As someone who grew up in the ‘80’s, I had visions of what chemotherapy treatment would look like. I have no idea what movie I watched, but I vividly recall a scene where the patient is retching over a toilet.
I’m happy to report that’s not what chemotherapy treatment was like for me. With the exception of one occasion, chemotherapy was surprisingly easy. That doesn’t mean there weren’t side effects, just that they were manageable. Chemotherapy will be different for everyone, but I feel lucky and was pleasantly surprised.
I received treatment every third Monday. My life evolved into a three week pattern. On Mondays that I was getting treatment, I would get up and eat a huge breakfast to tide me through the day as I was unlikely to eat again. With a full stomach, I would take all four of my anti-nausea medications at least an hour, but sometimes 2 hours before my treatment.
Taking the medication ahead of the treatment ensured I experienced minimal, if any, nausea. Then I headed for the hospital. Chemotherapy treatment can last anywhere from 2.5 hours to 8 hours. In my case, it was usually 5 hours sitting in a bed. Sometimes I had a friend or family member come stay with me during the treatment, but I often preferred to go on my own. The hospital has free wifi, so when I was on my own, I binge-watched Netflix shows. As a mom with two boys, I rarely get to choose the program to watch, so I welcomed this opportunity.
After treatment, I was picked up from the hospital as there was no way I could drive home. Between the chemotherapy treatment and the anti-nausea medication I was incredibly dopey. Once home, I was awake and had a good amount of energy for a few hours which was a side effect of the steroids I was given. Then I would crash. By the third treatment, my family joked that I was mastering the art of the 20 hour nap. LOL!
Over the next few days, I was delicate. I continued to take anti-nausea medications for 4 days following treatment. Some of the medications made me sleepy, while the steroids perked me up. I am thankful I only took the steroids in the morning as I have read stories of people being up all night. When I felt like eating, I ate but it wasn’t usually a lot. Over the next few days, I watched Netflix shows, visited people in the backyard, and I had long naps every day. By the end of the first week, I was feeling okay.
By week two I was back to feeling relatively normal, but still napped many days. I did not have the energy I usually had, but I had enough to drive my kids to school, bake cookies, do small projects around the house, and cook dinner.
The third week progressed much like week two, with the addition of medical appointments. One appointment was with the oncologist to discuss the list of symptoms I was experiencing and to see if my treatment needed adjusting. The second appointment was for blood work. Blood work always happened 48 hours ahead of the next treatment. If my white blood cell count and the other items they checked were normal, then I could have the next round of chemotherapy. I was lucky and my blood counts were always good.
In only one instance did I experience nausea. On that occasion, it was due to a change in my chemotherapy treatment and the anti-nausea medications. Only that one time, out of 8 treatments was I ill. After four hours of feeling miserable, we called the after hours nursing line for cancer patients and I was able to get better medication within a couple hours.
The chemotherapy treatment that made me sick was supposed to be well tolerated. Not in my case; it made me sicker than I have ever felt. The lesson from this is that everyone is unique. What is “supposed” to happen does not always happen. Sometimes that requires something different than what is “usually” prescribed. The anti-nausea medications I ended up taking were not standard protocol, but they were what worked for my body.
Here is my advice if you or someone you know is going through chemotherapy. My recommendation is to make sure you talk about any side effect with your oncology team. If the medication being taken is not doing a good enough job to deal with the side effect, ask for a different medication. As an example, there are such a wide variety of anti-nausea medications that can be prescribed, it’s only a matter of finding what works for you or the person going through treatment.
My final piece of advice is that if you start to feel nauseated, take the emergency anti-nausea medication that is prescribed. If that doesn’t fix the nausea within an hour or two, call a helpline or your oncologist who can help. I’ve heard of people who wait and feel sick for hours. There is no need to suffer through treatment. Get help, and get it early. You'll be thankful you did.
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