Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, or chemo, involves you taking strong medicine to kill cancer cells. There are lots of chemo medicines that treat different cancers. Many different cancers, if found early, can be treated successfully. Chemo can be given as a single medicine or a combination of two or more.
Many people have chemo in cycles – once every two or three weeks usually. The chemo can be given on one day of the cycle or over several days of the cycle. The cycle varies depending on the chemo type and cancer type. Most people need to go to the hospital to have chemo. Some people can have chemotherapy at home.
Most chemo comes as injections into your arm or hand that drip into the body over an hour or two. This way it goes straight into your blood stream. Some chemo comes as tablets that you can swallow. If you’re having chemo, your doctor will tell you how it will work for you.
Your doctors will talk to you about what treatments they recommend and what your options are, so there won’t be any surprises. They will usually give you printed sheets of paper to explain the chemo cycles. The chemo nurses or pharmacist will go through it to make sure you understand and can also answer any questions that you might have.
Read more about chemotherapy.
