The Wonder Drug

I was absolutely dreading round three but as soon as I got there I met with the Pharmacist and she went over all my drugs with me again and got me to go to the upstairs Pharmacy to pick up my new wonder drug Emend (Aprepitant). She called it the crème de la crème of anti nausea drugs. They are a little expensive at about $40 per pill but with Murray’s drug plan we just had to pay about $26 for the three of them and they are worth every penny. I had to take the first one right away and then wait 1 hour before I could start the chemo. The other two I take with breakfast on days 2 and 3. These are on top of all the other ones I still have to take but I am down to about 14 pills a day. About 3 hours after the chemo I could tell that things were starting. I was getting really tired and feeling kind of worn out but no nausea!! (Although it does come with it's own set of side effects. Very dry mouth, red face, neck and chest and fatigue to name a few) On the way home we stopped in Wakaw for supper and at Joan’s suggestion I just had some toast. That was what I should have been doing all along. Incidentally, in the elevator (an elevator that we never had to use before) on our way up to the Pharmacy there was a sign about signing up for nutrition counseling where you can learn what to eat and what not to eat before and after Chemo. I could have used this information a whole lot sooner but I plan on calling them today and also will suggest that maybe they could have their signs in the waiting rooms!

You know on your first chemo session they give you all these drugs and lots of information to read and you are just bombarded with so many things. It is a little hard to take it all in but by round 3 I have figured out a few things. For instance, on a couple of the symptom charts (that comes with each kind of medication) it says you can have either constipation or diarrhea with them. Now I am no doctor but I think that common sense should tell you that if you are the type of person that suffers from occasional constipation then starting on Day 1 you should take what they give you for that. If you are the type of person that goes the other way then on Day 1 you should start taking what they give you for diarrhea. Also it takes a while to learn which drugs work on the different symptoms. I mean you are taking between 5 and 6 new drugs that you have never seen or heard of before along with dealing with the symptoms of 2 or 3 chemotherapy drugs.

Now I am done the three sessions of FEC (Fluorouracil, Epirubicin, and Cyclophosphamide). YAY!!! That is three down! Next time it will be two new chemo drugs and a whole new ball game of symptoms and drugs to combat these new symptoms.

Another thing I would like to address is some of the emails I have been getting about miracle cancer cures. Now I know that you mean well but I want to tell you now and anyone else who is considering sending something like this to a cancer patient. DON’T DO IT!!! I’ve started on this path where I have placed my trust in the medical profession and I have to see it through. They have been doing this a long time, they are very well organized and they have a lot of research behind them (and ongoing research in front of them). There have been some things I have asked my oncologist about and he is very honest and open with me. For instance yes, take all the vitamins I want (but I can’t usually stomach them anyway), he was a little bit skeptical but yes, if I think acupuncture will help me go for it. Yes, eat whatever I feel like eating including antioxidants (in his opinion nothing has been proven about them interfering with the chemo drugs). I haven’t asked him about drinking asparagus juice by the gallon (an email I have now gotten 3 times) because honey with my nausea that is just a recipe for disaster! That isn’t the only email I have gotten. They are too numerous to mention and frankly I just find them upsetting and they add to the confusion of all I have to learn about and do re the second paragraph above. So again I know you mean well and you have my best interests at heart but please before you send me anything else, check these things out at snopes.com or run them past your own doctor before you send them to me. If (and that is a big IF) I ever get to the point where they say they can’t do anything more for me and I need to get my affairs in order then and only then would I consider trying some of these alternative treatments. Until then for my own sanity it is delete, delete, delete. Now excuse me while I step down off my soap box for today :o)