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Side Effects

Program: Proton Therapy for Pediatric Cancer
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Andrew Schorr:

And often we talk when we talk about radiation or chemotherapy we talk about late effects.  Anything you’ve noticed now?  We’re, what, a couple of years out.  Anything you’ve noticed? 

Denise:

The only thing we had was about two months after radiation ended he went through maybe a three-month period where he was wanting to sleep a lot.

Andrew Schorr:

Fatigue. 

Denise:

The fatigue.  So he would have a nap every day, but so far the only side effect we’ve had.

Andrew Schorr:

Doctor, you see many patients of course.  Help our listeners understand potential side effects. 

Dr. Mahajan:

So what Matthew experienced is not uncommon for the patients that we treat.  There is the hair loss, the skin irritation that happens in some, not all patients.  The fatigue can linger for a period of time, and that timing again is pretty classic for patients who have gone through brain irradiation.  We’re waiting to see our results for late effects, but so far the overall sense of what we’re experiencing and seeing seems to be quite be favorable, and we want to study that closer as time goes by.  But those are the big ones.  If there’s chemotherapy involved we have to look for side effects from chemotherapy, and that does involve nutrition and blood counts and infection.  But some of those side effects are not from the proton therapy but from other things that are also going on.

Andrew Schorr:

Denise, did you move the whole family to Houston?  How did that work out? 

Denise:

We did. Through a friend of a friend a charity heard about us out there, the Jimmy Burns Foundation, and they actually called me up before we even left for Houston and told me not to worry, that the rent would be paid for.

Andrew Schorr:

Wow. 

Denise:

So that was an amazing miracle that that even happened because housing is expensive out there.

Andrew Schorr:

Right.  Right.  So did you feel comfortable?  This was sort of Matthew’s job for a while, and the family’s focus was beating the cancer that was in Matthew’s brain. 

Denise:

Right. 

Andrew Schorr:

And you felt that M. D. Anderson and the family were totally aligned? 

Denise:

Completely aligned.  We even want to move to Houston.

Andrew Schorr:

All right. 

Denise:

It changed our lives.

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