How much pain should my dad have after chemo?

fightingforwu · New User Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Four days since my dad's first chemo treatment (Taxsol+Carbo+Avastin) for his Stage IV metastatic lung cancer, he is experiencing more bone pain than ever before, more intense and more places than pre-treatment. Doctor has added 30mg Morphine once every 12 hours in addition to Hydrocodone (20mg) every 4 hours. My dad is in chronic pain, he didn't have before he started treatment last week. His quality of life is down. Is this normal after chemo? Does he need to change pain med? I will consult with Doc tomorrow. thanks!

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1386

Hi,

I'm sorry that your Dad is experiencing a lot of pain with the chemo. This isn't uncommon at all. Some people have it happen, while others fly right through it with no pain. No rhyme or reason to why this happens to some more than others. Was he given Neulasta or Neupogen at all? These white blood count enhancers are well known to cause pretty nasty bone aches.

A few days after chemo is right about the time the body reacts to the infusion. He'll feel crummy for several days and then you should see the symptoms start to disappear and he should be out of the worst of it.

Does your Dad have bone mets too?

Please drop into the lung cancer forum and post this info. There are plenty of folks in there who are going through or have been through treatment that will be quite willing to help you. I don't have any experience with pain meds, but others do in that forum too.

Again I'm sorry about all of this for your Dad.

Take care,
PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

fightingforwu · New User Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Hi,

We took my dad to the hospital to address the bone pain. The pain affected him so much that he had to be wheel chaired around. We feel pretty uneasy for being so unhelpful to him... He also had mild fever for consecutive nights. Tylenol worked well, but he sweated a lot- His body was fighting.

Blood analysis showed that white blood cell count was good, he didn't need to be hospitalized to prevent infections. The initial pain med prescription was Oxycontin, but our insurance wouldn't cover it because generic isn't available at this time. So now it has changed to a time released Morphine, and a Morphine for acute pain. We'll see how his body respond to them. He also received some infusion to hydrate his body.

I feel the Doc didn't fully represented the side effects of Chemo. The goal of chemo is to improve/maintain his quality of life for as long as possible. Now his life is non-existent, he is pretty much bed ridden all day. I hope he will get better as time goes by, but it seems like an eternity when you see your love ones suffering 24/7.

simplyklb

My mom has NSCLC. She had four rounds of carbo/Taxol/Avastin. Does your dad have bone mets? My mom does not. She did have joint pain for a a few days after chemo.

Kristi
_________________
Dad - Andy, 70, diagnosed with SCLC in May 2008
2/20/38 - 10/15/08 Fly high, Dad!
Mom - Jackie, 67, diagnosed with NSCLC in May 2008

fightingforwu · New User Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Yeah he has bone mets to his back, neck, and left thigh. His back is in constant pain, and no strength in both of his legs. He doesn't have nausea or numbness, which is good. [/code]

simplyklb

My dad has SCLC with mets to bones and liver. (Yes, both my parents have lung cancer.). My dad had a lot of pain which is now controlled with a Fentanyl patch. He gets 75 mcg/h thru the patch, which is changed every three days. He takes Oxycodone for breakthrough bone pain and Advil for muscle pain. My dad was initially on morphine but he had a lot of problems so that he is why he was switched to the Fentanyl patch.

Kristi
_________________
Dad - Andy, 70, diagnosed with SCLC in May 2008
2/20/38 - 10/15/08 Fly high, Dad!
Mom - Jackie, 67, diagnosed with NSCLC in May 2008

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1386

Hi,

Sweating and fevers aren't an uncommon reaction to chemo. Sometimes these are from the actual chemo and other times our nurses called them "tumor fevers." These can happen when the tumor is growing or shrinking. More twists and turns.

Your Dad needs to stay hydrated with plenty of electrolytes following chemo days. It's so important that he drink plenty of water and Gatorade, or any other fluid that contains electrolytes. There are lots of things on the market now. Adequate hydration may help keep some of the side effects to a minimum, but there always will be some sort of reaction to chemo.

Wait it out and see how he does within the next several days. I can't help with the pain meds and have no experience in that area, so I'm glad others are offering suggestions. Often chemo will scare the caregivers because the patient does take a downturn until the effects are out of their system.

As for quality of life? Only your Dad can make this decision. I know how hard this is to watch and I'm sorry.

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

fightingforwu · New User Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Hi,

My dad is responding to the increased dosage in morphine extended release. also, he has been getting NaCl and it significantly makes him feel stronger. He is looking forward to continuing salt water infusion. He filled up the toilet yesterday, hadn't done so in 3 days, thanks to Colace, and Magnesia milk.

One thing i am still puzzled is his lack/non-existent leg strength. At times, he loses so much strength in his legs that he has to use a wheel chair. He is still having mild fevers, but we're doing our best as caregivers. Sometimes we feel we're not doing our job as caregivers when the patient is suffering.

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