Your father's constipation
Dear Jacole:
My husband is 72 and he has Hodgkins disease 3B. When he had his first ABVD Chemo, he started the chills and high fever 3 hours after the Chemo. It was very scary. His WBC was low, the nurse gave him Anti-biotic as a precaution. Two weeks later, he had his second Chemo. Three hours after chemo completed, he had the same chills/fever reaction. It also lasted for about 6 hours. Doctor and his nurse confirmed that it was Bleomycin side effect.
Last week, he had his third Chemo. His doctor instructed him to take panadol at the same time when he the chemo started, and take another pill six hour later. The fever was controlled successfully. Chills/Fever was the most distinct reaction that my husband had.
When my husband returned home from his 1st chemo, he was constipated for 5 days, the stool softner given by his doctor did not help. He was very depressed and worry.
I gave my mother a toilet seat on her 80th birthday, she had constipation problem. This seat solved her problem. Out of desperation, I took my husband to my mother's apartment and used her toilet seat. He was in the bathroom for one minute, I asked him "are you alright?". He said "It works". That solved the problem and he got rid of all 5 days worth of "hard inventory".
After that, I served him one glass of prune juice, and a small bowl of oatmeal every morning. This is the old fashion remedy. He went thru 3 Chemo, he never had the constipation problem any more. You may ask your father to try the same. Chemo already injected so much different kind of "DRUGs" into our bodies, if we can take one less drug, then we won't.
My husband did have other reactions. We really don't know why he has low graded fever so often? It will last for a few days. He gets very tired, when he has the fever. When the fever symptom is gone, He feels good and he eats well.
On his last Chemo, he began to have rashes and he felt very itchy. We do not know if this is normal, and how do we control this? If anyone has the similiar experience please share it with us.
From all the information we have learned, the HD is a more treatable form of cancer. The successful rate of treatment is good. But the chemo is tuff, The most important focus is to watch his weight, his overall health, and guard him from getting infection.
One day before my husband receive his Chemo #2, blood test showed his WBC only 1390. The doctor postphoned his Chemo for 3 more days, and gave him one Filgrastim shot in the next three days. These shots boosted up his WBC to 6000 and he received his Chemo # 2.
After this experience, our doctor order 3 Filgratim shots at 6th, 8th, and 10th day from previous Chemo to assure that my husband's WBC can be sufficient enough for the next Chemo. We like our doctor, she is smart, calm,organized. She is a very skilled Physician.
Hope you find my experience helpful to you.