Thursday, February 19, 2009

chemo 3 and change of plans

(written from 4 north room 8)

I arrived at Robert Wood yesterday at 9 am and went to the 5th floor. Maria my nurse accessed both sections of my dual port shortly after that Dr Vayda arrived with two interns. She explained why I needed to have a 24 hour taxol infusion when used with cisplatin- reducing severe neuropathy. We talked about testing - like scratch testing for food you are allergic too but for chemotherapy drugs the test is not reliable. We also reviewed the side effects of cisplatin- kidney problems , severe nausea and vomiting and severe allergic reactions like the one I had with carbo or worse.

Around 9 pm , I was moved to the 4th floor - a telemetry floor so I could have my heart monitored. Around 12 noon Dr Rodriguez arrived and we spoke for about 45 minutes. Over the past three weeks she had frequently discussed my case with the other gyn-oncs at CINJ. In light of the fact that this is a recurrence of OC and not initial treatment, the fact that my CA-125 continues to drop (14) and because of my very serious carbo reaction, she decided that I would not get the cisplatin but rather continue treatments with a single agent- taxol.Over the past few months I have had time to read many papers on recurrence and am aware that single agents can give long remissions. There was also one paper - Italian research I think- in which 2 women allergic to carbo died during infusions of cisplatin. That is something I would certainly like to avoid! I wouldn't even want a repeat of the carbo reaction which was a bit scary.

Since I had surgery which removed the disease and my December CT showed no signs of disease I feel comfortable with the decision to not do the cisplatin. I am actually a bit relieved to not have to worry about all the other side effect that come with using the cisplatin.

Dr Rodriguez told me that she will also be sending my tumor tissue to be tested for estrogen to see if I am a candidate for Femara after my treatments with taxol are complete.

So that it in a nutshell. I will continue my next 3 treatments on taxol only and look forward to many years of remission.

Livestrong
Dee
Everyday is a blessing!

2 comments:

Brian Dowd said...

I am always thiking of you Dee! I know you are making the right choice. LIVESTRONG!

Brian Dowd said...

Dee - Kristy is working the recruiting table at the Mall today and a woman was telling her she could not find much information on OC. Kristy's first thought was you so she shared your blog with her.

Hope to make a strong connection there.