3rd Chemo & 1st Check-up Afterward - 12/13/2010

I want to first apologize for not posting last week's results of Mom's 3rd Chemo treatment until now. There has been a lot going on!!! As you see above, Mom had quite the entourage for her third treatment. Ginny came into town on the 3rd and Norman was visiting us as well. I was hoping to say that Mom's chemo was uneventful, but she had another allergic reaction. She was able to recognize the symptoms quickly and Ginny was able to notify the nurses and staff quickly so that they were able to stop the iv and administer some medication to calm her pain. Dr. Pritchard believes she indeed has an allergy with the Docetaxel (trade name Taxotere). They did not continue with the treatment of Taxotere, but went ahead with the 2nd medicine, the Cytoxan, cyclophospamide. He decided to switch out the Taxotere with a different medicine, Adriamycin (doxorubicin). He said it should do the same thing and that is good because it was the Taxotere that was having the biggest effect on the cancer. Mom's breast had a little more a pink color this week and Dr. Summers, her surgeon said that it was because she did not have the taxotere this last time. Speaking of Dr. Summers, we did get to meet with her today and she was ecstatic with how everything has been going. She did a sonogram and measured the tumor and lymph node behind it and recorded the measurements. Indeed it has shrunk quite remarkably. After she and Dr. Pritchard talked on the phone it was decided that Mom will go ahead with 3 more chemo treatments and then have her surgery. They both want to make sure that there is absolutely no trace in the underlying skin; and with the development of the pink coloring again they don't want to rush it too fast. So Mom will have her next chemo on the 27th of December. It will most likely be in late February or early March when she will have the surgery. We are grateful for the competent medical team in whose hands Mom has been placed.