With Easter around the corner, if you’re going through chemotherapy, you might not be feeling up to the challenge of dressing up for the holiday. Fortunately, since Easter falls on a Sunday, you might actually be able to rally! Here’s how and why…
During chemo, down is more the norm
People going through chemo often describe the experience as a rollercoaster. That’s only partially true, I think. While there are many undulations, there aren’t too many highs. Mostly, it’s a cycle of feeling varying degrees of less well than your normal self, followed by a return to a baseline that’s still sub-par. Sometimes the mental experience can be just as challenging – if not more so – than the physical one. The mindset required to battle cancer while your body is filled with toxins to fight the disease taxes you emotionally. To gussy-up for a formal occasion like Easter can be difficult because you just don’t feel like it, whether that feeling comes from your emotions or your energy level. Oftentimes, the two feelings are connected.
There can be a silver lining, though. The negative physical side effects from chemo tend to align with the timing of your infusions. The day you receive your infusion, you’re probably pretty out of it from the prep medications you receive. The day or two after your infusion, the effects of the chemotherapy may knock you down. I know in my case I used to call these my “zombie days,” because they were days when I kind of couldn’t even lift my head off the couch. The more time passes from the day of your infusion, the more likely how you feel will improve.
Planning for patterns
Chemo is administered differently for different types of cancer. The types of chemo drugs and the frequency of the infusions vary. In my personal case, I received chemotherapy in two phases. Each phase lasted three months, and each consisted of two different kinds of chemotherapy drugs. In Phase One, I received the two chemo drugs once every week; in Phase Two, I received the second set of chemo drugs (plus one immunotherapy drug) once every three weeks. For me, this meant there was less time in Phase One in which to “recover” between doses, but since the side effects of chemo are cumulative, by the time I got to Phase Two, I was also feeling worse for longer.
Despite this, I could identify a pretty consistent pattern to how I felt after each infusion. In fact, I started to plan for these feelings. If I needed to and availability permitted, I would schedule an infusion appointment to accommodate for an important future date, such as an anniversary or birthday.
Generally, too, cancer centers are Monday to Friday operations. That means patients have only five days during which they can receive their treatments. If you’re a person who wants to feel as best as possible by a Sunday, you can try to get your infusion as early the previous week as possible. And since Sunday is the farthest day from even the last day of the week patients can receive treatment (Fridays), it is the most likely day for most people to feel at least somewhat better!
This means, if you’re undergoing chemotherapy and want to break out your Sunday finest, the odds are in your favor. Plan ahead to secure an early-in-the-week infusion appointment, to hopefully feel even better. So take heart! Easter is around the corner and it’s time to consider a new cheery, spring hat or Easter-colored scarf to go with that special Sunday outfit of yours!