Skip to main content

Our Cancer Journey Week 12

Last week Kathy started Taxol.   She's tolerated it well and did not have any of the fatigue, appetite changes, or anemia that came with Adriamycin/Cytoxan.

The short term challenge with Taxol is not the medication, but the solvent (called Cremophor) used to create an injectable solution.   Solvent-related hypersensitivity reactions are relatively common, so Kathy's pre-chemotherapy medications included:

*Dexamethasone 20 mg IV 30 minutes prior to chemotherapy.
*Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 25-50 mg IV 30 - 60 minutes prior to chemotherapy. 50 mg for first dose. May reduce dose to 25 mg on subsequent doses if tolerated
*Famotidine (Pepcid) 20 mg IV infuse over 15 minutes. 30 minutes prior to chemotherapy.

She had no reaction of any kind, so tomorrow's Taxol dose will include 25mg of Diphenhydramine, yielding less Benadryl-induced sleepiness.

Her usual pattern of chemotherapy, one good day, one moderate day, two bad days, then back to good days has been replaced with chemotherapy followed by good, good, and good days.   Since we're preparing our Wellesley house for sale (goes on the market April 1) as part of our move to a farm property in Sherborn, Massachusetts, she needs all the energy she can get.   Our nights and weekends are filled with painting, cleaning, and boxing.

Her mood is good, our hope for cure is strong, and our optimism for an American Gothic future keeps us going every day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here

Save with prescription glasses and sunglasses. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! -GlassesPoint. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! Free magnetic clip on with every pair of glasses.  The operator should contact lens Plano glasses a few days of Sun and Rx on the other person. Many people choose single vision lenses, designed for a specific use, such as prescription sunglasses. Clip-ons magnetic magnetic clip ons often come with their prescription glasses frames. Prescription glasses Goggles4u dollars from 29.99 with free shipping. Takumi neodium magnet glass features recipes that are light, strong and in. The combination of some normal prescription glasses and a pair of polarized glasses that glare-resistant to outdoor activities. clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tragedy of Underfunded Mental Health Care

Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Indicator is   19,900 The NY Times  on Friday had a deeply disturbing article on a murder that stunned the mental health community here in Massachusetts.    A long-term schizophrenic man, off his medicine and spiraling into incoherence, killed a young female counselor who was the sole worker at a group home in a Boston suburb.   His mother, who works at a Boston teaching hospital, was frantic with worry as her adult son, who had been arrested for assault multiple times, was becoming more psychotic.    It was hard for her to get anyone’s attention. The counselor was the first in her family to get a college degree, and had just decided to go to nursing school.    Now she’s dead – and her family had trouble scraping together the resources for a burial.   The schizophrenic will be imprisoned for the rest of his life – which ironically could be the best chance for him to get appropriate medical care. Both...
Post a Comment
Read more

How a Well-Intended FDA Policy on Colchicine is Harming Patients

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The FDA has reaffirmed the truth of this aphorism with its policy about Colchicine. Here's the story: I recently spoke with a friend who has a family member suffering from Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), an auto-inflammatory disorder, most commonly seen in eastern Mediterranean populations. The condition is characterized by recurrent painful inflammation of the abdomen, chest and joints, accompanied by fever. FMF is associated with mutation of a gene on chromosome 16 involved with regulating Pyrin, a protein that is part of the inflammatory response. There is no specific test for the disease. Diagnosis is made on the basis of symptoms, family history, and ruling out other conditions. Since the 1960s, Colchicine, a plant extract first used for treatment of gout two thousand years ago, has been used for treating FMF. As an ancient treatment widely used prior to formation of the FDA, Colchicine did not require FDA approval as a new ...
Post a Comment
Read more