Chemotherapy

J returned to the hospital Tuesday to begin his first round of chemotherapy.  Mom has been worried about how he will handle this and thought we would both need to be present with him.  Without trying to start a fight, I thought, "Why would we want to do that"?  It turned out that neither of us got what we wanted, because I came down with the flu.  One other child tested positive for influenza, two others were sick, and we all managed to keep the makers of Tamiflu in business all by ourselves.  Mom is the only one allowed to see J in the hospital.



I don't know exactly what everyone thinks when they hear "chemotherapy".  Maybe it's some green, radioactive, glowing stuff that comes out as a goopy substance that slowly makes it's way into the veins and kills everything alive one inch at a time.  Maybe it's like a torture chambers where people are screaming in agony, but at least it's killing cancer.  Maybe it's some chemical reaction and you envision a chemistry lab with the patient in the midst of test tubes and titration devices.  Regardless, I think unless you have personally experienced or witnessed it, what you picture is probably not accurate (I'm fine with being wrong on that point).

What is helpful to know about chemotherapy?

First off, chemotherapy is not one drug.  National Cancer Institute has a list of over 100 chemotherapy drugs as well as a host of drug combinations commonly used.  There are numerous types of cancer.  Each is discovered when it has grown and spread a certain degree (stage) and has its own degree of aggressiveness (often referred to as grade).  For every cancer type and every stage of disease, there may be a different assortment of chemotherapy drugs.  They may have different doses of the same drugs.  They may give it different days.

When you see chemotherapy being given, it is most likely going to be anticlimactic.  Most often it is given through the veins (often through a MediPort as I have described before).  It may take just a moment to give.  It may take several hours.  But somebody could be receiving pain medications through their IV, and you may think that is just as exciting as watching somebody get chemotherapy.  There are newer agents that you take as a pill by mouth.  There are also other ways of giving the drug, such as with a lumbar puncture as J is getting.

Side effects may arise immediately, but there may not be symptoms until hours, days, or even weeks have passed.  Each drug has it's own side effect profile.  Not all of them cause the hair to fall out (J's will, eventually).  Not all of them make you feel like throwing up.  Many of them have some pretty serious side effects.

When J gets chemotherapy, he gets to be in the hospital.  Each day in the hospital he is getting a different assortment of medications.  He will finish a cycle or a round of chemotherapy after about one week.  He will then get 10-14 days for his body to recover, and then he will get another round or cycle of chemotherapy.  He should get 4 rounds of chemotherapy, total (unless they decide that didn't kill everything, in which case he may need additional treatment).  Other treatment regimens may have patients get their treatment in outpatient clinics.  They show up to the treatment center for a few hours and go home after that.

All in all, I don't think J has much to do while he's stuck in the hospital getting treatment.  But at least he is feeling well.