missed chemo

Hi cherjoy

Welcome to the Online Community here at Macmillan. I hope you find it a helpful place to access support and ask questions. My name is Vanessa, and I am one of the cancer information nurses here at the Macmillan Cancer Support Line.

I’m sorry to hear what a very difficult time you are having.

As a charity we do not have access to NHS records, this does limit our ability to comment on your own individual situation, but we will do our best to give some general information which we hope will be helpful to you.

Triple negative breast cancer when treated with chemotherapy normally involves a combination of drugs, as you list in your original question. Each drug used will have its own side effects- although some may be similar within the combination of drugs used.

Sometimes treatment is delayed, and dosages may be reduced to allow your body to recover from side effects and prepare for the next cycle of treatment. This is to ensure that the benefits of the treatment outweigh the side effects. Without these changes it is possible that your health may be further affected. Your treatment team will be carefully monitoring this.

Regarding cancer cells become stronger or resistant. It’s not clear what you mean by stronger? Maybe you mean more aggressive?

Chemotherapy kills cancer cells by attacking cells that are in the process of doubling to form 2 new cells. Giving chemotherapy in a series of treatments aims to catch as many cancer cells dividing as possible. Delays in treatment could therefore mean that cancer cells continue to divide, but it does not necessarily mean that the cancer will become stronger or more aggressive.

Regrading you question about becoming resistant to chemotherapy. When we talk about resistant to chemotherapy this tends to be in relation to cancers that have been responding to treatment but suddenly begin to grow. In your situation if your cancer is currently responding there is no obvious reason to suspect this will change due to delays in treatment.

As mentioned at the beginning of this response we do not have access to NHS records and for these types of very specific questions your treatment team are best placed to support you and give you the information you are looking for.

If you have a breast or chemotherapy nurse specialist assigned to you, we suggest that you talk through your concerns with them. They will have access to all your records and results and can give you information which is much more specific to your own situation.

If you don’t have an allocated nurse, you could contact your oncologist's secretary and ask if it's possible to have an appointment with your oncologist or a member of their team.

In preparation for any clinical discussion, we would always suggest that you think about what information you need and write a list of your questions to take with you. We do have some suggested questions you may want to ask your treatment team.

I hope you find this information helpful. You can also always call one of our nurses directly if you want to talk over your concerns or require any further support.

Take care

Vanessa G, Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. 

Ref VG/HC