Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: Side Effects
- Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis is starting to get her energy back after completing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer last month, she recently told Fox News Digital.
- Chemotherapy for breast cancer uses strong drugs to kill cancer all over the body. It is possible that patients get this treatment to shrink a tumor before surgery, afterward to get rid of any remaining cancer cells or on its own if the patient cannot have surgery.
- There are quite a few side effects that come along with chemotherapy treatment; one of the most common, and dreaded, is hair loss. Other side effects include nausea, constipation and fatigue.
During the same interview, the first lady highlighted two things that have motivated her to keep fighting: her children (Madison 5; Mason, 3; and Maime, 22 months) and Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed plan to allocate $100 million of Florida's state budget toward cancer centers. The $100 million figure is a 60% increase over the previous year's budgeted allocation.
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Casey DeSantis' Breast Cancer Battle
Gov. DeSantis announced in October 2021 that his wife, Casey DeSantis, 41, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The stage and type of her breast cancer remains unknown to the public. In December, she spoke publicly for the first time about her diagnosis, revealing some new details about the timeline of her diagnosis.She told a crowd gathered at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., that she did not experience any symptoms initially, but a vague sense of uneasiness drove her to schedule a visit with her OB-GYN.
Her doctor did not see any cause for concern, but Casey could not shake her suspicion. One month later, she called again to request a mammogram. This time, her concerns were confirmed she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Casey DeSantis began chemotherapy treatment shortly after, and last month, the governor and first lady announced that she had finished her breast cancer treatment.
Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer
As previously mentioned, Casey DeSantis said she is starting to get her energy back; it is not uncommon for patients to have low energy levels while going through chemotherapy, as it takes its toll on the body.
An Overview of Breast Cancer Treatment
Chemotherapy for breast cancer uses strong drugs to kill cancer all over the body. It is possible that patients get this treatment to shrink a tumor before surgery, afterward to get rid of any remaining cancer cells or on its own if the patient cannot have surgery.
Whether or not to have chemotherapy can also be the patient's choice, depending on their age, the type of cancer they have and its stage.
If the patient's breast cancer is triple-negative, which means the three main types of receptors estrogen, progesterone and the HER2 protein do not fuel the cancer, chemotherapy is typically the treatment. This is because the cancer does not respond to certain targeted therapies.
Women who are diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer have high levels of the HER2 protein on the outside of their cancer cells. For patients with early-stage disease, meaning they have relatively small tumors and no lymph involvement, a number of HER2-directed therapies have dramatically changed the landscape. These include chemotherapy drug trastuzumab (brand name: Herceptin), as well as pertuzumab (brand name: Perjeta), which is a monoclonal antibody used in combination with chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy Side Effects
There are quite a few side effects that come along with chemotherapy treatment; one of the most common, and dreaded, is hair loss. Other side effects of chemotherapy can include nausea, constipation and neuropathy.
"It's one of the things that people can see from the outside that people may know that you are ill," Vivian Ruszkiewicz, a nurse practitioner with OhioHealth, a not-for-profit system of hospitals and health care providers in Columbus, Ohio, previously told SurvivorNet, "and that poses a lot of stress for patients."
Chemotherapy Side Effects Hair Loss
There are a large number of chemotherapy treatments that cause hair loss, but not all of them, she adds; others cause hair thinning. (If you are concerned about your hair, talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner about what to expect from your chemotherapy treatment.)
Casey DeSantis has been spotted in public during and after treatment; in photos and videos, she has the same long, brown hair she always has. But it remains unknown if it is her real hair, or a wig from chemotherapy-related hair loss.
.@SMarstiller and I had a great discussion today with Florida Hospital CEOs on visitation policies and on the incredible importance of families having the right to visit their loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals as they near the end of their lives. pic.twitter.com/iQWeB1I3yF
Casey DeSantis (@FLCaseyDeSantis) February 1, 2022
Ruszkiewicz said that some people who only experience partial hair loss still choose to wear a wig, like many people who lose their hair completely, before chemotherapy so that they are prepared, "so they can feel more like themselves during chemotherapy."
She adds that hair loss begins about three to four weeks after your first chemo treatment; you could start to see some hair regrowth about four to six weeks after your last treatment.
"Then it will kind of continue from there, as long as you aren't being treated with another medication that might cause hair loss," she says. "But in general, most people do have a resumption of hair growth, and can slowly over time put away their wigs and scarves, and are able to kind of go back to what they expected in terms of their hair growth."
In other words, remember that hair loss is temporary!
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