My mother just finished her second round of Cisplatin and the side effects are worse than the first one. Her lips and tongue have little splits all over them. My goodness she is in some pain. The swelling in her face and lips is so bad also. The thick Flem is the worst rite now .

I hate seeing her like this. After her first treatment it took about two weeks until she started to feel just a little bit better.

My mom is steady loosing weight and now with her mouth being so sore I guess she will loose more. She cant even begin to eat rite now with all these cuts all over.

This has to be the hardest thing for my mother to endure. I wish there was something more I could do to help her.


Bless each and Every one of you
Heidi

Chemo treatment can have drastic side effects, it is so different for each person. Your mother is on a 4 week cycle? Mine was every 3 weeks. The first week I was just knocked down, the second week my strength was returning, the third week I was just feeling 100%, then right back into the infusion center.

It is rough but it is limited. Just give her as much support as you can to help her through it.

Yes she is suppose to be on a three week cycle. The first treatment was bad but after a couple weeks she was feeling better. She even started to get out of the house some. Then like you said back to the infusion room . She feels so bad today that she said this is it. I'm not doing anymore chemo treatments . Hopefully she don't give up. I'm always encouraging that it's going to get better.

Thank you for the reply donfo
Heidi

Heidi, does your mother have a PEG and how often are labs done? One thing that will make chemo much worse is inadequate hydration or food intake. The body has to get the toxic poison out.

Uptown

yes she has the peg but I guess her stomach has shrunk so much that barley she can only hold one can through it. If I start a second can it doesn't go down. In a day she is only getting 2 cans total. That is just not enough calories I know.

Her lips and mouth are so burnt from this round of Chemo treatment that I just put a call in to her doctor. I'm waiting just a little while for a return call and then I am bringing her to the ER.

Such a bad night we had.
Heidi

Your mothers intake must be increased, no wonder she feels so horrible. Ask the doc for a prescription to get a feeding pump from the medical supply company. You can hook this up to run overnight at a slow rate so she will be able to take in at least 3 cans overnight. Just make sure she is propped up on a few pillows when doing feedings. Another way she may be able to tolerate it better is to slow down the rate. Sounds like you are doing the push method. How about doing only 4 oz at a time and then rinsing, try again an hour later with 4 more oz.

I'm so sorry for the difficulties.

Thanks you Uptown
And
Thank you Christine for the advice with the feeding tube. Sounds like a good idea with the feeding pump. I will call a medical supply Co. for one.

I am using Jevity in her feeding tube . Is there a higher calorie of formula I should be using? The Jevity only has 250 calories per can.

I had to bring my mother for an emergency visit to the Oncologist today. She has a severe case of Mucositis. Its so painful. The Doc. gave her 2 different precriptions of a mouth rinse and a steroid pill. Hopefully she can get some relief .



Thanks
Heidi

Ask the doc or nutrionist for higher calorie formula. Im pretty sure Jevity has a more calorie dense formula available. If not there are hundreds of others on the market.



PS.. If the doctor hasnt already given a prescription for the feeding pump ask them to send one directly to the medical supply company. To purchase a new Kangaroo Joey pump (most common model) can cost $700+++.

Thanks so much for the advice Christine. I will call the doctors office first thing in the morning. There is no way she can continue going on like this. Since my mother was diagnosed she has lost about 40 pounds. Its to the point where she cant afford to loose another pound.

Thanks again for all the advice
Heidi

So sorry your mom is going through this. Charles has been using Osmolite 1.5 through a nose feeding tube and a pump. It has 355 calories per can and a good amount of protein.