Blogging about life in Minnesota, raising our six kids with Down syndrome while battling Breast Cancer.

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, "Oh shit! She's up!"

Monday, May 05, 2014

Treatment Plan

Finally there is a plan. Finally. I'm so tired of waiting. Even though I'm going to be pumping my body full of poison, the faster we get moving the faster it's all behind me!

I thought my first treatment would be this week, but apparently I have to go to "chemo class" first. That will be on Friday, May 9th.

I wanted to time my chemo so that I'm at my worst feeling when I have help, which would be on the weekends. That would put my treatments on Thursdays, with the first one occurring on May 15th. (though its possible I will change this to Weds. I'm not sure which is better)

Day 1:
Taxotere
Cytoxan
Some steroids (Decadron? I forget now)

Day 2:
Neulasta injection

Day 21, repeat the steps above.

Four cycles (12 weeks) total.

Thats the plan. Coming up: "When you're nesting for chemo"

4 comments:

Tigger (aka Karyn) said...

Thought you would probably have Taxotere. The taxane family are very effective against breast cancer. That was the one that made me angry and I got bone pain from that and the neulasta. On the bright side the neulasta should ensure that your neutrophils don't get too low. I also had Cyclophosphamide but that was with the first combo I had.

With the Tax I had ice gloves because it can really muck up your fingernails and toenails. I could barely stand the ice gloves and there was no way I was even contemplating ice on my feet. At my local oncology unit they only do the gloves but are willing to offer ice caps for those that want to try and keep their hair. The ice limits circulation so the chemo doesn't go into the really cold bits as much. I didn't want anything missed hence just the gloves but I also never had problems with my finger/toe nails.

They like to give you lots of information about the drugs and what to expect which is good but the reality is still quite different. Like I said, I was shocked at how debilitated I was. With the Tax I was ok for the first couple of days but day 3 was a nightmare. You will work it out pretty quickly after your first round.

Oh, and the steroids keep you awake. I am on a breast cancer forum and there were a few of us doing chemo at the same time and posting at 3am LOL. I needed painkillers for the bone pain too.

Four cycles is the standard if they are pretty sure they got everything and aren't too worried. :)

They will do blood tests before each cycle after the first (maybe also the first) to ensure you are not sick and will tolerate the chemo.

"Nesting" is a good idea because you don't want to have to do anything that is hard going during chemo if you can avoid it so get all that spring cleaning out of the way LOL. I found that week 1 was awful from day 3, improved on week 2 and felt mostly human on week 3 just in time to get poisoned again. It took about 2 weeks for my hair to start falling out and by my second round of chemo I think I was totally bald. That was a different combo from yours though.

I understand the desire to get it done as quickly as possible. I felt like that too. Praying for you as you chalk up this new experience.

Unknown said...

That sounds like a *okay* treatment plan. I had cytoxan, too. It gave me the worst mouth sores, every time. We were prepared for them, so they could be reduced to bearable.

In my experience the days after chemo were worse than the chemo days, and they usually hit with a day lag, so if you need to reschedule, don't be afraid to do so.

Ian & Ruby said...

I had similar treatment - just a few extra drugs thrown in.... one thing that helped me was ginger tea - you get a metallic taste in your mouth, and the ginger helped with that. Good luck. Will be thinking of you and praying for you.

chicks3 said...

Taxotere made me very ill. Be sure you have anti nausea meds available. I have weird nails and I didn't know why but a comment above makes sense to me. Ginger ale helped me through all 6 rounds. Get some form of ginger just in case. Keep us posted.