You might notice an improvement in cancer symptoms, such as less pain, reduced lymph node swelling, and improved energy levels. If you use topical chemotherapy on skin lesions, the area might feel irritated and look red and swollen for the first few weeks. These are all signs that chemotherapy is working.
In general, a minimum of 2-3 cycles of chemotherapy is required in order to measure response. One cycle of chemotherapy may not be adequate to evaluate its effectiveness.
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.
You will often receive chemo in sessions where you have treatment for several weeks, followed by a few weeks off before resuming. Your tumor may start to shrink after one round, but it can also take months. Your oncologist will have a personal discussion with you about how long they think results might take.
With some cancers, chemotherapy can't cure the cancer on its own. But it can help in combination with other types of treatment. For example, many people with breast or bowel cancer have chemotherapy after surgery to help lower the risk of the cancer coming back.
If it shrinks or grows, you won't be able to see or feel it. So your doctor will do tests every few months or so during your treatment. These tests can see where the cancer is in your body and whether it has grown, stayed the same size, or gotten smaller.
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.
You might feel the most tired when your blood cells are at their lowest (nadir). This is usually 7 to 14 days after treatment. When the chemotherapy ends, the blood cell levels gradually go back to normal over a few weeks.
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.
If your cancer is responding to the treatment, your doctor will likely recommend continuing the chemotherapy until the cancer stops growing or you develop unacceptable side effects from the treatment.
Some patients even assume if they don't experience side effects, the treatment is not working. Mudad debunked this myth. “There is absolutely no relationship between effectiveness and side effects,” he said. “A patient may respond without side effects or not respond and have side effects.
A return to normalcy is typical, but it takes a while – usually six months or so. “All who have done chemo do finally get back to normal,” Patricia said. “Treatment for breast cancer can take a whole year, but six months after it ends, life comes back – incisions heal, hair grows back, chemo brain fog lifts.”
Maintenance therapy is the ongoing treatment of cancer with medication after the cancer has responded to the first recommended treatment. Maintenance therapy, sometimes called continuous therapy, is used for the following reasons: To prevent the cancer's return.
Many people feel very tired, weak, drained and become quickly worn out while they are having chemotherapy. This is called fatigue and it is the most common side effect of chemotherapy.
Fatigue may develop as a symptom of blood cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma, because these cancers start in the bone marrow, which produces red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body.
Chemotherapy can be dehydrating. Drinking plenty of water before and after treatment helps your body process chemotherapy drugs and flush the excess out of your system.
During a course of treatment, you usually have around 4 to 8 cycles of treatment. A cycle is the time between one round of treatment until the start of the next. After each round of treatment you have a break, to allow your body to recover.
Chemotherapy can make your body more sensitive to the sun. Be sure to pack sunscreen, hats and lightweight, long-sleeved shirts and pants if you're going someplace sunny and tropical. If your therapy involves implanted radiation seeds, ask your doctor for a special card that can help you get through airport security.
Cancer cells can shrink or grow to enhance their ability to repair or contain DNA damage, and that in turn can make them resistant to certain treatments.
Bone cancer is one of the most painful cancers. Factors that drive bone cancer pain evolve and change with disease progression, according to Patrick Mantyh, PhD, symposium speaker and professor of pharmacology, University of Arizona.
Resistance can occur when cancer cells—even a small group of cells within a tumor—contain molecular changes that make them insensitive to a particular drug before treatment even begins. Because cancer cells within the same tumor often have a variety of molecular changes, this so-called intrinsic resistance is common.