New Treatment Day

The new treatment day arrived.  Started by getting up at 5:30AM!  I didn't even get up that Early when I had a"real" job.

Bethany was my ride to the Cleveland Clinic.  Had to be there by 7:15.  For those of you that know our daughter and how she is not a morning person, would have been surprised at how nice the ride was.  And, she hadn't had her coffee, latte, or whatever the caffeine of the day is.

She dropped me off at the Tassig Cancer Center, took Tucker to doggy daycare and headed on to work.

My day at center began with the standard lab work.  Was glad they were prepared to access the port for this meaning only getting stuck once.

After labs was the visit with Dr. Andresen.  We reviewed the new drugs that would be used.  They are:  Docetaxel (taxetere) and Perjeta (pertuzumab).  The third drug in the treatment is the same Herceptin that was used previously. He also revealed that the heart echogram showed a healthy heart, which allows us to continue with the new treatment.

Back downstairs to the treatment rooms.  Many of the rooms at the clinic are private.  Complete with regular TVs, and a bathroom that is shared with the next door room.  With the additional demand for treatments, they have also added 3 community treatment areas.  They try to use these mainly for short treatments which allows the to keep the private rooms available for those of us in for the long haul.

Premeds are required for this new regime.  First up - Benedryl.  Not sure what they do to this stuff when they push it thru the IV, but it sure messes me up.  Dizzy, leg twitches, drowsiness.  Don't like it, but guess it keeps the more severe side effects and discomforts of the bigger drugs at bay.

That was followed up by infusions of Pepcid and dexamethasone.

My nurse was excellent today.  She took the time to answer questions.  She also was very good to make casual conversation even though she had a busy day full of other patients.  Never felt rushed and that created a much calmer environment for me.

Since this was the first time for the Perjeta, it required an observation time to see if I would have any reactions.  Passed with flying colors.

We won't need the observation next time, so the treatment will not be as long (whew).

To summarize, all went well today.  Feeling good tonight and have been able to eat all day.

Hoping the next couple days are just as good or better.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming show of support and affection.  My room was filled with a full house of virtual guests.  It was so much appreciated by both of us!