31st December 2002
Hi Dana:
Congratulations on your baby girl, but sorry to hear about your husband's difficulties.
The numbness / weakness can be due to prolonged bed confinement, loss of muscle tissue, or radiation/chemo side-effects. Chemo, regardless of what type of organ/cancer is being targeted, often affects the central nervous system resulting in lightheadedness and loss of balance.
The urinary system can be similarly affected by chemo, prolonged bed rest [muscle loss of tone], etc. Plus, because some chemo drugs are especially damaging to the kidneys, patients are sometimes given huge quantities of intravenous fluids to help push the meds quickly through the system. If your husband was also being given allopurinol during this phase, then this might be what was going on. [Our child had this experience during one phase of the AML chemo - every hour on the hour, for 24 hours, one liter of fluid I.V. This added to the exhaustion because one can't sleep with a full bladder, and the nursing staff were adamant about getting this med quickly/safely cleared through the kidneys.]
Take care,
Jay
Congratulations on your baby girl, but sorry to hear about your husband's difficulties.
The numbness / weakness can be due to prolonged bed confinement, loss of muscle tissue, or radiation/chemo side-effects. Chemo, regardless of what type of organ/cancer is being targeted, often affects the central nervous system resulting in lightheadedness and loss of balance.
The urinary system can be similarly affected by chemo, prolonged bed rest [muscle loss of tone], etc. Plus, because some chemo drugs are especially damaging to the kidneys, patients are sometimes given huge quantities of intravenous fluids to help push the meds quickly through the system. If your husband was also being given allopurinol during this phase, then this might be what was going on. [Our child had this experience during one phase of the AML chemo - every hour on the hour, for 24 hours, one liter of fluid I.V. This added to the exhaustion because one can't sleep with a full bladder, and the nursing staff were adamant about getting this med quickly/safely cleared through the kidneys.]
Take care,
Jay