sorry to hear.my wife went through chemo 2 years ago,but unfortunatley her cancer was too advanced.
just be positive and say to yourself"i`m going to beat this bast*rd!"
best of luck!

Yes sorry to hear that Jamie, and good luck jim.

Mate of mine from thorton heath going in for radiotherapy soon. I'm having a precautionary check up for a few things too.

Johnny will return

All the best mate.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Effects so many people and a horrible disease. Wishing you all the very best.

Sorry to hear the news, Jim. Hang in there.

Your question is impossible to answer because there is no more "one chemotherapy" than there is such a thing as "one cancer". As you doubtless know, cancer is a variety of diseases that share common hallmarks (apoptosis, metastasis, etc. -- there are five defining characteristics); in the same way, there are a variety of chemotherapeutic drugs all of which are cytotoxic (they kill human cells) but which each have different side effects, different toxicities, different methods of administration (from central line to oral) and elicit different reactions from different patients.

About the best that can be said in response to the limited information in your question -- unfortunately -- is that none are much fun but beyond that, it's impossible to say much useful without knowing which drug, or combination, you are on. There are also classes of chemotherapy drug; anti-metabolites, alkylating agents, taxanes, etc. which interrupt different parts of the cell cycle and and function in different ways (usually, you'll be given more than one drug to "hit" more than one point in the cycle or weakness in the tumour). That's why you'll often hear a chemo regimen being referred to by its acronym, for instance CAVE (Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, Vincristine, Etoposide.)

Some of the drugs are vesicants (highly poisonous and you have to take great care when administering them) whereas others are (relatively) mild. Some are given as bolus injection (one "big" hit), others by drip (administered over a few hours), and often a combination of both.

Without knowing what sort of cancer you have (is it a solid tumour?) you might want to investigate multiplex testing to identify specific genetic mutations. This is the future (and present) of cancer medicine; the new classes of drug (for example EGFR, ALK, HER inhibitors, etc.) all work to address specific identified genetic errors rather than, as is the case with chemo, just "burning" away everything in sight. And, as someone else said, investigate trials. I would get myself involved with a university/teaching hospital if I could but based on your location the best starting point may be to investigate the National Cancer Institute website at NIH which as I recall has a comprehensive and updated list of trials by cancer type.

(Lastly, I have studied the subject of cancer medicine at university, and recently, though I am NOT in any way a medic by profession. I had a personal reason for pursuing the line of study. Any questions you think I can help with, PM me.)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Mar 2015 11.47am)

Edited by sydtheeagle (30 Mar 2015 11.49am)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Sorry to hear your news Jim, Hoping you come through mate.

I had a tumor removed from my bladder in january, followed by six, once weekly, chemo sessions.
It wasn`t administered by mouth or injection, which lessens the side effects anyway, but I have had none at all.
I had two weeks following the operation off work on the surgeons advice, and haven`t missed a shift since.

They`ll have another look at it in a months time to see how it has gone, but have told me that it was caught in good time, and that it is thought to be of a not too aggressive nature.

As others have said, stay strong and be positive, but have fun and enjoy yourself where possible too.
Also keep the mind busy as well as the physical.

Is this a five minute argument, or the full half hour? [Link]