Round Two!

Ding!

The second round of Laurie's chemo began today pretty much like the previous four treatments of the first round. Temperature, blood pressure, and blood work. The results from the blood work came back and everything was good for commencing the Herceptin and Taxol treatments. The 20 minute Benadryl I.V. was administered and then the 90 minute long Herceptin I.V. was administered. The first dosage today is the double dose kick-off dosage to get the body going with the Herceptin. The 11 weekly doses that follow will be about half this initial dose. The nurse told us that the Herceptin is administered first because they have to monitor Laurie for 90 minutes once the Herceptin is finished for any type of flu like symptoms that the Herceptin may cause. The Taxol was then administered immediately after the conclusion of the Herceptin and the hour it takes to administer the Taxol is part of the 90 minute monitoring process. Any allergic reactions from the Taxol should occur within the first few minutes after the Taxol is first administered. The side effects of the Taxol include joint pains, hair loss which is not an issue now, and tingling/numbness of the hands and feet, but that does not usually happen until the 5th or 6th week.

As you probably have picked up by now, both rounds of chemo are designed to ensure there are no microscopic cells in the rest of Laurie’s body, which may have escaped from the original tumor. Although the surgery removed the tumor fully and there were no cells in the margin that was surgically removed, 4 lymph nodes did have cancer cells in them and the lymph nodes are the “side roads” of the main arteries. The PET scan, which scans the entire body from the throat down, did not show any activity but since the 4 lymph nodes had cancer cells in them, they want to be sure they kill any cells that might be elsewhere in the body.

A little background on this second round of chemo. This round of Taxol is still a chemo therapy and the Herceptin is considered a biological treatment. Everyone is allergic to the solution the Taxol is administered through, so the oncologist wishes to minimize Laurie’s reaction with a massive dose of steroids and Benadryl. Once at the office they provided Pepsid, an antibiotic, and a large dose of Benadryl to ensure she doesn’t have a bad reaction. For example, during the first round, Laurie took 2 tablets of Decadron the first 3 days of her chemo. In this round, she actually took 5 tablets the night before and 5 tablets 2 hours before the chemo. If she does not have any reaction, then they will reduce it to 2 tablets each dosage to minimize the steroids and their side effects. The theory here is if you have a very bad reaction the first time, it is very difficult psychologically to go to the next chemo session, so they would rather have a little too much than not enough. The side effects of Decadron are increased appetite, irritability, insomnia, headaches, and mood swings, so Laurie really doesn’t want to take too many of these tablets and we don't either. We want her to remain her sweet, lovable self so please pray that she will not need much of the Decadron.

The Herceptin will be given with the Taxol for 12 weeks, and then she will have just Herceptin for 9 more months every 3 weeks. Yeah, I know!

Several people have asked about particular prayer requests at this time. Laurie’s request is that the doctors are able to minimize her reaction to the Taxol without too many steroids.

Today’s first visit of Round 2 went very well. Laurie had no adverse reactions to either the Herceptin or Taxol. God has already answered another prayer! She took a half hour nap earlier this afternoon and has been feeling well all evening.

We are both very encouraged with how this 2nd round has started and have God and all of you to thank. Your prayers and support continue to give Laurie and me the strength and encouragement we need to get to the end of this long road to the cure. We could not do all of this without you and thank you again for all you have done and continue to do for us.

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