Endings and beginnings

I had my 6th and final round of chemotherapy this past Monday. I've had a very non-traditional treatment regimen, but hopefully it has done its job. I was meant to be on TC4 (taxol, cyclophosphamide x 4), but had serious adverse reaction to 3 tries with taxol / taxotere first cycle and ended up with cyclophosphamide alone (+12 mls of taxanes) first cycle.  I was then put onto CMF6 (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil x 6), but the cyclophosphamide caused so much bladder irritation that it was dropped from the last cycle. So in total I've had:

C:  CMF:  CMF:  CMF: CMF: MF.  

I was told by my oncologist and chemo nurse that I would definitely lose my hair on the CMF regimen but, although it has thinned a bit, I still have a full head of hair after spending $500+ on a new wig and products (none of it covered by health insurance). Of course I'm very happy my hair hasn't fallen out (despite extreme pain and itching of the scalp each cycle) - hope I can sell my wig somewhere and recoup some of the cost. A lady at church the other week told me that she prays every night that I won't lose my hair! It's still possible that it might fall out....my oncologist says it can take a while sometimes....but I guess even if it does it can start growing back straight away again now :)

Anyway, I'm very glad to be done with chemo and have written about it in my WordPress blog. Roll on new beginnings!

http://lessonsfromstemgirl.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/endings-and-beginnings/

Ngaire