Friday, April 11, 2008

Back to the Oncologist

On Friday, April 11th, we went back to PAMF to meet with Dr. Priya again. Priya said that she believed it was entirely possible to continue with the pregnancy and the treatment. She had been in touch with some colleagues who had studied breast cancer during pregnancy. In a study in Texas of ~20 women, the overall outcome was that the women responded well to therapy and the babies turned out OK. She suggested that Trisha move forward with the surgery, then complete 2 cycles of chemo (once every 3 weeks) and then deliver the baby early. This is the timeline:

Currently 15 1/2 weeks Pregnant
Have Surgery within 2 weeks (17 weeks)
Takes 4-5 weeks to recover (22 weeks) She would even feel comfortable starting chemo at week 23
Do 2 cycles of Chemo - once every 3 weeks (29 weeks)
Recover for a few weeks
Deliver at 32 weeks

The chemo regimen that is being suggested is Adromycin and Cytoxin. Both are administered by IV. The treatments take 3-4 hours. The treatments can cause nausea but there are some medications that they can give to her that are safe for pregnant women.

After discussing the options, the doctor felt Trisha's lymph nodes and felt the growth. She suggested that Trisha get into surgery sooner rather than later.

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