Change in Plans!

WARNING: Looooong post!

I know I didn't post this here before, but some of you already know that my medical oncologist resigned as director of the FL Cancer Institute. She is a fantastic doctor and her specialty was breast cancer. She will more than likely be teaching at the University of Central Florida's new medical school and will continue doing research. I saw Dr. Moroose for the last time at my early October treatment. I told her I was sad for her to leave but was glad she was staying in the field. Today I had my first appointment with one of her colleagues. I requested him after talking with different nurses and staff. He seems to be very knowledgeable, is easy to talk to and was willing to answer my many questions. :)

A couple of weeks ago a new study was published regarding Taxol, which was to be the poison for my next (and last) 4 treatments. The study re-examined data to determine its effectiveness for HER2 positive breast cancers. HER2 positive means that there is an over expression of the protein HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor-2) due to a gene mutation, which means a more aggressive cancer. Mine was HER2 negative. In addition, mine was estrogen and progesterone positive, which means the cancer feeds off those two hormones, but responds well to hormone therapy (e.g., Tamoxifen). What was discovered in this study was that ER & PR positive/HER2 negative breast cancers do not seem to benefit much from Taxol. The good news for HER2 positive patients is that Taxol seems to work very well against that type of BC. Soooo, (I hope I'm explaining this well), my new doctor suggested we ditch the Taxol and move to Taxotere immediately and keep using Cytoxan. Taxotere is less toxic (a lesser poison?) than Adriamycin and doesn't come with the risk of heart damage like Adriamycin does. With the Taxotere/Cytoxan combo we can reduce the total from 8 treatments to 6. He said this will probably be the protocol for my type of cancer in the future. I decided to go with his plan. I asked him if he felt Dr. Moroose would make the same changes and he said yes. I would feel much more comfortable if Dr. Moroose made these suggestions, but that's not possible. I hope I made the right decision! It comes down to this:

3 Adriamycin/Cytoxan - finished
3 Taxotere/Cytoxan - 1 down, 2 to go

Radiation and Tamoxifen (or something like it) to follow.

Anyway, it turned out to be a long day at the Chemo Cafe. New orders to be written, dosages to be determined, etc. Via IV I received Tagament, Benedryl (nice nap in the chair from that!), Decodran (steroid), Venofer (iron), Taxotere, then finally Cytoxan. Tomorrow I go back for the Neulasta injection and fluids. Fascinating, huh? I can guarantee you that you leave the office with your head spinning from all the info to absorb! I have mixed feelings this evening...happy my number of chemo treatments have gone from 8 to 6, but I feel a little apprehensive wondering if I made the right decision. Rats, where's the master plan?? Hmm, I must've misplaced it. ;)

Keep praying kiddies!