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Re: ACTH vs TCH chemo - thoughts welcome
I had a little of everything - TCH to begin but still had alot of node involvement so followed up with Adriamycin and Xeloda. Honestly I think everyone is different with the side effects they experience. I was diligent with icing my fingernails and toenails during the TCH treatments and never lost a nail. I also worked with a Naturopath and took alot of Onc approved supplements, had B12 shots each week and seemed to live on wheatgrass to keep my bloodcount up. I eventually began to manage side effects with Acupunture. All in all, its doable - a few rough days and lots of good ones. The hair loss sucks so make sure your sister splurges on a wig she likes so she can still feel like she looks ok.
Its easy to get really overwhelmed by the year ahead - try to keep her mind on day to day and remind her that she is blessed to have such effective treatments available. She is much stronger then she thinks.
She'll be added to our prayers.
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11/19/10 Identified swollen lymph node
1/24/11 Mammogram showed microcalcifications - no mass
2/4/11 Diagnosed ER/PR- HER2+++
2/23/11 Began TCH protocol every 21 days 6x
5/23/11 Ultrasound of originally diseased lymph node shows normal
7/25/11 Lymph node dissection - 8 of 14 show disease
7/29/11 Double mastectomy with reconstruction (expanders)
8/29/11 Begin follow up chemo - Adriamycin 4 treatments every 2 weeks and Xeloda. Self inject Nupogen shots
1/6/12 6 weeks of Radiation finished
2/13/12 Last Herceptin/remove port
3/27/12 PET/Brain Scan NED :)
8/15/12 Final reconstruction - hello nipples, good bye expanders
9/14/12 Rejected implant/infection. Implant removed
5/6/13 Latissumis Dorsi surgery left side with expander
PS - my photo was taken 5 days after my double mastectomy surgery and 6 weeks after my TCH was completed
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