A closer look
Surviving cancer is a heroic feat, but walking away with permanent nerve damage that makes your feet feel like they are constantly on fire is a miserable consolation prize. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) happens when toxic chemo drugs obliterate the delicate peripheral nerves in the extremities. To fight this, oncology wards have adopted a brilliantly savage tactic: cryotherapy. By forcing patients to wear frozen gloves and socks during infusions, the extreme cold violently constricts blood vessels, literally barricading the toxic drugs from reaching the nerve endings. It is agonizingly cold, but freezing your fingers is vastly superior to losing the ability to button your own shirt.
