The Colon Club

I've noticed that my feet are swelling up by the end of the day, and when I go to bed my normally skin-and-bones feet look all puffy. By the time I wake up, my feet are mostly back to normal although my ankles are still a bit swollen. It's not nearly as bad as it was after I went home from a week in the hospital; my blood pressure is normally low and they didn't like how low it was getting, so I was on fluids most of the time I was there. It took days for my legs to recover from that. I had never had this problem before surgery.

I'm about to get my 12th and last dose of FOLFOX early next week, hopefully.

Is this a common symptom with FOLFOX? Should I be propping my feet up overnight so more of the liquid will get out of my legs? Is this likely to fade when I stop getting chemo? Is this something I should tell my oncologist about ASAP, or should I just wait until next week?

Sorry about the barrage of questions, but it's really bugging me that I've got this showing up so late in the game, when I still have a couple more weeks to go before I'm through with chemo.

Hi Jannine,

I did not have that problem but I know they checked me every office visit for swollen legs and feet so it must be a side effect of some kind. Might be worth a call to you oncologist and let them know.

Dave

First of all, congratulations on being one step away from being finished chemo!!! That is such an accomplishment.

I had the opposite reaction as you. For years now I have had very mild edema in my legs that drained every night, but during the 1 week in hospital on IV fluids while being diagnosed I had no swelling at all.
But, for about 2 weeks after surgery it was bad, even in my hands, and I slept with a pillow under my feet to help. I attributed it to being less mobile after surgery.

Once I started chemo, on infusion day in the chemo suite I was in the bathroom every half hour which carried on right through for a couple of days after disconnect day.

I wonder if the water retention could be related to steroid usage? I was on a very low dose just on the first infusion day, and in the end stopped taking it because I didn't like the mood side effects.

mob

My toes and toenails turned black and I developed callouses and blisters (from walking) and I'm not sure whether or not I had swelling but I had to buy shoes 1/2 size bigger and also wider. These shoes are somewhat big on me now.

I would be asking my gp to check a sample of my urine for protein loss. Protein is what virtually keeps your blood in your veins . If you are losing too much thru your kidney filters you can suffer protein -urea. Years after chemo I started blowing up in the legs . I was tested and I was losing just under 3grams of protein a day. It was causing peripheral and pulmonary oedema. My protein loss went up to nearly seven grams a day and I have been on cyclosporine for around three years to control it. My doctor (nephrologist) said that uncontrolled it can lead to blood clots forming. I am also on 40 mg of lasik (diuretic) a day. Early diagnosis can save you a lot of drama, it really is worthwhile getting it checked Ron.