More Trouble With Taxol

One more treatment day down that I've lived through and now can tell about. And that's saying something these days!

Darla Manwill was the victim accompanying me bright and early Thursday morning. Debbie Perron generously offered to watch Kate and Tadman. Darla was right on time, and as reluctant as I was to go, we arrived on time. Even though Thursdays are supposed to be slow at MSTI, the parking lot was at capacity and we had to park in a handicapped space. I think I qualify. There are no slow days down there as far as I can tell. No matter what the economy's like, cancer is a booming business!

So if you're up-to-date on my blog, you know I was very reluctant to have another infusion of Taxol. I had an emotional week, and part of that time was spent begging my husband not to make me do any more treatments, so Greg took the time to meet me and see the doctor with me this week, so we could discuss possible alternatives to Taxol. After a long, long wait (Greg almost left several times, and poor Darla was stuck watching TV in the waiting room) Dr. Montgomery suggested three possible options. I could try a different chemo drug--sorry but I can't remember its name--that would have fewer side effects, but had the possibility of causing liver malfunction. Unfortunately if the drug ended up causing my liver to malfunction, all my treatment, including surgery, would have to be postponed until my liver began functioning normally again. The second option he offered was going directly to surgery. He said studies suggested that at this point in treatment, I would have a 60 percent chance of being completely cancer free, and if I was cancer free at surgery, I would have a 90 percent chance of never having breast cancer again. If at surgery I wasn't cancer free, they would still finish the Taxol treatments for the extra assurance the cancer wouldn't reoccur. The final option was to go ahead with the Taxol treatments, drugging me up in advance to get me through the painful reaction to the drug. If I complete the Taxol treatments before surgery, my chances of being cancer free at surgery time would raise to 80 percent. And if you're cancer free at surgery time your odds of staying cancer free for the long term raise dramatically. After all the options were discussed and questions asked, I got straight to the bottom line. "If you had cancer, what would you do?" My doctor said that if it were him he'd do the Taxol, but added that while he enjoys watching the bull fight, he doesn't know if he'd like to be the matador. Isn't he clever? So although Greg was convinced that going straight to surgery sounded best, I decided to go the route my doctor would go--back to the dreaded Taxol! (I totally understand where Greg's coming from, by the way. The only thing worse than doing cancer treatment is living with the person who's suffering through it!)

So back to the chemo suite I went, Darla bravely accompanying me. There was no waiting, in fact the chemo nurse was right outside the doctor's office looking for me because I'd been in there so long. It's fortunate she was there, because Cathy, Dr. Montgomery's nurse, gave her special instructions for my infusion. The chemo nurse wasn't aware I'd had a reaction to Taxol the week before and didn't know there would be any special instructions. Later she told me how lucky it was she'd talked to Cathy, as Dr. Montgomery had put the special instructions in his comments, which my chemo nurse doesn't normally check. So before the infusion even started, in addition to the Benadryl and the steroid, they gave me 2 mgs. of morphine. Then they waited 15 minutes before starting the Taxol, and started it at a much slower rate than last time. Even with all these precautions, my body started reacting to the Taxol about 15 minutes later. In addition to the back pain and the shortness of breath, this time I also had pain in both knee caps and chattering teeth. Once again they stopped the infusion momentarily, gave me more Morphine and Benadryl, and went to ask the doctor whether to restart the infusion. He, of course, had them restart, but at an even slower rate, and 2 and a half hours later the treatment was complete! Although I had the same reaction as last time, it wasn't nearly as hard for me to go through this time, mainly because I knew what to expect, but also because the nurse was ready to deal with the reaction immediately--plus I was really close to the pharmacists this week, so I got that extra Morphine right away.
After a trip to the pharmacy for more drugs to take before next treatment day to try to further fend off bad reactions, Darla and I enjoyed a very late lunch at Fuddruckers. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and enjoyed pretty good burgers and great conversation.
We found the kids at Justine's house. Not surprisingly the Perron's had some errands to run after several hours of babysitting. Tadman and Kate were well taken care of and happy, and all was quiet at home. In addition to a little babysitting, Justine brought part of dinner over to our house a few minutes later (Tammee Fulghum brought the rest).
Even though treatment isn't going as smoothly as it could, my spirits are so much improved from last week. It feels so great to be over that bout of pneumonia and be done with the antibiotics. I'm eating better, sleeping better, and I'm able to participate in family life again. I'm just now beginning to realize how horrible those 2 weeks of illness were--probably the worst weeks of my life.
So even though I'm not exactly healthy, I am so grateful to feel so much better than I did before. I am thankful that Hunter is safely back from High Adventure. I am thankful that my kids, who've had a lot more illness than usual this summer, are all on the mend. The Stereo Shoppe continues to support our family due to Greg's time and leadership, the house still stands, and everyone is fed and clothed sufficiently. I am blessed to have a reputable cancer treatment facility where I live so I don't have to travel or be away from my family to get better.
Thank you for continuing to support me and my family through this very long process. We do appreciate all the help, the compassion, and the kindness we've been shown. Believe me, I know this is taking forever and you are sacrificing your own comfort to help us. Please know how grateful we are.