PROCRIT WARNING

[alma]

Saw something on fox news last night about procrit or aroness (sp) and it's potential life threatening dangers in some cases.
Since i have been taking it once a month for quite a long while, it caught my attention, and i am not going to let my docs give it to me again unless they can convicnce me that it is ok, since they monitor me quite well, but maybe should do a little more checking from what i read.
Just print in the word procrit and you can probably come up with the site i am referring to if you are taking it too, or someone you love.
I think this info is important for us all to consider if we are taking it. love, alma

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Procrit is a much better alternative to the neulasta which some doctors prefer. If you need to up your counts due to chemo, then I would stick with the procrit. The other one makes people who live through it wish they were dead from the bone pain.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't research it, but be sure to research the alternative before you let a doctor switch you to it. My sister is on oxygen 24/7 and has clots lodged in her lungs from Neulasta. Her leg is swollen three times its normal size from a clot. She only had one injection of the stuff. She wishes with all her heart that she had stuck with the procrit because she had no bone pain and no side effects from it.

[alma]

since all this recent moving from one place to another, i lost count of things, but recently i have had to give myself procrit shots one a week for a month.
--and now the doc says not to take it again until he says so--at least a month.

It has to be carefuly watched and i think this new doc seems to know what he is doing.
In a month i'll have a pelvic exam since my ovarian cancer june of 2008, etc, take some blood work, and then hope all will be well and far less procrit.

It was a low grade cancer so he thinks all should go well.

boy, i have had so many operations on my chest, two cancers 40 years apart for breast removals, and one aortic valve replacement about 10 years ago and, since last year, a hugh scar on my stomach from ovarian cancer.
--and then i have a scar on my hip from a hip replacement a few years back.

I look like freak, really when naked,
--and not much better when fully dressed.

--but, you know what, my spirit is made of pure gold, and i think this is what you'd call "by the grace of god" or something.

I'm thinking "by their fruits ye shall know them."
Maybe someone will remind me of what those fruits are.
I think they defines the real ME for the most part.

Cancer has taken away many members of my family, so i have no illusions about what cancer can do to the body, so walk gently with my god. love, alma

[WileyCoyote]

Dearest Alma,

Although our family is not prone to cancer and I have not had the struggles you have had with it, I do sympathize.

Other problems (lupus that causes infection and self-destruction of organs) have made my body a NYC road map of scars as well, not to mention the facial lesions. I never considered myself particularly attractive anyway, but gee whiz! I don't even look at myself in the mirror any more except to make sure my hair is in place and everything is tucked in and buttoned and zippered...

A lot of medications are dangerous, and you and your doctor have to weigh the pluses and minuses of each one very carefully. The steroids the young docs always want to put me on would cause loss of bone and tissue and affect me in other ways, so we have to find the least damaging drug (that ISN'T a steroid) to my system. DH is on many meds that would kill a normal person, and his docs have to monitor him very carefully for combinations and reactions. It seems like a never-ending struggle of not-so-much or too-much, walking a tightrope. And then there's the whole, well, if you eat this-or-that, or do this or that kind of work, or get too tired, or get bronchitis or even a cold, it knocks everything out of whack.

I feel for you.
Hugs,
Wiley

[Grizzy]

Hey There Alma :)
(Set'n down tray of hot tea and warm molasses cookies)

You know, the way I see it our lil bodies are like pickumup trucks... they get dinged and bumped and sometimes have missing parts. But the point is to enjoy the Journey. My sister has survived and has been healed from Lupus, a serial killer (Ted Bundy), and Breast Cancer... OH and I forgot the SUV that came fly'n outta nowhere and hit her on her scooter last fall and totally messed her back up... Yea she's got her scars to prove it but so does any great Warrior... We carry them proudly and say see? I was stronger, through God's Mercy and Grace...

As women we want to be pretty and for our bodies not to betray us but we cannot always have what we want. A day without pain would be wonderful, yet some people cannot remember having one. Eating anything you long for would be such a treat, but to many people that would be a tragic mistake. The men folk suffer too with the devastation that comes to their bodies, at times. But you know, Alma, Life is what we make of it. We cannot change what is done, but we can shine through it and I believe the best way to do that is to have Trust in God and to allow the ones around us to love us well and for that to be our inner healing salve.

I wish I could list all of your good fruits but, sadly, I know I would miss some so I will say this... When I read your words they comfort me. You posess wisdom and a gentle way of laying out truth. I think that the good things and the bad things that happen to us are not just about the individual but also the ones watching how he gets through these times. That being said, You inspire me. And when I hear you are sad, it brings tears to my eyes because in Him we are family and precious to one another.

So this day, I wrap my heart around yours... a bearhug if you will... just know that this day You are Well Loved...:)

Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life...

~Grizzy~
(am gonna mention that my father took procrit during the time he suffered with Lukemia. They offered other solutions at the end of his life and he turned them down. He told the doctor that he wanted to live his days as God intended them and not to be greedy. He lived his life in strength and trust. The day we leave this world is not a defeat. It's a transition. It comes to every man.)