Joe Very Sick after first week of 3xBEP

[dmann999]

Joe just finished his first week of BEP and he was pretty good all week. But he has been vomitting all night last night and really feels sick. Is this normal. The docs doubled up his nausea medicine and Ativan??

[Russell's Mom]

Russell did pretty good during his first round although he had sudden episodes of nausea. He did have a bad reaction to one of the anit-nausea meds, so be sure to talk this over with your doctor or one of the onc nurses. One of the people that gained my deep respect was the oncology pharmacist. Don't be bashful about hunting him/her/them down. On any given day, the pharmacist could (from the top of his head) tell me what meds and doses Russell was on. He was a wizard at creating combinations to keep up going. We still go back to see him every time we visit. The ativan is helpful. The body starts to react to the medications just like old Pavlov's dogs. At the sight and thought of chemo, the reactions start happening. The ativan helps to control that physical response. Russell couldn't stand being sleepy for so long, so had difficulty gettting him to take it. What a ride. The oncology nurses will be a wealth of knowledge. See if they have any ideas. Overall it was a roller coaster ride. Different days, different responses, different tastes. I can remeber one morning Russell had a taste for eggs. None in the house because they made him sick previously. He drove quickly to the store for eggs while I got toast etc before the moment changed. He shares that there are still some foods that don't slide down as well, but eating is "not" a problem now!! Hang on, it is a difficult job to do...but it is do-able! take care, Sharon

[ATLfuzzy]

Yes, we found the week of the chemo was okay..for the most part. The rough days were the days after the chemo---the weekend, and Monday-Tuesday. Keep him hydrated if you can. There are other meds that may help (zofran ODT-oral disolving tab) worked wonders for Jerry. At the first sign of nausea....

Hang in there!!

Joe just finished his first week of BEP and he was pretty good all week. But he has been vomitting all night last night and really feels sick. Is this normal. The docs doubled up his nausea medicine and Ativan??

[dmann999]

Joe is taking Zofran. They changed him now to every 4 hours instead of 8 hours.....

[Mrs Moggi]

Dawn, hang in there. I can't comment on the chemo but just wanted to let you know we're rooting for you here.

[Mat]

Hi Dawn,

I had the 2xBEP and during my 1st cycle I was really sick from day two of my hospital stay (was in for 4 days). They finally found anti sikness meds that worked (sorry don't know the name) but then forgot to give me the next dose so the nausia and vomitting started again. I started to feel better once I was home but was sick again during my 1st bleo (even though thats not meant to make you sick, must have been the disslike of needles). The 2nd cycle was much easier tho, as they know what to give me from the start.

Hang in there things do get better, wishing you and Joe all the best.
Mat.

[dmann999]

Thanks guys (and gals ) Joe is doing better today. I am still confused on the decadron and compozine. The zofran they told him to take on Tue/Thurs and over the weekend. The doctor doubled the dosage Sat. after Joe was so sick. and they doubled the ativan. Joe doesn't like too much Ativan as it makes him 'blurry' and tired. He is much better this am with the Zofran and decadron. What is the compozine for? Dawn

[Manny]

Dawn - camapazine is another anti-nausea medication. I was on zofran, ativan and campazine through my 12 weeks of chemo. My chemo nurses told me to take all 3 every day (I think the dosage was every 4 - 6 hours) and basically said dont wait for the nausea to come before starting the anti-nausea meds. They told me to take them throughout - that kept the nausea under control.

[TheTippingPoint]

Hi Dawn,

Yuck. Poor Joe! Greg's nausea is ALWAYS worse on the weekend (usually vomits a little Saturday morning), and he takes many of the same medications as Joe. Compazine is a milder anti-nausea med. I think its the standard that they give everyone and they add more powerful drugs if that doesn't cut it. Greg takes it religiously during his on weeks.

Decadron is a steroid meant to boost some of the anti-nausea meds that he gets during treatment (and Greg has a tumor around the spine, so it helps with that too). It helps Greg A LOT on Sat and Sun.

Greg doesn't like the Ativan either. It was good in the beginning for helping him sleep through his pain, but now that he's not experiencing that, it just gives him bad dreams and makes him feel weird. Also, the Ativan and dexamethasone (decadron) kinda work against one another (decadron pumps you up, esp. toward the end of the week, and ativan tries to bring you down), and Greg didn't like that feeling.

I second talking with the chemo pharmacist. Ours is also incredibly friendly and has encyclopedic knowledge about EVERYTHING.

If it doesn't get much better, you can also call the on-call doc. They're really helpful as well, and can prescribe something to get you through the weekend at least.

