Can anyone relate to this?

[Janmarie2]

Tom. Fatigue is sadly an all too common side effect from chemo. With Carboplatin and Taxol my mom was totally wiped out but her blood counts were usually pretty good so she was never very anemic that only happened with the Taxotere/ Gemzar for her.She would just start to get energy back and it would be time for more chemo . Despite it all she tried to live as normal a life as possible. Her second line agent was Iressa changed a month later to Tarceva which had just been released and suddenly she was the energizer bunny, no stopping her.The Alimta that followed that only caused a day or two of fatigue so she had about 14 months during 2nd line and 3rd line treatments where she felt great with lots of energy. People could not believe she had stage IV NSCLC: However, next came Taxotere and Gemzar and they did her in. Despite taking procrit and neupogen during this last one her blood counts were down more then they were up.

Her very first chemo was in July 2004 so her poor body has been through it all and now she has decided enough as the chemo would kill her before the cancer does. Oh by the way she is 82 now.

You sound like you have the fighting atitude which is what she had and that can take you far.My prayers go out to you and please there are no dumb questions here. Ask anything you want. JanMarie

[angelmama39]

Wow! Just hearing that you have been through 9 months of chemo is amazing.

My mom has had 4 chemos so far. (do they call this a line?).......
anyway, they were 3w apart, and she is now almost bed or chair ridden. She can't do0 much of anything. she is sooooo fatigued, it is horrible!

She started in-home therapy yesterday which is amazing! I love the fact that my mom is FORCED to do excersize. She was able to qualify for it from her brain tumor which atrophied her. She is now weak, and of course loosing muscle, so now the therapy will help. I will work with her on her off days, as I am determined to get her strong. After 4 weeks, they told her she must go to therapy out of home. which will be fine with her!

We waited to long to start, but she kept cancelling, and we always had so many app't 's etc.....................

Now she is stuck as we brought them to her!

You sound terrific! My prayers are with you!

angel

[angelmama39]

Wow! Just hearing that you have been through 9 months of chemo is amazing.

My mom has had 4 chemos so far. (do they call this a line?).......
anyway, they were 3w apart, and she is now almost bed or chair ridden. She can't do0 much of anything. she is sooooo fatigued, it is horrible!

She started in-home therapy yesterday which is amazing! I love the fact that my mom is FORCED to do excersize. She was able to qualify for it from her brain tumor which atrophied her. She is now weak, and of course loosing muscle, so now the therapy will help. I will work with her on her off days, as I am determined to get her strong. After 4 weeks, they told her she must go to therapy out of home. which will be fine with her!

We waited to long to start, but she kept cancelling, and we always had so many app't 's etc.....................

Now she is stuck as we brought them to her!

You sound terrific! My prayers are with you!

angel

[Kimslos]

Tom,
I am impressed you are going thru chemo and working and doing what you are doing. My husband has SCLC that is extensive.(supposedly they don't stage that cancer, but they do refer to stage 4 once in a while) He had to quit working and cannot concentrate and sit still long enough to even work, not to mention how fatigued he feels. Just to let you know Stan can have good blood counts and for some reason he has severe fatigue. If you get on the Internet and read the side effects from your chemo most of them mention fatigue.
Keep up the positive attitude and don't over do it! You are doing awesome!
Kim