The Colon Club

Tdubz wrote:Doing good today. Appetite came back so got to eat a little more. I've lost nearly 40 lbs since surgery at the beginning of April so I'm glad to get to eat.

I did have a few questions for you guys. when do you guys normally wear a mask? I'll be around a lot of kids this weekend for Mother's Day so it seems like the right thing to do. I go in on Monday for my first post chemo blood draw so I'm sure I'll find out more then. How do you handle this with your own kids? 2 young kids here and I don't want them to freak out if I have to wear a mask.

My doctors told me to wash my hands more often but no need for a mask. And I have two little boys who carry around God knows what.

Tdubz wrote:I did have a few questions for you guys. when do you guys normally wear a mask? I'll be around a lot of kids this weekend for Mother's Day so it seems like the right thing to do. I go in on Monday for my first post chemo blood draw so I'm sure I'll find out more then. How do you handle this with your own kids? 2 young kids here and I don't want them to freak out if I have to wear a mask.

I never did wear a mask, butt I believe it's based on your blood work and I'm gonna say red and white blood counts. Could be wrong on that, butt if certain #'s drop to low levels, yes a mask is in order to prevent you from getting sick from those around you.

Personally, my Onc was far more concerned about me getting the flu shot. Gave it to me once in her office. So did you get your flu shot for this season?

As far as kids are concerned, wash your hands far more often. Me I used Clorox all the time while on chemo with 2 young kids. Watch for sneeze, cough, etc with young kids.

Lee

Your white blood cell count will determine if you need to take any sort of neutropenia precautions. I haven't started infusions yet, but was on Xeloda during my radiation treatments. My white blood cell count dropped dramatically the first two weeks I was taking it, so they had me wear a mask if I was going to be in close quarters with a lot of people. I basically only wore it at work. After my numbers started to rebound, they told me I could stop.

Well, after a great week and a half off I'm back at it for round 2. It ended up being great timing. I was feeling good for Mother's Day, my sons end of school program, my daughters dance rectial, and my birthday lol. So I had a pretty good off week.

This week is round 2. Off to good start so far. With my first treatment, I think I went in to it with a negative attitude. i didn't know much about cancer coming into this. Tv and movies are pretty much the only exposure I've had to cancer in the past and they make things look pretty horrible, so I was definitely a bit worried going in to my first treatment. But guess what? I made it through it, which means I can do it again too. I'm keeping a positive attitude towards my chemo from this point forward. My doc says some of the nausea is mental. If you think about it all the time then you'll probably get sick, so no more worrying about that either.

doc said to drop the second pill of dex this go around since I was having chest pains last go around. Not sure if that was the cause or not, but I guess we will find out, plus I've got the Prilosec this time incase it was just really bad heartburn.

I'm also hoping to be a bit more active. I kinda just laid around in bed for the first 3 days and I hear being active helps.

Hoping for a smooth ride til wed, I'll post an update then.

Tdubz wrote:Well, after a great week and a half off I'm back at it for round 2. It ended up being great timing. I was feeling good for Mother's Day, my sons end of school program, my daughters dance rectial, and my birthday lol. So I had a pretty good off week.

This week is round 2. Off to good start so far. With my first treatment, I think I went in to it with a negative attitude. i didn't know much about cancer coming into this. Tv and movies are pretty much the only exposure I've had to cancer in the past and they make things look pretty horrible, so I was definitely a bit worried going in to my first treatment. But guess what? I made it through it, which means I can do it again too. I'm keeping a positive attitude towards my chemo from this point forward. My doc says some of the nausea is mental. If you think about it all the time then you'll probably get sick, so no more worrying about that either.

doc said to drop the second pill of dex this go around since I was having chest pains last go around. Not sure if that was the cause or not, but I guess we will find out, plus I've got the Prilosec this time incase it was just really bad heartburn.

I'm also hoping to be a bit more active. I kinda just laid around in bed for the first 3 days and I hear being active helps.

Hoping for a smooth ride til wed, I'll post an update then.

Cheers Tdubz! Happy belated b-day.
Glad to hear second treatment has started off as well as the first.
Keep us posting, I'm just a week behind you on treatments so I'm walking in your shadow.

Day two of second treatment was pretty uneventful. I felt good most of the day. Towards the evening, I started to get some slight chest pains again, although it doesn't seem as painful as it did after the first treatment. Maybe it was heartburn after all and the Prilosec is working. I'm still going to mention it when I get disconnected tomorrow.

Have any of you experienced a slower heart rate while on chemo? It seems like my resting heart rate drops to the high 40s to mid 50s while on chemo and then bounces back up to 70's and 80's on my off week. I wonder if this could be related to my chest pain.

Tdubz wrote:Day two of second treatment was pretty uneventful. I felt good most of the day. Towards the evening, I started to get some slight chest pains again, although it doesn't seem as painful as it did after the first treatment. Maybe it was heartburn after all and the Prilosec is working. I'm still going to mention it when I get disconnected tomorrow.

Have any of you experienced a slower heart rate while on chemo? It seems like my resting heart rate drops to the high 40s to mid 50s while on chemo and then bounces back up to 70's and 80's on my off week. I wonder if this could be related to my chest pain.

Keep an eye on the heart rate for sure and check with the Onc about it. I'm not sure if mine has dropped at all, don't have any device to measure it at home and don't trust i could do it with a watch and count.

Chest pain may just be heartburn as that is a common side effect with the chemo. I've already been on Prilosec since late march as I had a dual scope and endoscopy showed inflammation of the esophagus and stomach.
I was diagnosed GERD about 7 years ago and take the prilosec off and on when symptoms start to worsen. So, so far I've not had any sign of heart burn as I'm sure the prilosec in my system is already working on that.

Chest pains again today plus a bit dizzy. Thought I was gonna have a quick disconnect appt today but now they are giving me fluids. We will see if that helps any.

Here's a view from the chemo chair:
http://colonclub.com/a-view-from-the-chemo-chair/

Your chest pain worries me. I would definitely contact doctor immediately about that! As for being dizzy, don't underestimate how much water you need to drink. And it's not easy if you feel slightly nasaeous, but makes big difference. Hope you have a good non-chemo week!

Went in to give blood for the genetics test today and do some other lab work. They found that my potassium levels were low. I have read on some other threads that others had chest pain with low potassium so hopefully the supplements they are prescribing will help. Looking forward to feeling better on the upcoming off week! Hope you guys have a good one as well!

Tdubz wrote:Went in to give blood for the genetics test today and do some other lab work. They found that my potassium levels were low. I have read on some other threads that others had chest pain with low potassium so hopefully the supplements they are prescribing will help. Looking forward to feeling better on the upcoming off week! Hope you guys have a good one as well!

Good to hear Tdubz.. Hopefully that'll be the end of your chest pain.
I know I had to double up on my prilosec as I noticed heart burn increase.
keep gaining strength for your round 3.

Onc wants me to see are cardiologist too now, so now that's on the schedule. Lowering the 5FU dose this next go around to see if that helps as well. Guess we will find out Monday.

Glad you are seeing a cardiologist, butt I'm also wondering if your chest pain is a reaction to your chemo. Has your Onc mentioned this as a possibility?

Good luck,

Lee

Yes, I believe that is what they suspect. It only happens on the day before, of, and after disconnect. During that time my heart rate slows to the 45-55 bpm range and blood pressure drops to 90/50 along with the chest pains. I'm normally around 80 bpm and 120/80 blood pressure. I'm not sure what my options are if it turns out to be some reaction from the 5FU. I guess I'll have to ask on Monday