[Erin]

Hi,

I had a similar dilema, which the folks on this site helped me resolve. I had to decide whether to postpone treatment by 3 weeks to take a much anticipated vacation - a "trip of a lifetime" - or to start TCH and take the trip between round 2 and 3. Ultimately I decided to cancel the trip for now, and plan to do it as a end-of-treatment celebration next year. This is just me, everyone responds differently to treatment. But I know before I started I rather arrogantly assumed that I would be able to handle it well, but now I have been quite humbled by the reality.

Now that I have 1 round of TCH under my belt I am very glad I did not plan to take the trip while on treatment. While the treatment and side effects were manageable, I certainly was not up to the stress of traveling, and would not have felt good enough to enjoy many activities associated with vacation. I needed to be in my own home, my own bed, with easy access to whatever I needed, and with friends and family to take care of me. Not in a strange place, in a strange bed, having to hunt for a pharmacy in the middle of the night. My side effects were not so severe and I only missed work the day of chemo and the day after. Still by the end of the day on day 3-9 I was done in - exhausted and under the weather.

Some other things you might want to consider are the possibility of complications you had not anticipated, the risk of being around crowds while your white blood cell counts are down (risk of infection and illness), and, since you are going to a conference, "chemo-brain".

I developed cellulitis in the vein they used for chemo (I get a port next week) and also developed a minor problem with my eyesight which they think is a result of the stress of cancer and the treatment. The cellulitis would have resulted in a hospital stay had I not been close by where my onc felt comfortable monitoring me while I was at home. I cannot imagine having to find medical care while out of town.

You said you were planning on going to a conference and needed to be "with-it" For me, this would have been a problem. I have had some trouble with chemo-brain. I have a fairly technical job and have always been known for my grasp of the complex regulations associated with my field and a good ability to recall facts and figures from memory. Day 3-9 of my first round were a serious wake-up call. I had decresed memory, decreased ability to recall words and names, and serious problems with complex thinking. I would look at something that might be moderately difficult normally, like a program budget, and not be able to make heads or tails of it. Thank god I have a wonderful and understanding supervisor and staff!! :-)

Everyone has to make thier own decision. And you may just sail through it much better than me. But I am glad I have chosen to slow-down and not demand so much from myself during this period. I feel good about saving my energy to concentrate on healing and beating this thing. As everyone on this site told me, life will go on after treatment is over, there is nothing that cannot wait until I am done with all this.

Hope that is helpful :-) Please keep us informed about what you decide...