What was chemotherapy like the first time, ladies?
If anyone who has been through chemo, can tell me about their experience, I would love to hear. I am really interested in knowing how long it took for the first treatment. Then, I would also like to know about your hair loss. Was it all at once, the first week, later on?
Mine starts tomorrow and I am very nervous. Thanks for any input.
My first chemotherapy infusion took about 3 hours but it is different with everyone depending on what and how many drugs you are getting. With some drugs they may only administer a small amount the first time to make sure you don’t have any kind of a reaction, for this reason your first infusion may be shorter than the rest. My treatments usually take about 3 and 1/2 hours from start to finish.
The first couple of days after my treatment were uneventful but nothing (except maybe an avalanche or something) could have prepared me for the lovely side effects of chemotherapy.
The worst side effects were mouth sores, muscle pain, vommiting/nauseau and constipation. If you start getting mouth sores use baking soda and water to rinse out your mouth, your doctor can also prescribe a great mouthwash that numbs your mouth if it gets really bad. Make a list of the sympoms you have so you can tell your doctor and they can help fix the problem. Not everything can be fixed but there are a lot of sollutions to help.
To help chemo go by quicker I have a different person come with me to each treatment whether it’s a friend or a relative, they always have something new to talk about and it can sometimes (if possible) make me look forward to chemo because of who is be coming with me.
My hair started falling out 2 days after my second treatment, at your chemo center they will probably have free hats for you to take, people have made and donated these for cancer patients (it really helped me knowing that a complete stranger would make a hat for me so I would recommend taking one.) I had a friend cut my hair short and wore it that way for a few days, I did this because I’ve always had long hair and it will take a while to grow it out again. Then I shaved it off as it started falling out in clumps. Buy a wig now so they can match your style and color. Also buy some hair accessories like hairclips, headbands, and hairbows for your wig. This really helped me feel like I could still fix my hair and be a girl every morning. (Hair accessories are really in right now too!!) The National Cancer Society does really good classes called "Look Good, Feel Better" so look for one in your area, these are very helpful and you can meet other people going through the same thing you are.
Chemotherapy is HARD!! But there are bright sides, it’s really hard t see them at first so I listed out a few below.
1. You can blame anything on chemo, I got a parking ticket and when I informed my parents they blamed the chemotherapy. (This was before I even started chemo, so you can see the possibilities.)
2. You get to meet some amazing people like your nurses, and fellow patients going through chemo.
3. What are the chances you would ever get to see what a great shaped head you have without chemo?
Good Luck with everything, and please feel free to email me if you ever need to talk to someone about this whole ordeal.
The chemo effects will vary depending on what drugs you are given.
My first experience went like this….
Presented myself at reception at the appointed time.
Was taken aside by oncology nurse who weighed me, took temp, blood pressure etc.
Then shown into treatment area, in my case this was a large, sunny room with outlook into an enclosed garden area. There were about 10 recliner arm chairs around the room, with privay curtains that could be drawn around them and tables beside them with assorted magazines. Most also had a visitors chair beside them.
I was invited to choose a chair – chose one with a view of the garden – and settled in to make myself comfortable with my feet up.
Hand was swabbed and canula (fine needle with tube that ataches to IV drip) was inserted and saline drip conected. On later visits, veins further up my arm were used, but on first round of 3 visits, vein in back of hand co-operated!
Each step of the way, nurses were checking they had the correct patient and that I was comfoprtable and relatively relaxed. They were WONDERFUL!
Once the saline was established, they gave me an anti nausea drug into the drip – I hated this as it always gave me a bit of a head spin about 30 seconds after administered.
They then replaced the saline with the first of the 2 drugs I was receiving. As these drugs were kept refrigerated, they made the arm ache as they were administered, but the nurses applied a warm pack to the area to stop this.
When the first drug finished, they replaced it with the saline for a minute then the second drug.When the second drug finished, they again replaced it with saline to make sure all the tubes were flushed through before removing the canula and applying a band aid.
During treatment, many of us chatted quietly, read books, or just dozed. We could be as social or antisocial as we liked.
Bladders are often triggered by the IV, ask the nurse to help you to the toilet. Meals are often served as are tea, coffe & juice depending on time of day.
