12 posts tagged “chemo”
I am now on my 6th new chemo cocktail. The onc didn't like the reaction I had to the last one and didn't want to up the steroid take because of the problems steroids cause, so he changed one of the cocktail ingredients and put me on a weekly infusion. I am now taking the combination Abraxane and Avastin. Abraxane is another Taxol derivitative, but different from the other two Taxols, so it's not supposed to cause as many side effects. I will still lose my hair, but that's fine. Side effects incude hair loss, Low white cell count, neuropathy of the hands and feet, fatigue and weakness (nothing new), low red blood count, and sore mouth, along with others. I also had the doc up my dosage of oxycontin, and so far that has been one of the best things - I have had no pain since yesterday morning. That makes a big difference in my day.
I will be going out to lunch with the neighbor and really looking forward to it. I have an appetite again and had not lost any more weight, but hadn't gained any either. The onc was glad to see no more loss.
Tomorrow I will expect to see any side effects of the chemo. It feels like it might not be so bad and will hopefully be the combo that puts these cancer cells in remission!
I have already been up longer than I was at any one time yesterday. So - I must be feeling better. LOL The scary part to me is that the onc is trying the chemos with the mildest side effects first. If they get much worse than this, not sure that it is going to be worth doing. Of course, if the side effects only last two or three days, then that makes a difference too. The side effects of Doxil and Avastin, so far, have been: fever, sore throat, ear aches, swollen glands around the neck, bone pain in the back, ribs, neck, legs, and of course, the aches from the fever...and let's not forget itching. When the pain meds did work, all I wanted to do was sleep.
Not much to say about the weather other than it is hot. For us to have a stretch of more than two days or so of hot weather is unusual. But, I hear that tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day then we will be in for a cool down. I can't even claim to be speeding through books with this round of side effects - can't stay awake long enough. LOL
After 5 hours at the cancer care center, I was ready to be home and in bed. The first infusion of the Avastin was 1 1/2 hours. It will be only an hour the rest of the infusions. The Doxil was an hour. So now I know, it will be 2 hours of infusion every three weeks. Now that the chemo has started, I plan on getting my hair buzzed this weekend and start wearing my little coal boy caps to bed to catch the pricklies as they fall out.
Talked to my youngest chick yesterday and he said that both he and my oldest chick were doing good. I was glad to hear that since I haven't heard from the oldest in quite some time.
Another infusion day. The last one of this round. I am going to be so glad. There have been a couple of problems crop up that I will wait to see whether they are chemo related before talking to the onc about them. He is quick to jump on tests and some things just clear up by themselves.
I do have to wonder how people can use drugs. I take narcotics and antidepressants out of necessity - but I take them as prescribed pretty much. I suffer from constipation for which I have to take laxatives and sofeteners daily, and still will get a bout of constipation. When I finally get things to going again, then I have the blood. So, knowing that constipation and blood are related, I figure that something gets aggravated up there. I know it's not cancer, my colonoscopy said so. So, knowing the problems I have while taking drugs as prescribed, the problems would be compounded with misuse. People sure do put their bodies through the wringer for that bogus high.
I am loving this weather. It is cool and comfortable. Sunny, but that cool breeze blows almost constantly.
We went to the lunch buffet at the local casino yesterday. It was exceptionally good - corn on the cob, some of the best ham I've eaten, watermelon, grapes, orange slices...just an all around good buffet. I didn't care for the shrimp or crab claws this time, so they either cooked or seasoned them different, or it was a kind that I hadn't tried before.
The torch lilies - aka Red Hot Pokers beginning to bloom. There are going to be a lot of them.
The effects of the chemo have continued to accumulate, and I am tired pretty much all the time. However, I haven't been hit with the debilitating fatigue. So, in that respect, the side effects of CMF are milder.
Side Effects of CMF: Tired, nauseated all the time, hair loss (I haven't mentioned that much, have I? LOL), mild neuropathy (tingling and numbness in the fingertips and one toe feels like an ingrown toenail)
Things that I don't believe are side effects: Bone pain in the lower back, ribs, legs and right shoulder and neck. This I believe, is actually from the cancer itself. If not, then the onc and I are going to have to talk.
All in all, this has been the easiest and the hardest chemo cocktail. Easy because I missed out on that excrutiating leg pain, debillitating fatigue, total loss of hair, fingernails and toenails, and the mental disorientation of the 26 weeks of the first rounds of chemo. It's been hard, because this is the first time throughout cancer treatment that I have experienced such nausea. It wouldn't be so bad if the appetite left too - but I want to eat, it just makes me sick. LOL
In light of this, it will be interesting if there is another chemo cocktail to follow, to see what side effects it will bring. Being aware of why I feel like I do, makes it easier to handle.
Rain!!!!! We are finally getting some rain. It has been sprinkling off and on this morning and things do look wet. Barney, of course, does not like this - but the flowers sure do.
Enjoyed a beautiful day yesterday...again. And it seems that I use 'yesterday' a lot, but considering I wait to do a post til the next day, it kind of figures in there all the time. LOL Anyway, it was a sunny, but cool, day and I was up for the biggest part of it. Didn't do much - we did go to the casino for a good buffet. It does feel good to feel hungry again, even though it is almost constant and I wonder if the mind is reacting in anticipation of the dose of steroids it will get today.
Another infusion of the two poisons - and I will be done for 2 weeks. I still find it funny that they put on the hazmat gear to give me these infusions because the cocktail is so poisonous and damages skin - but that is what they put directly into the vein to the heart. I am supposed to not touch the chemo pills - just shake them out into the cup - because, once again, they are poisonous. But, I throw them down my throw 14 days a month.
