What Should We Know About Chemotherapy

This book is for patients who are receiving chemotherapy for cancer. It describes what to expect during chemotherapy and what you can do to take care of yourself during and after treatment.
The thought of chemotherapy frightens many people. Understanding what to expect before, during and after chemotherapy can calm many of these fears. This essay will help explain what chemotherapy is, how it works, and what to expect, in general, with chemotherapy.
What can you do? Eat the right foods to build up your strength. Stay away from people who have colds or the flu. Get the rest you need and pace yourself. Talk about your feelings to deal with any sadness, anger, or fear you may have. Work as a team with your health care providers. Knowing how to help yourself can make you feel more in control. These are just a few of the ways that you can help yourself and begin to feel in control again.
This book - What Should We Know About Chemotherapy - is designed to help you become an informed partner in your care, but it is only a guide. Self-help can never take the place of professional health care. Ask your doctor and nurse any questions you may have about chemotherapy. Also don’t hesitate to tell them about any side effects you may have. They want and need to know.
We have performed the interrogation of 212 patients managed by chemotherapy at Georgian National Cancer Center (NCC) and Georgian-German specialist oncological clinic to find out the most frequent side-effects concerned with and arising from the treatment. At the same time historic data from NCC medical archives were reviewed, along with literature of recent 10 years to learn about the incidence of side effects, and the most valuable means of their management. According to analysis of received results and our practical experience also considering the advice of Georgian Oncologists, recommendations for chemotherapy side-effects management were elaborated taking into consideration Georgian mentality, characteristic features of the population and available financial and medical facilities in our country.
The table of contents identifies all the topics discussed in What Should We Know About Chemotherapy.
A glossary at the back of this book explains many terms you may hear during chemotherapy. Many of the words defined in the glossary are printed in bold the first time they are used in the text.
This book - What Should We Know About Chemotherapy - is written in Georgian.