Went in for round 5 yesterday afternoon , started off pretty normal. They gave me my Benadryl and steroid first. Started dozing a bit and very shortly after I started the beloved unpredictable taxol, my chest started tightening and major heart palpitations came on...they immediately shut off my drip, took my vitals and the symptoms stopped pretty quickly. Got another big dose of Benadryl and steroids as a night cap just in case I was still reacting when my first dose wore off in middle of night. Dr. Uyeki came to check on me in the infusion room and we chatted about what happened and what are options were for next the next step.
1. For most people, taxol is the easy part of chemo...some annoying tingling/loss of sensation in hands and feet, joint, rashes, bone pain and lastly, challenges with keeping blood counts up (I've had a little of all of these!) There is also a percentage of people who have more severe rxns to this class of drugs. Some have a rxn initially and they gain tolerance to the meds as they go along with more infusions and they cruise thru. Some people have more severe rxns as infusions increase. It's one of those things that's different individual to individual. It's seeming that I may be one of hose people in lucky category #3! During infusions I've had some treatments w no pblms and some with more significant pblms. My very scientific dr. Jim reiterated that none of this is random, it's all expected and we know the cause :) Heehee. I'm pretty sure random is considered a bad word at his house.
2. For people with my rxn, most symptoms are alleviated and they can continue on with treatment by bumping up the steroid dose the day before treatment and both steroid and Benadryl on the day of treatment. That's what we decided to try today.
3. For some people, even these pre-treatments aren't enough and for whatever reason, they still have the same severe reactions. This might be me. We will find out today. If this is the case, we will know by my response to the drug on a very very very slow rate of infusion rate. If this happens, I cannot be treated with this drug anymore. Good news....there's actually another form of taxol. Won't go into too many details on this drug, but basically it's the same drug, taxol, but treated in a super fancy way that the body metabolizes differently and does not cause the same rxns. People who take this drug don't even need the premeds they give people who take taxol! So why not just throw in the towel on this old school taxol business that causes all this drama and switch to the Cadillac version that doesn't?! Yeah, that was my question... And you guessed the answer...money, money, money! The fancy drug comes with a very high price tag and is shown to have the same outcomes for patients as far as prognosis goes when compared to the original form. Tacking on some $2 Benadryl to the bill to avoid the awful symptoms of the cheap original taxol drug is what insurance companies are willing to pay for their lovely chemo patient clientele :)
So yesterday was NO FUN. No fun for me, but less fun for my mom. Actually today when we do it all over again might be worse for both of us, but still worse for my mom! Haha. The nurses and I joked that she keeps pretending to be reading her kindle, but really she's sitting right in the sweet spot where she can peek over it and stare at me and no one can tell. Mom's really do have the hardest job.
Let's focus on some WINS here...
Either way, I'm getting my drugs. Whether it's the cheap one that we power through and just deal with or the fancy expensive one that I'm sure will have it's own lovely things to deal with too. I will finish a very effective treatment that's going to kick my cancer's butt and have the best chance to keep me cancer free in the future!
I have many circumstances in my life that are on our side. There are many. These are at the top of my head now... I don't have a typical job out of the home to add to my plate, we've got the most amazing friends and family who really are our lifeline, Austin's preschool 2 mngs/wk has been the greatest blessing..love his teachers and know that they take the best care of him, financial issues are not a worry for me, my kid is awesome in lots of ways, but one way I'm super grateful for is that he takes long afternoon naps that I partake in from time to time and he sleeps through the night in his own bed, I don't care about being bald (although, I don't want to talk about my thinning eyebrows and eyelashes!!), I know in my heart with all the faith that can possibly be mustered, that I'm going to be okay and more importantly, so is my kid, and so is my husband (in fact, Jonathon has been forced to pick up a few useful skills that make it less likely I'll smother him with a pillow in the middle of the night! Dishes, laundry, basic clean up around the house...haha. He might survive cancer too :)
Will keep you posted on round 5 take 2!!
Love
Jenn
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