It's Cancer - Change in chemo

I've spent most of today reviewing what I received from the doctor and nurses about my chemo options. Basically, the chemo I've been receiving has done a good job of shrinking the size of my tumor, but has slowed down. My doctor is recommending that I switch to a more aggressive form of chemo.

Option #1: Taxol given by IV once a week for 12 weeks (about three hours). On the positive side, this is a "standard-of-care" treatment that is better tolerated by patients than some other forms of chemo. The medication has many of the same side effects I've been experiencing: nausea; hair loss; numbness, pain or tingling; fatigue; mouth sores; skin rash. The con as I see it is that I have this chemo once a week, which doesn't leave much recovery time in between treatments.

Option #2: Combination of three drugs. Doxil and Avastin given by IV every 21 days (about six hours) and Afinitor (taken daily by pill). (Doxil is approved by the FDA to treat breast cancer; the other two medications are approved to treat other forms of cancer and are being tested to see if they can have the same results on breast cancer.) This is a clinical research study to learn if receiving four cycles of experimental chemotherapy (believed to be more targeted to patients with triple-negative breast cancer, which is part of my diagnosis) before surgery can help to shrink the size of tumors in the breast and/or lymph nodes before they are removed through surgery. The side effects are about the same. (I asked the clinical nurse about the most common side effects and she said it was mouth sores.) The con as I see it is that there is a greater risk of infection, such as the cold I've had for two weeks. Doctors will monitor this closely and will take me out of the protocol if this combination isn't working for me. And the most positive outcome of participating in this research is helping other people in the future with what is learned from research. 

Today I'm celebrating a close family who I trust to help me make the right decision about the future of my treatment. It takes a village.