Chemo for paraplegic

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egolds01
egolds01 Member Posts: 2
edited April 2015 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

I'm just wondering if there is anyone out there who has been through chemo as a paraplegic. My aunt was diagnosed this past winter (along with my mom and another aunt), and after a lumpectomy is going through chemo right now. She is T-1 Complete (has been for over 30 years), and having a really hard time with chemo- pressure sores, fungal infection. She had to have a blood transfusion this week after her hemoglobins tanked, and her doctor has decided to postpone chemo (she's been through three rounds so far) until she can make progress on healing the sores (already been on bed rest for two weeks with no improvement). Her doctor has told her that he has never treated a paraplegic before (which has been painfully obvious since the mri, when the nurses asked her if she could just stand up for a second to get herself on the table...). It seems like he is treating her just as he would any other patient, without taking into consideration her diminished muscle mass, etc, which leaves her body less able to absorb the drugs.


Anyway, if anyone out there has been through this, can you share your experiences? How did you cope with chemo? How did your body handle it? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Meadow
    Meadow Member Posts: 2,007
    edited April 2015

    Egolds, Your aunt is so blessed to have you as her niece. I am so sorry she is going thru this. I have not had experience with the situation you describe, but hopefully some one who has answers will respond soon. I can tell you from my experience, that my tissues/muscles still feel different from chemo, and I am a year and a half out from treatment. Probably more exercise would benefit me and speed my body back to feeling like it did pre chemo. I also have neuropathy in my toes from Taxol, one of the chemo drugs that saved my life. I think these are fairly standard post treatment effects for most people. I would imagine your aunt is a much more complicated patient. Shame on the nurses for asking her to stand! What the heck....there is a forum here somewhere for "stupid comments" please look it up and share that one. Sounds like you will be busy being her advocate thru treatment. And again, hopefully you will get more input soon Please give a hug to your aunt for me, and one for yourself.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited April 2015

    Egolds01-

    We want to welcome you to our community here at BCO. We hope you find the support and information you're looking for during your time with us!

    We're so sorry for what your aunt is going through, she is so very lucky to have you! We're hoping one of our members will see your post and have some firsthand experience and advice to share with you, but we also suggest contacting the patient relations center where she gets her chemo, to see if they have any resources available. Or perhaps checking to see if there is a local support group in her area for para- and quadriplegics, they might have members or information on resources that are available. It's unfortunate that her doctor isn't doing more to work with her in her condition. Does she have a regular set of doctors (nerve specialists, neuros, orthos, etc) who could recommend an oncologist more suited to meeting her needs?

    We hope some of our members have more advice for you, and we hope that you're able to find your aunt the help she needs during her treatment. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance!

    The Mods

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  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited April 2015

    Perhaps a call to her Dr who deals with her paraplegia would be in order. Especially with bed sores developing. Perhaps contacting a major facility or a University that deals with paralysis and /or cancers. There have to be some but might take a bit of searching. Her usual Dr might be of help. She can't be the only parapelgic who is/has dealt with any cancer or BC. A different Chemo regimine might be in order.

    Quite a few years ago I worked for a gentleman who was a paraplegic as his overnight aide and filled in on days when the day aides needed time off. I do remember that there were very few Drs he could see or would see him because of all the issues faced.

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  • egolds01
    egolds01 Member Posts: 2
    edited April 2015

    I should have mentioned that she was a nurse in the Spinal cord injury unit at a major university hospital, and has been in touch with her colleagues there but has had no success finding additional resources through them

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