Monday, March 29, 2010

New Chemo Drug Today

I woke up this morning so thankful for this beautiful, sunny day. I am so blessed.

I went to St. John's this morning for my first infusion of chemo. They gave me an anti-nausea drug, Decadron (a steroid), Benadryl and then the Carboplatin. So far, no hives, no nausea, just tired.....but all in all, I think it went well. I came home and slept most of the day. The nurses are still having a problem with my veins rolling when they try to insert the IV. I've always had really good veins, but this past week has been a challenge for them. My arms are starting to look like I'm a drug addict. Although, I guess in a way, I kind of am!

My oncologist came by the treatment room this morning and gave us the results of the MRI done last Wednesday. We have some good news to share!! I have NO tumor regrowth in the original tumor site nor do they see any other abnormalities in other parts of my brain.

Alleluia...Praise God!!! Our prayers are being answered everyone!! We are winning this battle and God is rewarding us for our courage and strength and placing our faith and trust in him. Thank you all, my "prayer warriors" once again, for fighting this battle with me. I cannot do this alone and you all lifting me up to the Lord has given me strength and comfort. Each of you are my inspiration!!

My next chemo treatment should be April 13th. I see my onologist on Monday, April 5. Hopefully my blood counts will continue to remain stable. My followup radiation oncologist appointment is April 8th, so we will see what he has to say. I'm sure he will be pleased with the results of the MRI.

I can't help but wonder if something good is coming out of the challenges I faced with the Temodar. I asked the nurse today during my treatment what I should do with the leftover Temodar, since I will for sure not take this drug again. I wasn't sure if there are mandatory disposal rules for chemotherapy drugs. She told me that I could bring in any unused drugs and they will give it those people who are struggling to afford the cost of chemotherapy. It's incredibly expensive and I am so fortunate to have medical insurance. It makes me feel good to to know that I can help someone who cannot normally afford the exorbitant cost of this cancer care.

This journey is teaching me so much. I know this sounds cliche, but everything does happen for a reason and God has not given me more than I can handle, because I am living it everyday. Thank God!

Peace and love,
Sandy

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Off to buy a wig today..

I rise out of the old and into the new.

I've had two good days of solid rest and it has helped me tremendously. Now that I've finally gotten out of bed and looked in the mirror...oh my...I need some hair!

As with everything on this journey, I've done nothing with in the ordinary. Hair loss occurs in a very small percentage of patients who take Temodar. Of course...I fall into that small percentage! Anyhow...Carboplatin, the chemo drug I start taking Monday, causes hair loss too. SO......wig shopping today! No....folks.....I'm not coming home 'platinum blonde'!

The sun is shining, thank you Lord for another beautiful day!

I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might. Isaiah 12:2

Peace,
Sandy

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

These last few days have been quite challenging...read on..

The Lord said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear."--Judges 6:23

and this is how my story continues......

Last Friday, 3/19 I woke up sick to my stomach. The couple of days before that I was beginning to feel pretty good, so I wondered where this nausea was coming from. I'm just about ready to leave for work, it's 6:45am and I decide to take a Zofran (anti-nausea drug) to help my stomach. I took it and left for work. By about 10:45am, I'm sitting at my desk and start getting really cold. I look in the mirror and my face is tomato red, I look at my arms, they are red and splotchy, I look at my stomach and my legs, the same thing. Obviously, my first thought is crap, hives again, will this ever end!!! Then all of sudden, I thought again...HIVES! I have HIVES...wait...it's got to be the Zofran I'm allergic to after all.....not the Temodar! OMG...you can't even imagine how crazy happy I was. I call my oncologist, I tell her what happened and we agree, as rare as this type of reaction to Zofran is, this has to be my culprit. I confirm my appointment with her for Monday morning and we decide I will try taking my next regimen of treatment starting Monday, 3/22 by capsule form instead of IV, but not take Zofran prior to my dose. Over the weekend, the hives disappeared and all was right with the world.

Or so I thought!

