Sorry I have not updated the blog lately. There are no real big or exciting updates. I received chemo last Thursday and feel like crap. I also received the Neulasta shot and that is really causing some major pain in my bones.
The nurses are still having a hard time getting the Dacarbazine to go in without pain. We just cannot get the ratio right the last two chemo sessions. They had to put it in really slow which just made for a really long day. By the time I got home my nausea was the worst it had ever been. I was constantly feeling like I was going to vomit but nothing would come out. Even with the prescription Ativan nothing helped relieve the nausea.
I’ve been receiving the Neulasta shot after each treatment now and that is really taking a toll on me. The pain kicks in about 4 days later and lasts about 4 days. It keeps me up at night and just makes daily life really painful.
The weakness and fatigue I’ve been having lately is just horrible. Especially this past week as I couldn’t do much besides lay in bed. Doing something miniscule as walking up the stairs is so draining, my heart starts beating really fast and I start breathing heavily. It’s a little scary to deal with but I just lay down right after these weird spells and it goes away after a few minutes.
I’ve finally been discharged by the home care nurse only due to the fact that my insurance will not cover any more visits. This is ok with me as my hole in the leg has healed up just fine. The hole in my chest is finally healing but it is still pretty big. Now I have to change my bandages and redo the packing every other day. This is just a bizarre experience to have to do on your own. Not only is painful but it is odd to have to take care of such a big wound like this on my own. I used to always look away when the nurses would do this and now I am forced to actually look at it. Doing this really plays mind games with me. By the time I am done I am just a bit freaked out. The pain is still pretty bad but I just chalk it up to the fact that I have a 2inch hole in my chest and a 2inch hole in your chest is going to hurt.
I’m continuing to lose my body hair and the hair on my head is now growing back really slow. I used to have to shave my head at least twice a week. Now I can go almost two weeks before it really becomes noticeable. The whole hair thing is just strange. Even my 8 year old niece came up to me the other day and said “Uncle Jason, what happened to your eye lashes?” I found it very amusing! Hey like I said before at least it is not painful.
I am glad that I am only dealing with these few things and nothing major. I’m hoping to get back to normal this weekend. Then one more chemo session left.
My doctor said he will give me an entire month off before I start radiation which is great. It will give me some time to get some strength back. Unfortunately he also said it will take a few months before I get an immune system back. So I still need to stay extra cautious and stay germ free.
Our PDX
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Things went pretty well after this last chemo (on 3/26). We were even able to get the Dacarbazine into my arm without causing any pain. I think we finally found the best ratio of saline and Dacarbazine so that it is diluted enough to not cause pain. I had the usual side effects up until this past Saturday (4/5) when I started to feel better. I had the same sick feeling the first night and just a little bit of nausea. I did receive the Neulasta shot again so that of course caused some uncomfortable bone aches. I was very fatigued but had no problems with loss of taste or appetite and no flu like symptoms.
Some strange things that I have noticed but aren’t causing any pain are; dry skin, loss of body hair and purple finger nails. I showed my doctor my nails and he said that is perfectly normal. Your finger nails are fast growing cells so the chemo is killing those cells. Once chemo stops then over time they will grow back and look normal again.
The hole in my leg is healing up great. The nurse is still packing it every other day but it is so much better. It no longer hurts and the most pain I have to deal with is when they pull off all the medical tape that is covering it.
Unfortunately, the hole in my chest is not healing as fast. Friday was the first time that the nurse found granulation tissue growing inside, which means the hole has finally decided to start healing. The problem is now when they go to pack it there may be some nerves exposed as the pain is excruciating.
They are sending out a wound care specialist this week to take a look at it so they can try to determine exactly why it is causing pain. Then on Friday I am going back to the hospital to have the doctor look it again. They believe it is either the nerves growing and being exposed or that I am having a reaction to the Aquacel that they use to pack the hole.
The pain is there every day and still wakes me up at all hours of the night. Sleeping seems to be impossible because no matter what position I lay it feels like too much pressure for my chest. There is still some swelling but at least the bruising from the internal bleeding is almost gone.
