Safe to drive while having chemo?

Hi Jill,

I had my treatment at the same time as Sarah last year, my treatment is part of the Plato trial which consisted of 4.5 weeks of chemo-radiotherapy, chemo delivered via infusion day 1 then tablets twice a day each day of radiotherapy, my radiotherapy was of slightly reduced strength also. The hospital where I received my treatment was around half an hours drive door to door, I accessed a transport service that’s provided by a local charity for patients receiving treatment for cancer but to be honest in hindsight I could have driven myself throughout. This was only my experience though & everyone reacts differently to the treatment, the fatigue is a biggy but early nights & a nana nap on an afternoon usually sorted that out for me! My advice would be to play it by ear, it’s difficult to say for definite as you’ll have to see how the fatigue affects you personally & there's the obvious sore bottom towards the end of treatment. 

Wishing you all the very best of luck with your treatment. 

Nicola 

Hi

I drove for the first 3 weeks of treatment then stopped as it was uncomfortable to sit for too long and I felt vulnerable. My journey however, was short. I’d drive to a train station, then get a train to my hospital in London and walk. The hospital gave me a cushion which helped when I was driving. You can buy it on Amazon, its called a Bony Parts Pressure Cushion.

Its hard to say how long you’ll be able to drive as you won’t know how severe you side effects will be however, they don’t usually start to present until week two. 75 miles is a long journey and the M25, I know it well, you never quite know what you’re going to get. Its not just sitting that becomes uncomfortable but your bowel will be affected by the treatment and you may experience some urgency when needing the loo. Tena lady however, do a wonderful range!

Definitely think about a plan B whether that be someone driving you or you using public transport.

Sarah x

Thanks Nicola I’m also hoping to get on the Plato trial - one week less would be bliss ! Fingers crossed  

Thanks Sarah - adding to my shopping list now ! 

Sadly public transport is impossible cross county I’d have to go into London cross part of London and back out again !

Will see how I feel but might need to call in some favours for drivers 

had a two hour trip planned last Sat and ended up turning back home after half an hour it was just too uncomfortable 

on the plus side I’ve discovered what you do when you can’t sleep from being uncomfortable - you do the ironing ! 

Always a plus

jill x 

Hi Jill

It would be a nightmare using public transport for the journey you described. I was wondering if asking the members of the Chemotherapy forum Group the question and throwing it open a bit further would give you more advice on driving.

You could also seek the advice from the nurses in the Ask a Nurse page.

Just paste your original question into both pages of the links created for you above.

My advice would be for the first session don't drive yourself and see how you feel afterwards on the journey home.

Remember we all different and our reactions to the treatment will not be the same and you should take note of any cautionary advice issued with any drugs taken, don't think your insurance company would look favourably on you if something went wrong and you needed to make a claim.

Please think carefully about the first session and driving and do open up your question to a wider audience by reposting in the Chemotherapy forum and asking on the Ask a Nurse page get as many opinions as you can by clicking on the green text above to open up new pages and start a new discussion.

Keep in touch and let everyone know how you are getting on 

Ian

Hi Jill, 

I got offered the Plato trial as I was diagnosed quite early stages & my tumour was removed surgically prior to treatment & although the majority or the clearance on my histology report was 4mm there was a small area that only had 1mm & that’s cut off for further treatment & it was put to me that the treatment was a kind of insurance policy for my future. As far as I’m aware there’s only myself & one other lady on here involved in the Plato trial, I think this was her primary treatment though, no surgery prior to the chemo- radiotherapy. 

I’ll keep everything crossed that you qualify for the trial, do you have to wait long until you find out? 

Nicola 

Thanks Ian I’ll talk to my local nurses and try and press gang a driver for day one but I don’t like admitting defeat before I’ve even started ! Equally I don’t worry about what might not happen - 99% of what we worry about never happens anyway ! Positive thinking 

advice heeded  re insurance parasites ! 

Thanks

Jill

Hi Nicola

i don’t need surgery only chemo and radio therapy as I think mine is less than 4cm - only got the paperwork yesterday re the trial and someone is meant to be phoning me today - apparently it’s totally random so even if I qualify I might not get chosen - fingers crossed and I’ll keep you posted - one week less of radio would be like winning the lottery

here’s hoping 

Jill 

Hi again Jill,

It was thought because my tumour was so small, 2cm in diameter & 2mm deep, it was actually undetectable on both my MRI & CT diagnostic scans, that surgery would offer me my ‘cure’ but because of the small portion where there was just a 1mm clear margin then the Plato trial offered me mop up treatment & that bit extra security for a disease free future. Apparently only 6 in every 100 people diagnosed with anal cancer are actually picked up early enough to have the surgery that I did therefore I class myself lucky to have been diagnosed very early. I think had I not had the surgery I probably would have been looking at the standard treatment.  I was originally staged at T1N0M0.

Yes please keep me posted, I’ll keep everything crossed for you that you get on it. I had 23 opposed to the usual 28 fractions of chemo-radiotherapy & the radiotherapy was more targeted & of a slightly lower strength. Usually at 11 months post treatment I would have been discharged into surgical care by now but due to the trial I’m followed up by oncology also, which I’m ok with & I fill in a quality of life questionnaire every so often which comes through the post. I’m due my 12 month post treatment scans at the beginning of June so hoping for good results again! 

Nicola