It really is okay to advocate for yourself, the nurses are very good at telling the difference between someone who is plain scared due to previous adverse reactions and someone is being a PITA. The chemo unit also organised for my DH to stay with me after my third adverse reaction, the space on my unit is very limited so there has to be an exceptional reason for a relative to stay in the waiting room let alone the unit. They also made sure I always had a chair next to the nurses station without others each side and would warn other patients I was exceptionally nervous and anxious for very good reasons and so might not be up for chatting. I think l only managed to talk to one person on my last pre surgery round and that was someone I recognised from the same oncologists clinic who was trying to crochet with a cannula for chemo in place.
My intention is not to add to your genuine concerns, it’s an effort to let you know you are not alone. The chemo nurses do a lot of extra training on top of their nursing degree to become chemo nurses and they continue to train afterwards. They know which drugs can cause adverse reactions and keep a very careful eye out for them. If they know you have had previous adverse reactions they keep an even closer eye and may well bring in another with far more experience to help when you have a future drug. There is always a duty doctor on a unit as the just in case can happen but often its because someone has turned up for chemo who might not be well enough for it. It really is okay to ask the chemo nurse looking after you what they would do IF you have any further adverse reactions. Remember most can be solved with an oncologists help. If like me you continue to have adverse reactions then oncologists will have a plan b, c and d up their sleeves to try. They follow NICE and other guidelines using the drugs known to help most that are cost effective for the NHS to use and can work upwards and use alternatives IF reactions to a certain chemo drug continue.
I will admit I had no idea the 1 in 10 would be me nor that the doctors would not be able to control the reaction due to me having an allergy to Ducataxel and paxitaxel drug carriers. I wish someone had let me know there are alternatives, that the nurses and doctors on duty are there to keep you as safe as possible and continue to train to do so AND your oncologist can be contacted by you via their secretary if you are worried following a bad adverse reaction.
I have now completed the heavy side of chemo with my oncologists and chemo units support that is something none of the nurses from the chemo unit and BCN team ever expected me to manage. I never expected I could manage to get there either only my oncologist did. It is possible to do chemo after adverse reactions but it is still not easy as you can never shake off what if so take what support you are offered and give consideration to any suggestions medical staff make to try and make chemo easier for you to do.
Hope all goes well for you going forward.