I don't have personal experience with chemo (yet) because my stage-4 cancer is still castrate-sensitive, but from supporting a friend through it a couple of years ago, I can say that for him it was far from the nightmare TV and movies make it out to be.

It did affect his energy level and appetite for a while after each treatment. His hair thinned but didn't all fall out, and it grew back afterwards each time. He was still able to ride his bicycle and go out for pizza with me after he'd recovered from treatment for a few weeks, but he did lose a fair bit of weight.

Even a day or two after a session, he was able to sit with me on my front porch and drink mint tea and eat (and enjoy) Peek Frean Crème cookies.