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Chemotherapy mainly refers to the treatment of administering orally or intravenously. Methods of chemotherapy have advanced greatly, and its curing effects have also improved much, due to the development of new drugs, supportive psychotherapy, and standard therapy. However, cancer drugs still cannot work selectively on cancer cells only, and they still damage normal cells along with the bad ones. This is the side effect of chemotherapy; myelotoxicity, the slowdown of bone marrow function to produce white blood cells, red blood cells and plasma cells, is caused by almost all anticancer drugs.
A patient hardly realizes that s/he has the myelotoxicity, unless s/he suffers such complications as infections and bleeding. However, once complications occur, the patient will fall into a critical condition and be vitally at risk. If this happens, the patient will be exhausted not only physically but also mentally, which may negatively affect the continuation of cancer treatment.
If you suffer the complications, you could become afraid of going out, due to the fear of infection, or feel forced to lead a restricted daily life for fear of bleeding. These mental changes are quite normal for everyone. However, if such changes do not go away but continue for some time, you should consult a medical expert at the earliest stage, to relax yourself and take appropriate preventive measures.
You can prevent yourself from falling into a critical condition by discovering complications early, and responding to them appropriately. In particular, chemotherapy outpatients should observe their physical changes carefully at home, and look for any subjective symptoms early, to enable quick response to them. This handbook contains self-check sheets to fill in the values of your test data and subjective symptoms. The handbook also explains about myelotoxicity, states the signs and points of attention of leukopenia (decrease in white blood cells), thrombocytopenia (decrease in platelets), and anemia, and provides how to respond to them.
At the same time, this handbook advises on what to prepare for a disaster and what cares to take for living at a shelter should you experience a disaster while you are undergoing chemotherapy. In times of disaster, you will probably not be able to take infection control that you are used to taking in your daily life. Supplies will also run short on disaster occasions. Therefore, it is important that you prepare your requirements for disaster in advance, and think up any possible measures available at a shelter.
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