Tell Joe that he's lucky he won't get pregnant. Nausea during chemo is a good indicator of morning sickness during pregnancy (and vice-versa) Haha!

-Mary

[dmann999]

Mary... good point about the morning sickness.... ha ha.

This has helped me help him with the drugs.. He has some diarhea too today. But vomiting has stopped at least. Not being with him makes it so hard, but educating him helps a lot. He is a very smart kid (man, I guess at 21???) but I keep trying to get him to the forum, but he just doesn't seem to want to. But values the info....

So for now, I will be his brain while he handles all the hard stuff his own way.

Thanks, I feel a lot better today because he does with all your help.

[TheTippingPoint]

Oh, Greg won't read the forum either. He doesn't even want me look at it if he can see the computer screen: "Mary, are you STILL on the cancer board?"

But, he appreciates the information, and he'll ask me to investigate things on his behalf. I think it is part of him wanting to leave cancer at the hospital and be as normal as possible otherwise. We do a lot of conversing about symptoms, questions, concerns, etc. on our five minute drive to the hospital b/c he honestly doesn't want to talk about it until we're THERE.

The most I'll get from him is, "Ugh, chemo Monday" and generic updates about how he's feeling i.e. "good" or "bad". Hah!

So, I guess that's pretty normal. Have a good rest of the weekend!
-Mary

[mstlyn]

Anthony took his meds to prevent the nausea too, on schedule. I set the alarm to get up and make sure he took them around the clock on schedule too.

Also, from the first day of treatment on through till the last one, he would get up in the morning and have a good breakfast, and start working on one of those big bottles (I think it was 32 oz) of gatoraid at home and on the way to the chemo clinic.

While at the clinic, if he finished his gatoraid, I would offer him juices that the clinic kept for patients. Most times he would drink at least 1 bottle.

Then when we left the clinic I would stop wherever he wanted and buy him lunch, and he would get another drink with that.
He had a good appetite from the decadron .. not sure if anyone else experienced this? He actually gained about 20 lbs during chemo.

I kept snack crackers, or whatever sounded good to him on hand and regularly offered those to snack on and sometimes pushed him, just a little.
Most of the time he ate a couple crackers or something. (I was really worried about him getting sick)

He would usually drink another big bottle of gatoraid, and water before the end of the day. I forget the actual amounts, but there was a minimum number of oz. that we aimed for each day and never missed it.

He didn't always do these things on his own, especially the fluids and especially during round 3 when he started feeling more tired. He got tired of drinking, but he did it anyway.
I just brought it to him and reminded him that he needed to stay hydrated and nourished to keep from getting sick and he did great.

He had 4xEP so I dont know if that made a difference as compared to 3XBP or not .. my suggestion is to stay on top of the anti nausea meds, drink a lot and try to eat something before treatment.

I hope you're able to get the nausea under control, and keep it that way.

Anthonys meds: Ativan, Compazine, Zofran, Decadron

Blessings,
Tammy

[Les' Mom]

Dear Dawn...

I am so sorry about Joe being so sick. I guess we were lucky. Les felt like crap but didnt vomit very much. The meds worked pretty good for him. The think that helped him the most was lying in a dark cool quiet room. He just had to work his way through the sickness.. almost like self hypnosis.

I hope Joe will have a good day.

Love,
Pam

[mikes mom]

Dawn,
Sorry to read that Joe has had a rough time with the chemo. I'm glad they he now has some relief from the nausea. Mike was fortunate so far and has not had to receive chemo so I don't have any advice.
Yes, at 21 he is a man, but at the same time still our "boys", especially when they are hurting.
I hope his treatment goes smoothly from her on. He'll be in my thoughts and prayers.
Debbie

[MRMRSU]

Hi Dawn: I hope that Joe is faring better with the new up'd meds to control the vomitting. Wishing you bluer skies ahead. Just wanted to say "hi."

[dmann999]

Hello, Joe is doing better. No vomitting but still some nausea. They are doing is Bleo on Tuesday's so he is in for week 2 today. Hope that doesn't instill more symptoms. I guess the weekend is the worst even on the off weeks from what I have read? Let me know your thoughts.

thank you all for the encouraging words. has anyone heard from Pam/Les since yesterday? My heart and prayers are with them all day long, everyday........

Dawn

[TheTippingPoint]

Hi Dawn,

Greg always sleeps most of the afternoon on his bleo days (likely b/c of the 50 Mg of benadryl), but otherwise, he's fine and continues to feel really good throughout the rest of the week. Joe will probably feel almost normal on the weekend before his next cycle (if not before then). Bleo doesn't (usually) cause nausea, so he should start to feel much better as the week moves on.

Keeping you in my thoughts,

Mary