Chemo Again and Bone-Repair Infusions - Update on Robin as of 11/10/2007

After Robin finished her radiation treatments, she went through the brutal side-effects for about two weeks. During that period, she couldn't holds down anything, even water. As a result, she stopped taking all of her medications, including the pain meds. THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE! Although she didn't know what was going on at the time, Robin found out why junkies do anything they need to do to get their drugs. She went through "cold turkey" withdrawal from Morphine and actually thought she was dying. By the time she called her doctor, she was almost over it and was starting to feel better.

Robin saw her Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Hatch the next week. She discussed the options for proceeding on with treatments. Dr. Hatch thought we should wait to see how the back is doing before considering the kyphoplasty to repair the vertebra. She also suggested that Robin discuss with Dr. McClure an alternate approach to repairing the bone by infusions of a medicine. In the mean time, Robin was to start chemotherapy, an oral medication, called XELODA.

About a week later, Robin saw her Chemo Oncologist, Dr. McClure, and she was started on the oral chemo drug, Xeloda. She takes Xeloda for two weeks, eight horse-tablets a day, then she gets one week off. This three week cycle will continue for a minimum of eight cycles, or as long as she can handle it. Today, she is nearly finished with her second round of the medicine. The only side-effects so far are fairly common with this drug; that is, burning/tingling hands. About a week into the cycle, the edge of her palms turns red, and her hands are very warm to the touch. Apparently it is not painful, but the tingling is irritating and distracting. She has not lost any hair yet, another common side-effect.

In general, Robin has been feeling pretty good. The pain in her back is manageable with Vicodin, and the vomiting is relatively infrequent now. As for her eyesight, it has not gotten much better in the last few months. She believes that she might have experienced some more bleeding when she was so sick after the radiation, perhaps from the trauma of the vomiting. She can read newsprint with great difficulty and concentration, and she cannot recognize faces until people are fairly close. (Apparently, however, her eyesight is good enough to tell me how to drive.)

On Halloween, Robin and her group dressed up as Witches (although they changed the "W" to a "B" on their sign). I have included a couple of very flattering pictures below:

                                    --Robin--

                            --The W/Bitches--

Yesterday, Robin had her first infusion of Zometa (zoledronic acid). Cancers involving the bone (for example breast cancer that has spread to the bone, like Robin has) can cause excessive bone breakdown. This causes areas of bone weakness that can lead to bone pain and fractures (like Robin has in her T11 vertebra). Zoledronic acid binds to the bone and prevents it from breaking-down by preventing the release of calcium from the bone into the blood. Dr. McClure expects Robin will need one infusion per month for the next year (at $2300/dose --- significantly cheaper than chemo, but still, thank goodness for insurance). The side effects are similar to a bad case of the flu. This morning, at about 11:00, she started having severe chills and she aches all over her body. As I write, she is trying to sleep through it. Hopefully, if she drinks lots of water, these symptoms will abate quickly.

Well, that’s about it. To sum it up, things are much better than they have been. The oral chemo is milder than what Robin's been through in the past. The back pain level is tolerable with Vicodin, if she avoids standing for long. The side effects of the bone-repair meds give her flu-like symptoms, but that's a walk-in-the-park compared to radiation treatments. Finally, her eyesight is not good, but we still hope for improvement with time.

As before, we ask you to keep the prayers and good thoughts going.

We send our love to you all,

                  Larry and Robin (and John)