From chemo to chemo-the temporal paradox of chemotherapy

Purpose To uncover the experience of time in women undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Methods A combination of consensual qualitative research and Giorgi's descriptive phenomenology. Results The key phenomenon found and pre-reflectively organizing the patients' experience was the temporal paradox of chemotherapy-a sense of both acceleration and deceleration in between chemotherapy sessions that desynchronizes patients with the time of others. Conclusion The experienced paradoxes concentrating around the timings of the chemotherapy treatments are of particular relevance for supportive care. It is particularly important to acknowledge the disturbing effect of the cyclical nature of chemotherapy.

Automated summary

The study revealed a temporal paradox experienced by women undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, where they felt both an acceleration and deceleration in time between chemotherapy sessions, causing a desynchronization with others. The paradoxes surrounding the timing of chemotherapy treatments are particularly important for supportive care, highlighting the disruptive effect of the cyclical nature of chemotherapy.