Michelle's Experience
Michelle, a fellow Young Cancer Spouse, submitted the following experience
about her husband Chris:
Once a week for three weeks.
This drug required inpatient hospitalization for 24 hours so doctors could monitor the levels in Chris' blood prior to release. He was also was given fluids concurrently as there can be effects on the kidneys from this drug.
For three days after release, there is a 'recapture' drug that is taken called leucovorin [link to http://www.atdn.org/access/drugs/leuc.html] which is on a six-hour schedule. IT IS IMPORTANT TO TAKE THIS DRUG AS DIRECTED AND ON TIME. Once, Chris took his dosage a few hours late, and he ended up with a HORRIFIC acne break out. I had never seen acne that horrible before as his entire face and back had broken out.
Nausea was tolerable and treated with Zofran. The biggest side effect was mouth sores. Sometimes these can be severe and might appear down the throat or other mucus membranes. We did not really find much to combat these.