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Two weeks after revealing her breast cancer on social networks, influencer Caroline Receveur gave reassuring news to her fans, and spoke about her chemotherapy journey, halfway through. How are the possible effects of the treatment managed? Dr. Anne Sabaila, surgeon specializing in the management of breast cancer, enlightens us.
“I came back to life. I’m doing very well.” In a few words, the influencer Caroline Receveur wanted to reassure her fans on August 8, in an enthusiastic story. The 35-year-old woman announced on July 25 that she was suffering from aggressive hormone-dependent breast cancer, detected early, and starting a “targeted treatment that has very good results”. If the desire to fight was already present, the course was only beginning.
One year of planned treatment… and the side effects that come with it
To fight her breast cancer, Caroline Receveur must receive chemotherapy combined with two other drugs, injected for several hours each cycle, every three weeks. The young woman announces today that she is in her 3rd cycle out of 6, halfway through this first stage.. Then comes the question of surgery, even if the young woman does not yet know if it will be a mastectomy. His management should continue with a cocktail of radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy. Unot year of treatment in total, she estimates.
Regarding the undesirable effects, unsurprisingly, the influencer who keeps her spirits up, evokes very heavy effects, which she takes with philosophy, not highlighting any major problem at this stage. “Everything went well, everything is still going very well”she reassures, also mentioning the importance of the support received.
Possible side effects of chemotherapy
Treatments can indeed impact the lives of patients in different ways. Thus, the National Cancer Institute lists the most common effects suffered by chemotherapy patients:
- Hair loss ;
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Diarrhea;
- Decrease in white and red blood cells and platelets;
- Lesions in the mouth;
- Numbness of hands and feet;
- Skin disorders;
- Weakening of the nails;
- Menstrual cycle disorders;
- Cardiac disorders;
- Fatigue ;
- Allergic reactions.
However, the site specifies that the side effects of chemotherapy vary according to the drugs used, the dosages and the people (everyone reacts differently to the treatments). They can also vary from one course of chemotherapy to another and are moreover not systematic.
Appropriate care allows you to better live the treatment
But how do we manage the effects? Can we minimize them? Consulted on the subject, Dr Anne Sabaila Ollier, surgeon specializing in the management of breast cancer, explains it to us.. “Today, the goal of cancer medicine is to cure the patient while minimizing adverse effects and the impact that these may have on her quality of life.”
Multidisciplinary care is then quickly put in place:
“The first element is to accompany the patients and to be attentive to the effects felt, to see on which one can play, those which one can cancel or attenuate. These are often medical treatments, such as antiemetics, which prevent nausea and vomiting. These have made great progress and work well today. But of course, the treatment is not only medication, there is psychological treatment that can help with certain symptoms. support for sports practice, to resume a normal life; social support which can offer hair implants, psycho-aesthetic care; support from a sexologist; products to avoid vaginal dryness, etc. in charge of the patient is set up by health establishments in France. It aims to put all possible tools in the hands of patients, so that they can have access to all these aids”.
However, the oncologist would like to recall the first objective of these treatments:
“Of course, it is easy to think of the many undesirable effects of chemotherapy and hormone therapy, but these treatments are essential: they increase the chances of recovery, reduce recurrences, and in the case of cancers that cannot be cured , reduce symptoms and improve life expectancy. That too is not insignificant!”
Slide: 10 things to know about chemotherapy