Chemotherapy often scares patients much more than surgery. For one, there’s ubiquitous tales of hair loss. Two, there’s the enduring nausea. Know that both can happen, depending on the line of drugs used, but neither has be to catastrophic. You will best endure these symptoms if you plan ahead. You will have time because it’s customary to wait for two to four months after surgery to start chemotherapy, thus allowing your body to recover.
Know what you’re getting
There are more than 200 different types of cancer and more than 50 chemotherapy drugs which can be administered in numerous ways. Each can have its own side effects. So before you fret about hair loss, do your own research on the drugs you’ll get. You might not lose hair at all. Cancer is one of the most studied diseases. A monumental amount of data is available on everything from ingredients, reactions, dosage, toxicity.
Know your terminologies
At times it seems like everyone in the doctor’s office is speaking a secret language. Teach yourself common terms related to cancer care. Start a vocabulary list in a notebook and carry the notebook with you to appointments. The more you can keep up with the lingo, the more in control you’ll feel about your treatment. Some examples:
Oncologist: doctor who prescribes and monitors the course of your chemotherapy.
Adjuvant therapy: chemotherapy treatment that follows surgery or radiation therapy to prevent cancer reoccurrence.
Antiemetic: medicine that controls nausea (ex: Zofran)
Systemic therapy: describes how chemotherapy works. The drugs affect the whole body by flowing through the bloodstream. The purpose is to destroy cancer cells that may have spread from the original site.
Metastasis: describes the condition where cancer cells have spread beyond the original site, such as from breast to liver. This occurrence may call for more strenuous drugs, larger doses and more rounds.
Lymph node: rounded masses of lymphatic tissue through which cancer spreads throughout the body. A telling sign of metastasis is when one or more of the lymph nodes have enlarged.