Oncologist visit at Dana Farber and dinner

I met with Dr. Wendy Chen at Dana Farber today and she seemed very bright, articulate, and had thoroughly reviewed my records. Her recommendation is 4 rounds of dose-dense adriamycin and cytoxin (AC) every two weeks, followed by 4 rounds of dose-dense taxol.

This protocol is a little different than what my KC onco had in mind. She was suggesting the same drugs, but every 3 weeks instead of every 2 weeks. We talked about the steroid use and she says I will need them for just two days each round with the AC, and just one day with each Taxol treatment. If I tolerate the Taxol well, I may not need any steroids after the first round.

We talked about using Abraxane instead of Taxol, and she said that the risk of neuropathy was greater with Abraxane, plus it is not as well proven as Taxol. It makes sense to do what I can to minimize the neuropathy,

So, the next step is that I will get a call from the Londonderry satellite clinic, they will schedule an appointment, I will get an echocardiogram to be sure my heart can tolerate the adriamycin, and I plan to have a port inserted. It's possible I could have my first infusion by the end of next week.

After my appointment we met up with the nurse who referred me to Dana Farber. She, Ann and I had a wonderful dinner in a French restaurant - Gaslight - and talked about Sandy's women's health clinic and how much she loves the Northeastern nursing students (Ann's class). Two very dynamic women!!!

Michelle