Matt's Experience
Matt, a YCS board member, submitted the following experience about his wife
Kara:
Cisplatin (100mg/m2) and Etoposide (100mg/m2)
The side effects of cisplatin are directly related to the dose received and are cumulative over time. Kara received an extremely high dose of cisplatin, and thus this personal experience is probably not typical for this treatment combination. The first cycle of chemotherapy was pretty bad while Kara was in the hospital. Vomiting began about eight hours after the cisplatin and continued for 2-3 days. Kara recovered very quickly and was up and around by the weekend.
For the second cycle, we tried a new drug called Emends from Merck to help with the nausea and vomiting. It was an effective drug for Kara because she had almost no vomiting and minimal nausea for the second cycle.
Kara had four more cycles of Cisplatin and Etoposide, and each cycle would get progressively worse. We tried several different cocktails of antinausea medications, including combinations of Emends, Zofran, decadron, Marinol (the marijuana-based drug), the triple cocktail of ativan, haldol, and Benadryl as needed (this cocktail is effective but puts you to sleep - probably why it is so effective). We also added IV fluids to help with the dehydration, although we started out with too much fluid which caused her electrolytes to be off. She passed out and we had a two-night stay in the hospital.
Effects:
We are now dealing with the cumulative effects of the drugs. Kara's appetite
would be gone for the week of chemo, and she gradually worked up to eating
almost nothing for 2 - 2½ weeks. The Marinol (also used as an appetite stimulant)
helped with the appetite, but any volume of food or liquids would come back
up. I finally realized that she needed to sip on food shakes and water throughout
the day rather than try to eat a full meal - one swallow every 30-60 minutes.
Boost Plus has 360 calories in 8 ounces and 10 mEq (milliequivalents) of
potassium, the most I was able to find. She manages to drink about one bottle
a day. I can tell that getting some calories has helped because her weight
stabilized and is no longer dropping. Solid foods are slow to come back,
and then they must be in small amounts and nothing greasy or spicy.
The IV fluids have kept Kara from getting dehydrated, which can make the nausea worse. She had blood transfusions after the last two cycles, and her hemoglobin dropped to 7.4. She would have to take potassium supplements - horse pills that are hard on the stomach - after every dose of cisplatin. Start eating foods with lots of potassium.
Other effects include neuropathy (tingling in the hands and feet), tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and hearing loss. Kara's neuropathy started with some minor tingling in the hands and feet after five cycles. It got much worse to the point where she could hardly walk or use her hands. Only time can repair neuropathy, but Neurontin helped with the pain and allowed Kara to walk without pain. After 6 months, her neuropathy has improved but is still very noticeable. The hearing loss and tinnitus is noticeable but mostly annoying. Closed captioning is always on, and conversations with a lot of background noise are difficult but manageable.