Stage IV @ 47

juliatheena · Regular Joined: 31 Jul 2007 Posts: 10

Mets in lungs and liver.

BTW...hello! Smile

I've been following this board for awhile and thought it would do me good to share and read about others with the same problems.

My name is Julia, I'm 'just' 47, and live in So Calif with my husband and 3 sons, 13, 11, and 8.

A bit of my story:

Son #2 came home in May with some virus from school and I caught it. I ended up at the Dr about 2 wks later due to fatigue, small cough. He ordered blood tests and chest xray. (Mind you, no previous symptoms). X-rays showed 20-30 small nodes in lungs, ordered a CT which showed nodes in liver. Liver biopsy resulted in Adenocarcinoma. Pet scan showed thickness in right lower colon. MRI showed nothing in brain. (Heh...) Colonoscopy showed cancerous mass in colon, and yes, I saw it. Even though they gave me meds, I was awake for the whole thing. Full torso CT scan showed nothing else.

I am currently getting treatment at The City of Hope in Duarte, So. Calif. Only 23 mi from my front door.

So anyways, I just finished round 1 of chemo last Saturday. Folfox-4 I guess they call it. 5 hrs infusion, 46 hrs 5-fu pump. My energy is low, I have no appetite. I'd love a nice, icy cold soda. Nope. Sorry. Neropathy won't let me.

Now I have a question about the nausea meds. Currently, I have scrips for Compazine and Zofran. I'm not too nauseaus, but have NO appetite at all, and as a result, I feel like very rundown.

Has anyone used Marinol? With Emend? Or has anyone just used plain old MJ for symptoms? If you don't feel comfortable talking about this in a forum, please PM and we could discuss.

I plan on being a regular here as the Drs can only get so personal...all business,....you know? Somtimes you need to hear from people in your same position.

Thanks in advance,

Julia

brainman · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 5:14 am Post subject: Re: Stage IV @ 47

Hi Julia,

I took the Compazine and Zofran combination for the little nausea I experienced and had little problems with it. But my chemotherapy was probably significantly different from yours so I do not know how well our stories can be compared. Nausea in itself can cause you to not feel like eating. The cancer can do that too. When my mother and father had their cancer experiences, both lost their appetites to the point of total discontinuing to eat. I worked very hard to find things they could and/or would eat. For my father, I finally found a combination of Ensure, strawberry ice-cream, and a protein supplement (like muscle builders use) that I could blend into a milk-shack type drink that he really liked and would drink twice a day. Add to his multivitamin with essential minerals "horse pill" and Dad got most of his nutritional needs met.

Keep asking your medical team for ideas on how to control the nausea. Start writing a journal tracking what you eat and how much nausea you experience. Sometimes just a few crackers prior to treatment can make a lot of difference. Sometimes nothing that you do will help.

Finally, insist that all of your medical team make it "personal." Yes, they do think they should maintain a certain level of "professional distance." However, make them treat you as a person and not just a number or worse as a dollar sign.

Julia, you are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you receive from this community effort all the support and information you need and in turn can become a valued member helping other members.
_________________
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/

GoingToBeatIt · Regular Joined: 28 Apr 2007 Posts: 19

Hi Julia,
It's your pal Francis Shanahan here.

Karen's taken Compazine and had some weird allergic reactions to it (her tongue got paralized one night and on another occasion her whole body got a case of the "Jimmy Leg" and she couldn't stop shaking.

Benadryl is the antidote and she now combines Compazine with Benadryl as a preventative measure.

As for nutrition, Karen drinks Boosts and Ensures but hates both. She's also tried Myoplex which are a body-builder thing I use for working out. Overall she doesn't like them but does the needful.

hope that helps,
-fs

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