Sunday, August 13, 2000
We went to the Mercury game Friday night, and it was gruesome. The high point of the night was the prime rib at Leinenkugel's before the game. I had said I was going to cut down on red meat, and now I find myself in a position where eating red meat will help my blood counts stay up. So it goes. Today we went to church. Other than that, we watched movies this weekend and chilled out. I re-read some of the material I have on her2/neu, radiation, and taxol. Some interesting things I found in the PDR about taxol:
- although my oncologist told me that virtually everyone gets the peripheral neuropathy with taxol, it is really just 60% (good news - there's a good chance I won't get this!);
- although I've been told that you can re-grow your hair while taking taxol, 87% of people taking just taxol lose all their hair, including body hair (may be time for another tattoo - dig it!);
- the bone/muscle pain that people say is the worst thing about taxol only affects 60% of people taking it (more good news - again, there's a chance I won't have this!);
- even though my oncologist says it doesn't really affect the bone marrow, the PDR says that its affect on white blood cell count is the major dose-limiting factor in the use of taxol, affecting 90% of people who receive it (bad news, since my white blood cell count is apparently on the low end of normal under normal circumstances, so it doesn't take much to drive it down).
- it also causes minor anemia in 78% of people who receive it. Severe anemia in about 15% of people who receive it.
- the mouth sores that it causes occur early on, within the first few days, rather than late like the ones I've had with the AC treatments.
I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. I still have my last AC treatment Tuesday. Then we are halfway done! I think a small party will be in order. I'm still trying to decide exactly how I want to do it.
posted by Karen Weber Sunday, August 13, 2000
Monday, August 14, 2000
Saw my wonderful GP today to go over our current treatment plan. He is upping the dosage on the Paxil - I feel that it has moderated the intensity of the hot flashes, but hasn't really affected the number of them. He also gave me more muscle relaxants so that I can follow through with the oncologist's recommendation for taking them for 5 days, starting the day before chemo, on a strict schedule to see if it controls the restless legs syndrome. We also discussed the anemia and he is going to review the labs. I told him that I don't want to run a marathon or plant a garden, I just want to sit at my computer for a couple hours without being dizzy and exhausted.Mom is down for the night. Tomorrow we'll head out for chemo about the time I normally try to roll out of bed. This will be the last AC - hooray! I'm going to sign off and start packing for tomorrow.
posted by Karen Weber Monday, August 14, 2000
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Well, I survived my 4th chemo. Very, very dizzy today. Very nauseated, but no barfing! It's a first. I have a small headache, despite the change in drugs. On the old drugs, though, it was a BIG headache, so this is an improvement and I like those! Not sure about the dizziness. It seems less tonight than it did when we first got home. My legs are restless, even though we started the muscle relaxants yesterday. They will be much better tomorrow, if all goes as usual. I was so glad that my assistant would be back from vacation during this chemo, then yesterday she tells me she wants tonight off. I was going to beg, plead, and whine to get her to reconsider, but then she told me it's her 21st birthday. How could I make her work? So I just had to do her evening work for her. Sitting at the computer the day I have chemotherapy is not fun. I break out in a cold sweat and my heart pounds if I stay up longer than 5 minutes. I've tried to teach the cats how to handle the rote stuff, but they aren't very good with keyboarding skills :) I made it though, and am about to take my muscle relaxant and bellergal for the hot flashes and hit the sack.Oh, one more thing. I was goofing around in the bathroom this morning in front of the mirror admiring my beautiful bald head and I stuck my tongue out at myself. The biggest sore I had last week - the one on the very tip of the tongue that I thought was healed because it isn't painful anymore - is still there. Smaller, but there. I showed it to the nurse this morning and gave her some information on a product called Debacterol used by dentists for mouth sores. One of the angels of Friends in Need sent the information. I looked at my tongue tonight and it is already starting to get red and the lymph vessels are starting to stick out. I have a suspicion that I have some kind of infection going on in the tongue, and it's just going to keep making me miserable until we get rid of it. The Debacterol is a topical treatment. If I'm right about the infection, it wouldn't help me get rid of the problem, just the symptom until a new sore broke out elsewhere. I'd sure like to lick this (that pun's for you, Uncle Hal!)
