A Little News--Chemo Drug Party

Wake Forest called again today. Gotta give them credit: once they have information, they DO call. I'm SO appreciative of that.

Dr/Nurse/Miz Stint (not sure of her title, as you know) said that our NEW doctor, Dr. Thomas (since we lost Dr. Torti to Cincinnati), wishes to use a new combination of drugs to treat Bill's bladder cancer return.

There will be no other treatment at this time (as I understand) except chemotherapy in Boone (location a huge blessing!).

Dr. Thomas will, however, call Bill this week and have a teleconference with Bill about the treatment plan. You KNOW I will post after THAT happens! I'm so glad we don't have to drive all the way down there for a 5-minute conference.

So, as of now, we know the four drugs Bill will receive.

Only one of these has Bill been given before (Gemcitabine), and that was way back before he ever had his first surgery. As we know, Gemcitabine did absolutely nothing; the cancer just flourished under its nurturing milieu, procreated, and set up lots of happy, thriving communities of brand new cancer cells all over Bill's body during that chemo.

So why they would use that drug again defies my logic.

The four drugs are: Gemcitabine (which failed before, so great idea to use it again), Paxitaxel (all new for Bill), Carboplatin (all new, replacing previously used Cisplatin which failed), and Doxirubin (all new for Bill and also which sounds like a type of sandwich).

Do you think for one second I didn't google the living daylights out of all these drugs and their combination's upsides and downsides?

According to my reading (yes, I see the humor in my thinking I have a better grasp on chemo than a professional Oncologist, after my having read only a few zillion google pages. I have the famous Google Degree in Medicine), I see one thing for certain: no one in the medical world has the SLIGHTEST SHRED of an idea what they are doing when they pick out chemo drugs.

Most chemo drugs are selected by use of a game called Pin the Tail on the Chemo Drug, wherein the blindfolded Oncologist pins a huge medical bill onto a big sheet of paper with different drug names listed on it, and wherever the pin lands, that's how you get your chemo drugs assigned.

Also, this particular mix of chemo was noted, in the Oncology journals I read,  for its especially potent toxicity and ability to make the patient vomit 24 hours a day. Bill will love finding out that part.

So I will write again after Bill talks to Dr. Thomas.

Thank you again for caring, and reading all this stuff. Our love to you always.

Bethie