My husband is into the 4th week of his second course of chemo (three more to go!). This week he is also receiving 5-fu. He is on a portable pump which is hooked into his port 24/7 for 5 days. The 5-fu IV bag is replaced daily. His rbc is at an all time low and needless to say � he is feeling exhausted. About 7 hours into the treatment he noticed the IV bag felt very heavy and realized his pump was not working� he hadn�t received any chemo for several hours. I was able to get through to the nurse on call who provided the tech support�turned out it was the battery and we were able to replace. He is sleeping like a baby now as the chemo is slowly but surely pumping away.
I thought we had both adapted to this whole treatment process and it would take a lot to worry us. Wrong! It was only a brief delay but the fear and anxiety was back in a flash.

My husband made it through what we hope is the final 5-fu treatment without further incident. I realized how important it is to have a responsive treatment team. This incident happened in the evening after I returned from work. (does a crisis ever occur between 9-5?). Within minutes I was in touch with the on-call nurse who helped us to identify/fix what turned out to be a minor problem. I searched through the topics on this site and I haven't seen much written about 5-fu. My husband's thrush has returned and I suspect it's the 5-fu. Any ideas?

cjack, I am sorry a reply was not sooner.

My husband had the same as your husband 5-FU pump 24/7 for 5 days with the Cisplatin. He had two rounds of this as well.
We also had crisis occurrences with the pump.

The first round had the pump alarming several times throughout the 5 days. Emergency pic flushes fixed those.
The second round had the usual 5-FU pump alarming incidents with an added fiasco.
The pump fell in the bathtub while my husband was soaking his miserably constipated body and associated hemorrhoids. (Thanks to those pain meds!) They gave him a new pump the next day.

I can speak lightly of this now, 3 years later, but it was total panic and chaos at the time.

Checking his records for the thrush tie in, I found 16 days after the first round he was diagnosed with thrush. After the second round he had white patches like thrush again, but that time the RO stated it was mucusitis, not thrush.

Hi Cjack and welcome to OCF. You may have others posts out there but this is the first I saw. I know there are a lot of people who have experienced thrush. I'm sorry I don't have any words of wisdome. I wish you luck and congrats on being almost done treatments. I always have a lot of respect for you caregivers!!!

Thank you for taking the time to go back and check your records. It really helps to know that someone else has been through this It normalizes what is such an "out of the norm" experience. Family and friends mean well but I don't think their kind words mean the same as those expressed by someone who has either seen or experienced this illness and it's treatment. Dan was at the dr. today and the anti-fungal is finally doing it's magic. Once that clears up he gets to finish up his last 2 chemos. Something to dread yet look forward to at the same.

I'm glad to hear the anti-fungal med is working.

Best wishes to both of you on the upcoming treatments.
We'll be here for you as you continue through this journey of the "new normal".

My husband had induction chemo with cisplatin, 5-FU and taxotore (sp?). We had no malfunctions but he got thrush within a week of the treatment the first time. Armed with anti-fungal meds, the second round was easier but no picnic. I don't think anyone who hasn't had dozens (or more) mouth sores, thrush and mucusitis can possibly understand what it's like to have them!