It's like Groundhog Day, All Over Again

After about two months of wait-and-see and discuss, it looks like a treatment plan has finally been decided upon.  Tomorrow, I go in for a new port to be implanted in my chest.  Monday will bring the start of a new chemo regime.  I will be doing 4 rounds of a chemotherapy called TIP.  The "T" drug is Paclitaxel, also known as Taxol or Onxal.  It is used for first round treatment of breast and lung cancer.  It comes from the Pacific Yew tree and happens to be the best-selling cancer drug ever manufactured.  "I" is for Ifosfamide and "P" is for Cisplatin, the miraculous platinum-based drug.  I feel as if I am reading from a warped children's alphabet book!

Each cycle will be much like last time.  I will receive chemo for five days straight and then get two weeks off to recuperate.  Paclitaxel is given over a 24-hour period on Mondays.  So, it sounds like I will go in on Monday morning, and get hooked up to a fanny pack with a pump and a packet of drugs.  The pump will operate for 24 hours straight.  I am sure to be the height of fashion, but at least I won't have to be in a hospital for a full 24 hours.  The doctors think the side effects will be similar to last time, but probably more fatiguing and painful.  The good news is I will be finished two weeks before Christmas, so I should be feeling OK for that.

That's the latest and greatest.  I'll provide an update early next week.