Hi Carole,

Those are good questions, as someone now ten years post chemo, I’ve asked them myself. Searching for “late effects chemo” should be productive. The most up to date article I’ve found on this is at https://www.cancer.net/survivorship/long-term-side-effects-cancer-treatment it also touches on your second question.

Have you come across this group https://canceradvocacy.org ? They do a lot of work around survivorship.

I can only speak for myself but that constant nagging fear is always in the background. Not surprising given I was told my cancer was incurable and only given chemo as part of a palliative care regime. My oncologists had, until a couple of years ago insisted that I was on probably borrowed time and that my remission was only temporary. It’s only recently that I’ve dared think of myself as a survivor.

There are so many types of chemo and we all respond to them individually that it’s hard to answer your second question. My own neuropathy slowly disappeared in the first twelve months after chemo. I developed cataracts prematurely, possibly as a side effect of the steroids I was given to counteract the chemo’s side effects. I don’t have the stamina I had pre-chemo - but I am ten years older and 65 years old, so that may just be a result of the ageing process. 


I hope this helps!
Dave

Hi Carole,

Those are good questions, as someone now ten years post chemo, I’ve asked them myself. Searching for “late effects chemo” should be productive. The most up to date article I’ve found on this is at https://www.cancer.net/survivorship/long-term-side-effects-cancer-treatment it also touches on your second question.

Have you come across this group https://canceradvocacy.org ? They do a lot of work around survivorship.

I can only speak for myself but that constant nagging fear is always in the background. Not surprising given I was told my cancer was incurable and only given chemo as part of a palliative care regime. My oncologists had, until a couple of years ago insisted that I was on probably borrowed time and that my remission was only temporary. It’s only recently that I’ve dared think of myself as a survivor.

There are so many types of chemo and we all respond to them individually that it’s hard to answer your second question. My own neuropathy slowly disappeared in the first twelve months after chemo. I developed cataracts prematurely, possibly as a side effect of the steroids I was given to counteract the chemo’s side effects. I don’t have the stamina I had pre-chemo - but I am ten years older and 65 years old, so that may just be a result of the ageing process. 


I hope this helps!
Dave

Hi Dave

Thanks for your honest reply and I'm saddened to hear of your experiences but pleased that you are a "survivor". Thanks also for the links. They are useful especially as I don't do a lot of internet searching (this is to avoid all the doom online diagnosis which it is so easy to stumble upon).

I agree that it's hard to know how we would have felt if we hadn't had chemo and maybe you're correct. I'm nearly 59 so perhaps these physical symptoms are just part of entering my golden years!

Thanks for taking the time to reply and I wish you all the best,

Carole