Chemotherapy: Ready… Set…

So, you have to have chemo, eh? Congratulations; you’re about to experience some of the most advanced treatment the medical community can offer.

What Does Chemotherapy Actually Do?

Bottom line, it interferes with cancer cells so that they can’t reproduce. Cancer cells are constantly dividing; that’s how they grow and spread. If you can stop them from dividing, their growth stops, they can’t spread, and they’re effectively killed. As of 2005, there were about 50 drugs being used to treat cancer, nearly always in combination, two or three in tandem. You can imagine the number of different “cocktails” that might be concocted from all these drugs; your doctor will work with the pathologist’s information to determine the drug combination that will be most effective for YOU.

Nicknames for Chemo Cocktails

First off, don’t worry about remembering all the complicated chemical names you’ll hear. Some of you may memorize the exact names of the drugs you’ll be taking; others may simply remember the initials, so that later you can compare your treatment with a friend’s. (Just as every woman with breast cancer remembers the size of her tumor, every woman on chemo knows the acronym for the drugs she’s receiving.)

Typical chemotherapy drugs include Adriamycin®, Ellence®, and Doxil®, all of which fight cancer cells by altering their DNA; Taxol® and Taxotere®, which prevent cancer cells from dividing; Cytoxan®, which interferes with the cells’ metabolism; and Methotrexate® and 5-FU®, both of which interfere with cell division. Herceptin®, a drug used to treat certain types of “receptive” cancers, blocks cell division. Your doctor may say you’ll be getting AC, or CAF, or EC; if you want to remember what kind of chemo you’re having, that’s probably the level of detail you’ll need.

Gauging Heart Health

Before chemotherapy starts, you’ll most likely have an ECG (electrocardiogram), which assesses the strength and health of your heart. This precautionary test helps makes sure you can receive certain drugs that, in rare cases, can cause heart damage.

White Blood Cell Count

You’ll also have a blood test, to determine your baseline white cell count, the number of infection-fighting white cells in your normal, pre-chemo body. During chemotherapy, many of your white cells will be destroyed, putting you at increased risk for illness and infection. Thus, each time you receive chemotherapy you’ll have a blood test first; if the oncologist deems your cell count too low, your appointment will be rescheduled, in order to give your body time to build up its white cells to fight colds, the flu, and the other illnesses you’re exposed to everyday.

How to Pick a Chemo Schedule

OK, you’re almost ready to begin. Most chemotherapy is delivered on a regular basis: once a week, or in a cycle of once every 2, 3, or 4 weeks, for a set number of treatments.

If you’re given a choice of what day you want to receive chemo–take it. Do you work outside the home, and intend to keep working? You may want to schedule chemo for a Friday, giving you the weekend to recuperate. Are you a mom with school-aged kids? You may opt for a Monday, so you’re able to relax while the kids are in school, rather than try to recover on a busy weekend. If it doesn’t matter to you, choose the least popular day of the week, whatever that is; you’ll be helping those women who really need a particular day.