Roma, please make sure you have your husbands hearing tested before he goes for chemo. Cisplatin can cause high frequency hearing loss. It did not happen to me but it has affected others here. Has your husband had floride trays made by the dentist? Its important that he sees a dentist prior to starting treatment so any questionable teeth can be pulled. Im sorry if this has already been done and I missed it. Sadly there are so many new people here that it can be hard to keep track.

I was given my first dose of chemo the same day as my first radiation treatment.

Thank you Roma and Minh for being kind. I try to help when I can. Just trying to make things a little easier for the patients.

Best of luck with everything.

Roma

Also be sure to demand a TSH blood test now before TX so you will have a baseline. Since individual's TSH levels can range from 1 to 3 or even 5 before TX, it's important to know what's "normal". Otherwise if the TSH level is under 5, the doctors will unfortunately insist there is no problem (unless they are endocrinologists who went to school in the 21st century)
I'm glad Brian posted the not so glowing review of yet another EGFR blocker drug not being so effective in time for your decision. I wish I had known about OCF when I had to make my TX decisions the first time
Finally, thank you for the kind words.
Charm

Kind of unusual to stay overnight to get the first day's Tx but my first day went from leaving my house at 6am and we didn't get home until 9pm. Mentally and physically exhausted for sure!

I had my 1st chemo with the 1st radiation. I was there for about 4 to 5 hrs and then went home. Good luck and prayers. Make him Eat Eat and then Eat as the desire for food gets less as does the taste and maybe the ability to swallow. I like Charm had Erbitux.

I was treated at Beth Israel in NYC and they insist on overnight also. When I asked why, they said that they will be IV hydrating me throughout, and will be monitoring my kidney function. Cispaltin is rough on your kidneys. Hang in and good luck.
Rob Jaffe

Hi Roma

Alex and I had a lot of experience with cisplatin. It feels like Alex was on it for 6 months. He had it during the first phase or treatment of chemotherapy alone and was dosed every third week for 4 cycles. We also chose cisplatin to partner with radiation during his chemoradiaion phase. This time cisplatin was supposed to be dosed a total of 7 times = once per week at a third of the standard dose.

Alex also stayed overnight for his first cisplatin dose. The cisplatin part of the procedure took about 5 hours because they put drugs for nausea through first then fluids to keep him hydrated then finally the cisplatin. The longest wait was for Alex to pee and they kept running the saline IV bags (for hydration and flush his kidneys) until he had peed a fairly substantial amount (800mL which I think is just under a pint). Of course the first time in the history of the world, Alex with his "Woolworths bladder", couldn't do it. On "chemo" days the routine was a large coffee whilst waiting to be "plugged in" and then 6 little cartons of apple juice whilst waiting for the bags to go through. This ensured we were never again delayed by plumbing problems (and we shared this information with every newbie we met).

In terms of timing of chemo during radiation, the procedure at our hospital in Sydney was to start chemo for new patients on the first day of radiation (usually a Monday) and then over the time period move the chemo to a different day to make way for the new patients coming in. Our chemo day ended up being Thursdays.

If you want to know more about cisplatin side effects and timings, I am happy to answer any questions either publicly or privately

Once is all starts, the trick is to just keep telling yourself that once today's treatment is done, there will one less treatment to endure. When our countdown reached single figures, we were almost jubilant even though Alex was as sick as he has ever been in his life. The end of the tunnel is so much easier to imagine when one is counting down from 10 compared with 30.

Alex also clung to the words from this website that assured him that 2-3 weeks after radiation finished, he would wake up and feel better not worse than the day before.

Christine my husband had his ear tested before the Tx began. Past 2 days he is complaining about the hum in the ears.

@ Karen @ Rob My husband had his 1st chemo with 1radiation and was asked to stay overnight. Doctors put IV then cisplatin and then anti nausea and wanted to monitor the kidneys. His treatment began on the 1st Nov. Tomorrow will be onset of 2nd week. He has been having nausea from last 4 days though he takes anti nausea pill. Some how he is finding most of the food tastless or blank. Even the sweet stuff does not taste sweet.

His next chemo is scheduled for 22nd nov. that requires overnight stay also.
Now i am concerned about the humming?

Roma, tell the doctors about your husband's hum in his ears right away. Make sure they are aware of this before giving him any more chemo. If this is affecting his ears then they can change the chemo.

Thanks Christine will do that today as we have an appointment.