If you are prescribed a course of chemo at one of the public hospitals you will be given information in Spanish, we have translated some of the leaflets handed out at the hospital so if you are given one please let us know and we can send you the English version if we have it.
Each patient is different, so it is hard to say exactly what your experience will be like but one of our patients who is having chemo at the moment has made some observations that she would like us to share, hoping that they may be helpful for others going through the same process.
WEIGHT
Chemo, like many medicines, is administered according to your weight, so it is important to make sure that they have an accurate record of your weight when you start treatment and throughout. If they have your weight wrong they can’t calculate the right amount of medication so this is really important.
SIDE EFFECTS FORM
In Son Espases you can request a document called REGISTRE DELS EFECTES SECUNDARIS DEL TRACTAMENT, you need to ask the nurses in the chemo ward for this form,they do not normally give you this unless you ask for it, but when they do you get two so they can see if there are changes from one visit to the next. The form is pretty simple, but if you have a problem let us know and we can help you with a translated version.
DENTIST
Make sure you get any dental treatment you may need done before you start chemo as once you are having chemo you cannot receive dental treatment due to risk of infection.
PORTACATH
If you are scheduled to have a portacath fitted and are on blood thinners, you will need to go to your PAC two weeks before the operation so they can adjust your medication, they don’t always inform you of this when they give you the appointment for the surgery.
These are just a few things that we hope will help you, if you have an experience of your own that you would like to share with us please do get in touch.