6 down- 2 to go

Hi, I had chemo 6 yesterday after meeting with my doctor. She was very sympathetic and we talked about options if there were problems with treatment - the main one being to switch to taxotere - a related drug that she likes less mainly due to the prevalence of side effects. The taxotere is every three weeks and requires pre-medication with the steroids - it also requires more steroids. That will be its own joy. She was willing to switch me this week if I was nervous but mentioned that allergic reactions the first round didn't neccessarily mean they would continue I figured I should give this a chance and see if it was just a bad first go round. My temp was 100 degrees downstairs but the doc wasn't concerned - i had foregone all meds in the morning - though taking the tylenol with codeine and an ativan a little later pretty much knocked me out all night.

We went up to chemo - they gave me extra streriods- two orally (8mg) to go with (10 mg) in the drip, benadryl in the drip and pepcid and then the taxol. Immediately as the taxol started coming in I commented on a funny taste in my mouth - it was so immediate I thought it must have been from the steriod but no my nurse said it probably was the drug. Things were okay for a little while -spoke to Carol kind of thumbed through a 6 month old magazine and tried to doze. About an hour or so in my head started feeling flushed, hot and clammy - people couldn't see it externally but i felt maybe feverish but it was weird it was mainly in my head and face. I also started feeling refluxy. The came by and took my temperature (which had been low 97 some degrees when i came up to the chemo lab) and it was back to over 99 degrees.

I left it for a while - Carol had gone out to get sandwiches -yes my one concession is I want fancier food than the free lunch at this point. I had her get some sort of non-chocolate snack (we had junior mints) and she came back with something gummy and jelly bellies which i was eating pretty constantly because of the taste in my mouth. About 2+ hours in none of the nurses were around and I sent Carol to find mine - not an emergency but thought I should at least tell them that my upper chest was feeling bad- refluxy and sour more than trouble breathing but it was getting sufficiently bothersome as was the fact that my head would keep feeling hot and flushy.

Well everyone came over (sadly no crash card in sight) to see what was happening before I had really said what was happening chemo was turned off - saline drip on - and vitals were being taken. I then explained what was happening - both sets of symptoms stopped as soon as the chemo was off interestingly. It seems amazing to me that things can change on a dime as quickly as they seemed to - certainly the funny taste disappeared and then the feeling in my chest lessened and went away - the head flushes were coming and going back and forth. We also called my doctor about what had happened - I did try and stress that while i thought i was having a reaction and it was in my chest area it didn't feel like a breathing thing but was more related to acid and the taste. They put a bad of saline in and then we restarted. The taste again came back almost immediately - it was a little metallicy but more bitter and just kind of icky. I must have made it 30 minutes and then the head flushes started coming back - its weird and not totally different than what I felt off and on with the fever last week, but it was strange that while the rest of me would feel warm it was so concentrated.

We stopped again - called it a day and the last 20 ml of taxol was deemed not enough to worry about. My doc called back- after discussion we are switching to the taxotere. In some ways I am nervous about what those symptoms will be like but I still need to see what this week brings. Friday morning last time was pretty easy so we'll see what the next few days will bring.

I am kind of excited about going back to 3 weeks between treatments - while spreading it out a little longer (treatments will be March 12 and April 2) I'm pretty excited about having more time off - after the last two treatments when it seemed like i was totally wiped and the caught a cold on the last AC and the first taxol hopefully having some time when i can feel somewhat normal will be good. April 2 is 2 weeks later than March 19 but in my mind still sort of counts as being done with treatment at the end of March and I'm guessing I can still have surgery mid/late April and be recovered for the conferences I have scheduled for late May.

Its still early in this rounds side effects and I am fully aware that some of this is the large amounts of steroids coursing through my body - but I feel pretty good this am.

Kim

PS And drum roll please - it is a very good day in that California passed a budget and I think the concessions made were actually a net positive. Love the demand for open primaries - this should push the republican and democtrat candidates back to what oh the median voter in a district would want rather than catering to the crazies (or sorry the fringe dedicated believers). It might even mean that the state republican party might talk to their sitting governor. More sad about the nixing of the increase in the gasoline tax - and while I probably would have leaned more o n the sales tax - having taxes that might start covering the shortfall with spending cuts is a good thing.
Oh and can we point out that even with the doubling of the car tax it is still 1/3 below where it would have been if they had just left the damn thing alone in the 1990s - what 2 boom/bust cycles ago.