Just wondering what others have experienced with chemotherapy after surgery? Surely if the body is healing from surgery and then it's treated with chemo, then there's going to be a different reaction to it than before surgery. Is it more difficult? More challenging? What issues have people come up against? Any experiences, advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Hi dbc
I don't have any experience to offer but I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet. By replying to you it will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussions list.
I can see that you also posted this question in the stomach cancer group and wondered if you'd seen you'd had a reply. If not, clicking here will take you straight to it.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Hello dbc
Sorry to see you've not had any replies to your question here and l hope my reply is not too late to be of use i.e. you have already started treatment.
I had chemotherapy following surgery and it seemed the time they gave me to get over the op seemed fair. The operation was end of April this year and chemo started beginning of June, giving me around 6 weeks to recover, ready to recieve 4/6 doses of carbo/taxel
In my case the affects of chemotherapy seemed to be accumulative. I was told it is important to report any side affects, this way they can adjust the dose to suit you better, reducing the side affects. The most helpful thing l found was to keep a journal, logging down side affects as they happen, as a pattern became apparent, which helped me deal with them. In the journal l also noted down my moods, seeing a pattern develop there helped also.
This way l could report side affects to the nursing staff and it also helped when l felt really low, knowing that l could expect to "perk up" further into the cycle.
Whether or not l would recieve 4 or 6 doses was not decided until after the fourth session. I was surprised it was no more than "how are you doing?" "Ok" but l have to say that the final 2 sessions were the hardest. I was exhausted and l did not have enough white blood cells to fight infections. I had to have bone marrow boosting injections after blood tests showed l had very low neutrophils. For this reason be careful not to pick up infections during and following treatment.
It is almost 3 months following chemotherapy (although l have had 4 doses of internal radiotherapy, last one 5 weeks ago) and l feel l am still recovering. Certainly it was no walk in the park but nowhere near as bad as l feared, l wish you well with your treatment and recovery.
P.s
I should have added that the Macmillan phone lines were an absolute blessing. Whether it was to discuss treatment, physical or emotional side effects, l can't praise them enough.
