Set the clippers to # 2

You can let cancer rule your life or you can make pre-emptive decisions. Today Pace had her hair trimmed down to a GI Jane length.

Better to cut off your own hair than have to go through the trauma of watching it come out in clumps every time you touch it.

Pace has such great facial bone features that she will be a looker without hair too.

We'll see if the old Frech-Canadian folklore of making your baby sleep on it's right side one night, and the left side the next really does make for shaping a round head ;)

Treatment 4 and a Theory about Pace’s TIAs

Last week they dropped Pace’s dose of Abraxane from 149mg to 119mg due to the ongoing vertigo, which is not a normal treatment side effect.

The nurse also commented on the spike of platelets in Pace’s blood. It’s unusual; as I understand it chemo lowers the level of platelets. The higher the level of platelets in the blood the thicker the blood is, potentially causing clotting and overworking the heart. The average person scores between the numbers of 140 – 450 on the level of platelets in the blood. Her platelet level was 264 on Jan 26th, 449 on Feb. 9th and 490 on the 17th.

She thought that Pace should take it up with the Doctor and suggested that it might be something genetic and that she get tested.

Pace’s arms were bruised as it took four tries to get a vein. We’ve still got another 2 months of weekly treatments and blood work; they may have to switch arms or use the veins in her legs.

RAZRs and Breast Cancer Research

We got to bed late last night. My train pulled in at 7:30 pm and by the time we got home, put the wee one to sleep and we sat down for supper it was going on 9:00 pm.

After dessert Pace and I sat in front of a pleasantly warm fire, and got caught up. I gave Pace her Valentines Day present. A V3 Motorola RAZR phone, it’s very slim and stylish like Pace and it’s a bright anodized pink aluminum.

She loves it!

And I get the satisfaction of as the sales representative told me Rogers is giving 50$ from each sale of that phone model to breast cancer research.

Good News from the Meeting the Doctor

Last weekend I felt the tumor for the first time in three weeks. I was sure it was smaller but I thought it was better to wait for the doctor to confirm that before releasing any information.

First thing Pace does every week is get her blood-work done, then she sees the doctor. The results of the tests are available at treatment time the next day,

Pace saw the Oncology Surgeon on Thursday and he was happy with the progress. The good news is she is responding well to the Abraxane, and the mass has reduced in size by about 20 to 25%.

Personally, I’m glad Abraxane is punching out the cancer because it’s also taking a toll on her energy levels; they’re unfortunately, but predictably, reducing with each treatment.

Happy Valentine's Day Pace!

Pace,

On this Valentine's Day, I've been asked by many people to send you their love and best wishes for a complete recovery.

And to you, my charming, spirited and vivacious love, I'm so blessed to be your best-friend, lover, and husband.

All of my heart,

Robert

Virgin Cancer Care

Richard Branson, my entrepreneural hero, has launched Virgin Cancer Care.

The financial health magaizines have published artcles examining it and found that while good it pays to shop around for a health insurance policy.

We're at treatment 3 and here's a health update

Pace's secondary effects continue to be dominated by chemotherapy induced neuropathy that seems to have localized in her cheeks and lips. Last week it manifested itself as numb lips that adds to the other symptom of a constantly runny nose. She thinks it's a cold she can't shake, I'm of another school of thought.

Other side effects are the off taste that food has now. It manifests itself as both an unwillingness to eat at times and nausea at others.

She's been having dizzy spells again, the doctors are not sure if it is, or is not related to the TIA episode we had back in October. So the neurosurgeons are recommending more tests, (here we go again...) to eliminate possibilities of underlying conditions. The recommendations are:

A transesophageal echocardiogram to determine if there are any congenital defects of the heart. Specifically defects in the heart walls allowing abnormal mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood between the right and left sides of the heart.

Then there's an MRI of the Brain Stem to look for potential brain tumors, I thought they would have done that with the other Brain MRI that she had in October.

There's also the "Bubble Test," where an ultrasound is done in combination with an injection of saline solution into the circulatory system to look for places were arteries may be pumping blood directly into veins. By all accounts it's painful.

