Lymphoma Awareness: Chemo Side Effects

As discussed intheprevious blog,this month is Lymphoma AwarenessMonth and given that there is still very little informationshared from cancer patients and survivors,I wanted to use my blog to bring more awareness to it(Yes,more medical information).

When someone is first diagnosed with cancer, the doctor will discuss the specific type of cancer, the best possible treatment for it and survival rates. The doctor will explain the details of the treatment and their side effects and will recommend when to start treatment based upon the cancer type and stage. For example, in my case, my type of cancer was an aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma which is called primary mediastinal large b-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that required a treatment plan of chemo and radiation. The beginning recommended chemo regime is called R-CHOP. These are initials for the following type of drugs used: R – rituximab, C – cyclophosphamide, H – doxorubicin (hydroxydaunomycin), O – vincristine…