Well today was the second treatment with the new antibody chemo drug - Lartuvo by Eli Lilly. It was recently approved by the FDA, it was fast tracked. Guess who is the first one in the area to use it? Yep. You guessed.
I have to be honest, this is the weirdest chemo schedule I have ever been on. Once a week. Every other week is it different too. Thursday is my chemo day. Wednesdays are meet with the doctor and blood levels.
So last week, this was the list of drugs I got:
Decadron (corticosteroid hormone), Benadryl (yep through the IV), Aloxi (anti-nausea drug on steroids), Emend (another anti-nausea on steroids), Latruvo (antibody chemo drug), Doxil (nasty chemo drug), and Neulasta OBI (suppose to support immune system). Five and one half hours. Long day. Oh, and after the Benadryl you do get sleepy.
The two drugs with the most side effects are the Latruvo, and Doxil. Head aches, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, muscle aches, chills, immune system crash, fatigue, oh yeah and hair loss.
Side effects I have been having, fatigue, head ache, the hair is going, nausea, the taste of food is going too. Body aches too. Basically for about four or five days after I feel like I have a bad case of the flu. I still get up every day and go to work.
Oh, it just dawned on me, I work SEVEN (7) days a week. And from working that much (20-30 hours at one job, 10 to 14 hours at the other) and I bring home about $800 to $900 a month net. Life is interesting right now.
Ok, back to the chemo. Today's treatment was the Lartruvo. Did you know they fly in the medications the day before your treatment? I was supposed to get chemo yesterday, but when I was about ten (10) minutes from the office I got a call, the plane the drugs were on had mechanical problems. They didn't get here. So they rescheduled me for today. The total time I was there - a little over two hours. Right now I do feel tired and nauseated.
I'll admit. This time I am a bit concerned about the cancer. I mean, it is Stage IV (been there, done that several times) but it is on the heart and inoperable. All the other times they could operate. Even a couple they operated, and since they got really good margins, no chemo.
So why am I a bit concerned? Well, if this chemo doesn't work, there will be another (new treatment just approved too) and if it doesn't work, there is another, and another. I am concerned about having to continue chemo so long it exhausts me. How many times will I have the strength to go through it? When I am too tired, how do I face my family and friends? Look, I am not giving up, but I have no idea what will happen in the future.
Oh, before I go, any woman going through any type of cancer should check out Cleaningforareason.org - they are a nationwide group that has volunteers that will come in and do a general cleaning to help you out. If they have someone in your area, they will connect you. There is a limit to how many cleanings, four (4) I think, don't quote me. But even that helps.
If you don't need cleaning and want to help, they take donations, and may even be able to use your help.
Time to feed the girls, and take a nap. I really feel beat this time.
