Taxol 4B opens December

Thursday I continued my fourth treatment of Taxol. Chemo nurse Donna drew me so drew blood from my lateral lumen (the outside of two places in the port to my vein) and sent if off to the labs at 10:20 a.m. By 11:30 labs had come back, I'd been visited by Dr. Im who had ordered the chemo to proceed. I got Benedryl by mouth, then a bag of Dexamethasone and Zofran by IV (to quell nausea) followed by a bag of Cimetidine (to calm gastric juices) before Taxol was started at 1:11 p.m. It was done by 2:04 and then had to wait for the magnesium (important to keep muscles--including the heart muscle--functioning) to show up. I got 4 grams of mag by IV; they take two hours to go in.

In the morning I read my Washington Post cover to cover, ordered my lunch (from the same choices every day) and usually pull out my earphones (kept in my Mercy travel bag to prevent the hospital the cost of supplying them and throwing them away each week) to watch TV while I eat lunch.

We sit in Lazy-Boy-type reclining chairs with tables on the sides of each arm; can have warm flannel blankets they keep in a warming oven; have access to a coffee/tea/ice water bar and a fridge usually stocked with sodas and juices. IVs are on portable, unplugable with battery backup, when you have to walk your "friend" with you to the bathrooms. Visits from other nurses, the wonderful social worker Sally, Reverend Baker or one of the lovely Sisters of Mercy are frequent.

Or you can talk with other patients. Cynthia stopped by. She had been on Taxol a week or so before I started it, but it wasn't working for her so they switched her to another drug. You'll remember I had three chemo drugs that didn't work for me before the Taxol. So you never know which one will work for you. Everyone is unique. And each cancer is tricky. Trial and error.

But success is great to see. And I think I'll have a good Christmas. I start chemo 5A on Christmas eve (12/24) so I'll have another CA125 then. If the Taxol can take my numbers down another 51% as it did last month, it should be in the 20s and the "normal" range is between 0-35 you may remember. That should make for a very Merry Christmas. And Tyler too! What joy!