The consult with the Oncologist

The oncologist consult was Tuesday, July 9. The oncologist spent a solid hour with us, explaining all of the options and various benefits/side effects. Chris opted for a regimen that is harder on her body but is over more quickly, the benefit being that it has a better success record. When all is said and done, that is the only thing that really matters anyway.

We talked about it later and realized that we both felt like we had taken a few steps backward in view of the doctor's analysis of her situation. We felt that since the surgical margins, bone scan, and CT-scan were all clean that she was pretty much in the clear. Not so. Cancer in the lymph nodes shows that it has spread albeit microscopically, and that these individual cells could still take purchase somewhere and begin to grow and shed more cells. That's why the chemo is so important and there are no guarantees. The doctor did say, however, that we are "going for a cure" since all of the tests were clean we have a pretty good chance of that.

How will we know?

Time.

Cancer-free for 3 years is good. 5 years is great. But we don't throw a party until the 10-year mark. That is a long time to wait, and we were both bummed.

The first treatment was scheduled for Friday the 12th, with subsequent treatments every 3 weeks for a total of six treatments. She wrote us a number of prescriptions including a "cranial prosthesis" which is medical mumbo-jumbo for "wig"! I found that most amusing

Chris' attitude still amazes me. Friday morning as we were getting ready to leave for her first treatment, I asked her if she was nervous. She said she felt like she was going to Medical Disneyland and was excited about it! Go figure.

We got there a few minutes late (which, for us, is "on-time") and were ushered into a large room with a number of chairs that looked kind of like La-Z-boy recliners. There were waist-high partitions between them with the requisite privacy curtains that slide on a track on the ceiling. Some of the stations had TV's and there was a selection of videos. Laura, her nurse, introduced herself and explained the procedure.

First, they introduce an IV into her arm. Next is Adriamycin, the first drug which is bright pink and is in a syringe-like contraption that they simply inject into the IV. (That's called an "IV push" because they "push" the drug in.) This stuff is pretty nasty because if any of it gets outside her veins there can be a big problem in the surrounding tissue. Next is Cytoxin which is in a bag that drips in for about 45 minutes. Then comes the Tamoxifen which is the nastiest one of all and we are warned to look for reactions as the drug is administered such as dizziness, fever, rashes, etc.

Chris' sister arrived about an hour into the treatment and we all sat there and talked and laughed and had a pretty good time, considering they were poisoning Chris. I sent to a sandwich place across the street and got sandwiches and smoothies. The three of us ate while the little bags went "drip, drip, drip." Pretty bizarre if you really think about it.

When it was over, the nurse gave us some parting instructions along with a new job for Dr. Dave: 24 hours after each treatment she must be given an injection of some medicine that will boost her white blood cells, and guess who gets to give it to her??

That night she started feeling a little queasy, so she took the two anti-nausea meds and went right to sleep. She got up about 6:00am, did some stuff around the house and got tired so she went back to bed.

Now the big moment has arrived; it's "injection time". I put on my white coat, swabbed her arm with alcohol, popped the protective cover off of the needle, and let her have it! It was perfect, if I say so myself.

She went to sleep on the deck about 5:00pm and I made pasta for us both, did the dishes, fed all of the animals, and checked on her every hour or so to make sure she was still breathing.

I went to bed at 11:30 and she was still out there! Next morning when I got up she was in bed so I know there was some sort of movement during the night! When she finally got up she had slept about 14 hours, give or take.

As it turns out, BOTH of the anti-nausea drugs cause drowsiness; either of them could knock her out, so that's probably why she was so tired. She has been very busy around the house and yesterday she went shopping with Kate for about 6 hours. She was pretty tired when she got home, but considering how she was just a few days earlier, she has come a long way.

Next treatment is August 1.

This update was posted on Thursday, July 18, 2002 at 9:02:05 PM (USA Central Time)
Last updated on Thursday, October 02, 2003 at 12:19:16 PM (USA Central Time)