Monday, December 21, 2009

First Post Chemo Herceptin Treatment







Mary Jo is still struggling to recover from her last and final cycle of chemo therapy last week. Mary Jo has been feeling extra tired and has been in bed most of the time, but this last cycle has had her struggling with nausea as well. She is such a strong person though and is still in pretty good Christmas spirits.


MJ had her first post chemo Herceptin Treatment today. The main difference is the dosage as it is being increased from 129mg to 380mg on a 30 minute drip IV from her chemo level to the post chemo level dosage. Her "Christmas present" from her nurse was an extra dose of Dexameth (steroid) and two separate doses of anti nausea meds to help her kick these extra tough side effects from last week’s final cycle. She will continue with this same Herceptin treatment/dosage every third week now for the next 34 weeks. There will be some noticeable physical side effects but we are slight compared to the debilitating effects of her chemo regiment of T-C-H.


We are still praying that Mary Jo will be feeling well enough to enjoy Christmas at her Moms house with all her brothers and sisters (and the nieces and nephews of course).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mary Jo and Kevin, I received an update from LuLu. Thanks for the nice greeting card you sent and I hope you could spend time with your family at Christmas. As you know, my thoughts and prayers are with you constantly. I just checked in to the hospital today for 6 days of chemo too. At least now I know what to expect. Hope to get into the U of M soon for a bone marrow transplant. We will fight the good fight and win. Best wishes for a big turnaround ( and not flying) in 2010. Lick Rinde