There are three main
kinds of treatment for cancer-surgery, chemotherapy, and
radiation therapy.
These are used to destroy cancer cells and bring about
a remission. Depending on what type of cancer people have,
they could have one kind of treatment or a combination
of treatments.
Treatments for cancer sometimes cause unwanted side effects.
Side effects are problems caused by the treatment. This
happens because cancer treatment that destroys cancer
cells can hurt some normal cells, too.
Sometimes, people with cancer are treated in studies that
test different types of cancer treatment. You may hear
someone in your family talk about "clinical trials";
these are carefully designed studies that test new and
promising treatments.
SURGERY. Surgery (SIR-ja-ree) is an operation. In cancer
surgery, all or part of the tumor may be cut out. Sometimes
healthy tissue around the tumor is also taken out. When
people have major surgery, they often have to stay in
the hospital until they are strong enough to come home.
When they do come home, they may still be weak from the
surgery. There may be some things they shouldn't do for
awhile, such as lifting heavy things or climbing stairs,
because the body needs time to heal after surgery.
CHEMOTHERAPY. Chemotherapy (kee¬mo-THER-a-pee) is
the treatment of cancer with special drugs that destroy
cancer cells. These drugs go into the bloodstream and
are carried to cancer cells anywhere in the body. Chemotherapy
is usually given many times for several months. Even after
the person is in remission, more treatments may be needed
to destroy any scattered cancer cells that may still be
in the body.
Chemotherapy is most often taken through a needle inserted
into a vein, called an intravenous (in-tra-VEE-nus) or
IV for short, or into a muscle (a shot), or by mouth (liquid
or pills). Many different drugs are used in chemotherapy.
Doctors decide which drug or groups of drugs to use depending
on what type of cancer the person has. The names of some
of these drugs are vincristine (vin-KRIS-teen), Adriamycin@
(A-dree-a-MY-sin), metho¬trexate (meth-o-TREKS-ate),
and Cytoxan<!i. (sy-TOK-sin). There are many others.
Their names may become common words around your house.
Chemotherapy works
mainly on the cancer cells. But healthy cells, especially
those that also divide quickly, can be harmed as well.
This can cause unwanted side effects, and almost all
people taking chemotherapy will have side effects. Most
side effects don't last long and will grad¬ually
go away after treatment is stopped. The doctor can tell
your parents or the person with cancer which side effects
his or her chemotherapy is most likely to cause.
When chemotherapy
acts on normal cells in the stomach and the rest of
the digestive tract, from the mouth on down, it can
cause nausea and vomiting. Some¬times people lose
their appetites. If they have sores on the tongue, gums,
or inside of the cheeks, it is hard to eat, especially
if the food is too hot, cold, or spicy. People often
lose some weight because of these side effects.
Nausea and vomiting will usually stop within a day or
two after the drug is taken. Mouth sores may last longer
and may not even start until 1 or 2 weeks after taking
certain drugs. Many people Y/ith mouth sores use special
mouth rinses to ease the pain.
Temporary hair loss is another common side effect of
chemotherapy. Sometimes the hair falls out all at once,
and other times it slowly thins out. There's no way
to know whether all the hair will come out. Even if
it does, it will grow back after treatment has stopped.
Some people wear a wig, cap, or scarf until their hair
grows back.
The bone marrow, the innermost part of the bone, makes
new blood cells. If chemotherapy affects the bone marro,
it cannot produce as many blood cells as |