I have completed my antiobiotics for the staph infection and so far so good. I should know here in a couple of days if the infection comes back -keeping my fingers crossed!!
This Thursday (4/10) I go in for my sixth treatment –which means if all goes well and stays on schedule I will have two left, with the last one scheduled for May 8th. Then on to radiation!
Some strange things that I have noticed but aren’t causing any pain are; dry skin, loss of body hair and purple finger nails. I showed my doctor my nails and he said that is perfectly normal. Your finger nails are fast growing cells so the chemo is killing those cells. Once chemo stops then over time they will grow back and look normal again.
The hole in my leg is healing up great. The nurse is still packing it every other day but it is so much better. It no longer hurts and the most pain I have to deal with is when they pull off all the medical tape that is covering it.
Unfortunately, the hole in my chest is not healing as fast. Friday was the first time that the nurse found granulation tissue growing inside, which means the hole has finally decided to start healing. The problem is now when they go to pack it there may be some nerves exposed as the pain is excruciating.
They are sending out a wound care specialist this week to take a look at it so they can try to determine exactly why it is causing pain. Then on Friday I am going back to the hospital to have the doctor look it again. They believe it is either the nerves growing and being exposed or that I am having a reaction to the Aquacel that they use to pack the hole.
The pain is there every day and still wakes me up at all hours of the night. Sleeping seems to be impossible because no matter what position I lay it feels like too much pressure for my chest. There is still some swelling but at least the bruising from the internal bleeding is almost gone.
I have completed my antiobiotics for the staph infection and so far so good. I should know here in a couple of days if the infection comes back -keeping my fingers crossed!!
This Thursday (4/10) I go in for my sixth treatment –which means if all goes well and stays on schedule I will have two left, with the last one scheduled for May 8th. Then on to radiation!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Update
*****************WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURE BELOW*****************
Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, I’ve been preoccupied with a couple of new holes in my body. I was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday evening March 11th I left the hospital feeling beat up, exhausted and not much of a positive attitude left in my mind. My doctor still wanted to go ahead with my chemo treatment on Thursday, which worried me because as of Tuesday night I had absolutely no energy. Deep inside I did not want to go to chemo at all. I just wanted a couple of days to rest and feel good again. I knew this would not happen though and I only had one day to get better before chemo.
The doctor prescribed me a very powerful antibiotic called Zyvox that costs $80 per pill!!!!!! Thank goodness for medical insurance. I stayed in bed and rested all day Wednesday trying to recoup some strength before chemo. I was just so wiped out from the hospital stay. I left the hospital with a hole in my leg from the abscess and a hole in my chest from the port. Both of these holes cannot be stitched or sealed in anyway due to the infection. Instead they fill the holes with a material called Aquacel that contains silver and the silver is to help fight off infection. They pack these holes and then cover them with large bandages. The hole in my chest in almost two inches deep and almost two inches wide, it’s the two inches deep that freaks me out. This is the hole that is causing all the pain and discomfort 24 hours a day. I need to have the holes repacked every other day by a home care nurse. The procedure is about 20 min but not painless. Every other time they come they need to measure the holes to see if they are healing. To do this they stick a metal qtip in the holes and poke around until they hit tissue and then they know how deep the hole is. I just hold my breath as they try to do this as fast as possible. The hole in my chest even has a pocket that goes downward so they have to dig into that too.
