Radiation and Chemo question

[BF]

Anybody on here done radiation and chemo?  

I've already done 10 days of radiation....it wasn't bad the first week, but boy oh boy, that second week was horrible.  

The week before I finished the radiation, I started chemo.....no injections....taking pills.  Four a day.  It's a drug called Votrient.  It's for my kidney cancer.  

The thing is, I've had several bouts of flu like symptoms.  Three times now.  The first two, it lasted just a day or two at most.  

Since I'm done with the radiation now, and it's been a little over two weeks since I finished the radiation, I'm assuming the symptoms of the radiation have worn off now.  

The problem now is I've had severe flu like symptoms for four days now.  It's about to kill me.  I don't know how much more I can handle.  

Has anybody that's gone through what I'm going through now experienced anything like this before?

Is this normal with chemo?

[Jess Tolbirt]

i have a friend thats going to have the radiation pill put inside him,, it attacks only the cancer, its a new procedure but pretty much less intrusive..

[BF]

i have a friend thats going to have the radiation pill put inside him,, it attacks only the cancer, its a new procedure but pretty much less intrusive..

I haven't heard of a pill for the radiation before. 

I'll probably have to have more radiation to target another mass in my back.  The last round was to target a mass in my spine. 

[Patrick]

I can't help, but, I sure wish you the best.

[Alien]

I have a friend going through this.  Apparently, feeling like absolute $hit is pretty common.  She's a 39 year old marathon runner in perfect shape and it's kicking her ass.  My advice would be to talk to your doctor to make absolutely sure that you are not having an allergic reaction to the chemo.  Hang in there.

Alien

[BF]

I have a friend going through this.  Apparently, feeling like absolute $hit is pretty common.  She's a 39 year old marathon runner in perfect shape and it's kicking her ass.  My advice would be to talk to your doctor to make absolutely sure that you are not having an allergic reaction to the chemo.  Hang in there.

Alien

The wife is going to call the chemo doctor Monday morning for me.

My social calendar is now filled with just doctor appointments. 

I have five doctors now.  My regular doctor, urologist, kidney doctor, radiation doctor and my chemo doctor. 

Oh the joy. 

[CaribouHunter]

BF, Wife had both, but Chemo was injection type, 4 treatments, 10 rad treatments.  Main symptom was fatigue, and a long recovery period.  Now she is 100% and doing great.  Will keep you in our prayers. 

[Bonzo]

I had Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had surgery, Chemo, and radiation.  It kicked my a$$. Call your Oncologist and discuss your symptoms with him. I had CHOP Chemo and it was rough. I thought the 28 double blast of radiation was much worse. There is a price you pay for the treatment, however it was 12 years ago this coming June and I am talking to you about it.  Call your doctor!  Many Blessing and good thoughts!

[BF]

I had Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had surgery, Chemo, and radiation. It kicked my a$$. Call your Oncologist and discuss your symptoms with him. I had CHOP Chemo and it was rough. I thought the 28 double blast of radiation was much worse. There is a price you pay for the treatment, however it was 12 years ago this coming June and I am talking to you about it.  Call your doctor!  Many Blessing and good thoughts!

This is seriously kicking my ass...big time.  

As I already said, I really don't know how much more I can take.  

As far as I know at this point in time, it's either take the pills and be in constant pure agony, or quit taking them and die a lot quicker than I'm going to already.  

I have a former work buddy (has since quit) that's dying from acute pancreatic cancer.  Before I went for my last surgery (have had two for this so far) he told me that he couldn't handle the effects of the radiation and chemo.  

He quit the therapy, said he could'nt do it anymore it screwed with him that bad.....said he's gonna die anyway.  

At this point, I can relate.  



Does anybody have an answer to my question?  Does the chemo give you severe flu like symptoms?

[Robert]

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21747

I found an answer to your question, like everyone said tell your DR. I am deeply sorry about what you have to go through and will continue to pray for you. Of the people that I have known that have gone through chemo there have been many side effects but I have not heard of flu like symptoms.

Below is a UCLA oncology dept explaining the different radiation therapies for cancer

http://radonc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=47

[BF]

Thank Robert.   

[0leman]

BF:  My wife had throat cancer back 15-18 years ago.  She had 28 radiation treatments.  The place, where she got them, was 2 hard hours of driving away.  Thankfully we had lots of friends to help with the driving.

The Treatments really fatigued her.  She also lost 14 lbs.   If we could have caught the cancer earlier, they could have planted a radiation pill in her tongue instead of removing half of it..  Pills would have been a lot better.

Keep up your spirits, this too will pass

[Hooter]

Exactly the symptons my mother had....can cause a bunch of issues but the most she griped about was the fatigue and feeling like she was gonna puke all the time. When treatments ended so did the symptons in a couple of weeks for the most part.

Ck. this out if you haven't seen it. Google HBO Vice... Then go to Killling Cancer. Short clip but worth the watch.

[BF]

Exactly the symptons my mother had....can cause a bunch of issues but the most she griped about was the fatigue and feeling like she was gonna puke all the time. When treatments ended so did the symptons in a couple of weeks for the most part.

Ck. this out if you haven't seen it. Google HBO Vice... Then go to Killling Cancer. Short clip but worth the watch.

Thanks.  I've seen that video.  I've talked to my chemo doctor and my urologist about it already. 

At this point, I'm early in my treatment and don't yet qualify for a trial therapy.  If at some point, this drug is no longer effective, then we'll explore going down those roads. 

The good part (if there is a good part), is that back when I first was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005 (that was my first surgery), there was NO cure, NO treatment.  If they didn't cut it all out of you, it spread, you died 12 to 18 months later.  Radiation and chemo were NOT a possibility.....at all then. 

At least today, there's a couple drugs and some clinical trials that show some sort of promise. 

At least, that's what they tell me. 

[BF]

BF:  My wife had throat cancer back 15-18 years ago.  She had 28 radiation treatments.  The place, where she got them, was 2 hard hours of driving away.  Thankfully we had lots of friends to help with the driving.

The Treatments really fatigued her.  She also lost 14 lbs.   If we could have caught the cancer earlier, they could have planted a radiation pill in her tongue instead of removing half of it..  Pills would have been a lot better.

Keep up your spirits, this too will pass

I've lost almost 20lbs since the last week of March. 

Spirits are up enough I guess, but the body is flat out tired out.