Unfortunately some chemotherapy drugs do cause peripheral neuropathy. This can get better over time, once the treatment has stopped.
We have some information on our website about peripheral neuropathy and how it can be managed which I hope you and your partner will find useful. Your partner's specialist team at the hospital should be able to talk through options and on how best to treat it.
Please get back to us if you need any more information or support. You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.
Yep basically his team said if you dont want neuropathy dont have the chemo ......which I feel is less than compassionate to a person with cancer so not impressed with that at all
at least they were honest ,to the point, and as the patient you could fully and clearlyb understand the risks and choices. If they had blah-blahed it minimising the risk , imagine how you would feel if you subsequently got it.. There is never a way to dress up a potential reality that would heap yet more suffering upon one such as your husband who is going through a great deal already.
l suffer from permanant neuropathy in my feet following Stage4 bowel cancer treatment and have done for years and the only relief l get from it came after my control centre learnt to stop telling me about it whilst it was focused on daily living, but that rule is thrown out of the window once you lay down to rest.
In 1985 l was struck by a car whilst riding a motocycle leaving a leg shattered from below the knee and an arm that had exploded from wrist to elbow into what was described as Winalot dog biscuit.Coming round from yet another op l asked my then 60 year old surgeon what was his prognosis. Without a pause he said you have Fu**ed it and will probably spend your remaining life in a wheelchair and lose the use of your hand.
The truth was the best thing he could have said, the impetus to a full recovery as l vowed to prove that gnarled old grumpy doctor wrong. l think l was his last hands on operating, he knew what he was saying and provoking a response that would be necessary to complement his fantastic skills.Some twenty ops,and three years later l was back working and by year five you would not know l had suffered the damage
The point is although the harsh truth seems hard at the beginning, in many ways short and sharp is easier to accept and move on than kind flannel into the distance.
That said l can fully understand your viewing and hurt of how that came across.We none of us like to see our loved ones suffering,and the reality is that you both suffer so l am sorry to read of your distress,
