Hello Ditzee,

I am sorry to hear about your husband's prognosis. It must be very difficult for you at the moment. I hope that he will react well to the GemCarbo combination - only 4 days now before his treatment begins.

I hope you will meet others here who have had a similar diagnosis and tried this chemotherapy combination. One of our members [@Amanda03]‍ mentioned here that her mum received GemCarbo treatment for lung cancer so I hope she'll be able to share her experience with you of how her mum reacted to it.

I thought I would also send you this information from our website on GemCarbo which includes a detailed list of side effects.

I hope this helps a little. If you wanted to have a chat to our cancer nurses about all this, don't hesitate to give them a call on this free number 0808 800 4040  - their line is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

I hope that the treatment on the 13th goes as well as possible. Send us an update if you get a chance!

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

hi ditzee, i was diagnosed with cancer of unknown primary and a time scale of 10 months,i started the gem/carbo chemotherapy last month to buy me more time, day 1 i had the gem/carbo apart from being very sleepy and a big apitite from the steroids i was fine with it, then day 8 i just had the gem chemo, for about 3 days after it i was very sleepy and shivery i couldnt get warm i stayed wrapped up in a blanket and hot water bottle then by day 4 it had eased off, i was told these are flu like side affects from the chemo but i havent been feeling sick or nausiated and you dont lose your hair with these chemos, i go back on wednesday for my 2nd cycle so im just hoping the side affects wont be so bad again, after 3 cycles they are going to scan me to see if the tumor has shrunk, so i will keep in touch and let you know how it goes, make sure your husband stays warm after his treatment i have my fingers crossed for him. lillyx

Can anyone advise on the dosage for the gem carbo, my husband has just had his 1st cycle, day 1 gem and carbo and day 8 just gem.  

He is on this for stage 4 NSCLC.

We have been in hospital for a week as he got severe neutropenic sepsis.  A week later and we are still in the same position and his neautrophil count hasn't increased despite being on intrevenious antibiotics 4 times a day for 7 days.

The hospital have been great and let me sleep over and be with him to help pass the time as he is confined to one room. 

During his chemo we have had numerous staff saying it was a high dosage, when we mentioned this to his oncologist, he said that he was on a normal dose.

I have since googled everything and not come across a dose as high.  Can anyone help me on this? If we could compare the dosage of gem this would be really helpful to us.

Thinking of you all on this very difficult time xxxx

hi ditzee, i hope your husband picks up, i get 2128 mg of gematabine and 620 mg of carboplatin on day 1 then 2128 mg of gematabine on day eight then i have thirteen days off i hope this helps.