Cut in Dosage

I am having some neuropathy issues which is causing pain in my feet and hands associated with one of the chemotherapy drugs (Taxol). Essentially, it started out as feeling like I had a mild sun burn on my skin to now it feels like when your hands and feet get really really cold after you've been outside in the winter and then start to burn warming up and my hands and feet now have numb patches. I have felt these effects after each treatment, but after the first few treatments the effects were mild and they resolved themselves, but since the last two treatments, the side effect have only gotten worse and won't go away. So after chatting with the IT ladies at our local hospital and someone in the Oncology Department in GF, they have decided to cut my dosage of Taxol back by 10% starting this Friday. Neuropathy can resolve itself after treatment ends, but sometimes it doesn't. So the medical field walks a fine line with the patient in treating with Taxol once neuropathy presents itself. They want to use as much Taxol as possible to kill the cancer, but they don't want to leave the patient with a painful side effect that lasts the rest of their life either.

Twelve treatments down, four treatments to go...

No Reaction!

I had another treatment this morning, and all went well. My oncologist felt that my body didn't like the instant influx of Benadryl into my port, so he cut my dose of Benadryl in half and administered it orally so my body would absorb it more slowly. I still felt a slight tightness in my chest about 20 minutes after I took the Benadryl. It passed in about 20 minutes, and all went smoothly after that. My oncologist decided since all went well we can do the next three doses at our local hospital. This makes things a lot easier for us... a whole lot less travel and scheduling to do. Phew!

I'm still having a little trouble sleeping... my oncologist talked about cutting my steroid dose in half, but I'm not sure that actually got passed on to the pharmacy today, so we'll see how tonight goes.

We are celebrating my son's three year birthday tomorrow and my niece's 10 year birthday at my in-laws, so it should be a fun weekend. One of the bonuses of going to GF for treatment is family lives in the area, so we get to spend more time with family. Hmmmm.... family in GF and family in Rochester.... do you think God has provided for such a time as this? I know he has!

Ten treatments down, six treatments to go!

Excellent News and Not So Excellent News

Last Wednesday, I had a repeat MUGA scan to see what my heart function was doing. If it dropped more the 4% more, they would have to discontinue the Herceptin drug, which from my understanding is probably the most important drug in our toolbox to prevent a recurrence. My heart function had already dropped 6% during the first eight weeks of chemotherapy, so I knew that another 4% drop was not unrealistic. But I just had a real sense that God had me covered. He is in control and He knows the treatment which is best for me. If my heart function continued dropping and we had to discontinue the Herceptin, I would have been discouraged, but I knew God would still be taking care of me. My Oncologist wanted to meet with me Friday (two days later) to discuss my MUGA results.

My Oncologist told me that there usually isn't a decrease in the heart function once Herceptin is started, unless the post Adriamycin (Red Devil) MUGA shows a decrease in heart function during that treatment (like mine did). Well, here is the excellent news... my MUGA results didn't get worse and they didn't stay the same, they actually improved, and not just a little... A LOT! My MUGA results came back at 63%, which is 3% better then my prechemotherapy baseline and a 9% improvement from my last MUGA (post adriamycin). I am not a doctor, but I interpret those results as God is taking care of my heart so I can complete some more of the Herceptin.

The not so good news is I ended up having a very scary reaction to one of the chemotherapy drugs on Friday. My Oncologist isn't entirely sure which drug I reacted too, but most bets are on the Benadryl, of all things. That is one of the drugs that is supposed to prevent me from having a reaction, but apparently my body does not like it. I got nauseated, flushed, sweaty and had a very hard time breathing (it felt like I had a very heavy weight on my chest)... it was a terrifying experience that I hope I never have to go thru again. My husband said the worst of it lasted less then a minute, but it seemed like a very long time to me. Once they pushed some more medication to offset the reaction, things improved quickly. One of those drugs really knocked me out, and there are portions of that day afterwards that apparently I was walking and talking, but don't recall at all. And much to my  husband's amusement we stopped at Walmart to do some shopping and I was weaving thru the aisles like a drunkard. And boy did I sleep good that night!

Since I had a reaction, my Oncologist is not comfortable with me doing treatment unless he is on site, so he can be consulted if another reaction occurs. So it looks like at least the next two treatments with be in GF. This does make things a little more complicated for us, but we will make it work. We are just thankful my Oncologist is taking such good care of me.

After chemotherapy on Friday, we decided to take the kids on our first ever family tenting trip this weekend. It turned out to be a very relaxing time, which we all needed. Sleeping in tents wasn't even all that bad and the kids did great! We hope to get some more tenting in this summer.

The older kids are done with school, so routines are changing around here and there is more activity. The days are flying by, and before we know it chemotherapy will be done. We just completed treatment 9 out of 16, so only 7 more treatments to go!