I'm seeing a lot of people sharing very personal and very difficult anecdotes here, and I am worried that that would make someone decide to reject chemotherapy outright, or recommend a loved one to reject it.
Yes, chemotherapy has very adverse side-effects. But it's also the best course of action we currently have for a lot of cancer patients. It varies depending on the type, grade and stage of the illness, as well as the patient's overall health [1]. It should not be rejected outright.
Now for my personal anecdata: My sister in law was in her 30s when they detected her breast cancer, and got chemo for some time. It was a very difficult time for her, but it worked - the cancer receded. She kept having to do get periodical checks to keep tabs on it.
Unfortunately her cancer came back, and this time it was more aggressive - it resisted all treatments and eventually metastasised. They took her off chemo, but her health deteriorated very quickly anyway. She died 1 and a half years ago, at home.
On average, chemotherapy gave her and my brother around 7 years of life, in exchange of some very shitty quality of life moths due to side effects. They definitively made the right choice in taking chemo the first time, and not taking it the second time. A lot of people's cancers never come back.
I am not saying that chemotherapy is worth it in all cases. I am painfully aware that it isn't. But it is worth in a lot of cases. Don't reject it outright.
PS: I should mention that we live on a country with a civilized health care system where her treatments were paid for by the state's Social Security. No one in this story had to deal with "can we afford this treatment" problems. If you are in that situation, I am sorry for you.
Yes, chemotherapy has very adverse side-effects. But it's also the best course of action we currently have for a lot of cancer patients. It varies depending on the type, grade and stage of the illness, as well as the patient's overall health [1]. It should not be rejected outright.
Now for my personal anecdata: My sister in law was in her 30s when they detected her breast cancer, and got chemo for some time. It was a very difficult time for her, but it worked - the cancer receded. She kept having to do get periodical checks to keep tabs on it.
Unfortunately her cancer came back, and this time it was more aggressive - it resisted all treatments and eventually metastasised. They took her off chemo, but her health deteriorated very quickly anyway. She died 1 and a half years ago, at home.
On average, chemotherapy gave her and my brother around 7 years of life, in exchange of some very shitty quality of life moths due to side effects. They definitively made the right choice in taking chemo the first time, and not taking it the second time. A lot of people's cancers never come back.
I am not saying that chemotherapy is worth it in all cases. I am painfully aware that it isn't. But it is worth in a lot of cases. Don't reject it outright.
PS: I should mention that we live on a country with a civilized health care system where her treatments were paid for by the state's Social Security. No one in this story had to deal with "can we afford this treatment" problems. If you are in that situation, I am sorry for you.
[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326031