Chemotherapy Support Group

Rhonda big hugs to you. I know this must be such a scary time for you. It's hard to say what you might expect from all of your treatments because there are soooo many different meds for all the cancers. I lost my hair withing the first 2 weeks. I've been getting some heavy duty meds and I'm not that sick. I'm groggy the day of chemo and need help with my daughter those days. By the next day I am fine. They have really good anti-nausea meds etc, so I hope you won't be too sick. I have no idea about radiation. Best wishes to you. Rene

Hugs to you my friend. I have gone through chemo, surgery and then just finished 32 rounds of radiation. I dont know of anyone personally that has gone through this other than myself. The Dr. told me worst case scenerios. I did not experience any of them. My hair and i mean all of it fell out about 2-3 months into the chemo. During the week while i was on the chemo i did pretty good. Never got sick just got a little tired. I was still able to tend to the kids since my stbx was gone for work. I can tell you right now that after going through 8 months of dr appointments, treatments that it was mentally draining on me more so than the treatments. I was worried about my family and myself of course. The best advice i can give you is to get as many friend, family and this site to help you through it. It helps a ton to be able to talk to people about what you are going through and how you feel. I wish you the best of luck and if you ever need a ear to bend i am here. Keep your head up and stay positive its the best thing you can do!!!!

take care

by the way i had soft tissue sarcoma,,,,,dont recall what type of chemo i had but i think it was pretty strong...i should of paid more attention.

There are fantastic things that can be done to ease the side effects of the chemo these days.. there is no need to be sick anymore providing you get the medication that works for you.. Hair loss depends on the type of chemo you will have.. I have some videos of me coping with losing my hair in my journal and it wasn't as bad as I thought.. None of there things are as bad as we imagine.. so it's good to get to the truth.. The doctors should keep you fully informed about your condition and if you feel they are not or that there are things you don't understand then ask them to explain.. We are also all here to help you cope with all of this.. you are not alone.. Loads of love and hugs to you xxxxxx

hi Rhonda, im so saddened to hear how you feel you are being treated, my 2 yr old is having chemo. she started to lose her hair 6 weeks into her treatment and it took about 3 days for her to lose every single strand. but it does grow back inbetween treatment although it can come back in patches and a different colour to what it was originally. i think that different types of chemo have different side effects and it can be administered using different methods, all depending on what your oncologist has decided is the best route to take. chemo can be given as a pill or given through a vein. my child is usually very sick the evening of the chemo and can run a fever. she has anti sickness (ondansitron) and it is good stuff only a 5ml dose every 6 to 8 hrs reduces the amount of vomit considerably. your immune system will take a knock and sometimes if you run a really high temperature a hospital admission is usually needed to clear up the infection with antibiotics. it sounds like a lot, but strangely you will adapt. there are good days and bad days. i think that every case is individual and depends on how your body tolerates it, but my little girl is full of beans most days and doesn't lay in bed a lot. the chemo isn't affecting her playing. bless her. i really hope this may of helped you a bit. good luck and god bless you and your family.

So sorry you were treated so cavalierly. From our own experience, I suspect that doctors find it hard to tell you anything negative - maybe it's a failure for them, maybe it's just hard to keep facing people? I'm glad you're starting treatment, though.

My husband is on Gemzar (by IV) and Tarceva (orally), which are both supposed to be fairly gentle and have minimal side effects. They pretreat him with meds for nausea before they give him the Gemzar, and he does have both Compazin and Reglan at home. So far, he's tolerated his treatment very well with no apparent side effects, but he's only been at it for 5 weeks.

It really depends on what they give you how badly you might suffer from nausea and vomiting. He's already bald, so I can't discuss hair loss like others have done.