I’m just curious, for those of you with a cancer diagnosis - did you drive yourselves to chemotherapy appointments? This is assuming you don’t have any close friends or relatives able/willing to accompany you. And if not, did your hospital offer rides to and from? Did the rides cost anything? Do all hospitals provide this service?
I ask because my neighbor was in tears this morning - her mother who is in her 70’s and lives across the country has to go in for tests and they fear the worse. Her mother lives alone now and likes it that way - children, husband out of the picture. My neighbor is upset and plans to go see her mother as soon as she can, but the mother says don’t worry, I’ll just drive myself and if I can’t, I just won’t go.
The mother will not even consider moving back to this area, and my neighbor has just started a new job and can’t very well up and quit and go move to be with her mother.
This makes me very sad also, and I wonder what I would do if I were in that situation.
I know different kinds of drugs affect everyone differently, and some people are able to handle it, some need a ride. All my neighbor can think is, a 70 year old woman driving alone in bad weather!..I told her to call the hospital herself and see if they help out with rides, and she can find out more when she goes to see her mother. Until then, she is so distraught, just cries and cries. Can you tell me something encouraging to relay to her soon? Thank you.
When I started chemo, I asked the doctor that very question. He said, “Every patient reacts differently. Make sure you have someone ready to drive you the first time, and see how it goes.”
My treatment (CHOP + monoclonal antibodies + intravenous antihistamines) left me loopy, devoid of energy, and sleepy. Especially given that I live an hour from the hospital, driving myself would have been a VERY bad idea.
That said, her mileage may vary.
Another alternative (if the budget allows) is to prebook a motel room next to the hotel for the day of each treatment. Most hospitals have hotels close by for family members, and one of the hospital volunteers may even be able to get her there if there are problems.
American Cancer society has volunteers that drive people to the doctor and hospital. The Dr. might already know this but if not the patient can probably call them on their own.
It all depends on the medication received during Chemotherapy. There are many different medications that could be used. I can’t really tell you without know exactly what drugs your neighbor’s mother will be recieving. However, a pretty common drug included in the Chemotherapy cocktail is diphenylhydramine (Benadryl), this is also the exact same drug used in OTC sleep medications (Tylenol PM, Advil PM, Unisom, etc) so could definitely make her sleepy.
If you can find out the exact cocktail of drugs she is taking, I could give a better response, but that would probably be a little hard to do. I would have her get a ride for at least the first time and see how it affected her.
Another CHOP patient here – they gave me IV Benadryl to cut down on side effects, and I was sleepy and loopy most of the day. Definitely not a good idea to drive as I doubt I could have made quick decisions in traffic. Any cop that stopped me probably would have thought I was stoned or drunk.
I drove myself to ABVD chemo in my mid-20s, and once, during an ice storm, even walked the mile and a half there and back. However, I was young and otherwise in good shape, and I typically felt the strongest side effects several hours or a day after treatment (at which time I could barely navigate to the toilet).
For the first two years my husband drove himself to chemo and radiation treatments. Later the cancer spread to his eyes and brain, he needed a driver.
Edited to add: That sounds depressing–and I don’t want to leave that impression with someone dealing with cancer. His initial diagnosis was 3 months–esophogeal cancer already at stage 4. He beat the odds big time–we got nearly 3 years of health and happy times. He got to hold his grandbaby. I am so thankful for the chemo and radiation keeping the cancer under control.
They had me on a pretty serious dosage of IV Benadryl, too. I think that’s what caused a good chunk of my reaction, but it beat the hell out of the hives I had the first day. I pretty much just went home and crawled in a hole for a couple of days after each treatment.
I had a friend taking radiation/chemotherapy treatments. The first time someone drove her, but she learned that she was fine for about an hour after the treatment, then she was suddenly & completely exhausted. Since she lived about 45 minutes away from the hospital, she could drive herself home, she just had to be sure to leave right after the treatments so she was home within an hour.
And driving to the treatments was no problem at all.
So check it out, and see how she is affected. The first time, make sure someone is available to drive her home if needed.
And about that “if I can’t, I just won’t go” – bad idea. These treatments must be done consistently & regularly. Suggestion: buy her a half-dozen coupons for a taxi ride and give them to her.
My mother had chemo for nearly a year, and drove herself. She was tired after the treatment, but not horribly so. She set her treatments for Thursday afternoon. She did the treatment, drove herself home, drove herself to school on Friday, taught a full load, then drove herself home. She then basically collapsed for the weekend.
And mainly what the exact Chemo regimen is. Chemotherapy covers many different drug therapies. What one person gets for a particular cancer, isn’t necessarily what another gets for the same, or different, cancer. There are so many different chemotherapy drugs out there that it is really hard to get a baseline on anyone’s responses without knowing more details.
So basically, it all depends. She could drive herself, or she could not. It depends on what the exact drugs she receives are, and also how she reacts to those drugs. As before, I’ll recommend the same thing I recommend to most of my patients (paraphrased), get a ride the first time, and see exactly how it effects you. And if they change the chemotherapy regimen, see what they change, and get a ride again to make sure it doesn’t change how it effects you.
and I wonder what I would do if I were in that situation.