Monday morning, 3/22 I go out to the Cancer Center at St. John's, get my labwork done and see Dr. Partridge for my 8am visit. We talk more about the Zofran reaction and we agree to be cautiously optimistic as we move forward with taking the Temodar by capsule. I leave her office with a new anti-nausea perscription just in case I need it. We agreed that I would try taking the Temodar without taking an anti-nausea pill so that we can officially rule out the Temodar and/or the dye in the capsule. Nervously, at 8:46am I take my 225mg of Temodar, by 9:06am I begin to tingle, itch and burn. I grab an Allegra pill and take it. After about 15 minutes, the Allegra seems to help...somewhat, but still red and itchy. I decided to lay down to sleep to attempt to ward off potential nausea. I napped for awhile then woke up vomiting and I have never been so cold in my life. I was buried under 2 electric blankets set on high, 3 regular blankets and a hot field corn bag and still could not get warm. This kept up for what seemed liked forever. At 12:20, my daugher Alison talked to my sister,Nurse Tracy and told her that I was turning beat red and purple, freezing and vomiting. Tracy called my doctor and was told that I should go to the emergency room right away. I was getting weaker and weaker, so we called 911....it's a good thing we did.

By the time I got to the emergency room, I was running a 103.5 fever (no wonder I was so cold!), my pulse was 120 and my blood pressure was 88/56 and my hands, feet and lips were deep purple....not a pretty sight and quite a dangerous, life threatening situation. When I was finally stabilized, I was moved to ICU Monday evening. I stayed in ICU until Tuesday afternoon and was moved to a room on the Oncology floor. This morning, I had a MRI to determine how things look in my head with the radiation and chemo treatments I've had so far. I was released from the hospital late this morning, but I am totally drained and spent. There is no possible way to sleep in a hospital, not to mention being drained from the trauma I just endured.

After much conversation with her collegues, my allergist and other oncologists from WashU and Duke, my oncologist feels that it is just too risky and way too dangerous to use Temodar anymore without causing life-threatening reactions. Of course I totally agree that we don't want to take that risk. After more discussion, there are some other drugs we can try.

So on Monday, 3/29, I will start a chemo drug called "Carboplatin". It can only be administered through infusion and can be taken once a month at full dose strength or twice a month with the full dose split into equal halves and taken 15 days between doses. I have opted to take the twice a month regimen to ensure that I will be able to tolerate the drug before I move to the once a month full strength dose. Please keep the prayers coming as I move on to try "Carboplatin" and pray that it will be a drug I can tolerate.

It's been quite an emotional and draining week and I want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support. I know and trust the Lord safely and confidently carried me this week as I endured this very serious health situation. I believe He brought me through this to face the additional challenges and work he still has for me to do.

Jesus turned around and when he saw her he said, "Daughter, be encouraged, your faith has made you well." And the woman was healed at that moment. Matthew 9:22

As Easter approaches, let us pray God renews our strength.

Peace and love to all,
Sandy

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

What the heck am I allergic too??

The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.

I am 1-1/2 weeks past the end of my weekly chemo treatment and I am still dealing with these crazy hives....they have just plain worn me out. They seem to come and go. One minute I'm hive free, the next minute my skin is turning rosey red, I start running a fever, and I get the chills. Then they go away. I continue this pattern all day long, Oh Brother!! At least I am no longer a swollen, itchy mess, so that's a blessing.

I saw my allergy doctor last week to talk with him about the possibility of being allergic to Blue Dye #2, which is in the capsule packaging of one of my pills. Unfortunately, there are no skin tests for dyes. Ok...let's keep looking....

Next, I contacted Shering-Plough, to find out if they make Temodar in a dye-free capsule or in tablet form. The answer to those questions were "No" and "No". So, I continue on with my process of elimination....

I saw my Medical Oncologist yesterday, I reviewed with her the research that I've done in trying to determine the root cause. This is the plan of action for my next treatment week which begins on Monday, March 22nd...

I am going to have the Temodar administered through Infusion at the same dosage level (225mg) as the capsules. I will go to St. John's everyday for 5 days, let them stick me with an IV and watch it drip for 90 minutes. WooHoo!! We should know soon enough if I am allergic to the drug or not. (When I took the capsules, I broke out with hives no more than 15 minutes after swallowing the pills.) Obviously, if I don't break out in hives, it's the dye. If I do, it's the Temodar. Please pray, it's the dye!!

I guess for me, March really came in like a Lion!! Let's pray that as Spring arrives and I start my next treatment, March goes out like a Lamb!!

Have a great week every one. Thank you for all the prayers and kind thoughts sent my way.

Through faith I overcome every limitation. I know that God's power in me is greater than any situation I may have to meet or overcome; God is greater than any condition or circumstance.

I walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Until next time, many blessings.....
Sandy