My first round of oral chemo went fairly smoothly. Today is my 46th birthday and I had a checkup with the oncologist to ensure that the medicine was not negatively affecting my kidney function. I got the thumbs up on the kidneys, white blood counts, weight (up to 176 pounds) but am slightly anemic. All in all, that means we start round 2 of many.
As you recall, I am taking two different drugs. Xeloda is the first drug and is the oral equivalent of another long time drug called flourouracil or 5fu for short. There are many potential side affects of this medication but the only one that I really experienced was more diarrhea than normal. I take Xeloda for 14 days out of a 28 day cycle with three pills in the morning and three at night.
One of the big side affects that I did experience is greatly increased hypochondria. When you start some of these drugs, you immediately become suspicious of anything that happens with your body. Your leg hurts? Maybe that is a side affect. Hmmm, I got more winded on that walk than normal, perhaps it is a side affect. Everything is suspected but most of them are turn out to be just normal experiences, magnified in the light of cancer and chemo.
The second drug I am taking is called Temodar. This one did affect me and I felt it. I take Temodar for the last 5 days of the 14 days I am taking Xeloda. Temodar gives me two side affects: Nausea and fatigue. The first night I took Temodar, I had dry heaves about every hour after I went to bed. To combat this, I got a prescription for Compazine that I take half an hour before the Temodar and the nausea is gone. The doctor has given me a prescription for Zofran as well and I will try that this time as it is supposed to have fewer side affects.
The fatigue is somewhat odd. The first day after starting the Temodar, I was quite tired at work but this is at least partially due to the lack of sleep from the nausea. The second day, work went fine and I did not feel fatigued. The third day, I went on a 20+ mile bike ride with my wife with no issues but the fourth day, I took three naps, totaling 4.5 hours and still went to bed early. The fifth day felt close to normal but I need to take it easy when I am on the Temodar.
One of the questions I get asked the most is how long I will be taking this combination. I am going to take two more cycles, get scans (CT and MRI) and then fly out to New Orleans to determine if the medication is having a positive affect. If it is, we will stay on the drugs for as long as they either shrink the tumors or at least prevent growth. This could be just the next two cycles or it could be years. I believe the average time to tumor progression is on the order of 9 months so I am hoping to be on the drugs that long or longer.
PS: My wife and daughter find it very humorous that I am now on a 28 day cycle...
