Good night's rest A full night's sleep is vital for anyone who has had chemotherapy. Patients should get at least eight hours of sleep if possible. To help sleep throughout the night, recovering patients should not consume beverages or food high in caffeine at least eight hours before retiring for the night.
The rule of thumb I usually tell my patients is that it takes about two months of recovery time for every one month of treatment before energy will return to a baseline. Everyone is different but at least this gives you a ballpark. This is a lot longer than most people assume.
Get some rest
Fatigue is the most common side effect experienced by cancer patients, especially those undergoing chemotherapy. So, get plenty of rest and avoid pushing yourself too hard, even if you feel good. Be patient with yourself and others since it may take some time to get back to your regular energy levels.
For most people the side effects were worst in the first few days after treatment, then they gradually felt better until the next treatment. Some said the effects were worse with each successive treatment. Most side effects don't persist and disappear within a few weeks after the end of treatment.
Short, planned delays in chemotherapy for good-risk GCT patients (less than or equal to 7 days per cycle) appear to be acceptable since they may prevent serious toxicity in this curable patient population. Delays of longer than 7 days are strongly discouraged except in extraordinary life-threatening circumstances.
The effects of chemo are cumulative. They get worse with each cycle. My doctors warned me: Each infusion will get harder. Each cycle, expect to feel weaker.
Most types of pain related to chemotherapy get better or go away between individual treatments. However, nerve damage often gets worse with each dose. Sometimes the drug causing the nerve damage has to be stopped.
Nearly everyone who has chemotherapy has some tiredness. It can be due to the direct effect of chemotherapy on the body. But anaemia may also cause tiredness. This is because chemotherapy can stop your bone marrow from making red blood cells for a while.
Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy may all cause fatigue. You may experience fatigue if cancer treatment damages healthy cells in addition to the cancer cells. Or fatigue might happen as your body works to repair damage caused by treatment.
It is safe to touch other people while on chemotherapy. You can hug and kiss. But you do need to protect others from coming into contact with your medicine.
When treatment ends, you may expect life to return to the way it was before you were diagnosed with cancer. But it can take time to recover. You may have permanent scars on your body, or you may not be able to do some things you once did easily. Or you may even have emotional scars from going through so much.
Doxorubicin is considered one of the strongest chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer ever invented. It can kill cancer cells at every point in their life cycle, and it's used to treat a wide variety of cancers, not just breast cancer. Doxorubicin is also known as “The Red Devil” because it is a clear bright red color.
Your course of chemotherapy
Each cycle of TC takes 21 days (3 weeks). On the first day of each cycle, you will have docetaxel and cyclophosphamide. You will then have no chemotherapy for the next 20 days. At the end of the 21 days, you will start your second cycle of TC. You will usually have up to 4 cycles.
Chemotherapy can cause your hair to fall out, but not all chemotherapy drugs make your hair fall out. It will usually happen within 2 to 3 weeks of starting treatment. Some chemotherapy drugs can make other hair from your body fall out, such as facial hair and pubic hair.
You may have treatments every week or every 2, 3 or 4 weeks. How often you have treatment also depends on which drugs you are having, as well as your treatment plan. When you have chemotherapy through an infusion pump, you may have the drugs: all the time for a few months (continuous administration)
It's important that you have a caregiver with you to get you to and from chemotherapy the first time, as you don't know how you'll feel after you're done. The length of time for chemotherapy regimens can range from 5 minutes to 8 or more hours. It all depends on the chemotherapy.
Most cycles range from 2 to 6 weeks. The number of treatment doses scheduled within each cycle also depends on the prescribed chemotherapy. For example, each cycle may contain only 1 dose on the first day.
Chemotherapy can be found in saliva and vaginal secretions for 48-72 hours after treatment. During this time, do not do open-mouth kissing and use a condom or dental dam for oral sex or intercourse (vaginal or anal) so that your partner is not exposed.
Housekeeping and Disinfecting
If possible, don't do household chores if you don't feel well. It is better to rest if you are tired or not feeling well, as this will help your body recover from chemotherapy.
In some cases, oncologists fail to tell patients how long they have to live. In others, patients are clearly told their prognosis, but are too overwhelmed to absorb the information.
Healthcare professionals advise that a person undergoing chemotherapy can have pizza as long as they are able to tolerate this food. Chemotherapy may affect a person's sense of taste, appetite, and ability to absorb nutrients from food. Pizza is a flavorful, high calorie food that has nutritional value as a snack.
'Patients who received chemotherapy every two weeks were 17% less likely to have disease recurrence and 15% less likely to die from breast cancer within 10 years, compared with those who received treatment every three weeks.