On Tuesday March 18th I started to have a lot of pain in my right chest around the port hole. My entire right chest was sensitive to touch and felt very hard. The pain was so bad I was unable to sleep at night and none of my pain pills were helping. When the nurse came in the next day she suggested I go see the doctor because I should not have this much pain. We made an appointment to see my surgeon and he said visually everything looks good and he sees no signs of infection. He did an ultrasound on my chest and did not see any pockets of fluid forming under the skin. He then decided that he had to put his finger in the hole and make sure he didn’t feel anything abnormal and you can only imagine how painful that was. But he moved fast and of course did not find anything wrong. The doctor tells me I’m a freak of nature and I should not be experiencing any pain at this point and he has no idea why it hurts so badly. Once again I have stumped the staff at the hospital. The first time was with the whole port issue and internal bleeding. He also said it is not healing as fast as he would like to see but he is attributing the slow healing to the chemotherapy. The pain at this point is back to feeling like I have a 20lb weight strapped to my chest. I have a ton of throbbing pain and sharp pain through my right chest. He suggests I take 600mg Ibuprofen every 6 hours and ice the area since all the pain meds I have been taking are narcotics and not anti-inflammatory. At this point I’m desperate for some pain relief and stick to his regimen. I haven’t been able to sleep at night due to the pain and my movement has been limited. I stick with the pain pills as recommended and it does bring some relief. It doesn’t take the pain away completely but does take the edge off. The doctor now calls me daily for updates and the nurses that come to change my bandages are watching for any signs of infection.
Good news is I was finally well enough to go out to dinner on Friday night with the family and the Verdadero family. Hhmmm Mexican food never tasted so good. On Saturday was Jordan’s birthday and we all went to the OMSI. I had a blast and it was my first venture out in a long time. I was slow when walking and actually had a slight limp from the hole in my leg but it was nice to be out in about. By the time we were all done with the day my chest felt rock hard and the pain was throbbing but it was worth it!
Now all that was just for the two new friendly holes. I did receive chemo on Thursday March 13, 2008. I went into chemo not feeling 100% but definitely feeling better than when I left the hospital. My doctor said my white blood cells look good and my staph infection is looking good. But he still wants me to come in the next day for my Neulasta shot to keep my white blood cell count up. This of course I was not happy about. That Neulasta shot causes the worst bone aches but I must do it to help keep me healthy.
We also talked about radiation therapy. As of now he is thinking at the end of chemo we are going to do 6-8 weeks of radiation given on a daily basis Monday – Friday. Yikes, I was not expecting radiation for that long of time period. At least the side effects from radiation are not as extreme as chemo. I will experience some fatigue, redness around the area in my neck and irritated skin but nothing too bad. There go my plans for Bimmerfest and 5er Fest this summer. Oh well, I’ll be there next year for sure.
Without the port we are back to giving the chemo through an IV in my arm. We get the IV going on my right arm as my left arm is in pain from having the IV in the hospital stuck in it for four days. The pain in my left arm is so bad that I can’t even straighten my arm all the way and the site area is bruised. The chemo begins just fine but in the end we finally start the Decarbazine. This is the drug that gave me reason to get a port installed due to the burning and pain it causes when going in. The nurses now know that they must dilute this drug, put it on a really slow drip and wrap my arm in a heating blanket. This works just enough to get the pain bearable but it still hurts. With this my chemo sessions are now almost 5 hours long. We finish up and I go straight home and right to bed. At around 9pm Becky wakes me up so that I can eat something. I feel like crap but I have to eat. I eat, watch a little TV and go right back to bed. Friday and Saturday are the same. I sleep and only get up to eat. This is also the first time that I experience a lot of nausea and the nausea medication barely works. Finally my Mom remembers an old drink that my grandma used to make when anyone was stomach sick. It’s boiled milk, with cinnamon, and finally a whipped egg white. Talk about instant relief to my nausea. It was awesome. THANK YOU GRANDMA I LOVE YOU! I also experienced something else that I never had before, loss of taste. The doctors told me this could happen and it sucks. We tried everything and my taste buds were just shot. Oh well at least it’s not painful only frustrating. With the pain in my chest, all the chemo side effects and all the pain in my arm from the chemo I was just wiped out this week.
I have my good Saturday but I should have known I can’t go that long without something else coming up. By Saturday night my staph infection is back. I call my Doctor first thing Sunday morning and they get me scheduled to come into the office first thing Monday morning. I make it into the doctor right after the nurse left my house and sure enough they agree that the staph is back. They change my antibiotics to Clindamycin which I need to take three times a day for 14 days. If the infection does not clear up by Wednesday which is my scheduled chemo day then I’m back to the hospital and they will have a surgeon get to work on it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the antibiotics work FAST….
