Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A few updates about chemo and past treatments

Today my dad had his 4th treatment of Chemo. To catch you up a bit about the past:

*My dad was tested for a drug called Herceptin, he had a 15% chance that he would test positive for Her2New cells in his tumors; if he tested positive he could receive the drug Herceptin along with his chemo.

HE TESTED POSITIVE!!

*He has had one dose of Herceptin and is receiving the second dose today.

*He receives Carboplatin and Taxol for his chemo combination and goes once a week.

*My mom goes with him each week, usually Chemo is on Tuesdays and they are there from 9:00am-5:30-6ishpm. It takes this long to get blood tests and distribute the chemo and Herceptin. He also receives iron, Benadryl, and non-nausea medicine through IV. At first he had trouble with the "jimmy" legs but now that is better and he usually sleeps.

*In the past he has been EXTREMELY low on blood, he of course, being the tough guy he is says he can't tell the difference, but he has had to get transfusions before chemo could be started. In this case chemo is pushed back a day. He has gotten two transfusions so far, but last week he didn't drop much so he didn't need a transfusion. Also, last week he GAINED three pounds, first time that he didn't have a loss.

*They will continue to do chemo until he can't handle it anymore or until it stops working. They will scan in one month to see if the tumors are shrinking.

* So far, he has had no side effects to chemo!! WOO HOO!!

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