That's right. It's straight up.
This blog has been for me, like a diary, and to share for those that wanted to know. This post really is mostly for me because I need to remember this information and have it ready to pull up when needed... and/or have my friends remind me when needed. So here goes.
This is a picture of one of the drugs I'm taking, beautiful isn't it? Beautiful color. It's Adriamycin. It's classified as an "antitumor antibiotic." It's made from natural products produced by "species of the soil fungus Streptomyces." This drug is the reason I had to take the Echocardiogram; it interferes with the pumping action of the heart. If that isn't scary enough keep reading.
A tiny bit of background in super simple terms first- cancer cells are typically fast growing, multiplying/dividing cells. Most chemo drugs target fast growing cells. Chemo doesn't know the difference between bad cancer cells or normal healthy cells so they disrupt/destroy a lot of normal cells in the process. Most commonly the affected healthy cells are your hair, cells in you mouth, your stomach and bowel, blood cells... different drugs affect different parts of the body.
The other drug I'm taking is Cytoxan. This drug is classified as an "alkylating agent." Does that sound a little familiar? History buffs? Here's the really shocking news... it's a derivative of Mustard Gas. MUSTARD GAS! Unlike most chemotherapies it can cross the blood-brain barrier. A lot of the side effects are similar to Adriamycin.
These drugs are usually out of the body in about 48 hours, give or take. It's so, so, so important to drink a lot of water the first 3 days or so. Empty the bladder often, and get up in the night to empty the bladder because it's so caustic to the kidneys and bladder... you do not want this stuff sitting there too long in any concentration.
My very personal side effects have been (and these are the things I need to remember): The day I have my chemo doses I start to retain water immediately, that's the steroid talking. Sleep is elusive at best. My taste buds go south soon after the first actual chemo (Adriamycin) administration. I'm taking a lot of anti nausea medication for the next 4-7 days at least (again, I'm always queasy right up to the next dose). At about day 5, post chemo I start getting a wheeze in my lungs and have a productive cough. My throat increasingly swells over several days to the point where taking other important medication becomes more challenging. During this time I also start getting mouth sores, watery eyes, bounding heart beats off an on, swelling of my feet and ankles continue, puffy face, my vision has gone south, gastrointestinal problems from heartburn to diarrhea, and this last time some pretty intense abdominal pain. All of these things last over a week. To top it all off I still have a lot of breast pain, some days worse than others.
When I go to bed at night I start on my left side (doctor instruction) the heart is less restricted that way. I do the same when it's beating crazy hard.
The immune system is shot, gone, because of both the steroid and the chemo combo. I have to take my temperature daily. Infections, colds, flu, would be, well, not good news.
This drug combo is so damaging that its given 3 weeks apart (for recovery time) for 4 doses. The next two, assuming everything goes well, is November 14th and then December 5th. I'm seriously hoping for Thanksgiving and Christmas eating! Then I start on a new weekly chemo regime.
I had a very scary experience on the road driving to work last week where I was taking my meds with crackers and coffee and I knew the last couple of days it was getting harder to get my pills down, but there I was and my pill lodged in my throat. No air, blocked airway. Emergency! I hit the emergency lights on my car and pulled off the road, the rest area near Elma was right there... as I drove in I had in my visual field sparks of light and dark where your brain is telling you that you aren't getting enough oxygen and you're going to pass out... and then... (all this time I was trying to swallow) finally, finally it went down! AIR! Needless to say I don't eat in the car anymore.
This is life-as-I-know-it currently; and I'm handling it. Oh I have my moments, but in context, the bad moments are fleeting. It's just my reality right now. I'm learning how to do some things differently to help offset the changes.
