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Old 11-25-2016, 01:37 PM   #13
StephN
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Misty woods of WA State
Posts: 4,128
Wink Re: Update on Paula/Cancer Fightin' Words

Hi Paula,
Great to hear you had such a nice Thanksgiving.

I have a couple of comments on your last post. With weekly taxol I DID get neulasta (it was new then) and only had to miss one treatment due to rock bottom counts. However that was part of the protocol on he trial I was on. I also was getting Navelbine with taxol, so that was a double whammy.

When I first got Herceptin I also had the shaking chills, and no amount of blankets and hot tea would stop it until my body had a chance to process enough of that loading dose. Never had that again except one time when I took a "Herceptin holiday" when I was on that drug alone as maintenance and went on a long trip.

As for living in a germy world when blood counts are low, I mainly tried to avoid sick people. I would run away from anyone coughing or sneezing or even clearing their throat. I would hang back and look at the checkout lines to see if anyone in the line or the clerk was showing any symptoms. I never touch a gas pump handle with out a paper towel and use the wipes for grocery carts or hand baskets. These are my habits still today.
__________________
"When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest." H.D. Thoreau
Live in the moment.

MY STORY SO FAR ~~~~
Found suspicious lump 9/2000
Lumpectomy, then node dissection and port placement
Stage IIB, 8 pos nodes of 18, Grade 3, ER & PR -
Adriamycin 12 weekly, taxotere 4 rounds
36 rads - very little burning
3 mos after rads liver full of tumors, Stage IV Jan 2002, one spot on sternum
Weekly Taxol, Navelbine, Herceptin for 27 rounds to NED!
2003 & 2004 no active disease - 3 weekly Herceptin + Zometa
Jan 2005 two mets to brain - Gamma Knife on Jan 18
All clear until treated cerebellum spot showing activity on Jan 2006 brain MRI & brain PET
Brain surgery on Feb 9, 2006 - no cancer, 100% radiation necrosis - tumor was still dying
Continue as NED while on Herceptin & quarterly Zometa
Fall-2006 - off Zometa - watching one small brain spot (scar?)
2007 - spot/scar in brain stable - finished anticoagulation therapy for clot along my port-a-catheter - 3 angioplasties to unblock vena cava
2008 - Brain and body still NED! Port removed and scans in Dec.
Dec 2008 - stop Herceptin - Vaccine Trial at U of W begun in Oct. of 2011
STILL NED everywhere in Feb 2014 - on wing & prayer
7/14 - Started twice yearly Zometa for my bones
Jan. 2015 checkup still shows NED
2015 Neuropathy in feet - otherwise all OK - still NED.
Same news for 2016 and all of 2017.
Nov of 2017 - had small skin cancer removed from my face. Will have Zometa end of Jan. 2018.
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