Chemo meds are nasty stuff

The protocol Tim is on includes three chemo meds, vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide. These drugs have been around for many years and been used to treat various cancers. By far the nastiest is cyclophosphamide however, he only gets this every three weeks. This is why he has to be admitted to the hospital for at least 24 hours. This drug has the short term effects of causing nausea and bladder lining erosion so lots of IV fluids are administered both before and after administration of the drug. They also administer some counter-agents for nausea and mesna to counter the bladder issues. Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent and gets converted into a pair of chemicals by the liver that interfere with the division of cancer cells. Of course it also does the same for normal cells.

Dactinomycin is an anti-tumor antibiotic that Tim also gets once every three weeks. This one also interferes with cancer cell DNA in a different way. Tim hasn't had this one without the other two yet (later stages of the protocol do this), so we're not quite sure of it's individual side effects.

The last one, vincristine Tim gets every week. It is such a small amount and doesn't have short term effects so it is administered in the office. It still requires an access in the port-a-cath but only takes a short "push" of the med (only 2.5cc). This one has some medium term side effects that Tim has experienced. Jaw pain and tingling toes are the ones he has had. And this one also affects the small intestine lining so one has to be on the lookout for changes in regularity.

There is also a med administered to enhance the body's uptake of the drugs. Dexamethasone is used for this. It is a steroid similar to that produced by adrenal glands. Tim gets this every 12 hours along with the anti-nausea med while he's in the hospital.

Since the body gets beat up each time chemo is administered, there is also a regimen of antibiotics to counter the potential for pneumonia, pepcid to keep the stomach happier, senecot for regularity, and salt and baking soda mix for potential mouth sores. Fast growing cells of course are being attacked by the chemo meds and these counter measures are to head some of that off.

--bob