Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Chemical Warfare

It's official. Chemotherapy is the next course of action in Emily's treatment.

Starting next Tuesday, December 18th, Em will be doing a bi-weekly 2 hour chemotherapy appointment. There are a total of 8 treatments over 4 months. After that, she will begin her 6 week course of radiation. I guess they do the chemo first for a couple of reasons. First, since her cancer was so aggressive, they want to get the chemo going right away. Second, the radiation will seem like a walk in the park after the chemo. For you scientists and medical professionals out there, she will be on a combination of these drugs - Adriamycin, Cytoxan and Taxane (AC-T). Unfortunately, this is one of the combinations that does lead to hair loss. So, bald will be beautiful in 2008!

It looks like she will be going on disability for the next 4 months so she doesn't have to worry about work on top of her health problems. Luckily her company offers that as an option. Her doctors did tell her she could work a "part time flexible schedule with low expectations" but there is no such thing in her profession. Her boss laughed and said that would be an attractive offer to any employer. :) Disability it is!

Thanks for taking the time to keep up on the blog. We appreciate all of your support!

3 comments:

Will said...

Here's to A Very Chemical Christmas! Good luck Em; we'll be thinking of you!

Unknown said...

Emily
I am sorry you have to go through all that. We will all be praying for you!.
See you Christmas

Susie and James said...

chemo time... yuck... BUT... if it is best for the long term then it IS best. We also will be thinking of you. and, you should totally focus on yourself for that time so it is best not to work. As Will says... here's to a Very Chemical Christmas... Cheers... Maybe in the spring we can have a very radioactive Easter...