Table 3.
Quotes from Qualitative Interviews Illustrating Findings
| Symptom | Sample Quote |
|---|---|
| Fatigue | I was feeling very tired…. I didn’t have the energy that I was used to having. 66-year-old |
| Pain | It hurt to sit…. I was in a lot of pain at that point, just very uncomfortable. 59-year-old |
| It hurts. My feet are very sensitive. When I wear … shoes, it burns…. And that actually goes up into my legs. My legs, my muscles, are kind of … sore. 60-year-old | |
| Abdominal pain | I had pain in my abdomen on one side, kind of piercing pain. And it was intermittent. 59-year-old |
| Abdominal fullness/bloating |
I kept complaining about feeling bloated and then the fullness that you could see. 59-year-old |
| Interference | Sample Quote |
| General activities | It’s a big interruption in your life. 66-year-old |
| Relations with others | It (fatigue) prevents me from doing the things that I want to do with my grandchildren. 66-year-old |
| Work | Two months ago, I experienced cramping in my hand and that, because I’m an artist, did get in the way of holding tools for an extended period of time. 59-year-old |
| Symptom Occurrence | Sample Quote |
| At diagnosis | I was fatigued before this was diagnosed. I just got tired real easy, and I didn’t know why. 69-year-old |
| I had a period of abdominal pain…. I had my period, (and) about a week later, I’d have 3 or 4 days of discomfort right around my pubic bone, but it would go away. That had started in January. When it happened again in March, I’m like, “That’s not normal.” 45-year-old | |
| The pain was very severe for a couple of months, and I didn’t go to a doctor…. I thought maybe I had pulled a muscle…. So I didn’t really pay any attention to it…. And then it started moving down more towards my abdomen area, and then it kind of went to my right side…. I went to the doctor, and they gave me some muscle relaxers. And he said this should cure my pain. Well, it didn’t. 54-year-old | |
| Chemotherapy | With the chemo I’m getting now, … (I get) flu-like symptoms and a little nausea….I get it (chemo) on Thursday, on Friday and Saturdays and Sundays I am a little bit fatigued and feeling a little bit of nausea. It goes away by Monday or Tuesday…. Almost 6 days later I’m totally fine. 63-year-old |
| Radiotherapy | I had a very difficult time all summer with vomiting and diarrhea and really a very hard time getting over that radiation. 66-year-old |
| Surgery | There was pain because, of course, it was an abdominal surgery. 54-year-old |