Week 20

My hct keeps going down. It was 28 on Friday. I saw my oncologist on Friday and there was lots of talk about dose-reduction, or skipping a dose. Ultimately, it was decided to give me the regular dose per the study protocol. Since the darbopoetin shot does not seem to be doing any good, they increased that dose by 25%. That is a very painful shot!

I am really feeling the effects of the anemia now. It was a hard weekend, but again, my sister pulled through and did a bunch of shopping for me. I've been talking with my oncology nurse about skipping this week's chemo... I know my hct is just going to keep dropping. I am skeptical that skipping a dose and doing a dose reduction will make much of a difference in the grand scheme of my anemia, since it takes so long for red blood cells to reproduce. My nurse told me that "it usually has a profound effect." However, I have bucked all the "usuals" with Abraxane. I feel like I am suffering more now than I did over the summer. Although, my doctor is pretty adament that the anemia itself is a result of the previous chemo. The fact that I'm still getting chemo, certainly isn't helping things. I have a call into the research coordinator to disuss this dose-reduction further. My doctor did say that she would prefer to go this route than do another transfusion. I don't really care, as long as it works!

After the chemo infusion on Friday, I went to Ballard to the auto licensing place and got a temporary disability parking placard. I've also been in contact with the disability services office at the UW about using the Dial-A-Ride service to get to the hospital instead of taking the shuttle. Dial-A-Ride will pick me up right outside my building and I don't have to walk those 3 blocks to the shuttle stop.

There is a possibility that Aflac is not going to pay me for this round of chemo. My policy states that they will pay for each chemo treatment that has a cost associated with it. SCCA is getting my chemo at no charge because it's a research study. However, there is still a cost associated with getting the chemo into me.. the infusion, etc. So hopefully that will work out. There is also a provision for investigational treatments, although I'm not sure this falls under that guideline. I just have to submit everything and then see what happens and take it from there.