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Kelsey Iseminger

Professor Dean Leonard

English 1201-511

7 September 2019

Chemo: How Does it Work?

Over the summer, someone I love received the diagnosis that everyone dreads. My

boyfriend of eighteen months had been diagnosed with bone cancer. I was scared; no one that

close to me had ever been given a diagnosis that severe. We soon learned that the cancer cells

had localized in his left shoulder, meaning that it wasn’t anywhere else in his body. Though this

was excellent news, it was still cancer. In the following weeks he was in and out of various

doctor’s offices as I scrambled to keep up with all the new medical terminology.

As of now, Cameron has just finished up his third round of chemotherapy and is doing

fairly well with it. He is expected to be done with chemo by April 2020. Until then, he will

alternate between three and six day stays at Dayton Children’s Hospital for treatment. Confusing

and scary as it may be, I now have a perfect opportunity to ease some of my apprehension. In

doing a 10-12 page research paper on how chemotherapy affects cancer cells as well as the

patients themselves, I can get a solid understanding of what is going on with my boyfriend’s

treatments.

I feel like this topic is one that has already been well explored. Scientists and medical

researchers know exactly how chemotherapy treats cancer cells, and they also know most, if not

all, of the side effects it can have on patients. I think that it would be really helpful for me to

learn as much as I can about chemo. I think that learning about what how the medicine is

affecting Cameron will help me be more calm and at peace with the situation. I believe that
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chemotherapy is a highly effective type of medicine that is useful to all cancer patients. I also

believe that chemo has some interesting side effects, and I am curious to know about what causes

them. I already know that chemo is basically a poison to rapidly-growing cells in the body that

targets cancer cells. I also know that chemotherapy can make patients nauseous, can cause hair

loss, and can potentially lead to other health problems in the future. As odd as chemothereapy’s

side effects are, it is currently the closest thing we have to a cure for cancer, and I am grateful

that we have it.

In my research, I would like to find out exactly how chemo affects patients. How does

chemotherapy kill off cancer cells? I would also like to know why chemo is more effective for

some patients, and not as helpful for others. I am curious to learn about all the possible side

effects of chemo as well. What side effects can come with chemo, and why is every case

different? What I hope to find out is why different types of chemotherapy work differently. To

start to look for the answers to these questions, I am hoping to find some good material from

credible, online medical journals. I am not sure how far Sinclair’s library reaches into the

medical field, but that would be an excellent place to explore. I also hope to find some results

from online studies that look at the different side effects of chemo. In addition, a source that

explains the chemical side of chemotherapy would also be useful.