Taxanes and psychological health/immune system

I saw this article on the YSC site. This is a note to self. You can read if for some mysterious reason my personality/mood changes in 2 years.

1) Taxanes May Increase Risk for Significant Psychologic Symptoms up to 2 years post treatment.

The researchers observed high rates of probable clinical depression among patients who received taxane therapy.Currently, the underlying reasons for these effects remain largely speculative, according to lead author Lisa Thornton, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow involved in the Stress and Immunity Cancer Project at Ohio State University, in Columbus. "Patients who receive taxanes do tend to have more of some types of symptoms, such as peripheral neuropathy, than patients on other chemotherapy medications, and those symptoms can be upsetting," she told Medscape Oncology."However, our data suggest that such symptoms cannot account for the delays in emotional recovery we saw with this group of patients," she added. "Patients were distressed beyond what would be expected based on their treatment side effects."

2) Another possibility is an underlying immunologic mechanism; cancer treatments, including chemotherapies, can trigger inflammatory reactions. Inflammation is known to produce depression-like symptoms, including low mood, fatigue, irritability, and sleeplessness. "It may be that taxanes trigger this response more strongly and for a longer period of time than other drugs do," said Dr. Thornton. "Other data from our lab suggest that taxanes do stimulate the immune system, so it's possible we may be seeing the after effects of that."

Cancer. 2008;113:638-647. Abstract

Mammo and Dr. Z!

I had my mammogram today, and it looks clear! There is an area that they want to check up on in 6 months, but it doesn't look suspicious to warrant a biopsy. I'll have an MRI in 3 months anyway. I was getting worried when they took me in for more x-rays because that's what happened the first time I had a mammogram. Although I thought that they would only take the left side, they did mammos of both. The right one hurt more. Surprisingly, the left mammo hurt less than before the surgery.

I also saw Dr. Zellars today after an almost two hour wait. The reading of the mammo had taken too long and ran into my appointment with Dr. Z. I was eating a broccoli when his resident, Dr. Matthews, came in. I talked to him about the neuropathy, partial tingling in my toes, which was probably due to the carboplatin. He said that it may or may not ever go away, but it's not overly bothersome. I also mentioned the stys on my eyelids. He said that one was a classic sty and the others are just really small. I could see a specialist if it bothers me, but I decided to wait. He told me that people get them when they don't sleep enough. It's hard to believe that I'm not sleeping enough, but that is when I see them.

Dr. Z had been in the hospital since 7 am yesterday! Too swamped to sleep. I felt sorry for him, but he gave me a check-up, in addition to Dr. Matthews. I'll be seeing either my surgeon, medical oncologist, or radiation oncologist every 3-4 months for the next 4 years! That gives me some peace of mind.

Another Herceptin down

The Herceptin infusion went smoothly today. I asked that the infusion be over 40 min again so that was good. Liam took care of me. The only things that I mentioned were the toe tingling and the little sty-like things on the rims of the eyelids. Liam felt the pulse on my ankles, but said things looked fine. I think the sty stuff is because I was a little stressed this week with the grant deadlines, and I slept less. Maybe less than 8 hours. I'm averaging about 9-10 hours though. I couldn't call myself sleep deprived. 

All the hairs are growing in! I almost feel like I'm going through puberty again! => Also, my skin is not as clear as it was during chemo. I still got a compliment on it this weekend. My eyebrows are making good headway, but the lashes are still out.

Tomorrow I get my check up mammogram. The last one was in August before the second lumpectomy and the chemo/radiation. I can still feel the scar tissue lump, but no other odd lumps so hopefully, I'll have nothing new of concern. I'll meet with my radiation oncologist after the mammo.

Orioles pics

Yankees and Orioles lineup

Every time Teixeira was up to bat the Orioles fans boo-ed loudly for signing up with the Yankees.

Nick hit a home run.

The Bird!

What can you do you say? Stop BPA!

After going to the Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer conference, I stopped microwaving plastics because of possible leakage of Bisphenol A (BPA) into the food. BPA in our food and water can be harmful to us and needs to be banned from food packaging, like lining canned foods and water bottles. The following link will allow you to easily let your representatives know that you would like them to vote for legistation that bans BPA from food products. It took 5 min! Do your part!

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site/pp.asp?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=4330245

Orioles vs. NY Yankees

Sam and I went to our first baseball game together at Camden Yards courtesy of Mom's work place. We had a great time and witnessed Koji Uehara pitch for the Orioles for the first time! Orioles won 7 to 5 with a couple of home runs. It got kinda chilly later in the night, but it was fun to see THREE bats break on impact with the baseball.

Having problems posting pics. Will try later.

Cherry Blossom pics

Yay, I'm a consumer reviewer!

I just spoke with the recruiter, and she invited me to be a grant reviewer for the breast cancer research proposals submitted to the Dept. of Defense. This is a great opportunity to learn about the current ideas in breast cancer research as well as meeting some excellent scientists. It'll be for 3 days in June, and I get nice compensation. How awesome!

Sam and I went to DC yesterday by Metro to walk around the Basin and take in the cherry blossoms. I have some great pics that I'll upload later today.

Deb, if you're reading this, thank you for the latest Sarah Brightman CD! The music is so lovely! Perfect soothing and inspiring music! Sy-y-ym-pho-yyyyyyyyyyy   =>

Herceptin on April Fool's Day

I got my Herceptin treatment without too much of a problem. At first, when my temperature was taken, the thermometer read 38 degrees Celsius, making my temp a bit high. I have a cough, but in the end, I thought maybe I had a hot flash. => The nurse took my temp 2 more times, and it was normal. I asked about the tingling/slight numbness in my second and third toes on both feet, but there wasn't much of an explanation. It kinda feels like when my toes fell asleep during my wedding reception, but why would it come back 8 months later?