Each of my cycles of chemotherapy have been scheduled at three weekly intervals.
Why you have chemotherapy in cycles
All the treatment you are offered is based on years of research. The combination of drugs your doctor suggests will be the best of all those tested. The drugs aim to kill the cancer cells while causing as little harm as possible to normal, healthy cells. You have chemotherapy as a course of treatments over a few months because
- It allows the chemotherapy to kill more cancer cells
- The rest between treatments allows your body to recover from any side effects
At any one time, some of the cancer cells will be resting. Chemotherapy only attacks cells that are in the process of splitting into two (dividing). So resting cells will not be killed. Some of the cancer cells that were resting during your first treatment will be dividing by the time your second comes around and so they will be killed off. Normal cells usually repair the damage from chemotherapy more effectively than cancer cells, so damage to cancer cells should progressively build up without causing permanent damage to normal cells. There is more about this in the section about how chemotherapy works.
The effects of chemotherapy are cumulative and I would say there has been a noticeable drop in my energy levels particularly since chemo number three although between the rest periods I have felt energy levels return although more slowly with each cycle. After number five I haven't felt that I've had chance to regain strength, energy or fitness before they administered number six!
Six days post chemo number six and I have probably felt at my worst throuout the whole treatment with ongoing side effects becoming much more severe. The weekend has left me completely drained with a lack of energy to the extreme of having great difficulty in even claiming the stairs to bed and having to resort to getting up half way and having to continue on hands and knees!
Conversation and the ability to understand and make decisions can feel like a quest in itself including following the thread of a conversation, and retrieving words. A difficulty multitasking, comprehending what i've just read and with simple tasks becoming increasingly more difficult to concentrate on!
The last four nights have been nights of sleep deprivation, spending the last two nights mostly in the bathroom sat upon the toilet going from constipation to diarrhoea! Yes, sorry, not what you may want to be reading but these are the facts and I want to be honest in telling it how it really is, not very pleasant I know and I can tell you it hasn't been pleasant for me either!
I had an appointment today at the lymphoedema clinic at St. James hospital and first thing this morning with the way I felt honestly didn't think I would be able to make it but with determination and the fantastic support of my wonderful, amazing husband I was, with a great effort able to attend!
Six days post chemo number six and I have probably felt at my worst throuout the whole treatment with ongoing side effects becoming much more severe. The weekend has left me completely drained with a lack of energy to the extreme of having great difficulty in even claiming the stairs to bed and having to resort to getting up half way and having to continue on hands and knees!
Conversation and the ability to understand and make decisions can feel like a quest in itself including following the thread of a conversation, and retrieving words. A difficulty multitasking, comprehending what i've just read and with simple tasks becoming increasingly more difficult to concentrate on!
The last four nights have been nights of sleep deprivation, spending the last two nights mostly in the bathroom sat upon the toilet going from constipation to diarrhoea! Yes, sorry, not what you may want to be reading but these are the facts and I want to be honest in telling it how it really is, not very pleasant I know and I can tell you it hasn't been pleasant for me either!
I had an appointment today at the lymphoedema clinic at St. James hospital and first thing this morning with the way I felt honestly didn't think I would be able to make it but with determination and the fantastic support of my wonderful, amazing husband I was, with a great effort able to attend!
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