Chemo info

Soooooo.... on 9/12, I met with my oncologist, Kent DiFiore. (He's awesome, by the way) And I'm basically going to get blasted with chemo.

We're doing a "dose dense" regimen, every 2 weeks (when usually it's every 3 weeks). There will be 8 treatments, so about 6 months total.

My first 4 treatments will be Adriamycin with Cytoxin and then my last 4 treatments will be Docetaxel. From what I hear, usually you lose your hair during the Adriamycin/Cytoxin treatments and during the Docetaxel treatment, it starts growing back. (Crossing my fingers)

I will go in for about 4 hours (and the place is right across the street from where I live) and get an IV (they might install a "port" which basically is an implant in my skin, around my upper chest wall, where they can hook up the IV and draw blood from - GROSS- it's something I would keep in me for the whole time - - - they will look at my veins to determine if my veins can handle a new IV every week or just to put in a port). After the 4 hours, I go home and let it take it's course for 2 weeks then start again. Before I get the next treatment for chemo, they will check my white blood cell count to make sure I have enough before they give it to me. (during chemo, they will give me an injection of white blood cells and anti-nausea medication to ward off bad effects).

From what they've told me, chemo destroys all cells, it doesn't just destroy cancer cells. And it especially destroys fast-growing cells, usually found in your hair, mouth, digestive system and reproductive system... So I have to be healed from all my surgeries before chemo starts or it can actually make my wounds open up again..

We originally scheduled chemo to start Tuesday, 9/18 at 8 a.m. BUT I am in the process of rescheduling it between September 21 - 28. The reason why is because my C section scar is acting weird, and I went into my OBGYN today and he said I have slight cellulitis (mayoclinic.com says that "Cellulitis (sel-u-LI-tis) is a potentially serious bacterial infection of your skin. Cellulitis appears as a swollen, red area of skin that feels hot and tender, and it may spread rapidly. Skin on the face or lower legs is most commonly affected by this infection, though cellulitis can occur on any part of your body. Cellulitis may be superficial — affecting only the surface of your skin — but cellulitis may also affect the tissues underlying your skin and can spread to your lymph nodes and bloodstream. Left untreated, the spreading bacterial infection may rapidly turn into a life-threatening condition.") So I'm on Cipro for 10 days, ending on 9/22.

So I want to make sure I'm healed well enough to endure chemo.

AND, I went to a chemo clinic on 9/12 and here are the side effects to my chemo drugs (besides fatigue and nausea:

Adriamycin
Effects your heart
If it gets out of the vein, it destroys the surrounding tissue/muscle (so they do an "IV push")
Orange Urine
Causes mouth sores
Cytoxin
Bladder Damage
Sinus Headaches
Docetaxel
Shortness of breath
Hives, flushing, itching
Pulmonary edema syndrome (accumulation of fluid in the lungs)
Retain fluid
Neuropathies (tingling in fingers/toes)


YIPPEE!!!!! LET THE FUN BEGIN!

(oh and by the way, I found a great new website, http://www.hatswithheart.com that has magnificent head wrapping things... so I'll go by their store this weekend hopefully and check it out.)