The little sailboat at sea is a lot like me - a small fish in a big pond. Defiantly, I plow my way through the waves in spite of listing now and again.
One of the things about cancer treatment is that everything constipates you. The chemo, pain pills, antidepressants, antinausea pills - all cause problems that cause major discomfort; and when you're body is being bombarded by all these treatments, any discomfort is major and very tiring. Then something is wrong with your laxative and they pull it off the shelf. I'm speaking of Sennekot-S...a very mild, but effective product. So now, I am having difficulties finding something that is not so harsh on the body. I will get a suggestion from my onc this morning. I want some more of those feel-good days!
Yesterday was once again spent sleeping and reading - more sleeping than reading. I did talk with the youngest chickie and my mother, played with Barney a bit outside. Since he is a terrier, he has a very high level of energy. Unfortunately, neither the better half nor I have this level of energy. So, I take him outside and get him to running circles on a 14-ft leash. The faster he runs, the more I cheer him on. It doesn't take him long to tire of that game. LOL But, he runs out some of that energy and I feel better for crating him so much.
My oldest chickie is getting ready for surgery. She bounces back from surgeries so fast, I hope this one is as easy as the rest of them have been. She'll be up and going in no time.
This is going to have to be another quickie. I do thank you all for your comments on yesterday and will be getting back soon to visit all the other blogs.
Chemotherapy does some pretty strange things to a person's body. The one thing it does, is lower the immune system. For the past few days, I have not really wanted to eat much of anything - that's a new one for me. It had never affected my appetite before! Yesterday I started running a fever. We had decided to see what it was before the better half left for work because I know when it shoots up to 103, I don't function well at all. LOL Fortunately, by the time he left it had gone from 101.9 to 99.9, so I told him to go ahead and go to work. If it started climbing again, I'd call him. Got up this morning and it was down to 98.8. Not too shabby but still high for me. Since then it has gone up and down like a yo-yo, but never getting above 100.1. What I do want to do, is sleep. So, that's what I do.
Why go into all that? It gets to be paranoia with cancer. Every new ache becomes important. When running a temp, you get almost manic about taking it. Normal little things become major things in the blink of an eye. Why am I running a fever? Who knows! That's chemo for you.
Today I am feeling some better and the temp has remained within the normal range for a couple of hours, so I am off back to my bed and book (I am reading Dean Koontz The Odd Hour. I have to say that this is not the best of the Odd series.).
From the first day of my diagnosis, I have been accepting - by God's grace I have accepted my diagnosis, treatment, restaging, remission, and the new mets party going on with a whole new round of chemo. I started my CMF a week ago today, 21 Apr 09. With the Prednisone, Dexamethasone and Benadryl premed, the MF infusions, and the daily Cytoxin, I just keep on going and going and going. Smiling my way through, accepting that which I cannot change, determined to go as far as I can. Well, not sure what's happened.
Friday was my first pain free day since 12 Apr 2007. Yesterday, I even got out and gardened a bit - today, I feel NORMAL pains of doing work that I am no longer accustomed to. But yesterday was something else. I asked my onc and the onc nurses - could I be having a psychotic break? Is it side effects of chemo? What is going on? I felt rage...a very dangerous rage and one that scared me because I was going to act on that rage. I put myself in the bedroom and shut the door - warned my husband that if he wanted to live, to leave me alone. Kept myself from the new puppy, because I just wanted to smash it over and over against the house. These were not just imaginings or thinking of things to relieve the rage...it was something I so easily was beginning to act upon. I removed myself, which was a good thing. The onc and the nurses feel it could very well be a psychotic break and that I was fortunate enough to recognize symptoms and stop the actions. It could also be a side effect of the chemo. It could also be, that for the first time since this all started, I realized THIS was the rest of my life.
What is 'THIS'? Doctor visits. Chemo. Remission. Doctor visits. Chemo. Remission. For how long? How long do I want to keep treatments going? Every time the mets pop up again? Actually, right now, I do have an answer to that question - for as long as I don't have the pain! And if chemo with mets stops the pain, I suppose that it will be the cycle til it just don't work anymore or I am cured. LOL
Anyway - I do have a door open if I feel the need to talk to a counselor. But, it is going to be interesting to see - if this is a side effect of the chemo, along about next Monday I will be on the phone to the oncology clinic giving them the symptoms I am feeling. If it's not the chemo, then we will work from there - maybe up my antidepressant or antianxiety.
I'm still not sure. LOL
It was another pretty day yesterday. Got my infusions and start my cytoxan this morning. So far, knock on wood, the chemo has given me no side effects. A little information about the chemo combo CMF:
CMF is an acronym for the three-drug "cocktail" I'll be getting. This particular combination is unusual in that it's been found effective for women with both node-negative, and node-positive breast cancer.
First off, here're the names of the drugs that make up the acronym: cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan); methotrexate (Amethopterin, Mexate, Folex); and fluorouracil (5FU). How do these three drugs work together to kill cancer? Basically, each attacks your cancer cells in a slightly different way. "C" attaches itself to the cancer cell's DNA, which then gets tangled up and is unable to replicate itself (sneaky!). "M" prevents cells from using folic acid, a vitamin that's critical for their growth and development; without it, they die. And "F" is made up of molecules that look very much like the molecules in normal cells, but they're structured slightly differently; this very small difference is enough to keep cells from functioning properly, once "F" makes its way into them. And when cells can't function, they die.
So, since I live in a perfect world, this is the way things will work. LOL
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