Started Chemo Today

TCH Infused Today!

Today, I started my chemotherapy regimen. I am working on another post laying out how I ultimately came to the decision of which regimen to pick (ACTH, TCH, or a clinical trial comparing TH to  TDM1 (aka kadcyla)), but I want to make sure I go through the trial data thoroughly, and so it is not ready just yet.

Follow up

At my follow up visit with my oncologist, Ann Partridge, I learned that the lighter trial chemotherapy regimen might be an option, after all. I was thrilled to learn this, mostly because it mentally put me back into that "lower risk" category where I desperately wanted to be. However, given the initial gut reaction of the tumor board, and all of the soul searching I did in the interim, I decided to stick with the plan for TCH and just move forward with treatment. The option, however, made me feel even better about the decision to chose the TCH over the ACTH regimen. I did enroll in the prospective cohort study of young women with breast cancer, "Helping ourselves, helping others."

The Infusion

After consenting to all of the risks of chemotherapy, I started the infusions: first, a loading dose of herceptin, followed by taxotere, and finally carboplatin. The herceptin loading went very, very smoothly. My husband and I worked on a Sunday crossword, started a game of scrabble, and were able to quietly entertain ourselves the whole time. I got sort of a funny metallic taste in my mouth, but otherwise no problems.

The taxotere, on the other hand, was another story. After about two minutes of the taxotere infusion, I began to have severe nausea, followed by chest wall tightness, difficulty breathing, and finally facial flushing and swelling (allergic reactions to taxotere/taxol are quite common). The symptoms occurred so quickly that my husband noticed something was wrong when I could not put a word together on the scrabble board- he looked up and my face and ears were bright pink! We called our excellent nurse, the infusion was stopped, I was loaded with massive doses of drugs (methylprednisone, pepcid, and benadryl).  All of my symptoms resolved within a few short minutes. After a touch of observation, the infusion was restarted (slowly) and I was able to make it through with no more problems (other than a bit of loopiness with all of the steroids and benadryl-- no more scrabble after that!). By the time I got to the carboplatin, I was so sleepy from the benadryl, I barely even noticed the infusion.

Home and Next Steps

Now back at home and doing well- the benadryl is wearing off so I can think properly again. Going to take a slew of meds and vitamins tonight to prevent side effects from the chemotherapy agents (loratidine and/or naproxen for bone pain associated with neulasta (an area of active investigation) and B6 for prevention of neuropathy) and we'll see how it goes! I admit the data behind both of these prevention strategies is not great, but the risk is low, and B6, at least, has an excellent track record in other areas.

The way I look at it, I am now down to one hand! One down, five to go.

And the day after chemo...