Doxorubicin is one of the many Chemo drugs that Jessica received on Monday.
In my opinion, it is one of the harshest chemo drugs there is.
It is injected into the blood. If you get it on your skin, you can develop blisters and lesions and permanently damage the skin It's highly toxic and corrosive. The nurse who administered it on Monday even suited up in a protective gown to give it.
It can cause nausea and vomiting, dry mouth, fatigue, infertility, birth defects, and lesions inside the digestive track from the mouth to the intestine, hair loss and the list goes on and on. Doxorubicin can damage the heart and liver and will suppress the immune system and lower blood counts. Some physicians call it putting the body in crisis mode to kill the cancer.
Doxorubicin and a couple other chemo drugs have also been known to cause other forms of cancer in the body aside from what you are already being treated for. The Doxorubicin can only be administered 6-7 times in a person's lifetime. If you've had the doses once, Doctor's won't give it to you again.
Jessica will have several echo cardiograms done on her heart to monitor for any damage.
We also have a naturopathic clinic who is helping her stay strong through all these treatments. they are providing us with an entire host of nutritional support to help sustain her and make her strong enough to handle the effects of chemo. The Doctor's have been pleased with her blood counts so far and for the most part, we are pretty happy with how she is coming through this.
After treatments like this, Jessica is usually really sick and extremely fatigued for about 10 days. The next 10 days she starts feeling a little bit better and then it's time to go back in and do it all again.
We go in every 3 weeks now for Doxorubicin, Vincristine (another injected chemo drug), Methotrexate via Spinal Tap (chemo injected into spinal fluid), and then at home we will take Prednisone and Mercaptopurine (oral chemo)
She has one or two more spinal taps left to do and then they will tapper those off.
The other drugs will be injected about every 3 weeks for the next 10 -11 months.
It seems that cancer is on the rise. It affects so many more lives than ever before. Who knows why it is such a plague. Cancer is harsh. Chemo is harsh. The two of them battle it out and in the end, if you are still standing, you win.
Jessica is praying for a miracle this week. More than anything, she really wants to go to girls camp for the day on Thursday to be with her friends and her leaders. Unfortunately, the chemo hits her the hardest by about the 5th day and Thursday will be the 4th.
We'll see how it all turns out.
Loyia & I just weep when we think of Jessica having to take these harsh chemicals and especially to think of what they do to her and have the potential to do to her.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janet for being so specific about the drugs and chemicals and what they do and the potential risks and harm they can have. This was a very informative update and we needed to be informed.
All our love sweetheart. Please tell Jessica we pray for her constantly, every night and morning and she is in our every thought throughout the day. We will pray that she can have the strength and courage to go to girls camp too. --- Mom & Dad
You caught me on a valley day. Sorry to be so negative. I just finished reading through the manual they sent home with us from the hospital that explained all the side effects of the drugs and therapies she will be on. It explains what to watch for and when you should head to the emergency room. It's terrifying, to say the least. We've been very blessed so far though. We've come close a few times to being admitted for various reactions to her drugs, but thankfully she's done really well. We fight a double sided battle. Jessica is on a very strict diet and we've provided her with a ton of concentrated nutrition to build her back up again after her treatments. I think the two together are a good match for her cancer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prayers. We are going to need a miracle to get her up to camp for just the one day, but that's what we're asking for. We appreciate all the extra prayers we can get.
Dear Jessica....I so hope you get to camp! What a great place. I am praying I can get an evening there next week. Keep fighting and smiling!
ReplyDeletethe Kingstons
Krista,
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness.....I hope you can squeeze in a day at camp. I can't imagine, but with what's on your plate, camp would be at the bottom of the list for me. I'm not so good at this yet, I guess.
You guys are so amazing. We all have Traejen in our prayers morning and night. We plead with the Lord to give you all some relief soon. You deserve it. In the mean time......You keep fighting too. Don't ever give up
-Thurgood's
It was GREAT seeing Jessica at camp on Thursday! We even had people stop by after you left to see if she was still there so they could say hi. Stay strong! We're keeping you all in our prayers.
ReplyDeletethank you very much for this particular update, I don't think it was negitive at all...<3 for those of us who don't know what cancer's all about, it's good to hear what specifically is going on for Jessica. All our love and prayers xoxoxoxo Talesa and Justin
ReplyDeleteTalesa,
ReplyDeleteHey, it's so good to hear from you. Thanks so much for the encouragement and support. We ache for a badly needed visit with you guys and are so sad we haven't met Justin yet. Thanks for the love and prayers. Right back at ya.
-Janet