Side effects after completing Chemotherapy

Very eloquent post. Thank you.

@kjc12, have the night sweats receded over time now?

Not yet, but not every night. Major concerns with diarrhea increasing this past week. Last treatment was 5 weeks ago. Will be having tests done to see if there is an infection such as C-Diff. Such a stressful time. We thought recovery from chemo would be happening by now. Thank you for checking in. It means a great deal to me.

Hi, @kjc12. My final (8th) Folfirinox was 8-2-23; some side effects continued and some new ones emerged!

* I felt unwell for 15 days after the 8th -- a longer no. of unwell days than I'd experienced for cycles 1 thru 6 (7 was pretty bad, too). In case you've not been warned, chemo is cumulative; for my final four infusions, my side effects not only intensified, they stayed for a longer no. of days.
* My hair continued to fall out (I've lost about 50% of it; I would cautiously say that after 2.5 mos. I finally see fewer hairs on the pillow daily, but I'm not yet out of the woods).
* I developed mild pain in my fingertips -- akin to neuropathy, I think -- about 2 weeks after the final infusion; it has persisted to the present.
* Earlier this week, my toes began tingling -- I think this *is* neuropathy, but I'm not sure (will soon check with my onc.). So that cropped up about 2.5 mos. after the final infusion.
* I began having cystic-acne breakouts about two weeks after the final infusion; they are decreasing but haven't stopped.
* I still run a low-grade fever (about 99.5F) occasionally -- most recently on or about 10-21-23, about 2.5 mos. after the final chemo.

On the OK side, my energy level was pretty good about three weeks after my final infusion, and it remained good until I had surgery (on 10-5-23). Good luck with all of this.

Based on a reply elsewhere from @markymarkfl, about his own experience, my sense is that it's just too easy for the detection devices we now have to miss tiny stray bits of cancer. This is why I had planned to insist on having chemo after my Whipple, which was on 10-5-23.

(It now looks as tho I won't have to insist, bc the path report suggests that the surgeon wasn't able to get everything. I'll see my onc. in two weeks, but based on what the surgeon said last week, it seems that radiation and more chemo are in my future.)

Do take my assertion (that one should insist on post-surgical chemo) w/ a grain of salt -- I know almost nothing about this disease and about treatment. But based on what I've absorbed from reading some of this site, I can't see any reason for a young-ish person in reasonably good health *not* to get chemo after surgery, given the recurrence rate of this cancer and the speed with which it seems to recur. (Obviously there are individual health anomalies that make post-surgical chemo a bad idea for some, but I'm not talking about the portion of the population that isn't eligible for such reasons. And I'm not ignoring the fact that chemo is powerful poison with serious side effects, so one has to balance the pros/cons very carefully.)

Perhaps talk to a volunteer at pancan.org or the NPF? Someone at one of those orgs sent me articles that addressed a different question I had.

Also, Colleen (moderator; director of Connect) recently shared a link, in another thread, to a helpful article about treating pancan; I went to the newsnetwork (the section in which the article was posted) and entered "pancreatic cancer" in the search field. Perhaps run your eye over the headlines of the results, or try a different search term?

Everyone is different, but I agree about the advisability of getting more chemo after surgery (along with very frequent CA19-9 and ctDNA/Signatera testing and imaging).

I know another PC patient who needed radiation after Whipple. He recently passed the "3 years clean" mark and was "kicked out" of the cancer program and into a wellness follow-up category.

A few post-Whipple cancer cells is nothing to take lightly, but it's definitely not the end either. Fight on!

Thank you for all your input. My husband has also had most of the same side effects you mentioned. We must just accept that this all will take some time to resolve and find a “new normal”. I wish you a speedy and gentle recovery after your Whipple. My husband’s Whipple was in Feb. 2023 and then 10 cycles of Chemo. If I can give you any advice regarding Whipple recovery, please let me know. God bless.

After 17 months of remission after Whipple, the cancer came back at the resection site. Had my first round of Gemcitabine and Abraxane last week. Now my neuropathy is getting worse, which I believe is permanent from the chemo before Whipple. Anyone has suggestions on how to deal with it. I did tried acupuncture three times but no changes. My PCP is referring me to see a Neurologist on the neuropathy. Thanks to all the info I received from this site.

So sorry the neuropathy is back with a vengeance. I have seen some articles through Google searches talking about possible help through Reflexology techniques. It might be worth looking into. God bless you and hopefully your side effects will ease up a bit. Stay strong.

@henfayp , Are you trying the ice and/or compression during your infusions to prevent the neuropathy from getting worse?