Hey all - My husband underwent his first round of chemo. Finished 11 days ago - 3 day course. Day 1 Taxol, Carboplatin and IFEX (Ifosfamide), Day 2 Carboplatin and Ifex. Day 3 Carboplatin and Ifex. The Ifex made him a bit queasy but nothing horrible. For the most part he's just tired. He's the kind of guy that used to get up at 4:45, went to the gym 5 days a week and works until 7 or so. He's skipping the every day at the gym - just doing some walking now but not every day - going to bed earlier and sleeping later. Eating fine still. Complaining of a sore dry throat - but the tumor in his lymph has gone way down. It used to stick out like a Herman Munster bolt. So I am assuming the chemo is working. I guess my question is - did the chemo side effects get worse as treatment progressed? Or can we hope that it will stay the same - little or no side effects? I know it's different for everyone He's scheduled for another 3 day course next week...

My experience is a bit different, once a week chemo with daily rad. but the chemo effects did not seem to get any worse, I just had a tougher time dealing with it from being drained by radiation. anyway, I got sick 2 days after 1st chemo and that's generally the way it went. In fact there were a few weeks when I was actually less sick and it never got any worse except when I let myself get dehydrated. Really watch for that.

I did carbo/taxol no IFEX and I pretty much breezed through it after my first round, I too was just more fatigued.

Skip the gym entirely - he will need ALL of his energy for healing. He can always go back once his immune sysem has recovered and he will need too actually. Cancer fatigue comes with the the disease and is a well known side effect so he will have to find a state of acceptance. I know from personal experience how difficult that is but he is fighting for his life. Late in Tx I was so wiped out I had to plan my day around when I had the most energy to sit in the shower or even drink water or take in food. If he can take short walks that should be good enough during treatment.

andy went thru 3 rounds of chemo..5 days a week-and was sent home with a baby each night. his major side effect that got worse with each round was extreme fatique. each round got harder, but mainly what he experienced the first round was the same in each round. he ate like a horse, actually put on 10lbs during chemo.

with exercise, its a HUGE controversy here lol...i started a thread about exercise and got overwhelming responses. it really boils down to letting ken do whatever he is comfortable doing. dont push it by any means, his body will let him know what he is capable of doing. if he is sweating by doing an activity...hes doing too much. needs that energy to heal. by the third round, trips to the shower/bathroom will be his exercise.

Toning and muscle building is probably not the best use of his limited energy right now. He should dscuss this with his oncologist and get a clearance. You will get all kinds of opinions but his oncologist should have the final say.

He's lucky he gained weight that is an exception to the rule.

I would be very surprised if the chemo made the difference in debulking his tumor and it is an adjunctive therapy to radiation.

The radiation is doing the "heavy lifting".

Hi Lisa,

My only thought regarding your post is the giving up on the gym completely.

I was working out and doing aerobic exercise (recumbant bike) 5 days a week before treatment, but I did not completely stop during treatment.

I also did, and continue to do, stretching exercises for my jaw and neck (I had a neck dissection on one side), which I think were also helpful.

Granted, I did a very, very light workout (I didn't want to burn up very many of those precious calories), but I think it was at least a psycological victory to be able to keep up on the routine. Of course, if there are other circumstances preventing this, so be it.


I also did daily walks with my wife, which were also helpful.

Best wishes,

Chris

Lisaj

Heads up: Ken is going to know the meaning of fatigue after the radiation starts. He may think he knows it now, but trust me he does not. Just so neither of you get alarmed.
I'm with Gary on not feeling concerned about exercise, although for most people it is rather a moot point as the radiation just saps you. I was stubborn enough to insist on going to the gym the first couple weeks of TX until I started vomiting after even a Yoga class. I hated to read about those lance armstrong books encouraging working out all thru TX. IMO plenty of time for that after TX,
So sorry you had to join our little club. But as you can see, base of tongue cancer is survivable and life goes on. I had Erbitux the first time around and it had major side effects, but I really did not notice any real side effects from the carboplatin Chemo TX the second time - they were a breeze. Ken may sail through treatment like many others here did or he may find it as challenging as some of us. But as the song goes; [quote] C'est la vie, say the old folks, goes to show you never can tell[/quote]
charm

Not to mention that many studies have shown that public gyms aren't the cleanest of places and with a compromised immune system could raise some serious problems.

Thank you everyone - Very good point Gary about the cleanliness of the gym itself. I will mention that. We are gearing up for round 2 of chemo this week - outpatient this time and I pray he does as well this time. He lost his hair over the weekend and it was a bit tougher on him than he thought it would be - had beautiful red hair - bought himself a red touke(sp) - it will grow back but its the first outward sign that something is going on. Couldn't decide whether to wear a cap into work - decided to go au natural.

People's reactions are kind of getting to us both. I get that our friends are scared - but neither of us need the crying... had 5 people at the grocery store look at me all scared and weirded out and then they started crying... I can only imagine it's worse for Ken.