What if the chemotherapy doesn't work?
The goal of chemotherapy is to stop a tumor from growing and to stop cancer from recurring and spreading to other parts of the body. There are many different chemotherapy drugs, and if one doesn't work your oncoogist will most likely try another. This is quite common either because the body becomes sensitized to a chemotherapy drug and it stops working, or because the side effects are too hard to tolerate. Talk to your doctor, tell her your fears, and ask her to outline very clearly the prognosis for your cancer and the treatment options available. Ask her to list for you all the options available, and at what point you and she would conclude that treatment has not been effective.
At some point, however, for many cancer patients, it becomes clear that chemotherapy has ceased to be effective. At that point the pain and discomfort of the side effects outweigh any benefit the patient is receiving from the drug, and the oncologist will likely recommend discontinuing chemotherapy. Talk to your doctor, tell her your fears, and ask her to outline very clearly the prognosis for your cancer and the treatment options available. Ask her to list all the treatment options she would consider trying, and at what point you and she would conclude that treatment has not been effective. If you don't like the answers or simply would like more information, it's often a good idea to get a second opinion at this point.
At this point, the goal of medicine becomes making the patient comfortable and pain-free, so the rest of the time he or she has available can be spent as meaningfully as possible. This is known as palliative care, and it can be very effective in keeping cancer symptoms at bay.
Always get a second opinion. It does not mean your oncologist is not a good doctor. It means you are checking all your options because your life may depend on it.
There are so many new treatments available. Their are new machines that can zap the specific area of cancer/the tumor from all sides so the rest of the body does not recieve as much, if any, radiation.
The best advice is to learn about your disease. Do your research, know what treatments are available to you, contact your insurance company to find out what cancer centers are in your "network" of providers so most of your medical bills are covered by your insurance.
I was diagnosed with stage 2 Breast Cancer and had a partial masectomy on the right breast. I just started chemo every 3 weeks.My oncologist said I would need like about 4 treatments of chemo. But I want to take 10 days vacation. So I would missed that week of my 3rd chemo. Will it affect me to skip a week from chemo? How? Would I have to have double dosage when I come back? I will have Radiation when I'm done with my chemo. How does radiation harm your body and which parts?
hi my name is harley i am 15 years old and my great grandmother has cancer she has done chemo and it has not helped her please if you read this and you know something else we can do i need u to tell me...they have gave her only a week or less to life please help me shes my life i dont know what i will do with out her!
chemo appears to have stopped working for me. the tumor twice has doubled in size. have lung cancer that went to my stomach. can someone help me?
@warda I was diagnosed with stage 2 BC in 2009...after my 3rd chemo I got very sick with a bad cold and they postponed the next chemo for 5 weeks...I would say go ahead and take that vacation...there are many people out there getting sick all the time and not getting chemo as per schedule...I was worried myself at that time, but the oncologist said it's no problem and that this happens all the time... Regards