Lastly the doctors are ordering a genetic blood test for coagulation disorder. This is a test that the good doctors at Mount Sinai were about to perform before the breast cancer diagnosis.

Pace is being so brave and all I can do is observe.

Treatment 2

Once again it is a wonder the Abraxane has so few side effects given it's power and history as a poison. On Saturday Pace felt numbness in the extremities of her arms and legs. She's also tired and can't seem to shake a cold.

In short, Abraxane is a part of the drug family known as Taxanes, these powerful drugs can stop cancer cells from repairing themselves and from dividing to create new cancer cells. The origin of taxanes is the European Yew tree

However, it has serious potential side effects:

• neutropenia, low counts of white blood cells that prevent infection


• neuropathy, pain and numbness, including symmetric polyneuropathy


• weakness


• infection, due to the neutropenia

So far there's been no sign of skin sensitivity, which is another side effect, albeit less serious, that can make taxanes difficult to take.

(Image Source: sanofi aventis)

Yum Yum Yoghurt!

Pace replied today about the home cure of eating yoghurt to get rid of the metallic taste of chemotherapy. Seems as if the chemo may upset the flora of the Gastro Tract causing the unplesant taste. Good thing they don't make yoghurt like this anymore!

Pace said, "Thank you for the tips! Intuitively, I've been eating a lot of yoghurt since Monday. I've been attracted to the taste. Like they say, listen when your body is telling you something."

Now if I could only get her to drink buttermilk, well I like this recipe!

Preliminary chemo side effects

Wow, Abraxane lives up to it's billing. I know this is just the first treat ment but the major side effects are that everything Pace's eats has a metalic taste to it, and she's tired, but that was expected.

A natural cure for the metalic taste in the mouth is to eat some yogurt or buttermilk containing live cultures. We'll see if this helps.

1 down 11 to go.

Chemotherapy starts today

Pace gets her first shot of Abraxane today at 2:00pm. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers that the side effects are minimal.

Another Bioposy then treatment starts

Pace had another biopsy today (see the pic of the biopsy gun at the bottom of the post). In order to track the effectiveness of the clinical study they need a fresh tumor sample as the old one has been through a series of tests. This sample gets sent to the NSABP - FRP (National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Program - Foundation Research Program), for testing in the future.

The tumor sample gets stored in a product called RNAlater which preserves the genetic material so it can be examined at a later date.

Gotta love their marketing message "Make Time Stand Still with RNAlater®." I'm not sure how much they use per tissue sample but RNAlater costs the hospitals $252 US for 500 ml or 17 liquid ounces. Kinda like paying $368 Euros for a 750 ml bottle of 1986 - Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion (Wine Spectator Rating 96) but not as much fun!

I'm getting a good understanding of why health care takes up so much of the governments’ budget.

the face of our enemy

Now I have an idea what our adversary looks like. It reminds me of a lionfish.

This is a breast cancer cell seen through an electron microscope.

(Image Credit: The National Cancer Institute)

Another Option from the Doctor

Pace’s invitation to participate in a Clinical Trial At our meeting with the oncologist, he gave us an option we didn’t foresee.

The doctor asked Pace to be a part of a clinical study for a chemotherapy drug called Abraxane for the National Adjunct Cancer of Bowel and Breast Program (NACBP). They would administer Abraxane for 12 weeks once week and then four doses of the chemotherapy cocktail FEC administered every three weeks.

Up until now Abraxane has been used for treating breast cancer in metastasis, FEC is in regular use for cancer treatment. The NACBP had experienced success in significantly reducing the size of the tumor, sometimes to nothing, both in a previous trial, and the one Pace has been asked to join.

Abraxane is a new form of the Taxol, a paclitaxel now used in fighting cancer which has fewer side effects compared to regular chemotherapy delivery of Taxol. It is the first drug available in a new form of cancer fighting agents called Protein Nanoparticle Chemotherapy, a type of cancer nanotechnology; I’ll explain what is and how it works in another post.

The complication is mostly logistical; Abraxane is administered weekly rather than every 21 days. As we were about to pack Pace up and get her back home for regular treatment, it looks like she won’t be coming home for at least 12 weeks maybe 24. However, if it results in a better treatment the sacrifice is worth it.