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!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment