Hi Alz and Ida,

Good idea to get away and get your thoughts together.

I can possibly help with what to expect from chemotherapy. Alex and I went through 4 cycles of chemotherapy in 2010. However, different drugs and drug combinations have different effects and whilst most of them cause nausea and vomiting, there are different things you will need to do depending on the drugs they give you. Until we know exactly which drugs are planned for Ida we can't really give you any specific assistance.

When you get to your next appointment (or maybe phone or email your oncologist), ask the doctors to write down the names of the drugs and then you can post them here.

There isn't a lot you can do to prepare anyway, other than to keep the weight up, eat favourite things now because chemo may take away the appetite and make some things taste wrong.

Alex was terrified on his first day of chemo (as was I - even though I knew the procedures and how it all worked). Because Alex had 3 chemo drugs, one of which needed stacks of fluid with it, the infusions ran for hours so he was given a bed and had an overnight stay. When I went to pick him up the next morning, he announced he felt "like a box of birds" and looked as good as I had seen him in months. The fear and stress of not knowing what was going to happen had left him, and the knowledge that we were finally doing something to fight made him feel very positive. The nurses also fed a lot of fluids into him via the drip which also would have made him feel better smile.

We found that week one of the cycle was ok (although nausea sometimes happened during this time), week 2 was feeling exhausted and weak and week 3 was a daily recovery to feeling human again. Then it started all over again... This may be different in your case though and is dependent on the drugs and doses they give you as well as how far apart the cyles are. I think I read somewhere that you think your cycles may be 4 weeks apart?

Remember too that Alex was having chemo as his very first therapy as a newly diagnosed patient. Your treatment may end up being completely different from Alex's

Anyway, keep us posted and we will support you whatever happens with whatever you need

Karen



Karen
Love of Life to Alex T4N2M0 SCC Tonsil, BOT, R lymph nodes
Dx March 2010 51yrs. Unresectable. HPV+ve
Tx Chemo x 3+1 cycles(cisplatin,docetaxel,5FU)- complete May 31
Chemoradiation (IMRTx35 + weekly cisplatin)
Finish Aug 27
Return to work 2 years on
3 years out Aug 27 2013 NED smile
Still underweight