Hi masned,
most of us had nausea and vomiting difficulties (and sleeping problems as well). I didn't have a PEG so I can't comment on that, but I puked enough to polish my teeth like glass. My wife thought that I was going to die (but I fooled her ;-) Be sure to discuss this with your doctors and nutritionist. Nausea control is an important part of treatment and recovery. There are many different things to try. There are also numerous reasons for the nausea so you just have to keep at the problem. Is she taking antiacids for one? What is she taking for nausea? The nausea drugs are not perfect. They work about 60% of the time, some, like Zofran, are only effective for a few days at a time. You must try different drugs. If she can't keep the pills down then there are Compazine suppositories which worked pretty well for me. You can try slipping an Ativan under the tongue. Is she feeding too fast on the PEG? Allowing some time in the morning for clearing the mucous before eating anything helped for me anyway. Nothing was perfect - I still got sick a lot.

Last month my wife had a bout with nausea which lasted about a week and I understand how helpless one can feel standing by and watching a loved one go through it.

It would be very bad to stop treatment. She should try to complete the treatment if at all possible. I missed a few days myself due to nausea and took trips to the ER because of dehydration. All of the other posters here have very solid points as well so I tried not to duplicate them here.

My throat was pretty burnt from the radiation so I was always hacking red blood or traces of it. If the blood was in the stomach more than likely it would be black from the acid. Hacking some blood traces and small chunks of dead tissue is pretty standard stuff I hate to say.

I would ask the doc for some sleepers as well. Rest, hydration and nutrition are extremely important at this stage of the game.

The treatment protocol is pretty rough but survivable and it will get better in time. It'll probably get a little worse too before it gets better. Hang tough. Demand that the doctors manage these issues better.


Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)