Starting Taxol

Today Becky went in for her first dose of Taxol.  The last 2 weeks have been the most difficult so far.  It took several days for her to start feeling better after her last dose.  She was given another course of antibiotics, but they had little impact. She continues to fight cold symptoms, but after a visit with the Dr. today, he thinks it may be drainage from her eyes that is irritating her sinuses and throat.  Hopefully this will resolve now that we have changed to a different drug.  One of the differences with Taxol is the higher possibility of an allergic type reaction to the chemo. To help with this they give 50mg of IV Benadryl before the infusion.  Becky was pretty much knocked out after that. Haha.  She seems to be doing well after the dose and we will wait and see what the coming days bring.  Most people say that the Taxol is easier to tolerate, and so we are hopeful that this is the case for Becky.

As always, we are so thankful to the many friends that are always offering support and help.

I am attaching a picture that the Midtown Davis Clinic sent with another message of support.

Last Dose of "Bad Chemo"

Today was the last dose of the Cytoxan/Adriamycin combo.  Several people have said that the next medication (Taxol), is a little easier to tolerate as far as chemo goes.  The last 2 weeks have been a little difficult.  The cold that she had been fighting, finally got to the point that she could no longer stand it.  After almost 3 weeks and a couple of complaints about it falling on deaf ears at the Oncologists office, she called and explained that she needed some antibiotics now.  They explained that they don't usually give antibiotics unless the patient has a fever.  After waiting almost all day, they called in a Z-Pak for her.  That did the trick, and the cold is mostly gone.  She had kind of a hard time bouncing back after this last dose, and we are hoping that it was mostly because of the cold.  Her dose today went smoothly, and she felt good during the day but the nausea is coming on pretty strong tonight. Four more days and she will hopefully have the worst of the chemo behind her.

As many of you know, I now work at Midtown Community Health Center.  I had kind of tried to keep the news of Becky's cancer low key and only really the people in the pharmacy were aware of it.  I should have known it was only a matter of time until the people out in the clinic figured out what was going on.  They decided that they wanted to do another shirt order for the clinic.  I knew that Midtown had kind of a family feel, but the support has been unbelievable.  We ended up ordering 82 shirts.  Midtown has several satellite clinics as well.  Many of these people I have never even met in person and they definitely haven't met Becky, but they sent in orders and messages of support.  The Medical Director challenged the Midtown Vegas Ragnar team to get shirts and wear them during their race.  The Executive Director is allowing the people with shirts to wear jeans to work on the days that Becky has chemo.  I have posted some pictures that came in from some of the satellite clinics today.  Keep in mind that most of these people have never met me or Becky.

I am so thankful for the wonderful group of friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers that have offered prayers and support on our behalf.  Your kind words and deeds have made such a difference to our little family.  We have a daughter that is 9 years old, and to hear her talk about going to school and seeing kids and even adults wearing shirts in support of her mother is such a heartwarming experience.  This is a hard thing that we are facing, but somehow just knowing that people care and are willing to offer so much love and support makes it just a little easier.