3Rd Time

[jennyjoan]

My friend has just emailed me there to say she now has to go through a third period of chemotherapy - this will be within 4 years and in the middle of these therapies she underwent a major heart operation.

Due to the potassium of the heart being too high they are concerned re these chemotherapies. Can anybody tell me is she putting herself through too much and will she get better ever. Thanks all. I am devastated.

[Cloverjo]

Its very sad, jennyjoan. No one can tell what will happen. If she wants to go through the chemo again, then she should.
I don't know what it's like apart from seeing my mum go through it.

All you can do is be there to support her, as I know you are.

[jennyjoan]

thanks Jo - she does have a great husband too

[Mamyalynne]

It really depends on why they are offering yet more Chemo, is it to simply gain her a little more time? Or do they think it could help more?

She needs to fully discuss the pros and cons of the treatment and only then decide if she wants to go through it again.

Difficult times.

[Sqad]

\\\\ Can anybody tell me is she putting herself through too much and will she get better ever\\\

I can't answer your question, but i can give a few simple facts.

High potassium in the blood can have devastating effects particularly on the heart.
For reasons not clearly known, cancer patients often have a high potassium, caused by the type of cancer and also the presence of distant spread (metastasis)

Chemotherapy can also produce a high potassium, due to it's side effects, so all these factors producing a high blood potassium can affect the heart.

Your question is a good one and one that can only be answered by the patient e.g has she just had enough.

[jennyjoan]

that's what she has been doing - the pros and cons - well to my knowledge - her consultant is a bit hyped up and that in its turn is hyping her up etc.

She had been promised a different drug "biological" in July and the consultant had given her the name of it etc and said it definitely wasn't chemo - now he turns around and says he is putting her on chemo but I know they are all very concerned re her heart condition.

[jennyjoan]

Thanks Sqad.

[jennyjoan]

Having said that - my cousin knows a lady who has been through it 6 times within 19 years. So my God would that not be enough. Who knows.

[Bathsheba]

Oh poor lass. And here's me moaning about a side-effect of a few mouth ulcers :(

Baths
x x

[Peter Pedant]

it depends on how she feels
and if she feels 'ill'

and what they think the outcome will be

I looked as tho I had been smacked over the head with a crow bar
and showed response to radiotherapy within four days - also my eye stopped hurting... [ a classical textbook response by the way ]

[jennyjoan]

thanks all for your answers