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Chemotherapy Treatment
Chemotherapy Treatment Process: What to Expect
You may receive treatment once a day, once a week or once a month, depending on the type of cancer you have and the drug(s) prescribed. Those factors, along with your goals, also determine how long treatment lasts.
We divide treatment into blocks of time called cycles, with breaks in between to give your body a chance to rest and recover. A common approach is to give chemotherapy in three- to four-week cycles followed by breaks, for four to six total cycles.
Learn more about the most common ways to receive chemotherapy:
Chemo Treatment: Prep Classes at Stanford
During treatment, our team tests your blood and examines your body to gauge how well the chemotherapy is working. We take the time to explain these steps and what the results mean.
One of our nurse practitioners provides a private class for you and your loved ones beforehand, which includes:
- Description of the prescribed drug(s), dose and schedule
- Explanation of what a typical treatment day is like and what to expect
- Discussion of possible side effects and what we do to prevent and treat them (learn more about chemotherapy side effects)
- Tour of the infusion suites, if getting outpatient intravenous (IV) chemotherapy
- Answers to your questions and concerns
Our patients have told us these classes help ease their stress and anxiety and give them a sense of control over their treatment.
- Learn more about our class, Managing and Understanding Your Chemotherapy.
- Watch Stanford Oncology Nurse Chris Tucker talk about chemotherapy.