Wednesday, 12/8/10
I met with a chemo education specialist this afternoon at the oncology office. She began by explaining the pharmacologic action of 5-FU chemotherapy. She said that it was an antimetabolite that induces…and before she could say programmed cell death I said apoptosis. She gave me that look out of the corner of her eye like how did I know that? I told her I worked for the Cancer Prevention Lab at CSU and she said oh, okay you must know so-and-so, to which I nodded my head. She continued by going over side effects of 5-FU chemotherapy, which included diarrhea, nausea, mouth sores, low blood counts, appetite and taste changes, etc. Pretty soon it began to sound like one of those pharmaceutical commercials you see on TV where playful people are running along the beach while the narrator reads a litany of nasty side effects and you wonder what’s worse, the problem or the treatment. She gave me a shopping list of things that might help during treatment, e.g. ginger root or ginger pills to help combat nausea, soft toothbrush and baking soda to help prevent oral problems and moisturizer. I was pleased to learn that while my hair might thin during treatment I probably wouldn’t lose all of it. |
| 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) |
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