Time to go home! I was given anti-nausea tablets to take home for self administration with instructions on their use. All up took about 4 hours, but this was the longest it took as it was my first visit.
Later visits took about an hour on days when I only had 1 drug administered and about 3 hours on days I had 2 drugs (one took much longer than the other).
Hair loss started about 10 days later. Started coming out in clumps. My teenage daughter and I sat side by side with a plastic bag between us and stroked my head putting handfulls of hair in the bag. By the end of the evening I looked like a kewpie doll with a tuft on the top and a tuft at the nape so I had them shaved off the next day.
Not all chemotherapy causes hair loss, but I lost it all, underarms, pubic, eyelashes, eyebrows, nasal hair, ear hair……
I only had enough left on the arms to make the tape pull when they removed the canula each chemo treatment!
References :
I had to go through chemo last summer. (April to July weekly) My first day I was there for 6 hours for my first treatment. After that only 3 hours for my rest of my every 3 weeks treatments and a half hour for my weekly treatments. They give you pre meds to help relax you if you want it. You should have some one drive you if you do have the premeds.
If you don’t have a port I suggest you ask your doctor if you can get one. It ls less painfull with a port. It’s a device that is placed either in your chest, just under your collar bone or your arm. Instead of the IV in your arm they use the port.
Bring a dvd, books to occupy your time while you are there. You can also eat and drink while you are there. You will be most likely sitting on a recliner chair.Depending the place.
The hair loss was not all at once, in about 3 or 4 weeks. For me it came out in bunches. I would be brushing my hair and a bunch of hair would be in my brush. I would be taking a shower and clumps would be in my hand. I finally took a shaver and shaved the rest of it off. It was making a mess because there wuld be hair everywhere. Plus a wig is more comfortable to wear if you have no hair. It may be a little tramatizing when it happens but rememeber the hair grows back, and even better.
Hope all is well with you. Good luck and most important, be possitive.
References :
Hello, I am sorry that you will have to go through this treatment, if you are like me I did a lot of research on what this experience would be like. The first thing is that it is different for each person. That is how cancer seems to be. Though you may have breast cancer, it is not the same for every man or women that gets it. So it is with the treatment of the disease and the experience each person has in it’s treatment.
Our first day:
We went to check in where they take a sample of your blood, and set up an appointment with your oncologist. Once that happens you will see the nurse and they will take your vitals, and by then your oncologist would have come in with the results of the blood test and answer any questions you may have about your treatment and the chemotherapy you will soon be getting.
As you go to your sessions they will take your blood counts, they will drop. If your white cell count gets under 3,000 it will be up to your doctor whether or not you will go to treatment. (towards the end our counts were 2600 and we did have treatment that day, during our entire session we were taking a drug to increase the white blood cell count everyday except the day of treatment, it was injected daily.)
Once in the waiting area your individual prescription of chemotherapy will arrive to the ward. Our first time is special and the nurses took their time in letting us know what was going to be done, and answered all of our questions about what would be happening during the session.
First we were made comfortable. They offered warm blankets, and gave us water and my wife a lunch bag (sandwich, apple, cookie, and juice…later we ate before the sessions)
They gave my wife something to relax her, and then a drug to combat sickness. Once that was done the actual chemotherapy was administered. Two nurses came in and verified name and birthdate. Then they double checked the amount of the drug to be administered between them.
We had Adriamycin(sp). and it was injected into her port. They did it slowly to make sure there were no side effects.
The entire first process took about 2.5-3 hours. They cleaned her port and we left.
My wife went home to have a pre-cooked dinner that I had made the day before. It seemed to be the best way to handle dinner. After dinner my wife would go to sleep.
Side effects:
Usually the day of chemotherapy treatments is the BEST day of the week for you. The day after and for about the next three days she felt fatigued. (usually the calming drug was in still in her system the next day) the third day was the day she would spend sleeping and and fighting the effects of the chemotherapy treatments.
You will probably start being pretty aware of your body. Any aches and pains will immedieatly be blamed on chemotherapy. There is soreness my wife felt. Some things we had in order of it’s apperarance in the treatments were:
1. Body aches and pains
2. fatigue
3. constipation and hemmoroids
4. watery eyes
After three to four treatments:
5. Hair starting to fall out, slowly at first. (I noticed this and made an appointment for her to get a wig, insurance covered the entire cost, about $2,300).
