Conditions & Diseases

9 Things To Make Your Chemotherapy Experience More Comfortable

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When you are going through can­cer treat­ment, and more specif­i­cal­ly chemother­a­py, your health care team is there to make sure you are com­fort­able. You will have the lux­u­ry of your own pri­vate reclin­ing chair along with med­ica­tions to help man­age side effects but bring­ing a favorite book, movie, blan­ket or friend can also pro­vide com­fort dur­ing your treat­ments. The num­ber of chemother­a­py ses­sions and dura­tion of each treat­ment will vary from patient to patient and even vis­it to vis­it, but it is help­ful if you bring some things to help pass the time and keep you com­fort­able while receiv­ing treatment.

What's Causing Your Congestion?

As tem­per­a­tures drop and sea­sons change, it’s not uncom­mon to devel­op symp­toms such as nasal con­ges­tion, sneez­ing, itchy eyes, cough­ing, facial pres­sure and body aches. You may shrug off these symp­toms as noth­ing more than a head cold, but they may be caused by sea­son­al aller­gies or a sinus infec­tion which may require dif­fer­ent treat­ments to resolve. To help you deter­mine what’s behind your symp­toms, board-cer­ti­fied oto­laryn­gol­o­gist (ENT), Feodor Ung, MD, shares dif­fer­ences between colds, aller­gies and sinus infec­tions and how you can get symp­tom relief.

Ear Tube Surgery

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Place­ment of ear tubes in chil­dren is often per­formed at the hos­pi­tal or at The Sur­gi­cal Cen­ter of DuPage Med­ical Group. The pro­ce­dure is per­formed under gen­er­al anes­the­sia that is admin­is­tered by a mask. In most cas­es, no IV is required. Pro­ce­dure length is vari­able, but often lasts about 15 min­utes. Min­i­mal bleed­ing from the ears can be expect­ed. Once the child has awak­ened from anes­the­sia, is able to drink, and par­ents are com­fort­able, every­one can go home. Imme­di­ate recov­ery from anes­the­sia can last about an hour.