The Living Saga of Garvin Smith - Are you Dying to Read It? Part 12

 My "port" to LIFE - CHEMO!

My chemo regimin consists of a once a week dose of Rituxan, and a once a month, three day dose of Cytoxin and Fludarabine. Today I started my second round of the three day chemo regimin getting the following drugs:
Ativan
Aioxi
Decadron
Zantac
Benadril
Rituxan
Cytoxin
Fludarabine
You may recognize some of the names like Zantac and Benadril. These are over the counter drugs that have a mitigating effect on the undesirable side effects of the chemo drugs.

I was facinated with the information on my "routing slip" that is generated in the oncoligist's office. It contains a list of the chemo drugs and it is checked for what a particular patient is getting. I want to publish the list. Since I am typing this blog entry, I WILL publish the list for my enjoyment, your possible enjoyment, and your disgust if you are a pure naturalist!
ABVD ( Adriamycin (doxorubicin), bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine.) 4 hr. (it takes four hours to administer)
AC (Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide) or EC (Epirubicin or cyclophosphamide) 3 hr.
Aredia (Pamidronic acid) 1.5 hr.
Carbo-Taxol (Carboplatin and Paclitaxel) qwk 3.5 hr.
Carbo-Txtere (Carboplatin and Docetaxel) qwk 3.5 hr.
CHOP (cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin (doxorubicin), Oncovin (vincristine), and prednisone/prednisolone)3 hr.
R-CHOP (Rituxan, cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin (doxorubicin), Oncovin (vincristine), and prednisone/prednisolone) 6 hour.
FOLFOX (FOL– Folinic acid (leucovorin)F – Fluorouracil (5-FU) OX – Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) 4 hr.
FOLFIRI (FOL – folinic acid (leucovorin), a vitamin B derivative used as a "rescue" drug for high doses of the drug methotrexate and that modulates/potentiates/reduces the side effects of fluorouracil; F – fluorouracil (5-FU), a pyrimidine analog and antimetabolite which incorporates into the DNA molecule and stops synthesis; and
IRI – irinotecan (Camptosar), a topoisomerase inhibitor, which prevents DNA from uncoiling and duplicating. Cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody to epidermal growth factor receptor, is sometimes added to FOLFIRI.) 4 hr.
5FU/LV (Fluorouracil, Leucovorin) 3 hr.
TAC (docetaxel, which is commonly known as Taxotere®
doxorubicin, which was originally called Adriamycin®
cyclophosphamide.) or TEC 4 hr.
Abraxane (paclitaxel, approved January 2005 for cases where cancer did not respond to other chemotherapy or has relapsed) 1.5 hr.
Adriamycin (Doxorubicin or hydroxydaunorubicin)2 hr.
Alimta (Pemetrexed) 1 hr.
Avastin (Bevacizumab) .5 hr.
Bleomycin 1.5 hr.
Campath (Alemtuzumab) 2 hr.
Carbo (Coronaridine) 1.5 hr.
Cisplatin (cisplatinum, or cis-diamminedichloroplatinum) 3 hr.
Cytoxin (Cyclophosphamide or cytophosphane) 3 hr.
Dacogen (Decitabine or 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine) 2 hr.
Doxil (Doxorubicin also known as hydroxydaunorubicin) 2 hr.
DTIC (Dacarbazine) 2 - 4 hr.
Epirubicin 2 hr.
Erbitux (Cetuximab) 2 hr.
Ethyol (Amifostine) IV/SQ 1.5 hr.
Faslodex (Fulvestrant, also known as ICI 182,780) .5 hr.
Fludarabine1.5
5 FU (Fluorouracil) 1 hr.
Gemzar (Gemcitabine) (90m) 3 hr.
Herceptin (Trastuzumab) 1 hr.
Interferon IV 2 hr.
Irinotecan 3 hr.
Methotrexate (1.5 hr.
Mitomycin 2 hr.
Navelbine (Vinorelbine) 2 hr.
Oncovin (Vincristine) 1.5 hr.
Oxaliplatin 3.5 hr.
Pentostatin (deoxycoformycin) 2 hr.
Rituxan (Rituximab) 4 hr.
Rocephin(Ceftriaxone) .5 hr.
Sandostatin(Octreotide) .5 hr.
Taxol(Paclitaxel) 2.5 hr.
Taxotere(Docetaxel) 3 hr.
Topotecan(Topotecan hydrochloride) 1.5 hr.
Torisel(Temsirolimus) 2 hr.
Treanda(Bendamustine) 1.5 hr.
Velban(Vinblastine) 1.5 hr.
Velcade(Bortezomib) 1 hr.
Vectibex 1.5 hr.
Vidaza(Azacitidine or 5-azacytidine) .5 hr.
Zoladex(Goserelin) .5 hr.
Zometa(Zoledronic acid or zoledronate) .5hr.
WHEW!
PICK YOUR POISON!!!!
I feel like looking each one of these up and finding out what they are used for!
Okay, I learned three important things:
1) Many of these drugs ave been developed in the last ten to fifteen years. These are relatively new chemo drugs.
2) Some of them have a natural base, like Vinblastine that comes from the Madagascar periwinkle plant; Taxotere, an extract from the rare Pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia: Paclitaxel also from the Pacific yew; Vinorelbine, obtained by semi-synthesis from alkaloids extracted from the rosy periwinkle, and another one that I saw that comes from the bark of some tree.
3) many of these chmo drugs belong to the family of drugs called alkylating agents, that tend to make the body more alkaline than acidic, something Alternative Medical Practitioners have been preaching for years.
Interesting?

More to come after three days of this . . .