Here is a picture of what my chest looked like. No need to explain this one.
Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile, I’ve been preoccupied with a couple of new holes in my body. I was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday evening March 11th I left the hospital feeling beat up, exhausted and not much of a positive attitude left in my mind. My doctor still wanted to go ahead with my chemo treatment on Thursday, which worried me because as of Tuesday night I had absolutely no energy. Deep inside I did not want to go to chemo at all. I just wanted a couple of days to rest and feel good again. I knew this would not happen though and I only had one day to get better before chemo.
The doctor prescribed me a very powerful antibiotic called Zyvox that costs $80 per pill!!!!!! Thank goodness for medical insurance. I stayed in bed and rested all day Wednesday trying to recoup some strength before chemo. I was just so wiped out from the hospital stay. I left the hospital with a hole in my leg from the abscess and a hole in my chest from the port. Both of these holes cannot be stitched or sealed in anyway due to the infection. Instead they fill the holes with a material called Aquacel that contains silver and the silver is to help fight off infection. They pack these holes and then cover them with large bandages. The hole in my chest in almost two inches deep and almost two inches wide, it’s the two inches deep that freaks me out. This is the hole that is causing all the pain and discomfort 24 hours a day. I need to have the holes repacked every other day by a home care nurse. The procedure is about 20 min but not painless. Every other time they come they need to measure the holes to see if they are healing. To do this they stick a metal qtip in the holes and poke around until they hit tissue and then they know how deep the hole is. I just hold my breath as they try to do this as fast as possible. The hole in my chest even has a pocket that goes downward so they have to dig into that too.
On Tuesday March 18th I started to have a lot of pain in my right chest around the port hole. My entire right chest was sensitive to touch and felt very hard. The pain was so bad I was unable to sleep at night and none of my pain pills were helping. When the nurse came in the next day she suggested I go see the doctor because I should not have this much pain. We made an appointment to see my surgeon and he said visually everything looks good and he sees no signs of infection. He did an ultrasound on my chest and did not see any pockets of fluid forming under the skin. He then decided that he had to put his finger in the hole and make sure he didn’t feel anything abnormal and you can only imagine how painful that was. But he moved fast and of course did not find anything wrong. The doctor tells me I’m a freak of nature and I should not be experiencing any pain at this point and he has no idea why it hurts so badly. Once again I have stumped the staff at the hospital. The first time was with the whole port issue and internal bleeding. He also said it is not healing as fast as he would like to see but he is attributing the slow healing to the chemotherapy. The pain at this point is back to feeling like I have a 20lb weight strapped to my chest. I have a ton of throbbing pain and sharp pain through my right chest. He suggests I take 600mg Ibuprofen every 6 hours and ice the area since all the pain meds I have been taking are narcotics and not anti-inflammatory. At this point I’m desperate for some pain relief and stick to his regimen. I haven’t been able to sleep at night due to the pain and my movement has been limited. I stick with the pain pills as recommended and it does bring some relief. It doesn’t take the pain away completely but does take the edge off. The doctor now calls me daily for updates and the nurses that come to change my bandages are watching for any signs of infection.
Good news is I was finally well enough to go out to dinner on Friday night with the family and the Verdadero family. Hhmmm Mexican food never tasted so good. On Saturday was Jordan’s birthday and we all went to the OMSI. I had a blast and it was my first venture out in a long time. I was slow when walking and actually had a slight limp from the hole in my leg but it was nice to be out in about. By the time we were all done with the day my chest felt rock hard and the pain was throbbing but it was worth it!
Now all that was just for the two new friendly holes. I did receive chemo on Thursday March 13, 2008. I went into chemo not feeling 100% but definitely feeling better than when I left the hospital. My doctor said my white blood cells look good and my staph infection is looking good. But he still wants me to come in the next day for my Neulasta shot to keep my white blood cell count up. This of course I was not happy about. That Neulasta shot causes the worst bone aches but I must do it to help keep me healthy.
