On Tuesday, I switch up my chemo drugs and start on a dose-dense cocktail of Doxorubicin & Cyclophosphamide (nicknamed “AC”) for 4 rounds, administered every other week. These drugs both damage the DNA inside cancer cells so they can’t divide, which causes them to die (yay!). Doxorubicin stops damaged cancer cells from continuing to grow, while cyclophosphamide stops cancer cells from reproducing.
So that’s great, but doxorubicin is also known as the “Red Devil” – because the fluid in the IV bag is red, and because its the real workhorse of breast-cancer chemo drugs. As I hear it, its a real ass-kicker. Plus, in addition to being red as in the IV bag, it also can cause your urine, sweat and tears to be red for a few days following the infusion (I will absolutely report back on this one!) AC causes the usual chemo side-effects, plus does a real number on your blood cells, causing you red and white blood cells to get crushed and potentially requiring some additional medicines to help keep your blood counts in check.
Suffice it to say, I’m pretty nervous heading in to Tuesday. My first few weeks on Carboplatin and Taxol didn’t go too well, so I’m hoping that this time around, my body decides not to reject the chemo drugs outright. On the one hand, worrying about it does nothing to actually change what will happen come Tuesday. On the other hand, I don’t really know how not to think/worry about it. So I just want it to be Tuesday so I can get past the first infusion and take what comes my way.
Unfortunately, it looks like the worst of chemo might still be to come
Fortunately, in 8 weeks it will be done with – and I can celebrate with an inordinate amount of champagne and sushi.
Fortunately Unfortunately 