My 1st update! - 1267870

Hi Karen,

I've never heard of that either, and doubt there is a significant risk, but here is a discussion of a similar subject:

"Carolyn Vachani RN, MSN, AOCN, OncoLink's Nurse Educator, responds:

In most cases, chemotherapy is excreted in the body fluids for up to 48 hours after treatment, although some agents can be found in excrement for up to 7 days. This includes urine, stool, vomit, semen, and vaginal fluid. If a person has to clean up any patient body fluids during the 7 days after treatment, it is recommended that he or she wear gloves (household gloves would be fine) and clean the area thoroughly with a cleaning solution. Contaminated linens should be washed separately, and one should consider keeping the toilet lid closed if pets or children are likely to drink or play in the water. Some groups recommend double flushing the toilet, although this has not been proven beneficial. Despite all of these recommendations, there is little data as to what danger this limited exposure causes to family members and friends. This is really a cautious approach with little data to back it up. There IS data to show that chronic exposure, as in pharmacists or nurses, may lead to problems with reproductive health (i.e. increased rates of stillbirths, miscarriages, and malformations). As for semen and vaginal fluids, condoms should be used for any sexual activity within the 7- day time frame to avoid exposure. Protection should also be used while on treatment to prevent a pregnancy, as there is risk of mutation and damage to the sperm and egg from chemotherapy. - http://www.oncolink.org/experts/article.cfm?c=2&s=7&ss=14&id=2361 (the italics are mine)

Hope this helps.

JimC
Forum moderator

Yay Karen, you've made it through your first treatment! Follow the recommendations for side effect prevention!

With the info from your nurse (I love nurses!) and the excellent info from Jim (Jim's great too :wink: ) I would think the dog licking has to be a call that makes you most comfortable. But I hope you let your dog take care of you. They're so good at it. Your pic is too cute 8-)

Janine

I think that Jim's relayed comments from the nurse are very appropriate. This risk is theoretical and very cautious -- to my knowledge, no pet has ever been seriously harmed by a licking-related poisoning of a cancer patient, nor has a partner of a patient who received chemo been poisoned by sex-related chemotherapy transmission... I suppose it's always fair to be cautious, but I think it's also appropriate to ask what the actual evidence is of these issues being clinically significant and whether they exceed the risk of being struck dead by a crashing meteor when stepping outside.

-Dr. West

How sweet! For us dog people there's nothing like that companionship so don't deny it :) Keep the toilet flushed or door closed.

Good question. I'm afraid the answer is yes, there seems to be a general consensus that after the chemo steroids wear off there's a crash, especially if you're very active during that time. Members have said and my husband found this to be true as well, if you take it easy during the steroid induced energy peeks it will smooth the crash. You will learn how the drugs effect you as you go, some people have an easier time than others.

Best,
Janine

Karenb-

I am glad you started your treatment and hope you are feeling well this week! I have had 4 rounds of the Carbo/Alimta and will be getting the 5th one next week. Besides multiple blood clots and other weird little things, I have tolerated pretty well.

So nice to know we can share this journey, so thankful for this site:)

Kelli