Does chemotherapy really help to kill the cancer cells left over in your body?!
Question: I am going to be starting chemo treatment next and I have read that some chemotherapy drugs can cause additional cancers later(especially the kind that has been prescribed for me to take). This really terrifies me alot. Whether I don't take it, it can come back and whether I do take it, it can come back. It seems like no matter what decision I make I am still at risk for cancer coming back. What should I do?
Answers: I am going to be starting chemo treatment next and I have read that some chemotherapy drugs can cause additional cancers later(especially the kind that has been prescribed for me to take). This really terrifies me alot. Whether I don't take it, it can come back and whether I do take it, it can come back. It seems like no matter what decision I make I am still at risk for cancer coming back. What should I do?
When I had chemotherapy it lasted once a week for 6 months. Then I was given a drug the same way as chemotherapy called Rituxan. The chemo killed the cancer and the Rituxan was sort of a smart bomb and went after any cancer the chemo missed. This was also once a week but lasted 2 years. I had non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Stage 4, and was not given a good prognosis. It has been seven plus years of cancer free. Follow your doctors advice, after all that is why he went to doctor's school. You'll be OK.
Chemotherapy is radiation designed to kill cells that cause cancer. However, a downside of chemo is that is also may or may not kill healthy cells. If I were you,I would do what your doctor recommends. I hope that you get better.
It is really a difficult and daunting situation to be in and there is a lot of information to take in. You can either take a passive role in all of this and follow your doctors suggestions or you can take an active role, as it appears that you are doing and educate yourself.
You need to take one step at a time and deal with each situation as it comes up, making the most informed decision that you can at the time.
With respect to the chemo causing other forms of cancer later in life question, you need to evaluate your current situation and possible risks.
Ask yourself these questions to help decide;
1. Do I have cancer now?
2. If I do not have chemo, what is the likelihood that the cancer will progress and I'd die?
3. If I have the chemo, what is the likelihood that it will work and I'd eventually be cured?
4. Is there other treatment and what is the likelihood of success compared to chemo?
5. What is the likelihood of developing other cancer as a result of the chemo?
I think you will probably find through discussion with your oncologist and your own study that the last question would probably have a very small risk, whilst the first question would result in a higher risk.
Simple risk analysis really and what ever dcision you make you need to be comfortable with that and move on.
The other thing you may like to ask yourself is if you do not have the chemo and the cancer returns, would you have regrets saying I should have had the chemo?
OR
You have the chemo and the cancer returns, would you have regrets or maybe it won't return?
It is not easy, but I went through the same deal and decided that the decision I made at the time was the right one, given the situation, and that I will deal with what may or may not come up in the future.
LIVE FOR NOW!!!
I had breast cancer and also had to understand how this works.
We have surgery to remove the cancer. The lymph nodes they removed were free of cancer so it didn't spread.
Why the need for chemo?
It only takes one tiny cancer cell to float unimpeded through our lymphatic system or even our blood stream. It could land somewhere in our bodies and start multiplying.
There is no way for our doctors to know if they missed one or two tiny cells.
Chemo sweeps through our bodies seeking out and destroying the fast growing cells which include cancer cells. So hopefully if any cancer cells are floating through the chemo finds it and kills it.
I went through 6 horrible months. Came out with an enlarged liver, some heart abnormalities. I hated it. But I know that I did everything possible to avoid that cancer from coming back.
That's a good feeling.
But what kind of cancer do you have? If it's breast cancer, there's the oncotype Dx test to help a woman decide about chemo. To get the test you need to be estrogen positive and stage 1 or 2.
Once we have cancer we are always at a higher risk of it coming back. Personally I am doing all I can to get rid of the one I have now. If that means follow up treatment then that is what I'll get but that is just me.
Good luck to you.