Hi, don’t know if anybody has had experience of this. My Mum has a liver secondary & infected nodes in her chest. She’s had 3 out of 6 chemos, 5FU and Epirubicin (+ 1 other drug I can’t remember).
Just before her last chemo, she was suffering a bit with diarrhoea but put it down to something she ate. The day after her chemo, the diarrhoea became a whole lot worse, till she was actually incontinent & couldn’t get to the loo quick enough. As well as that, she had some pain in the stomach that started off as discomfort, like a stone sitting in the stomach. After a few days, the discomfort turned to outright pain & the diarrhoea became passing what looked like white tissue. After about 4 days, she was finally admitted to Acute Admissions at the hospital & given a drip & painkillers.
Nobody at the hospital has given her an answer about what it was. Blood & stool tests came back negative for infection. She had 2 courses of antibiotic during her first 2 chemo sessions. This time, she has been told (vaguely) that “perhaps” she had better not take it this time. Acute Admissions did not liaise with the Onc Unit at all. There has been no advice, nothing from the Onc. Little better from the doctor on the AA ward, who said it “might” be a side-effect of the chemo drugs (she was OK after the first 2 sessions though).
She’s due to have her 4th chemo session next Friday (just before Christmas!). She is so frightened of being ill again that she’s threatening to say that she doesn’t want any more treatment, which is frightening all of us.
Has anybody had any experience of this? What was the result & outcome?
As this is probably an unusual situation you may find it helpful to call our helpline to find out if our team of specialist nurses can offer you any advice for your Mum. The team can offer you support and information and a ‘listening ear’ when things are concerning you.
The number is 0808 800 6000 Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm.
As Lucy’s says it’s probably better to call their helpline as it could be a number of things and we (as patients) can’t really offer any help here except to say that I hope your mum is okay and will be able to have her next lot of chemo without any problems.
hi
i was given antibiotics after my 3rd chemo for a hair folicle infection i was given a strong dose and had about 3 courses, after my 4th chemo i was doubled up with stomach cramp and severe diarroea that was like jelly, i was admitted to hospital and it was a c - diff which is quite a serious bug that lays in the gut and was triggered off due to antiobiotics/ chemotherapy and the bad guys just took over as i had no antibodys to fight with, if your mum is still poorly i would have another stool sample tested
good luck hope she picks up
love galen x
I think the advice given above is absolutely right. As an aside I suffered severely with diarroea (it went on for 8 days and showed no sign of stopping) when I had the Epi - CMF regime. Imodium was useless but a kaolin & morphine mixture helped with 24 hours. Just a thought.
Thanks so much for your replies. Even if nobody has a definitive answer, it’s good to know that people ‘understand’. I can’t bring myself to phone the helpline as I’m afraid of feeling worse afterwards or hearing stuff I can’t cope with.
Mum herself wouldn’t dream of phoning the helpline as she’s of that self-help/self-endurance generation that tries to be totally self-sufficient.
I know I’m just a relative, not a BC sufferer myself, but reading this site has helped me to understand more about my Mum’s condition and to appreciate that it isn’t “just her”, that there are many women (and men) going through this horrible disease.
Kindest regards to you all and thank you for your responses. Best of luck for your treatment and recovery
I just wanted to explain a bit more about what our helpline can offer;
Everyone working on the helpline either has experience of breast cancer, or is a breast care nurse, and has an excellent knowledge of breast cancer issues.
The helpline team comes from a variety of backgrounds, so callers get to talk to someone who has an understanding of the issues they are facing. They are able to talk about both practical and emotional issues surrounding breast cancer and breast health problems.
They can talk through the complexities of different treatments and help you understand or just offer support and understanding.
If you think this may help you support your Mum please ring as sometimes just talking can really help.
So sorry to hear that your mum was so ill on her last chemo.It may be that you will never find out what exactly caused it. Chemotherapy is strong stuff and our bodies can react badly, plus the cancer itself starts to take its toll when secondaries are involved.
Just wanted to say give your mum some space to explore the possibility that she might not want more tretament. I’m not ill as your mum is but I’ve had lot of chemotherpay…mainly with not toooo bad side effects but I had a horrible bout of diarrhoea while on xeloda (one of the supposedly ‘gentler’ drugs) and swore I’d never have more treatment. A wonderful chemo nurse allowed me to explore this…gave me permission to realise that I could be in control of the choices I might make about treatment.
Do think about asking her medical team for more advice or phoning the helpline. Having cancer is bad enough without additional suffering from chemo side effects which could be managed. Your mum might want to have Christmas without treatment…and postpone the next dose…
Thanks again everyone for your comments. I’m starting holiday today and might phone the helpline as it will be easier to do that from home.
Am dreading Christmas in case Mum is given the chemo on Friday and is laid up again, maybe even in hospital. I tentatively suggested they ask the oncologist to delay by a few days, till after Christmas. Now I feel guilty (and selfish) for having suggested it, as if I don’t want my Christmas ruined. I wouldn’t want a delay to jeopardise Mum’s treatment programme and future health. It has been such a bad year so far that a nice, peaceful, trouble-free Christmas would be good for all of us.
Wishing you all a Happy, Peaceful and Healthy Christmas.