Alphabet Soup

I'm in the start of week three of rotations. Time has FLOWN by. As you probably realized, I titled this post "alphabet soup" because oncology abbreviates everything. Most chemo regimens have little names for them, IE, FOLFOX, FOLFIRINOX, CarboTaxol, ABVD, VIP, etc.

I do a lot of topic discussions with pharmacists and go to presentations so last week I learned about melanoma, pancreatic, and breast cancer.

Melanoma can cause some pretty nasty skin break down. I had no idea that it could look so disgusting.

Pancreatic cancer has usually metastasized by the time it is diagnosed. This means that the cancer has spread to different parts of the body. This is why pancreatic cancer often has a poor prognosis. The treatment for pancreatic cancer is usually either Gemcitabine or FOLFIRNOX (5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, irinotecan). The major issue with the FOLFIRINOX regimen is the toxicities that occur. Irinotecan is also known as "I ran to the can"... it causes excessive diarrhea. 5-FU can cause mucositis, which are mouth sores. Oxaliplatin also has side effects.

Breast Cancer has different markers that can lead to the use of different drugs. If not treated, it very commonly metastasizes to the lungs.

... I won't bore you all with more details on different cancers.

I really enjoy the pharmacists that I am working with. One of the pharmacists is trying to get the cafeteria and patient food to be improved. She is hilarious, she took a plate of eggs to some of the "head honchos" to make them smell them. When you take the lid off, they smell like sulfur (so I've heard). Which, if you have people who are already nauseous and then you give them horribly smelling food, they will probablyyyy vom.

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For Memorial Day weekend I met up with a few people from Drake in Clearwater. Traffic sucks going there! But, the beaches were beautiful. AND, since I work at a cancer center, I made sure to wear sunscreen and reapply. ((I couldn't show up sunburnt!)) We all drank lots of beer and just hung out on the beach all day. I am convinced that people from the Midwest know how to party more than other parts of the country. Most the people in the group were from the Midwest and it was a blast.

I managed to go to the beach twice and a baseball game (Rays v White Sox) during the weekend! Solid week followed by a solid weekend.

xoxo