he had a continuous pump 5 FU for the whole time, except one week he was off because he was so sick. And every 21 days, he got dosed up with epirubicin and cisplatin. He was going to get a short break from chemo and get the restaging tests, such as CT, PET, endoscopy. He was disconnected Oct. 19th. The next day, he had a fever of 101.4 and spent 6 days in the hospital. He got out on 10/25, fever was gone, but on 10/31, got sudden severe pain when he was breathing in. He was supposed to have the endoscopy that day, but we had to cancel it. He was supposed to have the PET scan 11/2, but he had to reschedule it. The drs say the pain was like pleurisy, and he got over it. We got home after 4 days. He still isn't feeling good. I'm worried about him getting dehydrated.
He's got a j-peg feeding tube, which leaks, and his skin is irritated. We've been in to the surgeon every month since April, except July. The surgeon who was going to do the endoscopy was thinking about replacing the tube, but everything is on hold til John feels better. The drs. gave John antibiotics and an anti-fungal oral medicine after the first hospital. We never see the same doctors, and the new set of hospitalists gave John a different antibiotic and a different anti-fungal, a sulfa drug. It made him so sick, he had to stop his tube feeding. I stopped giving him that and will call the dr. Monday. Still using the anti-fungal cream and cleaning the tube site often.
Anyway, we both thought that after he got off the chemo, he'd start feeling better. But so far, it has been almost the worst he's felt since he started chemo. At the cancer center, they have a bell people can ring when they stop chemo. The chemo has done some good and if he can hang in there through this, I think radiation they are planning will help even more. The cancer is probably not what is causing these problems. His immune system is crap right now. Thanks for listening.
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