Medical Stuff

For those of you who might be interested in the technical side of chemo, this post is for you. Yesterday I met with the pharmacist at the cancer center to go over what drugs are going to be administered and potential side affects. Today I went to the pharmacy and came home with a whole bag full of drugs to help prevent or fight side effects. I'll need to take a drug called Dexamethasone starting the day before chemo, the day of, and the day after. This is a steroid that will help prevent fluid build-up in the lungs. I will also be taking glutamine, which is a natural supplement prescribed by my naturopath to help prevent some of the chemo side effects, on days 1-4 of my cycle. On Thursday will be my first chemo, starting at 9 a.m.  and lasting about four hours. I will receive an antihistime first, which will more than likely make me drowsy, to prevent a potential allergic reaction. I don't know which order they will be administered, but the chemo regime is called TCH. The T is Taxotere and it targets fast-growing cells. This is why I'll lose my hair. This drug also could cause nail damage so they'll recommend soaking my fingers and toes in ice water while this is administered to help prevent this. The C is Carboplatin and this drug attacks cells in the resting stage. The side effects include hair loss, possible numbness at the ends of my fingers or toes, and potentially a metal taste in my mouth. Both of these drugs could also cause nausea and other flu-like symptons. If the nausea gets bad, I have anti-nausea medicine. My blood count will also be closely monitored, as it will definitely cause a drop in white blood cells, so I need to be careful about my exposure to germs. Th H is Herceptin and is a relatively new drug that targets breast cancer cells specifically and prevent these cells from reproducing rapidly. I will be getting this drug weekly during my 18 weeks of chemo, and then every 3 weeks for the rest of the year. Most people experience minimal side effects with this drug, so I hope I'm like most people.

On days one and two of chemo, I should be feeling okay (thanks to the side benefit of the steroid), as long as I don't have any adverse reactions to any of the drugs. Fatigue and flu-like symptons will probably hit me hard on day three (Saturday) through Monday or Tuesday. My white blood count (wbc) will continue to drop for up to 14 days, and then start to recover. I will go in for Hercepton infusion on days 7 and 14, and then start the new cycle again on day 21 (which I think is July 5th). Every three weeks will begin a new cycle until I finish six cycles.

None of these side effects (besides the potential damage to nails) was a surprise to me. I know it isn't a surprise to God. For those who are praying for me through this journey, the specific prayer requests for chemo is that I not have any adverse or dangerous reactions to any of the drugs, that I will continue to trust God and not worry, that my white blood cells stay in an acceptable range, and I don't develop an infection. If my wbc drops too low, then I'll need a shot to bring them up and the side effect to this is bone pain. This is all under God's firm hand, so I'm confident that He will bring out a good result from all this. With this three-pronged attack on the enemy cancer cells, we will go to battle in order to win this war.

Reading all this info (and there is much more, but I spared you all the details) is daunting. I've been reading blogs of others who have gone through or are in the middle of chemo, and they are able to live relatively normal lives.during treatment. One lady even trains for triathlons. I am inspired by their stories. Yesterday after I met with the pharmacist, I stopped by the cancer support center at the hospital.  The volunteer at the center was a beautiful, spry lady in her late seventies, I'll guess, who said she was a 27-year breast cancer survivor. She helped me find a wig (for free--they get them donated to the center) and I had such an enjoyable time chatting with her and trying out different hair colors and styles. I am continually amazed at people I have met because of this journey. Right now, I am facing a tough battle, but with God on my side, we will win. For I am convinced that "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39)