>Kris Everette <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Chemotherapy during pregnancy
>
>How long do chemo drugs given during pregnancy stay in the mom's system? An
>oncologist has asked in regards to a patient who had a mastectomy during
>pregnancy and received Adriamycin and Cytoxan. She finished the chemo at
>about 29 weeks gestation and is now 34 weeks. I can't seem to find this
>scenario anywhere he said he could't either.

Well, I wasn't pregnant when I had chemo (thank goodness) but I do know (as
the oncologist certainly ought to know) that the chemo drugs work
immediately and are processed out within minutes/hours.

Adriamycin -- affectionately known as "The Red Devil" for its red color, is
administered by "push" through an IV, followed by the Cytoxan, which is
dripped in.  By the end of the 1.5-2.0 hours of chemo, you get up and go
pee, and your pee is bright orange from the Adriamycin.  Next time you pee,
it is back to its clear yellow color.  The adriamycin "does its stuff" and
gets processed out by the kidneys within two hours.

I'm just a patient, not a medical professional, but it is my understanding
that all the drugs clear within just a few hours.

One would think that chemotherapy would be devastating during a pregnancy,
as the mechanism by which it works is to kill rapidly dividing cells (which
is why one loses one's hair and sometimes one's nails, and the lining of the
GI tract from stem to stern).  However, I know from the breast cancer email
list I was on that a number of women have chemotherapy during pregnancy and
go on to deliver apparently normal, healthy babies.  I have heard of other
people who stopped nursing to start chemotherapy, however (rather than pump
and dump for a particular length of time).

Why does the doctor particularly want to know?  Since you posted this to
Lactnet . . . surely the doctor doesn't think that the drugs will get into
her milk so many weeks afterwards?????

Kathy Dettwyler, *all done* with being sliced, poisoned, and fried, and
growing hair again!  :)

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