chemo info./support

[Kathryn]

Hello everyone,

Well, my father is on day 6 of his chemo (Vidaza). His nausea seems to be under control. It just seems to affect his appetite and he has been eating hardly anything (even before the chemo). It seems that w/ each day he progressively grows weaker. Today he could hardly stand by himself. W/ this being his first round, I know that we are probably overly concerned because of our lack of knowing what to expect, but the doctor told him that next week would be his roughest… I can’t imagine it getting much worse for him…. Can someone please give me an idea of what to expect… Is it because his counts will all be low that he will feel so badly? Truly I am not exaggerating when I say he is feeling really really bad already… he was prior to chemo and it just has been getting worse. I am assuming that he would be hospitalized if he feels so bad that he isn’t mobile….. Is there really anything, besides infection, for me to be concerned with? Is this just par for the course?

Boy reading over this, I sound like a worry wort…. I just have a lot of unanswered questions and love my father very much.

Thank you so very much for your time & support.

Take care,

Kathryn

[Kathy G]

Kathryn-

I wish I could give you more info but I think Vidaza effects everyone differently. I know my Dad is usually pretty weak when he’s getting treatments (he’s just finishing his 4th round) and feels lousy for another week. This is the first time he hasn’t had something else going on while getting Vidaza (ie. cold, urinary infection) but he still feels lousy. Is your Dad on an antibiotic too – this can impact his appetite as food tastes so bad with some of them.
I totally understand the worry wart – I probably drive my Dad crazy with questins and suggestions. How old is your Dad and what’s his diagnois?
Wish I had better answers maybe someone else here does. Hope he is feeling a bit better soon.

Kathy

[eve]

my dad feels very weak when he is having his treatments

he has no appetite either – he is taking a liquid food supplement to help him maintain his weight

make your concerns known to your dad’s doctor and see if he has any suggestions

eve

[sarah]

Kathryn, sorry to hear your dad is not feeling well. Hope he regains his strength soon. What is his classification and age?

[Suzanne]

Kathryn and kathy, go to you profile and add information on patient, age,classification,when diagnosed,treatmetns, etc to your signature box. makes it so much easier for us to keep you straight, know more before we answer you.

[Andrea]

Kathryn

My mom feels very weak during her treatments and has literally no appetite. The lack of appetite has continued even when she is not taking the medicine. She is also taking liquid supplements just to make sure she has any nutrition.

One thing to be careful of besides infection, my mom was so weak that she did fall a few times and she got a DVT which is a deep vein thrombosis, a clot in her leg which put her in the hospital again. She is going to start again next week on the Vidaza and we are all a little nervous. But the good thing is, the medicine seems to be helping the disease.

Hope your dad does well. My prayers are with you and your dad and all that suffer with this disease!

Andrea

[Kathryn]

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your replys. My best wishes are with you all and your loved ones.

I did add the signature line to my profile, but not sure what I missed to make it update. I will just type it in at the bottom of this note.

My dad finished his 1st round yesterday and thankfully goes to his hemo. doc. today for blood work, etc.. His heart is skipping beats, on top of his not feeling well. I am a little relieved to know that none of what he is feeling is out of the ordinary…. I just never realized how far down it takes you to get back up. It is horrible and I feel so bad for him. He does have a walker to help him when he gets up and wants to go somewhere. He is very very slow and careful… a fall could be devastating and he is quite aware of that. One thing I am very thankful for is that he is beginning to fight. He has so much trouble walking, even w/ the walker, but has refused to stop moving. Naturally he is a very passive fellow, so it does my heart good to know that he is going to give it his all. It makes such a huge difference.

Well, I can’t express enough how much I appreciate the support that you all have given me. I will keep you posted…..

You’re in my thoughts and prayers.

Take care,

Kathryn

Father (78), Dx. Pulmonary Fibrosis 1/04-Prednisone (10mg.), Dx. CMML 7/04- Hydrox., Thalidomide, 1st round of Vidaza

[Suzanne]

kathryn, knowing the details about your father really helps. Go to your profile , add these lines to the box for “your signature” scroll all the way to the bottom and click on update profile. Then you won’t have to type it every time.

[Suzanne]

Kythryn. From your other posts I see you got the signature done. Any of you who have not done this, It sure helps those of us with “chemo brains”, memory impairments from age, etc to keep people straight

[Terri]

Kathryn, Hope your Dads counts start coming back. This was Bobs fifth round just completed this time and This is the worst I have seen him feeling very fatiqued and No appetite. He is eating but really does not want to. We see the doctor on the 19th and hopefully he will do a BMB and decide that this is enough for now I would like to see him give bob a few months break from it again to get him feeling better.

[alice]

Kathryn,my boyfriend finished his third round of chemo so i have a little experience.I know that his values of wbc,platelets and hmg are very small for a week,a week and a half,but after that the values become normal,or at least are growing(this is what our doctor told us).But he eats a lot,too much i can see but i think this is a good think for him.I hope your dad will recover soon,and please take care of any kind of infection during this chemo.

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