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be used to give medications. Talk with your health care provider if you
Depending on where on the body the want to have children in the future. Fertility
surgery is done, side effects may include: preservation decisions should be made before
starting treatment. Be sure to let your provider
• Scarring know if there is any possibility that you or your
• Movement limitations partner could already be pregnant. Chemo-
• Inability to do some activities on a tempo- therapy can harm an unborn child.
rary or long-term basis
• Changes in sexual function or fertility Chemotherapy can cause side effects
• Changes in ability to judge, learn or such as:
remember (such as after brain surgery)
• Fatigue • Anemia
• Swelling or lymphedema • Decreased immunity
• Fatigue
Chemotherapy • Mouth sores
Chemotherapy uses medications to kill cells and • Forgetfulness
stop cell growth. These medicines can be given • Nausea or vomiting
as an oral tablet. They can also be given by injec- • Hair loss
tion or through a vein (with an IV) or a port. The • Skin rashes
medicines get into the bloodstream and circu- • Bruising and bleeding
late through the entire body. Side effects occur • Cataracts
because the medicines affect both cancerous
and non-cancerous cells. Side effects can occur Chemotherapy affects people in different
when healthy cells are damaged. ways. Some have very few side effects, while
High doses or repeated chemotherapy others have more. Side effects have nothing to
may cause side effects. Many of the medicines do with how well the treatment is working.
interfere with the rapidly growing cells of the Chemotherapy may temporarily affect
body. These cells may be in the stomach and the ability to concentrate. The result may be
intestinal lining, hair, skin, nails or bone marrow. mild forgetfulness. This is sometimes called
There may be side effects, such as hair loss, chemo fog or chemo brain. Calendars, lists and
because certain cells are affected. Chemother- messages on voice mail can be helpful if this
apy is done in repeated cycles to allow the body happens to you.
to recover between doses. Side effects usually begin to improve or go
Chemotherapy treatments can cause nau- away as normal tissues repair themselves. This
sea and vomiting. Ask your health care provider may start about three weeks after the treat-
about anti-nausea medications that may help. ment. Hair can start to grow back even before
Some patients recommend not eating your fa- the treatment is finished.
vorite foods right before or after treatments. This It is hard to know how long side effects will
might result in your associating the food that you last. Not all chemotherapy treatments cause the
eat at those times with the upset stomach that same effects. Some may be related to specific
comes from chemotherapy. Later on, when it is medicines. Others may occur when chemo-
important to rebuild your appetite and weight, therapy is given with other types of treatments.
you might not feel like eating those foods again.
“My life partner was just great. He said, ‘No matter what happens, no matter
what kind of surgery you have, you will always be attractive to me.’ He has
been good about things, continuing to say that the scar didn’t make any
difference to him.” —BETH P.
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