From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for
answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The
following entry appeared in November of 2011.
Though I talked
very briefly some time ago about what the various chemotherapy drugs that my
wife was treated with were “for”, I never really went into any kind of detail.
Now that chemo
is “over”, I wanted to explore what some of the long-term and lasting effects
of the treatment are. Because she reached that time – what with the odd numbing
of her upper lip, the incision pains, swollen ankles and dry skin, I’d like to
know which of those things is chemo-derived and which ones are not.
So we’ll g0 here
next:
Cytoxan is the
“third” drug of the cocktail she was force fed through the tubes and into her
port every three weeks for six months. “Cytoxan is a cyclophosphamide that
has been converted into a non-toxic ‘transport form’. This transport form is a
‘pro-drug’, subsequently actively transported into the cancer cells.
Once in the cells, enzymes convert the drug into the active, toxic form
that kills the cancer cell.”
Plain English,
please!
OK – first
stunning surprise is that Cytoxan is
a cytotoxic chemotherapy agent similar to mustard gas.
Although used
today as anti-cancer drugs, they can theoretically also be used for chemical
warfare. Nitrogen mustards add chlorine atoms to the DNA of cancer cells, in
effect poisoning the cancer cell.
Mustard gas was
stockpiled by several nations during the Second World War, but it was
never used in combat. Mustard gas and its related compounds are strong and long-lasting blister
agents. Production and use is restricted.
How did we get
from WWII mustard gas to anti-breast cancer drugs? During WWII, nitrogen
mustard gases were studied at Yale University and classified human clinical
trials of nitrogen mustards for the treatment of cancer started in
December 1942. Also during WWII, an incident during the air raid on Bari,
Italy led to the release of mustard gas that affected several hundred
soldiers and civilians. Medical examination of the survivors showed a decreased
number of white blood cells. After WWII was over, the Bari incident and a Yale
study came together prompting a search for other similar compounds. The nitrogen
mustard became the first chemotherapy drug mustine and proved
effective in both destroying the DNA of cancer cells (which are fast growing
and as a result, replicate their DNA much more quickly than regular cells –
which ends up killing them FASTER than their neighbor cells.) and, when
attached to a carrier molecule, would attach themselves almost exclusively to
the fast-growing cancer cells.
Many people
taking cytoxan do have serious side effects. Side-effects like nausea,
vomit, bone marrow suppression, stomach ache, diarrhea, darkening of the
skin/nails, hair loss or thinning of hair, changes in color and texture of the
hair, and lethargy. Cytoxan can cause cancer, it can lower the body's
ability to fight an infection as well as an unusual decrease in the amount of
urine, mouth sores, unusual tiredness or weakness, joint pain, easy
bruising/bleeding, existing wounds that are slow healing.
But it’s primary
purpose – a rare combination of having a poisonous effect on DNA replication
and being targetable – make it an idea cancer treatment drug.
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