We also talked about radiation therapy. As of now he is thinking at the end of chemo we are going to do 6-8 weeks of radiation given on a daily basis Monday – Friday. Yikes, I was not expecting radiation for that long of time period. At least the side effects from radiation are not as extreme as chemo. I will experience some fatigue, redness around the area in my neck and irritated skin but nothing too bad. There go my plans for Bimmerfest and 5er Fest this summer. Oh well, I’ll be there next year for sure.
Without the port we are back to giving the chemo through an IV in my arm. We get the IV going on my right arm as my left arm is in pain from having the IV in the hospital stuck in it for four days. The pain in my left arm is so bad that I can’t even straighten my arm all the way and the site area is bruised. The chemo begins just fine but in the end we finally start the Decarbazine. This is the drug that gave me reason to get a port installed due to the burning and pain it causes when going in. The nurses now know that they must dilute this drug, put it on a really slow drip and wrap my arm in a heating blanket. This works just enough to get the pain bearable but it still hurts. With this my chemo sessions are now almost 5 hours long. We finish up and I go straight home and right to bed. At around 9pm Becky wakes me up so that I can eat something. I feel like crap but I have to eat. I eat, watch a little TV and go right back to bed. Friday and Saturday are the same. I sleep and only get up to eat. This is also the first time that I experience a lot of nausea and the nausea medication barely works. Finally my Mom remembers an old drink that my grandma used to make when anyone was stomach sick. It’s boiled milk, with cinnamon, and finally a whipped egg white. Talk about instant relief to my nausea. It was awesome. THANK YOU GRANDMA I LOVE YOU! I also experienced something else that I never had before, loss of taste. The doctors told me this could happen and it sucks. We tried everything and my taste buds were just shot. Oh well at least it’s not painful only frustrating. With the pain in my chest, all the chemo side effects and all the pain in my arm from the chemo I was just wiped out this week.
I have my good Saturday but I should have known I can’t go that long without something else coming up. By Saturday night my staph infection is back. I call my Doctor first thing Sunday morning and they get me scheduled to come into the office first thing Monday morning. I make it into the doctor right after the nurse left my house and sure enough they agree that the staph is back. They change my antibiotics to Clindamycin which I need to take three times a day for 14 days. If the infection does not clear up by Wednesday which is my scheduled chemo day then I’m back to the hospital and they will have a surgeon get to work on it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the antibiotics work FAST….
Here is a picture of what my chest looked like. No need to explain this one.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Update on Jay
Sorry we've been out of the loop- it's been the week from hell!
Jay went through a good chemo session two weeks ago after he had his port put in.
He even went to accupunture the following Friday (2/29).
Somewhere after that it went a little downhill. His health was ok, but on Tuesday of last week we noticed some internal bleeding in his right breast- and he went into the ER to have it looked at. They checked for infection, and xrayed to see if the port was in place, and gave him the "all clear" to go home. The docs told him to keep an eye out for any pus coming from the incision place, fever, or any other symptoms indicating infection.
By Thursday (3/6) he was coughing up some blood (he still had a small cough from being ill from the last time), and when he blew his nose, blood as well. Still not much for the docs to get concerned about. He had noticed a small "pimple" on his leg earlier in the week, which he scratched at. By the Thursday it was a golf ball sized cyst and painful.
By Friday (3/7), he had fever and chills. His doc instructed him to go back to the ER.
The internal bleeding had not gotten any worse, but the original incision was letting off a little blood and looked a frightful mess. The cyst on his thigh was drawing conclusions of "staph infection" from the docs.
They say with a depressed immune system its common to pick up anything and everything, especially as staph is always on each and everyone one of us, no matter how "clean" we are. All it takes is an open wound and lack of immune system to really set it off. Jay being in and out of the ER and hospital in the course of a week, and laying in bed for three days did not do any favors...
The cyst was broken by the ER doc, and then a wick was put in to avoid the wound from closing and to let any infection out. Rounds of antiobiotics were given. They admitted him as they decided the port needed to come out, as for some reason his body was rejecting it, and causing further infection.
So, checked in Friday- pain under control, cyst/staph infection under control... port was removed Saturday, Fever and chills returned through Sunday.
