Oh dear-allergic reaction!

4/02/12

This morning after I took my shower I noticed a rashy area on my abdomen.
Since today was a chemo day I figured I'd show it to Nancy and Dr. N. when I got into Boston.

By the time I got to chemo is was worse spreading over my groin and thighs.
Well it turns out that I am apparently allergic to the stuff they use to reconstitute the Taxol with called Cremophor , so what was supposed to be a short (3 hour ) appointment turned into 5 hours instead.
After getting some benadryl and prednisone, and waiting for the insurance to approve it, I received the taxol in it's purest form. It is called Abraxane and it is also used to treat breast cancer.

Which according to my chemo team costs 10 times as much as what I was getting,
but has far fewer side effects and infuses in about half the time.

Naturally I had to ask why folks weren't just put on this one to start with. Seeing as how I think knowing you have cancer is stressful enough and this other taxol is so much easier to tolerate.

Of course I already knew the answer. :)$

Love, Dixie


p.s. This treatment completes my 1st cycle of chemo.
My 2nd cycle begins next Monday with the next combo dose of carboplatin and taxol.
So the protocol is "week 1 carbo/taxol + week2 taxol+ week3 taxol = one full cycle"
So I receive 3 separate chemo treatments to make up one cycle.

5 more cycles to go, but hopefully I will have my debulking and staging surgery after the 3rd cycle-then the 3 remaining cycles post surgery-that is the plan for now.


 "I liken this chemo cocktail to someone saying - every week we are going to hit you with a hammer. But every three weeks we're going to hit you with a hammer AND a mallet. Thus for 2 weeks in every cycle, I'm happy - it's hammer only week!" written by someone in a cancer forum who was referring to the Carbo/Taxol chemo cycle.