Wednesday, August 09, 2006
This is J here updating blog for R. R met with the medical oncologist and the radiation oncologist this week. I'll start with the med. oncologist first. R will have chemo 3 times during radiation (the 1st, 23rd, and 44th day of radiation). The side effects are nausea, possible hair loss and MORE NEUROPATHY. The chemo may cause the neuropathy in his right leg/foot to get worse and/or neuropathy in his left foot.
Dr. K (med oncologist) will help control the nausea. He also took R off the Neurontin and put him on Lyrica for neuropathy. Dr. K thinks this medication works better for neuropathy-who knows. It is a newer medication and a lot of his patients have had good results with this. We will see.
The meeting with the radiaiton oncologist went well until R had to get his mask made. This is the mask he will wear every treatment of radiation. He had a wet mask put over his face and upper torso and bolted to the table, so he cannot move at all. The mask hardens and molds to his face as he lays there for an hour. His hands were tied to his feet and a tongue depressor was stuck through the mesh mask and in his mouth the whole time. Then he was placed in a CT machine. He was in for about an hour- he started to panic at the end and had to ask to get out.
We found out about the side effects of radiation. The temporary side effects that will last about 7 weeks are tiredness, dry mouth, trouble swallowing, loss of salivary glands, loss of hair (2spots in back of head and on the left side by the ear), redness to the skin and peeling, taste will be effected and a metallic taste in mouth. This will also effect the upper jaw and R will need frequent fouride treatments from his dentist.
The long term (perminant) effects will be loss of salivary glands on the left side, hearing deficit on left side, and slight brain defecit (nothing noticeable), TMJ and taste will be less.
Under the not likely, but could happen category is vision problems/loss of vision in the right eye (if vision is effected-he will not know for 4-5 yrs), may get some radiaiton scatter which could effect the lens of the right eye and cause a cataract later, the free-flap over the eye could fail (meaning more surgery). Radiaiton could kill the flap! REMEMBER-NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN.
The radiaiton will focus a lot on the brain-they are concerned that if any cancer is left-it would be there because the tumor passed through the dura.
The radiaiton will be 5 days a week for about 7 weeks.
The chemo he will get is called Cisplatin.
We do not have a start date yet. We will meet with both doctors the begining of next week (the 14-15th) and finalize these plans and make any adjustments to the mask. May start by the end of next week. We will have a chemo counseling session next week as well. This will also allow another week for R to heal a little more.
R got to enjoy a massage last night from a friend who is a massage therapist, which felt great! Thanks L.
R has his very own TENS unit know. This does seem to help him.
Thanks for all the cards, calls, emails and special care pkgs.
Dr. K (med oncologist) will help control the nausea. He also took R off the Neurontin and put him on Lyrica for neuropathy. Dr. K thinks this medication works better for neuropathy-who knows. It is a newer medication and a lot of his patients have had good results with this. We will see.
The meeting with the radiaiton oncologist went well until R had to get his mask made. This is the mask he will wear every treatment of radiation. He had a wet mask put over his face and upper torso and bolted to the table, so he cannot move at all. The mask hardens and molds to his face as he lays there for an hour. His hands were tied to his feet and a tongue depressor was stuck through the mesh mask and in his mouth the whole time. Then he was placed in a CT machine. He was in for about an hour- he started to panic at the end and had to ask to get out.
We found out about the side effects of radiation. The temporary side effects that will last about 7 weeks are tiredness, dry mouth, trouble swallowing, loss of salivary glands, loss of hair (2spots in back of head and on the left side by the ear), redness to the skin and peeling, taste will be effected and a metallic taste in mouth. This will also effect the upper jaw and R will need frequent fouride treatments from his dentist.
The long term (perminant) effects will be loss of salivary glands on the left side, hearing deficit on left side, and slight brain defecit (nothing noticeable), TMJ and taste will be less.
Under the not likely, but could happen category is vision problems/loss of vision in the right eye (if vision is effected-he will not know for 4-5 yrs), may get some radiaiton scatter which could effect the lens of the right eye and cause a cataract later, the free-flap over the eye could fail (meaning more surgery). Radiaiton could kill the flap! REMEMBER-NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN.
The radiaiton will focus a lot on the brain-they are concerned that if any cancer is left-it would be there because the tumor passed through the dura.
The radiaiton will be 5 days a week for about 7 weeks.
The chemo he will get is called Cisplatin.
We do not have a start date yet. We will meet with both doctors the begining of next week (the 14-15th) and finalize these plans and make any adjustments to the mask. May start by the end of next week. We will have a chemo counseling session next week as well. This will also allow another week for R to heal a little more.
R got to enjoy a massage last night from a friend who is a massage therapist, which felt great! Thanks L.
R has his very own TENS unit know. This does seem to help him.
Thanks for all the cards, calls, emails and special care pkgs.
# posted by No Rain In Arizona @ 5:14 PM 
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You're a stronger person than I, metaphorically speaking. They would have had to knock my ass out cold to get that mask made!! Good luck on the future treatments and with the new meds.
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