WEBVTT FILE

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The middle of New York
City perhaps the last

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place you might expect
someone to go 'unwind.'

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But - you haven't
met Ivy Phillips.

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 "I can take long walks and just - it kind of helps to

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 feel the air, the breeze in your face.

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 It helps you to relax."

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Ivy had just moved to the
city, about nine years

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ago, when she found
a lump on her breast.

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 "And they said, "You're going to need a surgeon,'

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 and I was like, 'What?'

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 And they were like, 'Yeah, you have cancer.'

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Following surgery
and eight rounds of

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chemotherapy, Ivy's
breast cancer went into

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remission.

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 "Fast forward to 2015, and then I was diagnosed with

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 Ovarian cancer.

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 I had a pretty, large surgery followed by

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 chemotherapy again.

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 Everything was going well for about 11-1/2 months,

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 and found out that I had a recurrence, which

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 basically means that the cancer had come back.

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 Again, it involved more chemotherapy."

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Now, every other week, Ivy
gets an infusion through

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an IV, meaning the
medication is delivered

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directly into
her bloodstream.

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And every day she takes
Oral chemo - a pill.

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For some cancers,
chemotherapy may also be

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delivered other ways
including shots, thin

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tubes called
catheters, or creams.

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There are more than 100
different chemotherapy

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drugs.

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 "Sometimes people get one drug; but more often

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 people get a combination of drugs that work

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 actually differently - or maybe work better together

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 than they do apart."

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The medications that make
up your particular 'Chemo

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Regimen' are determined
by several factors -

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including the type of
cancer you have, and the

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goal of treatment.

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Chemotherapy is used to:
cure certain types of

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cancer; control the growth
of a tumor, or the spread

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of cancer cells, when cure
is not possible; shrink a

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tumor prior to surgery
or radiation; relieve

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symptoms a tumor is
causing, like pain or

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pressure; and to destroy
microscopic cells that may

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remain after a tumor has
been removed by surgery or

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radiation.

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 "Chemotherapy is considered "Systemic."

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 Some treatments are "Local," which means that

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 they only treat, say, a tumor that's in one spot.

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 But systemic treatment, which chemotherapy is,

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 goes all throughout your body.

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 So, it circulates, and it will treat something in

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 your lung as well as treat something in your liver or

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 anywhere else."

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But many chemotherapy
drugs cannot tell the

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difference between cancer
cells - which multiply

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uncontrollably and
healthy, normal cells -

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some of which also
grow very rapidly.

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 "Chemotherapy stops the growth of cells that are

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 dividing more quickly.

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 For example, it affects your hair follicles; and

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 that can result in hair loss."

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This is, in part, how
chemotherapy causes side

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effects.

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Hair loss is perhaps
the most familiar one.

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But chemo can also affect
fast-growing healthy cells

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in the bone marrow,
digestive tract, and

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sometimes nerves
and muscles.

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 "You should ask questions about what side effects,

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 you might expect during treatment, so you can

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 prepare for them."

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Your care team has very
good medications to treat

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- or, in some cases,
prevent - side effects.

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And to help reduce the
severity of side effects,

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treatment is usually
spread out over time.

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The period between
treatments is called a

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"Cycle."

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Most cycles range
from two to six weeks.

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 "How long a cycle will be will depend upon what type

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 of cancer you have, what type of treatment you're

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 getting, what kind of dosing you have, and how

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 your body clears that chemotherapy."

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The number of cycles
varies as well.

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Your health care team will
let you know how many to

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expect.

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While you'll likely feel
worse on some days of your

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cycle and better on others
- you will be able to live

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your life throughout
treatment.

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 "People always envision the people in movies

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 getting chemotherapy, where they're miserable,

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 and that's not necessarily the case.

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 People live very good lives while on

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 chemotherapy."

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Ivy Phillips is proof of
that, having been on and

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off chemotherapy for
several years - and now on

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her current regimen
indefinitely.

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 "There's always the hope of You know what, maybe

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 one day I won't have to do this anymore - like maybe

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 at some point it won't come back.

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 You know, you just try to keep holding onto the

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 hope."