From: sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com (Gary Merrill)
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer
Subject: Re: A Bout with a Brain Tumor
Date: 16 Apr 92 12:37:25 GMT
    <1992Apr13.023626.20781@ccu.umanitoba.ca> 
    <1992Apr16.003645.203742@cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com
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 In article <1992Apr13.023626.20781@ccu.umanitoba.ca> nichols@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Pat Nichols) writes:

 >Are there other people out there who have experienced chemo and
 >radiation?  How did you feel while on them and how do you feel now?  I
 >realize that chemo is a very individual thing and that every person
 >reacts differently, but I would be interested in others reactions.

I had chemo every two or three weeks (depending on state of blood
counts, mouth sores, etc.) for a period of about 6 months.  This
was the ABVD regimen for Hodgkin's disease.  I continued work during
this time, though I usually left for home about 2:30 or 3:00 because
of fatigue.  I would go in on a Thurs. morning for a chemo treatment
and take off work the rest of Thursday and Friday (wonder why!).
By Mon. I'd be feeling good enough to drag myself into work.

Effects of chemo on me:  A lot (though not all) of my hair fell out.
I cut it down to a crew cut and left it at that.  I got some mean
mouth sores a few times.  In the last couple of months, I puked
pretty impressively for a of couple hours after the treatments.  I found
that I was ravenously hungry, and put on 10-15 pounds during this
6 month period (in fact, eating like this was encouraged).  The
medication to reduce nausea made me quite jumpy for about a day or
two -- couldn't sit still, had to move around.

After each of the first few treatments I had a problem with serious
pain in the arm and hand where the chemo had gone in.  This is (I
gather) pretty unusual.  The problem was solved by using a real
IV catheter in a larger vein further up the arm.  The nurses didn't
particularly like this because (a) it's easier for them to use the
dippy little butterfly needle, and (b) they think people in general
are afraid of caths.  What they reallly wanted to do was to put one
of those permanent caths in my chest.  This would have made it a lot
easier for them.  My doctor and I gently told them to shove that
idea.  I felt much more comfortable with the cath instead of the
butterfly needle since it gave me more freedom of movement and less
fear that the needle would go somewhere it wasn't supposed to if I
twitched my arm a bit.

After the chemo I went through three weeks of daily 6MEV x-rays
(what my wife refers to as the "death ray") aimed at the site of
the primary tumor (neck).  No problems with that.

I will be three years out of treatment in the middle of June.  At
this point there are no lasting effects (except of course that
the Hodgkin's disease appears to be gone).  When my hair grew out
after the chemo was over, parts of it were wavy.  This effect has
disappeared.  My hair seems to be a bit less thick now than it was
before, but this could be a normal result of aging.  My children
continue to make jokes about it, as they did during the treatment
period.

I would say that it took me a while (several months) to get back
to feeling "normal".  Now I feel great.
-- 
Gary H. Merrill  [Principal Systems Developer, C Compiler Development]
SAS Institute Inc. / SAS Campus Dr. / Cary, NC  27513 / (919) 677-8000
sasghm@unx.sas.com ... !mcnc!sas!sasghm
Newsgroups: alt.support.cancer