March 20, 2007

Friends and loved ones, we have reason to rejoice in God’s mighty power this week… 

I had my second week of Round 2 treatment on Monday, and it went well. I was the last person to leave the chemo room around 5:00, but that was because my doctor spent so much time talking with me about the new drug that we’ve read about. She had discussed this new drug with me when I first started treatment, so she was very excited to meet with me yesterday because it is now approved!

The drug is called Kyterb and it was made to fight the specific type of cancer that I have. It was given to people who didn’t have a good response to Herceptin during the trials, but it is being approved for anyone who is Her2 positive (that’s me). It will be a pill form instead of the infused chemo that I’ve been getting (NO NEEDLES!!!). Dr. Aggarwal said that the side effects will be the same for my heart, but that I might also get an acne-like rash on my face (yuk!) that they will watch and treat with cream. This is just like Herceptin, in that I’ll probably be on this drug for the rest of my life, or until another advance is found to stop this cancer.

The change in the first drug also causes a change in my chemo drug. I’d start getting a drug called Xeloda. This is also available in pill form, and it’s given for 14 days, 2 times a day. Then you take a break and start the cycle over again. My doctor said the main side effects were odd for chemo…redness and peeling of skin on my hands, and my counts would still be affected negatively.

When a cancer patient talks about counts, they are referring to their white and red blood cell counts, plus possibly others. White blood cells are the immune system in our bodies, so if they drop, we can get sick all the time. If you have a fever of 100 or greater, you cannot have chemo. Red blood cells are what gives us energy, so if they drop too low, it’s hard to function and you get very anemic. There are treatments for both of these problems, but they will stop chemo until the counts come back up. Treatment = cancer killing, so we don’t want chemo to be stopped.

Dr. Aggarwal talked with me about when she might start the new drugs, and she doesn’t want to interrupt this month’s cycle because it appears to be helping my symptoms. She wants to wait until April to try the new drugs, and that will give her time to get approval from my insurance company. I’m happy with this direction and agree with her recommendation to wait. She also told me that my coughing has still got her worried, so she would have changed my drugs after this month anyway to see if something else would help. She may also run some more scans in April to see if she’s missed something that is causing the cough. It seems worse to me over the last few days.

After treatment last night, I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck. I’m not sure why it was so bad, but I couldn’t do much of anything except lay on the couch. I feel much better today, and I’m home with Savannah because she was sick this morning. God must have known that I needed to rest too.

Please pray for the approval of these new drugs from my insurance company. I’m so excited about a treatment that doesn’t involve needles, or weekly chemo trips.

Thanks for your encouragement and prayers. I’m still overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for our family. We get a card or two every day, and people are sharing special comments on the blog that touch my heart each time I read them.

 Sandy