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Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. It stops them from multiplying at points in the cells' life cycle. These anti-cancer drugs work by killing cancer cells that may be in different parts of your body (not just in your breast). Unfortunately, chemotherapy may also affect your healthy cells, which can cause side effects. Because some anti-cancer drugs work more effectively together than alone, chemotherapy may consist of more than one drug. This is called combination therapy.
Chemotherapy can be used:
Chemotherapy may not be the only therapy a patient receives. Often, chemotherapy is used in addition to surgery and radiation therapy. There are several reasons why chemotherapy may be given in addition to other treatment methods. For instance, chemotherapy may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy. It may also be used after surgery or radiation therapy to help destroy any microscopic collections of cancer cells that may remain. When chemotherapy is used in addition to surgery or radiation therapy, it is called adjuvant therapy.
Your health care provider decides which drug or drugs will work best for you. The decision depends on what kind of cancer you have, where it is, the extent of its growth, how it is affecting your body, and your general health.
Your health care provider may also suggest that you join a clinical research trial involving chemotherapy.
You may want to ask about this option. Clinical trials are carefully designed research studies that test promising new cancer treatments. They study two or more treatments that are known to be effective, to see if one may be better than the other.
Patients who take part in the research may be the first to benefit from improved treatment methods. You also can make an important contribution to advancing medical knowledge. The results of the studies may help many women. Patients participate in clinical trials only if they choose and may stop participating at any time.
Their care will not be affected if they choose not to participate in a trial.
The choice of where you receive chemotherapy depends on your health, which drug or drugs you are getting, your hospital's policies, your lifestyle needs, and your health care provider's preferences.
When you first start chemotherapy, you may need to stay at the hospital for a short time so that your health care provider can watch the medicine's effects closely and make adjustments.
Whatever schedule your health care provider prescribes, it is very important to complete it. Otherwise, the anti-cancer drugs may not have their desired effect. If you miss a treatment session or skip a dose of medication, contact your health care provider at once for instructions about what to do.
Because cancer cells grow and divide rapidly, anti-cancer drugs are made to kill fast-growing cells. But certain normal, healthy cells also multiply quickly, and chemotherapy can affect those cells, too. When it does, side effects may result. The most common side effects of chemotherapy include nausea and vomiting, hair loss, fatigue, and susceptibility to infection.
Occasionally some side effects can last a lifetime. For example occasionally chemotherapy can cause permanent damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys or reproductive organs. And certain types of chemotherapy may occasionally cause delayed side effects, such as a second cancer that may show up years later.
The side effects of chemotherapy can be unpleasant, but they must be measured against the treatment's ability to destroy cancer. You might consider chemotherapy as a temporary time of discomfort that will increase your chances for a better lifestyle and better health when the treatment is over.
Specific side effects may include:
If your chemotherapy makes you feel very tired, you might want to think about adjusting your work schedule for awhile. Speak frankly with you employer about your needs and wishes at this time. You may be able to agree on a part-time schedule, or perhaps you can do some of your work at home.
Under Federal and state law, some employers may actually be required to allow you to work a flexible schedule to meet your treatment needs. To find out about your on-the-job protections, check with your local American Cancer Society, a social worker, or your congressional or state representative.
To find out more about your rights at work while having chemotherapy, call the American Cancer Society at: 1-800-ACS-2345.
Chemotherapy for breast cancer often lasts 3 Ð 6 months.
How will I receive the drugs during treatment?
You may take them intravenously, or in liquid or pill form.
What are the common side effects of chemotherapy?
Nausea and vomiting, hair loss, fatigue, infection, blood clotting problems, mouth and throat sores, diarrhea, and constipation. There are a variety of medications that can reduce or eliminate some of these effects.
Do I have any choice about which drugs or how long?
Your health care provider will consult with or refer you to a cancer specialist called an oncologist. An oncologist will determine the best drugs and treatment schedule for your specific disease. It is important for you to understand the reasons for the recommendations made for you.
And she's telling me, she says, "Dolores, you can lose your hair." And I'm going, but "I don't worry about that. You know, that's what wigs are for." She said, "You could lose your eyebrows." I said, "That's what Maybelline is for, you know." But I think at this point that she did not understand that what I knew what was going to happen I was comfortable and I thoroughly accepted.
When you talk about chemotherapy, they're very quick to tell you about all of the anti-nausea medicine that will help control the adverse effects. In my situation, they didn't work all the time. I experienced nausea and diarrhea. The positive part is that I lost twenty some pounds, and that despite the fact that I lost my hair I didn't have to shave my legs, so that we decided was a positive. High dose chemotherapy, its an invasion on your body. Its meant to kill cells. It makes you sick. Would I go through chemotherapy again if it was determined that I needed it? I wouldn't look forward to it, but yeah, I would do it again.
