Left untreated, cancer will kill you. Paradoxically, many cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, are very toxic and suppress the body's immune system, leaving the patient susceptible to infections. However, until the pharmaceutical and medical worlds can come up with cancer treatments that are low in toxicity, chemotherapy seems to be a necessary "evil" in the cancer fighting process. It is best to keep your health in mind when undergoing chemotherapy.
Instructions
1. Stay home as much as possible. While you are on chemotherapy, the key thing to remember is that you want to prevent infection. Staying home limits the number of foreign germs that you will be exposed to. Save travel and extra work for off weeks (or months, depending on your chemotherapy schedule) when you are not undergoing chemotherapy, and your immune system will be better equipped to fight infection.
2. Do not go into crowded spaces. Even if you are in your home, limit your interactions to three or fewer people at a time during your chemo treatments. Even healthy people carry germs. People who are not taking chemo have strong immune systems that will knock out most infections. Patients on chemotherapy have compromised immune systems, which can allow just about any kind of infection to take hold. If friends or relatives visiting you have young children, it is a good idea to exclude them from your interactions during chemo treatments. Children are a great source of a wide variety of germs.
3. Take antibiotics if available. Often, doctors will prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics to be taken regularly (once a day or a few times each week) when patients are undergoing chemotherapy. This is to prevent many common infections from taking hold; it is sort of a way for your immune system to "cheat." However, it can be unhealthy to take certain antibiotics for long periods of time, so have a discussion with your doctor about whether this is a good choice for you.
4. Rigorously follow normal protocol for preventing colds. During cold season, people wash their hands more frequently, drink more tea (it strengthens the immune system) and scrub surfaces with antibacterial solutions. This is done to eliminate germs at all possible fronts and should be done regularly in a house with a chemotherapy patient.
5. If other people live in your residence (spouse, children), take steps to prevent them from bringing germs into the house. A lot of times when healthy adults and children get sick, they let a cold or the flu "run its course." Unfortunately in a house with a chemotherapy patient, this is not an option. If a child or spouse gets sick, send him to the doctor immediately. If the ailment is "just" a cold and can't be treated medically, limit your interactions with this person. What is "just" a cold to a healthy person can turn into weeks of discomfort for a chemotherapy patient and may interfere with treatment schedules.
Tags: immune system, chemotherapy patient, undergoing chemotherapy, your interactions, cancer treatments