Day 42 - Second Chemo

Today was my second chemo treatment.
The taxi arrived at my house 30 minutes late. Grr!  They gave the ride for free because they were late. :-) I used the taxi also to pick up the last needed parts for the beetle starter while on the way to the Hospital.
My friend gave me a ride back home after the chemo.

I had a good talk with the oncologist. She explained the blood test, and said that all my blood counts, liver and kidney results were good.

Normal Paclitaxel dose is 175 mg - 225 mg every 3 weeks. My oncologist says that she chose 130mg every week because it has shown less white blood cell loss, and therefore less chance of Leukemia.

I got online and found a recommended dosage for Paclitaxel:

 Initial dose was paclitaxel 100 mg/m² infused over 1 hour weekly until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. To date, significant activity and a highly favorable toxicity profile have been observed with 1-hour paclitaxel £ 100 mg/m²
Paclitaxel was administered via 1-hour intravenous infusion at an initial dose of 100 mg/m² every 7 days without interruption. Treatment was administered in the outpatient clinic with a physician or chemotherapy nurse present during the first 15 minutes. Vital signs were monitored after the first 15 minutes. All patients received standard prophylactic antiallergic premedication before each paclitaxel infusion. This consisted of dexamethasone 20 mg, orally at 12 and 6 hours before paclitaxel administration and diphenhydramine 50 mg and cimetidine 300 mg, intravenously, 30 to 60 minutes before paclitaxel infusion

That is almost exactly what happens with me. Except my dose is 135mg every 7 days. Dosage is dependent on weight.

I asked why my leg sores look all healed. She looked at pictures the WCL and I took on Monday. She said that the chemo, diet, or compression had nothing to do with the sores going away.
 I was SOOO wrong about the compression being the reason the sores went away.
 She says that angiosarcoma located in the legs, it will flair up, then recede, then flair up and recede. She says I may not be so pleased with the look of the leg in a month or two. But if the sores do not come back within the next 2 months, she says it will be due to the chemo.

We also talked about why I got the jerks last time. She blamed the Phenergan. It also made me pass out last time. So she cut the dose in half. She said I may stay awake this time. Then just as the nurse was starting the Phenergan, the oncologist came in and said they would try giving me no Phenegran. They would watch close, and I must tell them about anything that felt abnormal. The Phenergan is there to stop any allergies that the Paclitaxel may produce.

Everything was much better this time. I got drowsy, but never napped. Then about 1/4 of the way through the Paclitaxel, my left hand became numb. She checked and said that maybe they needed a little Phenergan. But they slowed down the Paclitaxel infusion speed, and feeling came back. So all in all, it was a better chemo session than last time. I think that next chemo will be even better.

I still would have battled to drive right after, but 2 hours later I was fine.

I also learned that chocolate cream cookies and coffee must be good for cancer, because they serve them during chemo. :-)