A lot of people ask me what my chemo is like so I thought I’d do a quick summary:
Chemotherapy just means drug therapy and everyone’s is different. Some are taken in pill form, others get injected through and IV into your bloodstream, and some come in the form of shots. Different chemo drugs work differently together so there is usually a cocktail of several that you take. Mine has five drugs in the mix.
Cancer happens when certain cells in the body keep dividing and forming more cells and can’t stop (forming a tumor). These are fast growing cells compared to most of what goes on in your body.
Chemo is most effective at going after those fast growing cells. Luckily my brand of lymphoma is a very aggressively growing type so it responds well to chemo.
Unfortunately, chemo can’t tell the difference between cancer cells and normal cells. That is why there are side effects like losing your hair (those are fast growing cells). After the chemo is done, your body picks up where it left off growing normal cells but since all the cancer cells are dead there should be none to start growing again.
These drugs equate to poison. They are meant to kill certain parts of you to save others. Some are very unpleasant. Nurses wear full protective gear so as not to get a drop on them.
Tomorrow I’ll give you a play by play of what my day in the infusion center is like…
