bug going around very easily. Use the sanitizing hand gel like crazy to kill germs, you wont be able to fight off diseases like before.

Im sure there are tons more ideas to help, thats all I could think of for now.

Victor,

Just a word of warning--ginger can help control nausea but it also can feel like it burns your mouth if your mouth is sore anyway. You can get it in various forms. There are ginger teas you can get, there is always ginger ale and ginger snap cookies and there is my personal favorite (or it used to be) candied/crystallized ginger. The crystallized ginger is an acquired taste for most people I think and it's too bad that I can't let you acquire mine since ginger would burn my permaenently oversenstitive mouth now. If I were you, I would at least get some ginger ale and maybe some ginger tea.

You'll probably find out more at your "chemo lesson" but when I had my chemo I brought stuff to eat--they had crackers for nausea but they recommended bringing mild stuff to eat throughout the chemo since you get more nauseated when your stomach is totally empty. By the secod chemo I was doing cans of Boost but the first chemo I could still eat normally. The key is nothing too acidic but mild food.

As Christine said, make sure you have filled your prescriptions for anti-nausea drugs beforehand and take them even if you aren't feeling too queasy. Try to clean your bathroom and kitchen thoroughly with antibacterial cleaner before having your first chemo and get your weeding done outside since you are not supposed to weed or do anything where you might get bacteria from the soil or a scrtach from a plant while you are having chemo.

I wish you the best with it and hope that you are one of the people who don't have too many problems with nausea. Come here any time with qestions or just to vent.

Nelie

Something to read or if your treatment cent has TV's (mine did) for you to watch, a movie or two. Of course I slept a lot, but the backups were there if I didn't go to snoozeville.

Kevin

Victor,

We all can react differently to the same concoction of chemo so you will have to see how they will affect you. Be sure and take the anti nausea meds as prescribed and if they don't work let your doctor know ASAP. Don't wait a second longer. When they gave me my chemo, Cisplatin, I received one big dose every 3 weeks. The first dose didn't affect me at all but the last 2 were pretty bad but, of course, by then I had received 15 and 35 rad Txs respectively so that may have contributed to my reaction. Now most patients are getting smaller weekly doses which seem to create less adverse reactions.

Good luck and lets hope you sail through without any problems.

Victor:

At the hospital where I had my chemo done, they had tv's, books and magazines available. The nurses were so nice and covered you up with warm blankets. There was even a little kitchen full of beverages, and all kinds of food. Over lunch time, they would bring a cart around with all kinds of sandwiches. This was all free, they even gave lunch to the people who went with me.

For me, I was ok with my first chemo until about 10 days after. Then I was nauseous. Im hoping you go thru it with ease, and will say a prayer for you. Please post any questions, concerns you may have about your treatment.

Victor:

As others have said take the meds as they are prescipted before Chemo. If they don't work....tell someone. Like David I was given Cisplatin. I was not nauseous but everyone reacts differantly. Again I took all the meds, drank a lot ( a lot) of fluids and followed all the nurses instructions. I lost some hearing (very little) and had ringing in my ears but felt fine. In fact I was watersking after my 2nd round of Chemo. By the 3rd round I was getting worn down but I think that was more related to radiation.

Chemo room had TV's, food, Ensure, drinks, water, etc. We had wireless so I could do work, listen to music, etc. The nurses where I was at were the most caring, sainted health care professions I have ever met. I was at Duke but I am sure you will find that at most Chemo treatment centers.
I think it takes a special person to work Chemo - not sure but I think they may really be angels ...

I needed nothing for the chemo, but something to read like Kevin suggested , makes the best sense. It gets boring sitting there that long unless you get lucky and have someone else in the room to talk to.

I took a portable DVD and watched movies. I couldn't sleep but I was never a nap taker so I didn't think I could fall asleep anyway.

It's a good idea to take a DVD player if you can (some chemo places also have them there and all you have to do is bring the DVD). I brought stuff to read but the anti-nausea stuff they gave me made me groggy enough that reading was too hard.

So today is the day you start Victor. You're in my thoughts. When you get a chance, let us know how it went.

Nelie