Hawaiian Punch

Adriamycin (Hawaiian Punch)

This week, I started the first treatment in my second 12-week cycle of chemo. I will have one infusion every three weeks of 3 drugs: Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Keytruda. The blood tests I have to do for this round are done on the Wednesday before my infusion, so they can be sent away for testing and we can see the results by Friday. This Wednesday’s blood tests showed that my white blood cells and platelets were up, and my hemoglobin had gone from .6 to 9.7 since the blood transfusion, so they said to plan on treatment for Friday.

Glen and I visited a couple of cannabis dispensaries. When I walked into the first one, I was assigned a “bud tender” who had very strong opinions of what he thought would help me. Glen wasn’t able to come in with me because he didn’t have a card of his own. I just kept nodding my head, but eventually told him I needed to think about it and left. We decided to go to a second store to see what they could teach us. At this store, Glen was able to sit with me in the foyer while we talked with an employee about what they had and what might help. Armed with this knowledge, I went into the store and Glen sat in the car. I got a few items in different forms, including a patch, gummies, and liquid drops.

Thursday morning, I started my day like many of you with prayer and asked how I could hear the voice of the Lord. I felt impressed to make bread to take into the medical staff to thank them for all they've been doing to help me. During treatments it can be easy to focus on what hasn't gone right, but I decided to focus on all of the good that is happening. So, with the help of Daniel, Ryan, and Glen, I was able to make bread to take into the office on Thursday. When we gave Dr. Curley his loaf he said, “how did you know I have been craving grilled cheese sandwiches?” He took a picture immediately and sent it to his wife with the caption, “look what we got.” :)

   

My sister Kimberly flew in Thursday night from Texas and has been such a wonderful help. Friday, she finished homework with Hannah and went on a bike ride with her. I went in for my infusion and to meet with Dr. Curley from about noon to 5 p.m. while Kimberly went swimming with the kids and then came to pick me up at the end of the appointment. She's also been helping Paul take inventory of what he has and what we still need to gather for his mission. She is planning to take him shopping this week to get what he needs.

Some of the things we talked about with Dr. Curley were my blood results, uses of CBD oil, what we can expect from the new treatment, side effects. He said that the MRI results were inconclusive because the contrast dye didn’t work properly, so we will have to redo that this week. I need to call and schedule that this week, so regardless of the results we will not change treatment. It will just give us a good baseline of the results of round one. My next appointment with Dr. Curley is in six weeks (before my 3rd AC treatment). The best news was that my white blood cell counts were high enough that I did not need to receive the Neulasta injection. The Neulasta is similar to the Zarxio shots I have been getting to stimulate the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. Neulasta must be used when there are longer periods between treatments because it lasts for 10 days, Zarxio lasted only 24 hours.

Friday I received 3 drugs. Keytruda, which I have already been getting every 3 weeks up until now; Cytoxan, which is a drip that runs for 30 minutes; and Adriamycin, which comes in a syringe and must be pushed in slowly by a nurse ... this drug is often referred to as the “red devil”. I thought that name was terrible and that it was high time for a new name, so I decided to call it “Hawaiian Punch” and I am going to think about basking the sun on the sands of Hawaii with all my family and friends, while I drink it from a chilled martini glass with a cute umbrella on the side ;) it took about 15 minutes to go in. 

The Adriamycin is considered a “vesicant,” which is a chemical that can cause extensive tissue damage and blistering if it escapes from the vein so it must be administered manually by a nurse that has been trained. Nowadays this damage rarely happens when using a port. I had read that if I sucked on something cold, like ice, while it is given it helps to prevent mouth sores. I brought ice chips to suck on but I completely forgot to use them because everything was so new. I was watching it go in and was talking with Yvette asking her questions about it and was completely distracted. Oh well, maybe next time. The “Hawaiian Punch” has already turned my Urine red before I even left the clinic. What a day on the beach.

The best part of my treatment was coming home to a warm, delicious meal from our sweet friend who attends church with us. We had planned to have a movie night with the kids, with popcorn and treats. I made it through the first 20 minutes before Glen carried me up to bed.

I have my normal insomnia for a few days, from the steroids given in the premeds. The doctor said that most people experience the worst of the drugs on days 2-4, but sometimes it can come in waves. We are now 2 days in and hoping I am at the worst of it and things will start improving. So far, the CBD has maybe helped to curb some nausea but I am still feeling pretty sick and have spent most of the weekend in bed. I am wearing a patch right now, which should help for 72 hours.