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The first session I thought, oh, this is a piece of cake, but it's the second one that will really put the whammy on you. A friend told me, "Be sure you take some mints with you when you go into the room because you can taste medication." They do an IV drip, but it was so very potent. I remember I could smell it, I could taste it, and when I went to the bathroom I could smell it in my urine. It was just that strong.
So I was on this research team for two years. They monitored me very closely. And then I went back to work. I have a particular client to service and they'd say "Geneva, it's time for your shot. You make sure you get in here, now." And several times I said "No way. My people come first." So one day they said, "Geneva, it's your time to come in again." And I thought, but I'm beginning to feel so good. But I did go in and I told them "I'm getting better, I don't need this anymore." I said "This is my last time," and my doctor just looked at me. He didn't even say okay or anything, he just walked off. Probably thought I was going to die or something. I got better.
But as far as chemotherapy, I went to see a psychiatrist before I had chemotherapy, and I went through imagery, and I went through hypnosis to help me during the treatment. The treatment took four hours and it was an IV drip. What I would do would be to focus on the chemotherapy going through me getting rid of all the cancer, or healing my body instead of the fact that I was going to be sick afterwards.
Chemotherapy you have every other week. You take chemotherapy for six months. So that's twelve treatments. I usually get them on Friday so I can rest Saturday, Sunday, and go back to work on Monday. So first week, Friday get shot and they give me a break, and then third week go back to the clinic and get a second shot, and then every month like that. Now sometimes when my white blood cells go down too low, they turn me down. They say, "Lily, come back next week. You have to have strong enough white blood cells to take that medicine." But I was turned away just once and I said "What can I do to boost up my white blood cells?" Nothing you can do, it just builds by itself.
That leads to another very common side effect that isn't talked about a lot, and that is that my brain was fuzzy. Something happens and you are not thinking clearly. And that was another hard thing. So I was very careful on the job to make sure that anything that was questionable I had a colleague also look at.
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Chemotherapy can be very effective treatment. Even when chemotherapy cannot cure the disease, it can help people live longer and more comfortably. You may choose to have chemotherapy or not, but you should consider that living uncomfortably for a short period of time during chemotherapy can help you live longer later, if you succeed in shrinking or eventually killing the cancer.up to Contents of this Page
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You may receive chemotherapy in your health care provider's office, or in a clinic in your hospital's outpatient department, or at a hospital as an inpatient. Sometimes you may even get chemotherapy in your home.up to Contents of this Page
Depending on your diagnosis, you may get chemotherapy up to 2 times a month, or once every 3 or 4 weeks. Chemotherapy is given in on-and-off cycles that include rest periods so that your body has a chance to build healthy new cells and regain its strength. In many cases, the treatments continue for 6 months, depending on the chemotherapy that is recommended for you. Your health care provider should be able to estimate how long you will be getting chemotherapy.up to Contents of this Page
Depending on the type of cancer you have and the drug (or drugs) you are getting, your chemotherapy may be given in one or more of the following ways:
Pumps are sometimes used to give chemotherapy. They infuse the drugs into your body. External pumps may be used to control the delivery rate of the drugs. These pumps remain outside of the body. Some are portable and allow you to move around while the pump is in use. Other external pumps are not portable and will restrict your activity during your chemotherapy treatment.up to Contents of this Page
Side effects and their intensity vary greatly from person to person and treatment to treatment. Remember that not all women get side effects, and some women get few. Make sure to ask your health care provider which side effects are likely to occur with your chemotherapy, how long they might last, how serious they might be, and when you should seek medical attention for them.up to Contents of this Page
Most normal cells recover quickly when chemotherapy is over, so most side effects like nausea, vomiting, hair loss and fatigue gradually disappear after treatment ends and the healthy cells have a chance to grow normally. How soon you will feel better depends on many factors, including your overall health and the kinds of drugs you have been taking. While many side effects go away rapidly, sometimes side effects on organs like your ovaries may take months or years to disappear completely.up to Contents of this Page
It is important to remember that most people have no long-term problems due to chemotherapy. It is also reassuring to know that health care providers are making great progress in preventing some of chemotherapy's more serious side effects. For instance, they are using many new drugs and techniques that increase chemotherapy's powerful effects on cancer cells while decreasing its harmful effects on healthy cells. There are also medications that can help stop or reduce nausea and vomiting.
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Many people are able to continue working to some degree while they are being treated with anti-cancer drugs. It may be possible to schedule your treatments late in the day or right before the weekend, so they interfere with your work as little as possible.up to Contents of this Page
How long does Chemotherapy last?up to Contents of this Page
Dolores's experience
Linda P's experience
Angelita's experience
Geneva's experience
Carole's experience
Lily's experience
Judi's experience
