Please help

[worriedson714]

My dad has been battling rectal cancer stage 3 for two years ended with a urostomy bag and ostomy bag well now they think he may still have some cancer and it grew . He has struggled with UTI's since the urostomy to the point his doctor has him on a low dose antibiotics all the time . Oncologist is acting like cause of this risk my dad can't do chemo even though he offered it very negative about it all the oncologist is . So my questions are do people with urostomy and ostomy's have chemo ? My fear is cause of this risk of infection they will pull back on treatment or that the treatment will make things worse like sepsis . Got a call in to oncologist to find out if there is someway to help his immune system during chemo in case of infection just looking for any advice or information you guys got thanks .

[ot dave]

Hello,

Without knowing all of the particulars of your Dad's case, it's difficult to give you solid advice. I had stage 3 rectal cancer, but not a urostomy, so I can't totally relate to your situation. I was lucky, and didn't have any issues during my chemo treatments. That said, if after chemotherapy, your white blood cells are low, you're more likely to get infections. Any infection can also worsen quite quickly. Because of the chemotherapy your immune system isn't as good as before. So simple infections can now become life threatening within hours if not treated. Pausing chemo for an infection is pretty much standard practice from my experience. Sounds like the oncologist and the urologist need to consult with one another to make a plan moving forward.
Hope that helps some.

David

[worriedson714]

Do they think restart the chemo once the infection clears up ? My dad's first chemo he didn't have urostomy or ostomy bags so not such on how infections are handled .

[ot dave]

When infections clear and blood counts are acceptable, they generally restart chemo...again, each person is unique. But, from my experience, that is how it typically works.

David

[worriedson714]

Dad has yet another infection it seems so looking for more opinions on this will he be able to get chemo with this infection risk hanging over us ? or is chemo to risky I know it's a hard question to answer just hoping someone on there has been in this situation getting desperate at this point . Oncologist appointment coming up wanting to have more info for that .

[ot dave]

Chemo is essentially poison designed to travel the blood stream and kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs also affect healthy cells such as white blood cells.
If your white blood cells are too low from chemo, you're more likely to get infections, which sounds like that may be happening now. Any infection can worsen quite quickly. Because of the chemotherapy the immune system isn’t as good as before. So simple infections can now become life threatening within hours if not treated. Essentially, if the chemo is destroying white blood cells at a rate that the bone marrow can't keep up with production, then you have to stop "killing" the white blood cells with the chemo. Infections will get under control with increased white blood cell production and antibiotics. That unfortunately puts you in a wait and see pattern....
Hope that gives you some more information to make choices.

David