Post by oldman on Apr 18, 2015 13:50:29 GMT 7
The word chemotherapy frightens most of us. Even though I have a background in medicine, I too was not fully aware of the advances of chemotherapy over the past few years. Like everyone else, I did a google search and some of the articles there were quite frightening.
So when I had my first chemotherapy treatment, I was apprehensive as I was really unsure of the treatment. Like most chemotherapy treatments, mine consists of a combination of 2 chemotherapy drugs. One of them has to be given by IV infusion over 2 hours and the other is by oral medication, twice a day over 2 weeks. Each of my chemotherapy cycles last 3 weeks.
Hence, for the first day, I will be given an IV infusion in the clinic and will be prescribed lots of oral medication. Some of these are to counteract the feeling of nausea in the first few days of the IV chemotherapy. The rest are supplements for the liver and nervous system as these are the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs. The 3rd week is a week of rest for the body and during the 3rd week, I only take the supplements without any chemotherapy drugs. I was on a 8 cycle chemotherapy regime which meant that the entire treatment took 6 months to complete.
Every 14th day, I had to visit the clinic and get my blood tests done. This is to check on the individual blood levels as well as the liver and kidney functions. If any of these are affected, the oncologist will usually treat these first before starting on the next chemo cycle. For me, I had instances where my platelet counts were low and had to have platelet transfusions. I recall that once my white blood cells were low and I had to have intra muscular injections over 2 days.
Before the start of the next chemotherapy cycle, blood tests are done again and any major deficiencies are treated first. Sometimes, the chemotherapy cycle had to be delayed to treat the reduction in red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. In essence, I was pricked every week apart from the 3rd week of every cycle.
For me, for the first few cycles, I did not feel anything when I had the IV infusion. However, nearing the 5th cycle, I started having pins and needles in the location where the IV infusion was given. This usually starts in the 2nd hour after the infusion of chemotherapy. It can last for a few days after the infusion. I found that the best way of reducing this uncomfortable feeling was to have a hot water bottle beside that arm. This is also why for most chemotherapy units, the nurses will cover up the infusion site with a towel to keep the arm warm. The alternative was to have a central venous line attached to your body all the time during the 6 months. As central venous lines do have their risks, I persevered with the infusion of chemotherapy in my arm.
Fortunately for me, apart from this infusion issue, I did not suffer much of the other side effects of chemotherapy over the 8 cycles. Usually, by the 5th day of the 3 week cycle, I was back to normal and was able to send my kids to school, go shopping and then picking them up from school.
I remember the first side effect I had with my first chemo cycle. I had a persistent hiccup while I was shopping at night. It does not sound like much of a side effect but let me assure you that it was most irritating. Every 5 minutes, I will have a hiccup lasting 2 minutes. I did a search online and found that the culprit was most likely to be the steroid tablet that I was taking. This was one of 4 medications aimed at controlling the nausea. With the blessing of my oncologist, I stopped taking this steroid and my hiccups never came back. Thank goodness.
The other minor side effects that I had, were tireness, loss in appetite, some constipation and a bloating feeling in the abdomen. These usually go away after the first week of the chemotherapy cycle.
The worst side effect is the loss of sensation in the fingers and toes as the treatments progress. This side effect was cumulative and I was told that it will heal in the months after the last chemotherapy cycle. What I was not aware of was that this peripheral neuropathy affected my sense of balance. Halfway through my chemotherapy treatment, I slipped and fell and had bad abrasions on my forehead and arms. As my platelet count was quite low at that time, I had a CT scan of my head and fortunately, there was no internal bleeding. From that time onwards, I am very careful when I walk around. I take smaller steps and hold on to the railings as I really don't want to have another incident! The abrasions have all healed and I look forward to regaining the full sensation in my fingers and toes in the months ahead. In the meantime, I have to keep my fingers and toes warm as the cold makes the pins and needles worse.
So, in a nutshell, chemotherapy is not as dreadful as one thinks. In my case, my body managed to handle the entire 8 cycles quite well. Most of the time, I was feeling very normal and can do most things by myself.
Interestingly, there were also some beneficial side effects of chemotherapy. Firstly, I actually dropped less hair and hence, I gained hair during the chemotherapy rather than losing it! Secondly, I had always been troubled with discoid eczema on one of my legs and I have been trying all kinds of medication over the past 30 years to get rid of the scaly lesion. Within 3 months of chemotherapy, the scaly lesion of discoid eczema on my leg disappeared! Best of all, I used to suffer from the occasional mouth ulcers and these too seem to have disappeared. I guess chemotherapy does regenerate certain parts of our body and this may be one of its few good side effects.
