What is Chemo

The question has been asked my several of you, so we thought we'd do a little public education. most of this post is courtesy of the American Cancer Society. The word chemotherapy means the use of any drug (such as aspirin or penicillin) to treat any disease, but to most people chemotherapy refers to drugs used for cancer treatment. It’s often shortened to “chemo".

Treatments like radiation and surgery are considered local treatments. They act only in one area of the body such as the lung and usually target the cancer directly. Chemotherapy differs from surgery or radiation in that it’s almost always used as a systemic treatment. This means the drugs travel throughout the body to reach cancer cells wherever they are, even if they are undetectable to the eye or current image technology (i.e. PET, CT).

Chemotherapy drugs cannot tell the difference between reproducing cells of normal tissues (those that are replacing worn-out normal cells) and cancer cells. This means normal cells are damaged and this results in side effects. Each time chemotherapy is given, it involves trying to find a balance between destroying the cancer cells (in order to cure or control the disease) and sparing the normal cells (to lessen unwanted side effects).

There are three possible goals of chemo: cure, control or palliative. When cure is not possible, the goal may be to control the disease — to shrink any cancerous tumors and/or stop the cancer from growing and spreading. This can help someone with cancer feel better and possibly live longer. In many cases, the cancer does not completely go away but is controlled and managed as a chronic disease, much like heart disease or diabetes.

Jim is on two different chemo drugs. His infusion (IV) takes about two and a half hours. He starts with a steroid solution for 15 minutes or so, then gets the anti-nausea med, Zofran, (the same thing he takes in pill form a few days after chemo, at home). That takes about 30 minutes. Then he gets the first chemo drug, then the second. The nurse checks between each step, and the system flushes the lines with a saline solution. They inject him in the arm, either the forearm or the inside crook of his elbow. They've done his hand but he doesn't like that.

Hope this answers some of your questions, we are learning so much...wish we didn't have to.


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