Cisplatin

Greg's Experience
Greg, a YCS board member, submitted the following experience about his wife Stephanie:
Stephanie had cisplatin combined with an experimental drug called S1. Though many people can have bad side effects with cisplatin, Stephanie's were manageable.

  • Day 1: She received cisplatin with 8 hours of hydration plus Emend, Zofran, and dexamethasone for nausea.
  • Day 2: She received another 4 hours of hydration with a repeat of the nausea drugs.
  • Day 3: She received a repeat of the nausea meds only. The first week after treatment, her appetite was very low - she always lost a few pounds at least. Other than that, the nausea was manageable with no vomiting at all.
  • Day 4: She became very tired to the point she could barely get out of bed or off the couch.
  • Day 7-9: All of the side effects generally had subsided. She didn't lose her hair, but over four months it did thin, but most people didn't even notice. With each round of chemotherapy, her fatigue lasted a little longer than the previous treatment.

After the fourth treatment of the five they had planned, the doctors decided to stop the cisplatin. One month later, she started to experience some tingling in her hands and feet. The tingling was not bad enough to handicap her, but the feeling of them being asleep annoyed her. Overall, Stephanie's experience with cisplatin has been tolerable and has not interfered much with her daily life.

Karen's Experience
Karen, a YCS board member, submitted the following experience about her husband Mark: Cisplatin caused nasty side effects. It appeared to intensify the effects of the radiation which Mark had had previously. That would have been great had it killed the cancer, but it did little to reduce the tumor. It made his chemo brain worse. Later, the surgical wounds and the surrounding skin opened up into open sores, which was probably related to the cisplatin from what the doctors said, requiring treatment similar to that a burn victim would need.