How do you deal with Cellulitis and no voice?

[AlaNtO]

Hi. I am a newbie and just finished a chemo course for Angiosarcoma that is in the face/cheek just below left eye. 6 weeks of brutal chemo where every side effect known manifested. The 2 main ones left are cellulitis in both legs from calf down and my voice that "got lost" with the reflux that caused massive coughing bouts. My balance is also upset and so I have stopped driving. Any suggestions?

[Nancy222]

Oh AlaNtO! You've been through the ringer! I can only offer help with the cellulitis.

You have my sympathy. I had a bout of cellulitis two weeks ago. It was as if someone had plunged a red-hot branding iron in my calf and left it there. My doctor put me on Cephalexin (500 mg, 4x a day for 10 days). It cleared it up thank goodness (luckily I have no resistance to antibiotics).

Is your cellulitis weeping? I'm not a doctor, but I have a feeling that weeping cellulitis reinfects our legs. I used a clean hand towel every time I dried my leg after a shower.

Also, now that my cellulitis has healed, I'm now wearing my support hose on a regular basis. (When the cellulitis was bad, I couldn't even imagine trying to put support hose over the sores.) And I make sure I use moisturizer now.

Hope someone else can help with your other issues. Big hug from me because that's a lot for a person to go through.

[AlaNtO in reply to Nancy222]

Thanks for the leads and empathy. Good advice as well.

[Seasun36-uk]

Hi, that sounds awful, a lot to cope with on top of chemotherapy.

Do you take Omeprazole (or similar) for acid reflux? Your voice will improve soon I'm sure, your vocal cords have been inflamed by the acid.

Just to say that you may find another forum more helpful to your specific cancer - this one is for ladies with Ovarian Cancer.

All good wishes xx

[bamboo89]

Sorry to hear of your extreme suffering - I know little about cellulitis, but I see you've had some advice on that from someone else. In regard to the loss of voice and your balance problems, over time, these issues should resolve. If you're taking one of the acid reflux drugs such as omeprazole, I would just say they don't work for everyone - the 'prazoles' are proton pump inhibitors, but there are other drugs which work differently known as H2 blockers - this includes drugs such as Ranitidine (Zantac). I was given a proton pump inhibitor whilst in hospital (instead of my usual ranitidine) and I found it caused heartburn within 20 minutes and left me suffering all day. We are all different - I only mention it in case your acid reflux is still a major problem. Hopefully these issues will resolve fairly soon.