Taking A break from Chemo

[Evoman]

He's anyone here taken a break from Chemo when you were still able to get it? Week after week my blood tests keep saying I'm okay for Chemo. Every two weeks since September I've been getting Chemo without a single break. Although the blood tests and the doctor say I'm good to keep going, I have never felt shittier. It's gotten to the point where I have no quality of life and I don't even have one good day before they hit me again. That the thing about Chemo... it's cumulative in its damage to you and whereas I used to have at least four or five days before my next Chemo Treatment when I wasnt so sick, now I can't even say I have one good day. I'm not recovering at all. So I've decided against the doctors wishes (well I assume his wishes) to take at least two weeks off from Chemo. I'm really scared though. The Chemo is making me sick, sure, but it's also been working well and it's gotten me to a point where I'm stable and my tumors aren't growing or spreading. Will two weeks harm that progress? Maybe I should go with one week? Is so hard to make these decisions.

All I know is that I came back from Chemo yesterday and basically sobbed and cried the whole day. I need to make decisions about my longevity vs quality of life and I feel too young at 34 to be making these decisions. I want to travel a bit... Visit friends and family in other cities and provinces and I can't do that being constantly sick.

Has anyone here willingly taken a break? Had it resulted in the cancer spreading or gaining resistance to the Chemo? Let me know your viewpoint. I could use some advice.

[KC]

1. I wish I

could help you with that decision. I've never been through chemo, but even though I don't know what it's like, except through family members and friend's experiences, you need to listen to what your body and your mind tells you.
I have been really ill for the last two years and if there was any way to take a short break from this and give my body a rest, I would. I have cancer, but the two types don't respond to standard chemo from what I understand. Plus I am trying to recover from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. That's the one that I wish I could take a break from, but it doesn't work that way.
Sorry I couldn't help with your decision but
I do understand where you're coming from.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I'm so sorry. I didn't have chemo with my cancer treatment. However, I'm a firm believer

in making my own medical decisions. That's why I didn't have chemo when they said it would only increase my chances of surviving by 5%. Do you have a counselor or anybody involved in your care to discuss this with? If not, do you have a local Cancer Society or HOPE group to ask for advice and to talk about how chemo is affecting you?

[wordpix]

3. so sorry, Evoman

Last edited Thu Feb 13, 2014, 12:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I am facing having chemo vs. saying to the oncologist, "NO."

I had surgery 3 wks. ago for colon cancer metastasized to my liver, and while my recovery from that has been steady, I am just now feeling that in another 2 wks. or so I could get back to work and a fairly normal life. I am doing light housework and taking walks now, and am basically off all pain meds except one or two/day.

The idea of being an invalid again due to chemo is not appealing. In my case, docs surgically removed all tumors (I had 3) plus 16 lymph nodes and I now have no cancer that they can see. But "it's what we can't see" that is at issue. Docs and the best imaging in the world cannot see cancer cells unless they're taken out of your body first. In my case, docs want me to have chemo for "insurance" my cancer won't come back. But there is no complete guarantee.

I have read about many people who've opted out of chemo entirely who are still living and I have a friend who's still around, having refused chemo about 10 yrs. ago for breast cancer. They beat cancer with a vegan diet and building up their immune system, which chemo destroys. Here are a couple of good websites.

http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/why-i-didnt-do-chemo/

kriscarr.com

http://www.cancerfightingstrategies.com/modernmedicine.html#sthash.PLmlL1Rk.dpbs

Doctors say I need chemo soon once I recover fully from the operation. I am very uncertain as to what to do. Whatever it is, each cancer patient must make up his or her own mind about a course of action. As for me, if I opt for chemo and it is making me sick most of the time and an invalid, I would ask to be given smaller doses, different drugs, or stop it entirely, depending on my most trusted advisors---doctors, naturopath, and friends who've been through it before. Ultimately, though, it's your individual decision, as it is mine.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Please don't rush to get back to work

I was bored out of my mind at 2 weeks, and returned to work in 5. The first day drained me to the point that they sent me home at 2pm because my color completely drained and they said I looked like a ghost. Believe it or not - mental overload can bring about physical drain.

[wordpix]

5. hope you recovered ok, Ruby

[wordpix]

6. what did you do, Evoman? Did you take the break?

My oncologist has given me one break (an extra week off chemo after a terrible Round 1, which was modified afterward with a 10% lowered dose) and I may take another break soon due to my platelet counts. The effects of the chemo from what others say and my own 5-round experience are cumulative; i.e. you feel more effect over time. That being said, my effects aren't too bad but I am on a "conventional" treatment of drugs developed decades ago so maybe my chemo is more perfected than what you're taking.

I told my oncologist when I started that if I'm feeling awful, I would stop. So far I haven't had to and he is open to extra weeks off and also, he may lower the dose again b/c after Round 4 I got a nosebleed and the runs more often than previously. However, Round 5 is going well.

[Solly Mack]

7. ((Evoman))

I wish I had answers for you but you have my well wishes and all the hugs you can handle.