I'm on chemo. When can I snog my wife?

Hi Powelly I see it’s your first post so welcome to the community.

Generally it takes about 48 to 72 hours for your body to break down and/or get rid of most chemo drugs. But the effects of the chemo on your growth areas and your general immune system will last for weeks and is important to remember that you may well be more open to infections at about days 7-14 as this tends to be the window when our immune system is at its lowest and there is an increased risk of infection.…… then your body recovers in time for your next cycle….. but the more chemo you have the longer the recovery can take so by the end of treatment it could take a few months this to recover completely.

You don’t say what type of cancer you have but if you care to have a look through this list you will find all our many dedicated cancer support groups listed.

When not connect in with others who are on the same journey.

Hi Thehighlander, thank you for your reply and the welcome. I am new to the community and new to all of this. 

I have CUP. There are NETs in multiple lymph nodes but they cannot find the origin and I have been told that treatment is palliative only. Not knowing the terminology, I took palliative to mean terminal and have only recently learned the difference.

I have seen that there is a CUP specific group and have many questions but am still reeling from the news so am scared to read more about what is happening and learn the answers at this point. 

Hi again Powelly, yes getting to grips with terms can be hard. I was diagnosed way back in 1999 with a rare (7 people diagnosed in a million every year) incurable blood cancer so I have had plenty time to get a handle on the terms….. The word palliative has been used a few times over my years but every time I get close to ‘that point’ a new treatment comes along (hit my community name to get my story)

Over my years I have talked with and supported many people who were told the word Palliative and they are still here years on living a good life.

Yes the Community is divided into support groups (discussion rooms) and we do have the Unknown primary cancer group as well as the Lymph nodes, secondary cancer group.

These are safe places to talk to others who may have a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support.

Based on my long experience talking with people in the same boat helps a lot….. although it took over 17 year before I actually meet anyone with my condition.

Macmillan have many support services so do check out the Macmillan Support Line open 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00. These services provide cancer information, practical information, emotional support, benefits/financial guidance or just a listening ear.

We also have our Ask an Expert section but do allow a few working days for a reply.

It’s man thing but most men don’t like to open up but I found it helped a lot so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing and aim to give support to all the family.

Always around to chat on this post.

I think it depends on the chemotherapy type 

my oncologist said the same to me (but I’m single so this didn’t impact me) the chemo I had was in tablet form and no one else could touch the tablets either ( they had to check I didn’t need help taking them)

for me the oncologist said no fluid exchange for the entire time including between treatment cycles so this was a year 

she did say there were options she would suggest if I wasn’t single - like super strength condoms and options for kissing - might be worth asking 

it takes away spontinaity but better than nothing