The week of June 3rd, 2007

Went to see the plastic surgeon on Tuesday the 5th and he removed all of the bandages and told me to put Vaseline on my legs. That night two of the scabs slid off my legs. The next day after a good long hot shower the rest of the scabs slid off - wow!! I have legs again. They are a little pink where the scabs were but they look great - doesn't appear to be too much scarring. Plastic Surgeon said use Medirma on them - over the counter stuff all the way with him!!!!

Blood work on Tuesday 5th also showed my counts continuing to climb which is really good.

Went in for my first Taxol treatment on Wednesday June 6th. Took a vacation day to cover since I didn't know what to expect. When I met with Dr. Welt, he was ecstatic with the look of my legs. He then explained to me that the one most common side effect of the Taxol is fluid retention and he doesn't want to take a chance that I get ANY fluid retention of any kind. So he told me that he is going to switch me to Abraxane which is a sister drug to Taxol.

The main difference is that Taxol is dissolved in a oil base and the Abraxane is dissolved in a protein. There is some belief that the side effects from Taxol are really from the oil and the way that delivers the drug through your body. So the Abraxane should have fewer side effects because the protein is more easily accepted by your body.

The dosing is different as well - Taxol was one treatment every other week for 4 treatments and each treatment takes up to 4 hours. Abraxane is given once a week for three weeks with a week off - for a 4 week treatment cycle and each treatment takes 30 minutes. You have to have 3 treatment cycles for a total of 12 weeks. I will now be done in the middle of August with my chemo.

So yesterday, I had my first Abraxane. I have had very little side effects and feel pretty good. Because I'm more prone to blood count dropping, I did get a Neulasta shot today but I may not need to after this round. We are using the first week as a "trial" period to see what I need and don't need. I go in for blood work on Monday and my next treatment on Tuesday.

OH - and i'm down 53 pounds since my all time high weight in the hospital. Which means, I've really lost 13 pounds. WooHoo :)

Thanks for all the love and support - caring and prayers - I feel all of you all around me all the time. I love you all.
B