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When is it safe to be intimate After Chemo/Immunotherapy Treatments?
Bladder Cancer | Last Active: Feb 13 11:31am | Replies (7)Comment receiving replies
@colleenyoung We did ask the doctor and he said chemotherapy drugs leave bodily fluids within 72 hours, so he advised we wait 3 days. We've been married 40 years and intimacy is still important to us. Yes, intimacy comes in many forms physical, emotional, and spiritual. Thank you for your response and I would be open to hearing from anyone who has experience with this topic. It's so important that no one feels alone on this journey. We are just beginning and we have been told it will be a long and difficult road ahead, but our faith and the encouragement from others will carry us.
Stacey
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@sdvilligan Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. As you can see, there are few questions that are inappropriate.
Treatment for different cancers, and the wide variety of treatments done these days, can certainly have a range of side effects. May I relate it from my perspective? I deal with a blood cancer that is incurable. I have been on treatment since Aug 2021. In addition to that I have end stage kidney disease, and am on daily dialysis since Aug 2022. My husband and I have been married since April 2018. So, we are not "long timers" in our relationship. For us, intimacy has certainly taken a new meaning, basically because I do not have the emotional or mental bandwidth to participate in intercourse. So, we focus more on loving actions, or snuggling. Truthfully, for him, it is a poor substitute, but it is what I can do. Beyond the physical, remember to take into consideration the mental and emotional aspects of your relationship.
Bless you on your journey.
Ginger