6. Constipation getting worse
7. Finger nails and toe nails become brittle
8 Mouth sores
Again each person reacts differently. With Taxol we experienced numbness and fatigue.
The treatments are cumulative, everything increases as more of the drug is introduced into the body.
What helps:
1. Drink plenty of water
2. Eat good proteins to build up the body the drug is tearing down.
3. We used a Naturopathic doctor
4. Go for small walks when possible
5. Get into a routine. My wife would go out for breakfast everyday.
6. Watch FUNNY movies or comedies on tv.
7. If it gets too bad call the nurse or doctor.
I hope this helps. We went through 15 treatments of Cytoxin and Adriamycin. Had surgery (mastectomy) and then 12 weeks of Taxol followed by 6.5 weeks of radiation.
Tumor size 4.78 cm. with evidence of 3 lymph nodes. After first treatment of chemotherapy 15 weeks.
Size of cancer found left in breast: size of a small grain of rice.
Lymph Node involvement: One lymph node size of a grain of rice, with no evidence of it leaving the nodes.
So, it works. Now we are finished with treatments. Next visit in 3 months. Your last visit will be there before you know it. Time went by fast.
Good luck!
Dave
References :
well this was my second cancer fight, and it seem very different than before the chemo was more stronger than before i hated it i had a port 7 year ago which was removed due the fact the docs didn’t see no need for it if the cancer was gone this time i did iv i hated it its best to get the port. drink plenty of water and ginger tea or peppermint tea for nausea ask for zofran for nausea too it helps also they may add steriods this helps alot. ask docs alot of questions. no stress laugh alot and try to stay happy. sorry u have to go through this. sometimes u may get down but you will get back up.
References :
i wish GOD bless all u guys !!! i pray for each one of u!!! i wish meet u guys one day!!! strong peples with strong belives!!! lov u lol
References :
My first chemotherapy infusion took about 3 hours but it is different with everyone depending on what and how many drugs you are getting. With some drugs they may only administer a small amount the first time to make sure you don’t have any kind of a reaction, for this reason your first infusion may be shorter than the rest. My treatments usually take about 3 and 1/2 hours from start to finish.
The first couple of days after my treatment were uneventful but nothing (except maybe an avalanche or something) could have prepared me for the lovely side effects of chemotherapy.
The worst side effects were mouth sores, muscle pain, vommiting/nauseau and constipation. If you start getting mouth sores use baking soda and water to rinse out your mouth, your doctor can also prescribe a great mouthwash that numbs your mouth if it gets really bad. Make a list of the sympoms you have so you can tell your doctor and they can help fix the problem. Not everything can be fixed but there are a lot of sollutions to help.
To help chemo go by quicker I have a different person come with me to each treatment whether it’s a friend or a relative, they always have something new to talk about and it can sometimes (if possible) make me look forward to chemo because of who is be coming with me.
My hair started falling out 2 days after my second treatment, at your chemo center they will probably have free hats for you to take, people have made and donated these for cancer patients (it really helped me knowing that a complete stranger would make a hat for me so I would recommend taking one.) I had a friend cut my hair short and wore it that way for a few days, I did this because I’ve always had long hair and it will take a while to grow it out again. Then I shaved it off as it started falling out in clumps. Buy a wig now so they can match your style and color. Also buy some hair accessories like hairclips, headbands, and hairbows for your wig. This really helped me feel like I could still fix my hair and be a girl every morning. (Hair accessories are really in right now too!!) The National Cancer Society does really good classes called "Look Good, Feel Better" so look for one in your area, these are very helpful and you can meet other people going through the same thing you are.
Chemotherapy is HARD!! But there are bright sides, it’s really hard t see them at first so I listed out a few below.
1. You can blame anything on chemo, I got a parking ticket and when I informed my parents they blamed the chemotherapy. (This was before I even started chemo, so you can see the possibilities.)
2. You get to meet some amazing people like your nurses, and fellow patients going through chemo.
3. What are the chances you would ever get to see what a great shaped head you have without chemo?
Good Luck with everything, and please feel free to email me if you ever need to talk to someone about this whole ordeal.
References :
Currently in treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Only 2 treatments left!