Treatment -



My treatment protocol has been a combination of chemo and radiation, and today I'll share some thoughts on chemo.......old hat to anyone who has been through this......but all new to me.



I thought chemo was a nasty drug they gave cancer patients. Not quite. Chemo is short for chemotherapy, which I surmise is a medical term for chemical therapy. I think it can best be compared to physical therapy, or occupational therapy, or psycho therapy, or any other kind of therapy. Chemical therapy is not a medicine, but a method. And just as with other therapies, different conditions require different methods with different results and different side effects.



That's why when someone says so and so had chemo and this is what happened, it likely will not relate to you. No more than a physical therapy regiment for a hip replacement would be similar to the regiment for a shoulder injury.



What I have learned is there are various medicines used in chemotherapy, there can be mixtures of drugs used (sometimes called cocktails) and there are different doses and different intervals. Couple that with the differences in individual's health and fitness levels and you have a plethora of possible reactions to chemo.



I take a hot drug called cisplatin. In my case it is not the primary cancer fighter, but is designed to make the cancer cells more receptive to radiation. The dosage is low enough that I haven't, and likely won't, lose my hair. But I get it every week so it makes me sick and screws up the taste of food. I used to be able to recover during the week, but the cumulative effect has put a stop to that.



Taking chemo is a social affair. They call the chemo room the infusion center......I call it the juice bar. It's a large room lined with recliners. Attendants bring you drinks, snacks, warm blankets and pillows, and most have a private TV. The only clue this isn't a party is that everyone is hooked to their own tree of IV bags. It's a drug users catered salon. And some of the stuff is pretty potent. For example, the nurses don low level radiation protection clothing when they bring me my cisplatin. I think it's a derivative of platinum. This stuff is so potent they warn you not to share body fluids with your partner for at least two days after infusion so you won't give them a chemo treatment. As if any such activity was any where near my top of mind thinking!

It's about a four to five hour stop at the juice bar and I'm delighted I have only one more session.

Next - The other shoe.....radiation