The Red Devil

The Red Devil is familiar and feared in Cancerland. Its generic name is doxorubicin but in the US at least, it is known as Adriamycin, its former generic name and now trade name. The current standard of care for TNBC is summarized in the following initials: 4xAC DD;4xT; 2 week cycles.
A=adriamycin
C=cytoxan
T=taxol
DD=dose dense
How it works is interfering with the DNA synthesis of fast growing cells. However it is not specific for cancer cells. Other fast growing cells get killed too such as hair, the inside of the digestive tract, lining of the mouth, and worse, it can sometimes cause heart failure. The solution of it is bright red thus the name.

The Red Devil is also the name of a novel I recently read detailing Katherine Russell Rich's BC battle. She had at least 3 recurrences. It took 2 years for the BC to recur beyond the breast making her Stage 4. There is no Stage 5. As the book was published 11 years ago, I thought there was little chance that she could have survived all that. But as of May 2010, she is thriving!!

Bad news in Cancerland. A BC survivor needed to remove her prosthesis in public to get through airport security.
Last week I looked at my mammogram. I have at least 8 metal staples left over from the 2 surgeries. Will I get through security?

I now have a complete set of states according to Stat counter. Someone in Rapid City,SD visited this morning.

The weekend was quiet. I went to the Moms. Two of the moms just got back from various travels and brought back souvenirs for those of us stuck here. So I have pottery from Turkey, soap from Greece and a spice garland from Grenada. We went out to brunch in Josh's small town yesterday. All his friends were in town for the big Wisconsin game. . Not pretty for UM.