Treatment

[gibdonnalee]

Could some one tell me if during treatment they felt awful all the time. My nephew is ready to quit his chemo because it is making him so sick and with pain. He has colon cancer and doctor says 1 year without treatment and 3 with.

Thank you.

Donna

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

Donna,

Different pain and nausea meds work in different ways. When one path doesn’t work there are others to try.

He should call the oncologists Office and talk to the on call doctor. If the pain medication he is on isn’t working they can give him something different. For the nausea there are a variety of medications they can try. When mine was at my worst because I forgot to take steroids as directed, the doctor had to prescribe Ativan.

Don’t wait for Monday. My experience is that they would rather hear from you today than for him to be miserably ill. His body needs relief from that pain and nausea so that it can heal.

[gibdonnalee Community Superhero in reply to Denzie]

Thank you Denzie, I figured that should be the plan, he is only 5 min. from a hospital.But he is following his parents back to Maine so he won't be alone.

[Ncpoet]

I agree with Denzie. Talk to doctor. If one drug doesn’t work, another one might. I tried three before we found one I could take without major side effects. Also, he needs a different pain medication if his isn’t working.

[ThePurplePlace]

My heart goes out to your nephew -- First, it's so hard to answer, because we are ALL different and have been on so many different treatments. You did not mention what chemo meds was one, or exactly what his symptoms are -- There are things you can do to make it more tolerable and in some cases changes the exact chemo or even the scheduling can help -- as can treating the types of symptoms. Always keep in touch with you Oncology team and never hesitate to call them for help and assistance.

For instance some people have to change anti nausea meds, the first one I had did nothing, the second worked great. I also was not overly sick and did quite well. I kept very well hydrated, drank smoothies when I was most sick and also rested more and took my anti nausea meds right away. I later moved on to Immunotherpay and found that easier.

Yesm it can be hard, but it's not "permanent" and if it's' working and shrinking his tumor(or)... it's so worth it.

Best of luck

Lisa

[gibdonnalee Community Superhero in reply to ThePurplePlace]

Thank you this is all good advice. He is just in a bad place emotionally right now. I don't know what chemo he is on. His Mom is going with him tomorrow to ask some questions to the doctor. He is also going back home to Maine with parents, so he's not alone, so that should help.

[Memaw0100]

I am being treated for colon cancer. I had surgery first and have now had my second treatment. I have previously been treated for lung cancer, and have to say, this seems worse. I was told just the opposite., that if I could stand the lung cancer treatment, this would be easier. I have one that infuses over 2 days at home. I don’t like that. Im going to go again Wednesday, but dread it! Good luck to your nephew and God bless!

[gibdonnalee Community Superhero in reply to Memaw0100]

So sorry for what your going through. I have stage 4 lung cancer myself but doing ok on Sandostatin once a month.

I'm praying it will get better for my nephew, I think it will once he's back home to his home town and has support.

[jpoehlmann]

First of all, 3 yrs might be an average expectation, but over the course of 3 years there will be new treatments to try and no doctor should be putting an end date on a patient.

Check on what pain meds are being taken and find alternatives. Maybe he will benefit from cannabis. Even of it is not legal where he is, synthetic THC has long been legally available with a prescription as Marinol or Dronabinol. Explore options with his doctor. Best of luck - it does improve.

[gibdonnalee Community Superhero in reply to jpoehlmann]

Thank you for your reply. I know that no one can predict for sure when things will decline. I also mentioned to his Mom, my sister-in-law, about the cannabis and cbd, but he is smoking it already and it isn't helping. He is going to doctor tomorrow so he'll see what else to try.

I myself am going to register for a medical card for cannibus .I have stage 4 lung cancer.Its legal now in PA.

[jpoehlmann in reply to gibdonnalee]

Well, Stg4 lung cancer patients are also frequently living longer. I am in a clinical trial for a targeted therapy and it is highly effective. Many new drugs in the pipeline. All in all, a "good" time to have cancer...

[ThePurplePlace in reply to gibdonnalee]

Sounds like he is a young man -- that's sad and it seem more and more the the newly diagnosed patients are very young, healthy, never smokers? Heartbreaking! Please have him "Mom" try and discourage him from "Smoking" anything with "Lung Cancer", especially if it's Cannabis it's not helping. He'd be better off trying oils or edibles, if he lives in a Legal State, but even then it's NOT for everyone. I live in a Legal State and applied for my Card and tried a variety of Cannabis products (edibles, oils - NO smoking) and it also did nothing for me. I the end I was upset that I wasted a lot of money getting my card and then buying the products etc. I also tried Marinol with an RX (another $100 for 30 days) from my Onc, and that too did nothing. Ironically, that was the only time during my treatment that my cancer actually progressed and was more aggressive? I stopped all the cannabis the day the CT scan shows the cancer ahd grown back and was even more aggressive. A few weeks later I had Radiation and then moved on to Opdivo (Immunotherpay) and it was my miracle drug. Shrunk my tumor down within a few months and it has never grown again, nor have I had any new cancer in the last two years and I'm Stage IV.

[gibdonnalee Community Superhero in reply to ThePurplePlace]

Hi Purple Place, I haven't been on for awhile. I'm having a bout of bad depression. Mike, my 59 yr.old nephew,is not doing well at all. He was back in the hospital for a couple weeks, but they sent him home Tuesday stating there is nothing more they can do for him. A hospice nurse will come three days a week to help him with pain,. I am so angry, watching the people around me and myself dealing with this "C" monster. My tumor marker has gone up, I see the oncologist tomorrow,I imagine he'll wait and see what next month shows, maybe I' ll get lucky and numbers will start going down again.ive been in this battle for 4 years already, I get a shot of Sandostatin (chemo)once a month,after finishing my first round ,it's exhausting waiting every month to see which way things will go. My heart goes out to all of you in your fight to stay alive! God Bless you all. I just realized your post was about cannabis,lol, don't know how I got off this rant,lol. I'll be getting my medical card soon and will be able to purchase some. I've been using the oils and it has just helped with sleeplessness and occasional joint pain. When I get my card I will try different strengths. And if I see it's not helping I will stop.My son has done a lot of research and if quite knowledgeable on the subject, so he will guide me .❤️