One in a million

This week was filled with plenty of doctors appointments. The findings of the MRI were quite positive. As a result of the first 4 rounds of chemo the tumor area had shrunk by 40% and the lymph nodes in the armpit appear totally normal. The other good news was that the medi - port should not need to be replaced. The previous infection continues to improve and it should be useable again at some point.

The new drug she received last week called taxol was infused without incident. There was no immediate reaction during or after the infusion. She felt good for a couple of days until her hands started to look a little different. By Saturday she had a lot of buning nerve pain in her hands and feet. The skin on her fingers started to blister. It was subtle at first but by Tuesday all her fingers had blisters on them. One week after the taxol she had her lab work done and her white count was unexpectedly low so chemo was cancelled for the day. I gave her a dose of Filgrastim to stimulate white blood cell production on Friday. Both her dermatologist and oncologist said they had never seen this kind of reaction before. The good news is that the oncologist noticed an improvement in the tumor area on exam. Tomorrow they are going to try the same drug one more time and hopefully she will tolerate it better this time. If not they will need to change the chemo regimen to a different combination of medications that aren't as well studied in breast cancer.

I always knew Rachel was unique, but after seeing the puzzled look from both her doctors this week, I realized that she was one in a million. Please pray that the side effects will be lesser this time and that she can continue on the taxol.