Wife's Diagnosis SCLC: Chemo Next Week-What Should I Do?

What a great outing! Now that I'm going through chemo again I find that taking it first thing before I get up helps tremendously. And taking it before bed helped too.

Please make sure you're giving her stool softeners. Anti nausea drugs do tend to bind the colon up.

Thanks @denzie for the tips.

We did go to the store. She wanted to get out and walk around. The outing was good and she got a lot of walking. We did pick up some jello pudding boxes and she made it when we got home. I forgot how good that is.

But that night she got very sick. It was nausea and vomiting. The doctor had told us about four or five days after chemo this could very likely happen. She took the nausea meds they gave her and that did help, but it was a tough night. Thankfully she is getting some sleep. now.

We're still just taking it one day at a time. We try to make everyday the best we can.

Outings like the grocery store can be exhausting. It also opens her up to the flu and RSV that are going around. Make sure she has a mask on. And remember, masks make it a bit more of a challenge to breathe.

Could she participate by helping plan a pick up order? Try premade puddings, cream soups, add cheese, use Half and half instead of milk, ice cream, pies and baked goods.

Ask her primary care doctor for occupational therapy. Im going through chemo again and Medicare has me doing OT and PT at home. I walk around the inside of the house a bit and the exercises I do are gentle but they are imprint strength and stamina.

Hello, after 3 or 4 days of having no visitors we both decided that wasn't working. My wife was just getting to lonely, so we have started having our kids and grandkids come for visits. That really helped her spirits.
The problems now are weight loss, lack of activity and difficulty breathing. If I push activity too much she gets upset with me. I'm thinking the difficulty in breathing would improve with some movement.
As far as eating she is trying. She just gets full fast. I keep snacks around and will try to suggest eating small meals 6 or 7 times a day.
I'm going to try to get her to go to the grocery store today. It's nice out so that really helps.

Hi Colleen, thanks for asking how we are.
First 3 days of chemo were this past week. Day 1 was 8 hours and day 2 and 3 were 2 hours.
My wife got thru these treatments with just one noticable side effect, extreme tireness. She comes home from the treatments and sleeps 2 or 3 hours, then up 3 or 4 hours being a little active, then back to bed. Her eating isn't great but she says she has no nausea. So not too bad. We anticipate it getting worse.
All our family lives nearby. We have 9 grandkids and right now we have elected to have no visitors, worrying about colds and such. We usually see them a lot, and right now that is
bothering her more than anything.
I'm doing good. I'm not too busy but I also get tired. We've got 2 full weeks off and plan to rest up.
March 11 Round 2 of chemo starts and about that time radiation plans to start.
All the suggestgions we received here came in handing or will in the future.
We are taking hercule's advice, ONE DAY AT A TIME!

@bovic21, how is your wife doing with the chemo treatment? How are her spirits? How are YOU doing?

Come back and let us know what works for you. Good luck. 🙏🌈

Hi @francekid, thank you for your suggestions. We loaded up on some mints and soft foods. Chemo starts next Tuesday. Hopefully we'll be ready.
Best of luck to you

Thank you. Also, if you wife is losing weight, pick up some Boost or Ensure. They have high calorie boost at WalMart. They all have vitamins and nutrients in them. I bought them for my husband and after drinking about two of them, he quit drinking them. So, I do.

My most severe side effect from chemo was nausea and a terrible taste in my mouth. Be sure docs give her anti- nausea meds. Get some ginger chews, mints, lemon drops, too. Applesauce helped. Days 4-8 after treatment were the worst. Best of luck to you both. 🙏