posted by Karen Weber Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Hey! I never threw up after chemo! A first. In a couple more hours, the first 24 hour period, when the nausea is most intense, will be over. I'm not at all nauseated this morning, even after drinking an instant breakfast, so I think I'm already out of the woods on this. I also slept last night, which is the first time I've ever slept the night of chemo. I'm usually up more than down. So this is going much, much better than any of my other AC treatments. And it's the last one! Hooray! On deck: Taxol.Well, the queasiness returned later in the morning, so I took an Anzemet. Had a Trader Joe's quiche for lunch, and it tasted good. Just some vanilla ice cream for dinner. Took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. Should be sleeping now, but the queasiness is keeping me awake. If I can't get to sleep in another half hour, I'll break down and take another Anzemet. I hate to do that when I'm not planning to eat - it just seems like a waste. And I hate taking pills I don't have to take.
posted by Karen Weber Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Thursday, August 17, 2000
I got to sleep last night without taking another pill for nausea - hooray! No nausea yet this morning. I'm drinking a chocolate shake made with vanilla ice cream, skim milk and an instant breakfast. It tastes yummy! I forgot to mention that yesterday I noticed that most of my peach fuzz had fallen out, so I've shaved myself clean again. Rick had noticed it the day of chemo, but didn't say anything. I guess he didn't want to upset me, which is funny because I would have shaved the peach fuzz weeks ago except that I thought it was going to upset him. So much to do about so little hair! Anyway, mom decided that I didn't need her yesterday and took off for home, so it's just me and the cats today. We are planning to take it easy. I've been doing Sleep Week on my Trivia Challenge mailing list, and yesterday we learned that cats sleep over 12 hours a day. Well, so did I yesterday. Hoping to trim back to 11 today :)
posted by Karen Weber Thursday, August 17, 2000
Friday, August 18, 2000
Well, the rest of yesterday didn't go as well as the morning. By noon, I was queasy, but able to eat without taking any meds. By dinner time, I was full out nauseated. I took some meds and ate a rice and vegetable bowl from Trader Joe's. It smelled and tasted awful to me, but I ate it anyway. I figured the rice would digest quickly. It sat in my stomach like a gigantic lump all night. About 4 am, I felt like I was going to throw it up. I wandered around for an hour or so to see if some movement would help. By 5:30 when Rick got up, I had given up and was lying down again. He brought Caesar in with him, and Caesar rubbed his little, wet nose all over my forehead to let me know he was worried about me. Apparently he believes that cat snot has curative properties. I did get some sleep after that, so maybe it does. I'm feeling somewhat better right now, but I just can't face any l liquids. Water smells bad (figure that out - I've never actually smelled water before), the sports drinks I've been drinking during previous chemos I cannot even face, the ginger ale I drank yesterday didn't help at all and I can't even think about it now. I've got to figure out something I can drink or I'm going to get dehydrated again.Potential breast cancer suppresser identified - could lead to more effective, less stressful treatments in the future. In the meantime, I'm still nauseated. Rick brought home some Kern's nectars and I'm drinking that. Seems to have settled my stomach a little bit.
posted by Karen Weber Friday, August 18, 2000
Saturday, August 19, 2000
Well, I finally figured out why I'm so nauseated. I have oral thrush, a yeast infection in the mouth. My tongue is covered with a white, icky tasting yuck that tastes awful. I'm pretty sure my breath would stop Godzilla in his tracks. I've talked to my oncologist this morning and he's calling in a prescription for me. The drug store won't be open for a couple more hours.Oral Candidiasis - here is some information about thrush.
'Staying in touch' - a video demonstration of how to do a breast self-exam from MSNBC.
Good News and Bad News About Breast Cancer - a sobering look at breast cancer -- detection, treatment, and survival -- by David Plotkin, MD, director of the Memorial Cancer Research Foundation of Southern California.
posted by Karen Weber Saturday, August 19, 2000