In the German language the word Schmuck means jewelry, adornment. The etymology of the pejorative meaning is a matter of some disagreement. The lexicographer Michael Wex, author of How to Be a Mentsh (And Not a Shmuck), writes that the Yiddish term and the German term are completely unrelated.
A fundamental philosophy of medical oncology, including combination chemotherapy, is that different drugs work through different mechanisms, and that the results of using multiple drugs will be synergistic to some extent.
Your health care team may give you chemotherapy at the clinic, doctor's office, or hospital. With some types of chemotherapy, you might take the drugs at home. How long does chemotherapy take? Chemotherapy is often given for a specific time, such as 6 months or a year. Or you might received chemotherapy for as long as it works. Side effects from many drugs are too severe to give treatment every day.