The diagnosis
The mindset change
The dollars and cents of cancer
So when I had my first chemotherapy treatment, I was apprehensive as I was really unsure of the treatment. Like most chemotherapy treatments, mine consists of a combination of 2 chemotherapy drugs. One of them has to be given by IV infusion over 2 hours and the other is by oral medication, twice a day over 2 weeks. Each of my chemotherapy cycles last 3 weeks.
Hence, for the first day, I will be given an IV infusion in the clinic and will be prescribed lots of oral medication. Some of these are to counteract the feeling of nausea in the first few days of the IV chemotherapy. The rest are supplements for the liver and nervous system as these are the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs. The 3rd week is a week of rest for the body and during the 3rd week, I only take the supplements without any chemotherapy drugs. I was on a 8 cycle chemotherapy regime which meant that the entire treatment took 6 months to complete.
Every 14th day, I had to visit the clinic and get my blood tests done. This is to check on the individual blood levels as well as the liver and kidney functions. If any of these are affected, the oncologist will usually treat these first before starting on the next chemo cycle. For me, I had instances where my platelet counts were low and had to have platelet transfusions. I recall that once my white blood cells were low and I had to have intra muscular injections over 2 days.
Before the start of the next chemotherapy cycle, blood tests are done again and any major deficiencies are treated first. Sometimes, the chemotherapy cycle had to be delayed to treat the reduction in red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. In essence, I was pricked every week apart from the 3rd week of every cycle.
For me, for the first few cycles, I did not feel anything when I had the IV infusion. However, nearing the 5th cycle, I started having pins and needles in the location where the IV infusion was given. This usually starts in the 2nd hour after the infusion of chemotherapy. It can last for a few days after the infusion. I found that the best way of reducing this uncomfortable feeling was to have a hot water bottle beside that arm. This is also why for most chemotherapy units, the nurses will cover up the infusion site with a towel to keep the arm warm. The alternative was to have a central venous line attached to your body all the time during the 6 months. As central venous lines do have their risks, I persevered with the infusion of chemotherapy in my arm.
Fortunately for me, apart from this infusion issue, I did not suffer much of the other side effects of chemotherapy over the 8 cycles. Usually, by the 5th day of the 3 week cycle, I was back to normal and was able to send my kids to school, go shopping and then picking them up from school.
I remember the first side effect I had with my first chemo cycle. I had a persistent hiccup while I was shopping at night. It does not sound like much of a side effect but let me assure you that it was most irritating. Every 5 minutes, I will have a hiccup lasting 2 minutes. I did a search online and found that the culprit was most likely to be the steroid tablet that I was taking. This was one of 4 medications aimed at controlling the nausea. With the blessing of my oncologist, I stopped taking this steroid and my hiccups never came back. Thank goodness.
The other minor side effects that I had, were tireness, loss in appetite, some constipation and a bloating feeling in the abdomen. These usually go away after the first week of the chemotherapy cycle.
The worst side effect is the loss of sensation in the fingers and toes as the treatments progress. This side effect was cumulative and I was told that it will heal in the months after the last chemotherapy cycle. What I was not aware of was that this peripheral neuropathy affected my sense of balance. Halfway through my chemotherapy treatment, I slipped and fell and had bad abrasions on my forehead and arms. As my platelet count was quite low at that time, I had a CT scan of my head and fortunately, there was no internal bleeding. From that time onwards, I am very careful when I walk around. I take smaller steps and hold on to the railings as I really don't want to have another incident! The abrasions have all healed and I look forward to regaining the full sensation in my fingers and toes in the months ahead. In the meantime, I have to keep my fingers and toes warm as the cold makes the pins and needles worse.
So, in a nutshell, chemotherapy is not as dreadful as one thinks. In my case, my body managed to handle the entire 8 cycles quite well. Most of the time, I was feeling very normal and can do most things by myself.
Interestingly, there were also some beneficial side effects of chemotherapy. Firstly, I actually dropped less hair and hence, I gained hair during the chemotherapy rather than losing it! Secondly, I had always been troubled with discoid eczema on one of my legs and I have been trying all kinds of medication over the past 30 years to get rid of the scaly lesion. Within 3 months of chemotherapy, the scaly lesion of discoid eczema on my leg disappeared! Best of all, I used to suffer from the occasional mouth ulcers and these too seem to have disappeared. I guess chemotherapy does regenerate certain parts of our body and this may be one of its few good side effects.
The diagnosis
The mindset change
The dollars and cents of cancer