SamQKitty

Kim,
Yes, different types of cancer (and even different treatments for the same type of cancer) take different amounts of time. For many types of cancer, there are multiple options for treatment and the oncologist picks one based on the specific case. Even the exact same medication can be given in a different manner.

For example, people on Taxol usually get a treatment once every three weeks. However, I've heard of people getting a much milder dose once a week. And, some people get 6-8 treatments of the stronger dose, some only get 4-6.

So, as you can see, there really is no "standard" length of treatment for chemotherapy.

Radiation, however, is a different story. Although here, too, the treatment can vary, it's commonly done 5 days a week for a period of from 5-7 weeks.

Also, if both chemo AND radiation are being done, sometimes the chemo is done first, sometimes the radiation is done first, and sometimes the chemo treatments are "split", with half the treatment being given, then stopped while radiation is given; chemotherapy is then finished after the radiation treatments.

Ruth