one year and three different Chemo treatments - yay! can I take over the count cold meds?

I first started seeing symptoms in October 23 but wasn't diagnosed with Lymphoma until Feb/Mar (mostly my fault, I should have pushed harder when I knew the GP was fobbing me off). Care since then has been excellent, BUT: what they don't tell you, and I completely agree with the reasoning by the way, is this:

When we put you on a given Chemo cycle and say six months to remission it actually means, we're going to try these meds and see what happens. So after four cycles which significanlty removed masses in Stomach, neck and Bones the chemo stopped having an affect on protein markers so I switch to a second drug, which also required weekly plasma transfer but after two/three months of that it was clear the pesky protein wasn't going to shift. So third round of drugs has started and prognosis for remission not out to April when I 'may' be stable enough for Stem Cell transfer.

All of this, annoying and frustration as it can be is nothing compared to what  others are suffering but this week I've had a particular problem and if anyone has been here please give me some advice:

On Tuesday I woke up with a slightly sore throat and minimal cough, It was a chemo day so I want in, temp etc was fine so we went ahead, by 6pm my temp was 39.5 and had been over 38 for a couple of hours so cue a night in A&E (equally excellent treatment btw). They did blood tests etc and confirmed it was not a reaction to chemo or a common virus, flu,cold,covid, etc. So I got home with antibiotics and after another 24 hours sweating and shivering, felt much better so I possibly stupidly went to work (from home) by mid day I was feeling rough again but soldiered on (definite stupidity at this point). Now I've awoken on day3 and my temp is stubbornly above 38.

My question then is do I let my body burn (baby) or just take some Lemsip and hope for the best?

Thanks for reading if you got this far?

  • Welcome to the forum regmigrant although I'm sorry to hear you were diagnosed with Lymphoma earlier this year.

    I hope you are feeling better since making this post but if you are still under the weather and your temperature is above 38 degrees, please get in touch with your medical team as soon as you can as this could be a sign of a fever or infection. If you're unable to contact them, then give the NHS a call on 111 for some medical advice, or contact your out of hours GP.

    Hopefully some of our members will offer their thoughts and advice to you soon as well but in the meantime we're sending you all our strength and support and wishing you well with the rest of your chemo.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Thanks Steph, took your advice and spent the next two weeks inpatient being treated for a 'difficult to identify' lung infection, not a great time and its delayed two weeks of Chemo but at least I seem to be on the mend now. Thanks for pushing me to make the right decision, I was really just trying hard not to abandon family over Christmas but it was a silly move :)