My 'mother', and I use that term loosely because she did not raise me, I spent weekends with her until I was about 13-the rest of the time I lived with my great-grandparents (& my great-great grandmother!) in a superb environment for a child. (But I'm getting off topic here.) My 'mother' is a breast cancer survivor, 6 years. I went to every chemo treatment with her, washed her clothes & dishes, took care of house cleaning, tended to her cat & ran errands. I did all that not because she has done so much for me--because that's not the case at all--I did it because I was brought up in a household where we help others in their times of need. I felt it was the right thing to do. And we actually bonded a little bit through the whole ordeal. But she is a recovering crack addict, alcoholic & is drawn to toxic relationships. During the chemo, she still smoked cigarettes and pot. Of course she said the pot was for the nausea. 2 years ago, she found out she had throat cancer. Again, I was by her side at every appointment. And this time it included not just chemo but radiation as well. She swore to me that she was going to stop smoking, that she never wants to go through all of the treatments again, etc. But she's still puffing away and still claiming that she has nausea so that's why she needs to smoke pot first thing in the morning. This is driving me insane! I told her flat-out that if she developed cancer again, I would not be there to help her. I also said that I feel her behavior is extremely selfish. (She's 56, I'm 40 & I've always been more mature & responsible. She got stuck at 16. And refused help then.)

My question after all of that is this, how long does the nausea from chemotherapy generally last? Not looking for anything exact. But it would be helpful to have some idea, because right now she's using that an excuse to continue her self-destructive behavior. I posted this in another support group, I'm just looking for as much information & insight as I can get. Thanks for reading.