Chemo Cycle 2
In support of
The Castillo Family
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The Castillo Family
Hello Friends and Family,
This is an update from Elly's mom, Kathy...
First session of Taxol was yesterday (Tuesday). Elly was warned that some people have an allergic reaction to this chemo drug due to the fact that its carrier is derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree!
“Hypersensitive reactions are relatively common (varying from 2-42 %) and vary from severe anaphylactic shock to mild skin rashes.”
As if having more chemo isn’t frightening enough, she obviously had even more to be nervous about this morning! As her mom, it is so hard to bite my lip and encourage her to step into such a scary scenario.😥
To help prevent a reaction, the nurse began by infusing Benadryl along with a steroid, as well as anti-nausea medication. Once that was done it was time to start a slow drip of the Taxol. We were told that if Elly was allergic to the drug that she would most likely start having symptoms within the first 15 minutes.
But Elly’s Prayer Warriors were on it!
I was so thankful to watch those minutes tick by with no reactions! Praise the Lord!
Meantime, we prepared the new icing venture. While Elly has made the difficult decision not to continue cold capping, there’s still ice involved for this weekly chemo. Elly donned mittens and slippers that hold mini ice packs. Wearing these are supposed to help prevent some of the neuropathy which Taxol is known to cause. Back to the polar vortex!
She slowly acclimated to having freezing hands and feet, with just a few times of removing the mittens briefly. What a strong warrior daughter I have!
After an hour the nurse was able to assess that Elly was not having an allergic reaction and she could speed up the Taxol drip.
The only good thing about this chemo is that it doesn’t take as long as the previous treatments did. But the hard part is that it will be weekly for another 11 sessions.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and cards of encouragement. Reading them is such a blessing as well as a distraction during the chemo sessions.
Prayer requests-
Elly: pray boldly for there to be no signs of neuropathy! This can be painful as well as lifelong for many patients. For scalp pain to go away! Elly has experienced a great deal of scalp pain from cold capping that continues to linger and be a daily struggle, even laying her head on her pillow is painful these days.
The boys: this is Teddy’s first week back at school, please be praying for him to acclimate quickly. And for both boys hearts and minds, both are showing anxiety and having a hard time when it comes to Elly. This journey is hard on them.
Praise: besides a few minor issues and fatigue, Elly did great over the weekend! They were able to spend quality time together with Alex’s family in Galena, IL. The trip highlight had something to do with alpacas, but I’ll let her tell that story when she’s up for it.
Thank you all for loving my girl (and all of us) through this hard time.
Kathy (aka mom)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9DDeSUxcTIY
This is an update from Elly's mom, Kathy...
First session of Taxol was yesterday (Tuesday). Elly was warned that some people have an allergic reaction to this chemo drug due to the fact that its carrier is derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree!
“Hypersensitive reactions are relatively common (varying from 2-42 %) and vary from severe anaphylactic shock to mild skin rashes.”
As if having more chemo isn’t frightening enough, she obviously had even more to be nervous about this morning! As her mom, it is so hard to bite my lip and encourage her to step into such a scary scenario.😥
To help prevent a reaction, the nurse began by infusing Benadryl along with a steroid, as well as anti-nausea medication. Once that was done it was time to start a slow drip of the Taxol. We were told that if Elly was allergic to the drug that she would most likely start having symptoms within the first 15 minutes.
But Elly’s Prayer Warriors were on it!
I was so thankful to watch those minutes tick by with no reactions! Praise the Lord!
Meantime, we prepared the new icing venture. While Elly has made the difficult decision not to continue cold capping, there’s still ice involved for this weekly chemo. Elly donned mittens and slippers that hold mini ice packs. Wearing these are supposed to help prevent some of the neuropathy which Taxol is known to cause. Back to the polar vortex!
She slowly acclimated to having freezing hands and feet, with just a few times of removing the mittens briefly. What a strong warrior daughter I have!
After an hour the nurse was able to assess that Elly was not having an allergic reaction and she could speed up the Taxol drip.
The only good thing about this chemo is that it doesn’t take as long as the previous treatments did. But the hard part is that it will be weekly for another 11 sessions.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and cards of encouragement. Reading them is such a blessing as well as a distraction during the chemo sessions.
Prayer requests-
Elly: pray boldly for there to be no signs of neuropathy! This can be painful as well as lifelong for many patients. For scalp pain to go away! Elly has experienced a great deal of scalp pain from cold capping that continues to linger and be a daily struggle, even laying her head on her pillow is painful these days.
The boys: this is Teddy’s first week back at school, please be praying for him to acclimate quickly. And for both boys hearts and minds, both are showing anxiety and having a hard time when it comes to Elly. This journey is hard on them.
Praise: besides a few minor issues and fatigue, Elly did great over the weekend! They were able to spend quality time together with Alex’s family in Galena, IL. The trip highlight had something to do with alpacas, but I’ll let her tell that story when she’s up for it.
Thank you all for loving my girl (and all of us) through this hard time.
Kathy (aka mom)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9DDeSUxcTIY
Suzanne Stanford
4 months ago
Comments
Tonya Gripentrog
Toloveisdivine
Chara Brightly
Kathy Potter
Mary Weber
Continued prayers for you, Alex and your sweet boys.
Love you!!
Gina Dunn
Carolyn Ball
Monica Clark