Chemo News

Dr. Dunn just left, and Mom wants to attempt chemo. Normally with adenocarcinoma, you use 2 or 3 very powerful agents and give a really big dose at one time to get really high blood levels to kill the cancer cells, but the side effects of that regimen would probably be too much for her already weakened body to withstand. So what he offered to her, was to use one of the agents and give the dose very slowly (spread the dose over the whole week). This way he hopes to minimize the side effects that she will experience. At any time it can be withdrawn if it appears to be making her too sick. The negative about dosing it this way, is that without the really high peak concentrations in her blood, the chemo will be much less effective. After a couple of weeks, he can determine if she is strong enough, and has tolerated the initial agent well enough, to try more aggressive therapy.