Just started chemo...

ash7614 · New User Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 2

Hi I'm Ash. I'm 18 years old, female and living in Sydney.

I was diagnosed with IIA mixed cellularity Hodgkins Lymphoma 3 weeks ago and started treatment (chemo: ABVD) today.
I felt fine after but a few hours later started to feel nauseated so i had some of the meds i was given. Now I feel completely fine.
Is it normal to not be feeling anything at all and should i be preparing myself for worse or is it all still too early to tell?

Any anecdotes or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Ash

brainman · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:28 am Post subject: Re: Just started chemo...

Ash, I am so sorry that you have cancer. It is bad enough when someone my age has it. It is just plain unfair when some your age has to have cancer.

I do not know about ABVD because I have not taken it... heard about it but never had to take it. I did take PCV. The Vs are the only thing they have in common... vincristine. Vincristine comes for the common garden flower we know as periwinkle... scientific name Vinca. I had to discontinue it after a few months because it was causing peripheral neuropathy... I still cannot feel my big toes.

In general, all chemotherapy drugs will build up in your system. Therefore, the side effect may become worse. However, as you have already seen, there are ways to control those side effects. Be sure to alert your medical team about any side effect you are having.

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Keep use informed.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

kimlk · Regular Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 11

Hi there,

The range of symptoms you might get from ABVD varies from person to person. I had stage IIIB HL & had 8 cycles of ABVD which equals out to 16 doses in total. The first few were Ok, kind of like you reported. I think in the middle though I was starting to dread coming in every 2 weeks and did have one or two treatments that left me feeling pretty sickly. The anti-nausea meds are a great help, and seeing as you caught your cancer at an earlier stage you probably have less cycles to go through. The more treatments you have the more they kind of run you down. Some days all I wanted to do was rest and others I felt fine. My doctors told me if I responded OK to the first one odds were I would continue that way, and they were right I did. Anyways, I hope that helps you out a bit. If you have any more questions that you feel I might be able to help you out with feel free to ask & good luck with your treatment!

Pebbles420 · New User Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

Hey Ash,

I just finished 12 cycles of ABVD. Unfortunately the treatment is cummulative. I started feeling worse as I had more treatments. And just like Kimlk I dreaded going every two weeks. I actually avoided the nausea meds just because the side effects made me feel worse and I would still vomit. It also got to the point that I associated the cancer center to being sick and just being there made me feel nauseaus.

It's not an easy experience, but hang in there. Soon it'll all be over and unlike other cancers we at least have a very high survival rate Laughing

.

Take care of yourself and good luck with treatment.

Patricia

freaked-out · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject: Re: Just started chemo...

Hi Ash,
I too just had my first chemo (abvd) on 10/12. I felt fine (no symptoms) for the first 48 hours after and it was later that the symptoms started to set in. I have been documenting my experiences on my blog. Take a look if you'd like. I am back to feeling 90% normal and have chemo#2 this coming Friday 10/26. Good luck to you.

Magdalena
_________________
tumor removal/biospy#2: 09/10/07
Mediastinal Classic Hodgkin's Lymphoma dx: 09/18/07
Stage IIA
6 cycles of ABVD started: 10/12/07
my story: http://magdalenanoriega.blogspot.com

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