Gemcitabine (Gemzar) belongs to the class of chemotherapy drugs and is used in the treatment of various cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, testicular cancer, and others.

When I relapsed, I received high-dose chemotherapy that was done inpatient. This treatment was called IGEV and was done four times over the course of three months.

IGEV chemotherapy was hard my hemoglobin fell to 5.0 (normal is 12 to 14) so I was fatigued, had weakness, and was unable to eat at times.

I had severe nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, weakness, and low blood counts. I had to inject myself everyday for a week with Neupogen to make sure my white blood cell counts (WBC) were high and I was not at risk for infections.I ate small meals and always made sure I was not in crowded places when my blood counts were low.

Fabiola L. (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Classical, Stage 2BX [Bulky Disease], Relapse)

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I started chemotherapy. I had two medications, Gemcitabine and a combination of Gemcitabine and Taxotere. I would have Gemcitabine on week one. It was a one-and-a-half-hour dose.

A week later, I would have another dose of Gemcitabine and an hour of Taxotere. Taxotere was my aggressive chemo, and it caused the majority of the side effects – the hair loss, nausea, all these different things.

Nicole B. (Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Stage 3, Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma [UPS])

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