I’m due to start chemo soon. Is there anything you wish you had known beforehand or anything you think I should ask when I have my oncology appointment?
I was much the same as Bungle1 My main concern was hair loss at the outset. But I had a pretty rough time on chemo and it became the least of my worries in the end. I would ask about PICC lines and Ports, unless you have exceptionally good veins for cannulation. It's something I wish I had been told about earlier in my treatment plan and the amount of stress finding a vein would have been so much less (or zero, as they don't have to!). Other than that, your oncologist will pretty much cover everything you need to know and when you meet with the chemo team, they should take you for a little walk around the treatment area so you know what to expect. At that point they will also cover cold capping as an option too to help prevent hair loss. I didn't go down that route in the end (I did try and it was fine, but it was the added time before and after each treatment that I didn't want as I was there long enough as it was!). But everyone is different, so just have a chat with them, hear what they say and I was also able to try one too before treatment (without the cold bit, but it was interesting to see how the cap felt on my head).
Good luck. Hope everything goes well and pop back any time if you want to rant or ask questions. xx
I was much the same as Bungle1 My main concern was hair loss at the outset. But I had a pretty rough time on chemo and it became the least of my worries in the end. I would ask about PICC lines and Ports, unless you have exceptionally good veins for cannulation. It's something I wish I had been told about earlier in my treatment plan and the amount of stress finding a vein would have been so much less (or zero, as they don't have to!). Other than that, your oncologist will pretty much cover everything you need to know and when you meet with the chemo team, they should take you for a little walk around the treatment area so you know what to expect. At that point they will also cover cold capping as an option too to help prevent hair loss. I didn't go down that route in the end (I did try and it was fine, but it was the added time before and after each treatment that I didn't want as I was there long enough as it was!). But everyone is different, so just have a chat with them, hear what they say and I was also able to try one too before treatment (without the cold bit, but it was interesting to see how the cap felt on my head).
Good luck. Hope everything goes well and pop back any time if you want to rant or ask questions. xx
