Finished up my second SIRT treatment

[patrickm1587]

Tuesday I went for my second round of the sir-spheres. I had been feeling really rough up until then, my side had been hurting a lot and I was running fevers and having night sweats again. My appointment was at 8:30, we left at 6 on the dot and I drank an instant breakfast. Turns out you have to eat SIX hours before, not four! Oh well, they gave me morphine and I was jusssttt fine! I could see how someone could easily get addicted to that stuff. I was in and out of it for the treatment, no real bad pain though. I felt pretty rough yesterday, but not as bad as I thought I would. But now my back is absolutely killing me. That's why I'm on here at almost 3 in the morning, I can't sleep. They are wanting to start me back on chemo next week and I'm really hoping they can, I feel like it will help me tremendously and make me feel a lottt better. The only downside is I'll have to stay in the hospital 24 hours getting the infusion of Oxoliplatin because of the reaction I had to it a while back. I'm just hoping and praying that my back is hurting so bad because I've been laying down so much and not doing much, I hope it hasn't spread to my back or anything. I'm also hoping and praying that the combination of the sirt and chemo will put a hurting on the liver tumors, I want those things gone! Just taking it one day at a time for now and looking up to the sky for guidance!

[BrownBagger]

Thanks for the update, Patrick. On the back pain, my guess would be some combination of the treatment and a physical result of being in bed, etc. Try not to worry about it--just try to focus on getting comfortable and making sure your needs are being met. Sometimes in the hospital you have to remind them that you're there and in pain, or whatever. Glad you like the morphine. I prefer oral pain meds, but they both help you cope not only with the pain, but just being stuck in the hospital, which sucks when you're straight.

You hang in there, man. Let the doctors do their thing. I think about you often; wishing you all the best.

[beth568]

Good to hear from you, and glad that the procedure went OK. I'm with Eric on the back pain - I find that after I've been lying down a lot, I feel achy and my back is pretty sore. Even just sitting upright in a comfortable chair with some soft pillows behind my back really helps, or, if it feels manageable, a bit of walking around. When you are in for chemo, absolutely let the staff know about the pain, and insist that they do something for it. There are plenty of options and no reason for you to suffer any more than necessary. I hope chemo blasts those liver tumors right out!

[aussielones]

Hi Patrick, I hope you're feeling ok today. I don't know much about your procedure but I was reading about something called tumor lysis syndrome, which can cause sweats because the little a holes are dying off!! When do you next have scans?

[rachpach]

Hi Patrick
oh ...... rage at stupid colon cancer your so young mate its not fair aye? "It is what it is" one of my clinic nurses told me...but man it sux aye..

Glad to hear your getting some serious damage done to you liver nasties. I read one of your posts a while back and was so feeling for you, glad to hear treatment your getting is siccing the poo out of this for you Hope for the best results for you mate Not sure about your back pain, maybe just something completely unrelated? Have you been in touch with your oncologist to find out what the prob might be? Hopefully nothing don't worry yourself mate.

Take Care and hope things go super-well for you

Rach from NZ

PS hope things are going awesome for you to aussielones

[BrownBagger]

bump

[so-scared]

I think about you often and pray that this treatment knocks those darn tumors out!!! I am sorry to hear about your back pain and hope that it resolves once you feel better and can get up and around more. Hang in there!

So-s

[aussielones]

Hey Patrick I just forgot to add how well you're doing, keep on pedelling, keep on fishing ok. I also think of you often, this sucks hey.

Rach I'm feeling pretty good, off to London tomorrow for three weeks buts that's for another thread!!

Hang in there Patrick! Livestrong!

[patrickm1587]

Update almost a week after the treatment. I've just been feeling tired, running some fevers, not as many as I was, but still. My back has been hurting me a lot because I've just been laying around and not doing much, I need to get out and try to walk every day. I have actually been sleeping alright, I usually only wake up about once in the morning, around 5 and have to get up and pee or take some Advil. Here in the past couple of days, I've noticed that my belly has swelled up A LOT. It looks like I have a huge beer gut or something. I don't know if it's because I'm constipated from taking so much percocet and just laying around or what. It's not all that painful but I do have some pain there some times. I've been using the bathroom, but it's not a lot at one time.

[BrownBagger]

You might want to ask your doctor if it's OK to take Metamucil. That should help with the constipation and hopefully, the bloating.

[so-scared]

Good to hear from you, Patrick! I pray for you daily and hope that this new treatment kicks those tumors' butts!! As you know, I am relatively new here. That being said, maybe you should let the doc know about your distended belly. Better safe than sorry. Hang in there!

So-s

[SkiFletch]

Agree with Eric, Metamucil and maybe consider adding some oatmeal to your diet too. Hoping the treatment ends up being successful for you man

[Kathryn in MN]

I'm glad to hear that you are doing pretty well overall, everything considered.

Please call your oncologist about the bloating if it is very severe - it might be fluid that needs to be drained, or a problem with you retaining fluids that needs to be addressed.

I hope that moving around more as you regain strength will help with the back pain. Even if you have to stay in the hospital to get Oxaliplatin, they may be able to do the desensitization protocol there for one, and if it goes well, try again in the oncologist's office. It worked for me. I only did one cycle in the hospital, and then the next few were at the onc again (with the oxy set to infuse over 6 hours, no faster, and with Benadryl and Decadron pre-meds for 3 days, and again infustion day).

You are in my thoughts - I hope that you feel stronger each day now that Sir Spheres is done.

[patrickm1587]

Well I didn't realize when I made my last post that I was supposed to go the oncologist that day, good thing I checked! My doctor agreed that it was constipation and suggested getting dulcolax, ex-lax, whatever. We got some dulcolax and I took three yesterday around 4 o'clock. It's 4 in the morning right now, I woke up a little while ago with my very lower stomach hurting/cramping bad (right above my weiner lol) and couldn't go back to sleep because of it. I finally went to the bathroom, but it wasn't a good bowell movement. I'm hoping later on today that the laxitive will kick in real good, I'm sssooo tired of my stomach hurting me. On a good note, my liver side of my stomach hasn't been bothering me near as bad as it has been, maybe that's a sign that the sir-spheres are doing their job?! That has been pretty bad for the past while, to where I couldn't take a good deep breath without it hurting really bad. All I know is I'm ready to get back on chemo next week. I'm just hoping and praying that this time will go as well as it has before and I won't be sick or lose any hair. I hate the weird cold sensitivity thing to the oxoliplatin, because I loveee some cold water, but I can deal with that. I haven't had much of an appetite here lately either, I've been drinking a lot of muscle milk and instant breakfast and I actually gained a couple of pounds! I was down to 168, I'm back up to 176 now.

[SkiFletch]

Hey Patrick, if the dulcolax doesn't do it for you, try some miralax. A dose of that might get things moving again.