The Colon Club

Hello everyone,
I am new in this forum, as my father started treatment 15 days ago. Now he is experiencing serious side effects of Capecitabine pills. He is on a week on/ week off regime , but after first week he had developed grade 3 diarrhea, became very weak. These symptoms got worst during few days, he could not stand on his own, his albumin went down, he has nausea and now he is in hospital for few days. Doctors in hospital took a feces sample as they think he developed an clostridial infection. Does anybody know how long will this last until he returns to a normal condition?

Thank you in advance...

Boris

You better ask the doctor how long does your father take to be recovered. My mum has try capecitabine (xeloda) and has almost no side effects except for acceptable tiredness. She is currently undergoing Folfox and Avastin. Last time she also suffers from serious diarrhea and we sent her back to hospital. She stayed for 3 days 2 nights and became much better. Take care of the diet is also very important. My mum has congee during those days. Wish your father all the best!

Do you know how he may have gotten an infection? It is very contagious. I had c-diff when I was in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks for a bowel blockage. It is common in hospitals or senior living facilities. It can be very tough on the body. Along with the chemo pills can make it quite difficult. If the stool sample comes back positive he will begin antibiotics. I was not able to take anti diarrheal meds as they wanted the infection to get through system. I hope he is feeling better, treatment can be hard on the body, luckily medicine has found ways to help patients deal with these issues. After getting through this, the doctors may be able to drop the dosage levels to minimize side effects. Good Luck. I hope your father feels better soon.

Thank you all for support and quick answer! He is now feeling much better. He does not have clostridial inf, as he received results negative! Now he is having a collitis, but in a few days it should be resolved ( doctors words). Hope he will be able to eat normaly in a week or so.

Thanks again!

Keep an eye on the colitis and make sure that he's getting adequate nutrition. My second bout of colitis ended up with complete bowel rest for 5 weeks after I was unable to keep food down. I became malnourished and very weak and I was also hospitalized.

It finally resolved with bowel rest (ice chips only) but I had to be on IV nutrition during that period. I felt a world of relief once it started to heal. Best wishes to your Dad!

Thank you again for support!
My father is still very weak, with 5 to 6 profuse stools a day, and his hands started to be edematous. We are all hoping for the best!!!

Thank you and best wishes to all the people in trouble!!!

BK

Any chance he has DPD deficiency and that's why he has such severe toxicity to Xeloda?