Started to clear up Monday (today), however wick needed to be changed.
This was quite painful, as it was a wick made of gauze, which sticks to wounds. They had to over dose Jay on morphine for this, which left him quite sick for the rest of the day.
He's been in and out of sleep, can't eat, and is quite nauseated- and throwing up.
He probably will spend tomorrow if not Wednesday in the hospital to get him back up to speed for his Chemo Thursday.
As for the rest of the fam- the kids have had a couple healthy weeks, and I am just getting over a nasty round of bronchitis and double ear infection, which knocked me on my butt last week (and delayed getting an update to all of you).
Some silver lining- this Thursday marks the halfway point for Jay in his chemo treatment.
As his tumor has been noticeably shrinking, I am really really optimistic that the worst is behind him. I am not sure if they will be doing any evaluating after this chemo session, but we will keep you posted on any progress that comes about over the next week.
His Chemo sessions were slated for 4 cycles (4 months), with two sessions of chemo each cycle, for a total of 8, with radiation potentially happening after he completed his chemo. Let's hope he is well enough to get his 4th chemo session out of the way this week, and on to a speedier (and LESS COMPLICATED!!!) recovery.
Love from Bek and the boys.
PS- as Jay is still in the hospital, please do not call his cell phone!!
Feel free to email us, and I'll get the messages across, or give me a call.
He's mostly in and out of sleep, and not even up for 5 minute chats- and isn't getting much rest anyway, with the constant vital checks every two hours... and the whirring /beeping of all the devices in the hospital.
Jay went through a good chemo session two weeks ago after he had his port put in.
He even went to accupunture the following Friday (2/29).
Somewhere after that it went a little downhill. His health was ok, but on Tuesday of last week we noticed some internal bleeding in his right breast- and he went into the ER to have it looked at. They checked for infection, and xrayed to see if the port was in place, and gave him the "all clear" to go home. The docs told him to keep an eye out for any pus coming from the incision place, fever, or any other symptoms indicating infection.
By Thursday (3/6) he was coughing up some blood (he still had a small cough from being ill from the last time), and when he blew his nose, blood as well. Still not much for the docs to get concerned about. He had noticed a small "pimple" on his leg earlier in the week, which he scratched at. By the Thursday it was a golf ball sized cyst and painful.
By Friday (3/7), he had fever and chills. His doc instructed him to go back to the ER.
The internal bleeding had not gotten any worse, but the original incision was letting off a little blood and looked a frightful mess. The cyst on his thigh was drawing conclusions of "staph infection" from the docs.
They say with a depressed immune system its common to pick up anything and everything, especially as staph is always on each and everyone one of us, no matter how "clean" we are. All it takes is an open wound and lack of immune system to really set it off. Jay being in and out of the ER and hospital in the course of a week, and laying in bed for three days did not do any favors...
The cyst was broken by the ER doc, and then a wick was put in to avoid the wound from closing and to let any infection out. Rounds of antiobiotics were given. They admitted him as they decided the port needed to come out, as for some reason his body was rejecting it, and causing further infection.
So, checked in Friday- pain under control, cyst/staph infection under control... port was removed Saturday, Fever and chills returned through Sunday.
Started to clear up Monday (today), however wick needed to be changed.
This was quite painful, as it was a wick made of gauze, which sticks to wounds. They had to over dose Jay on morphine for this, which left him quite sick for the rest of the day.
He's been in and out of sleep, can't eat, and is quite nauseated- and throwing up.
He probably will spend tomorrow if not Wednesday in the hospital to get him back up to speed for his Chemo Thursday.
As for the rest of the fam- the kids have had a couple healthy weeks, and I am just getting over a nasty round of bronchitis and double ear infection, which knocked me on my butt last week (and delayed getting an update to all of you).
Some silver lining- this Thursday marks the halfway point for Jay in his chemo treatment.
As his tumor has been noticeably shrinking, I am really really optimistic that the worst is behind him. I am not sure if they will be doing any evaluating after this chemo session, but we will keep you posted on any progress that comes about over the next week.
His Chemo sessions were slated for 4 cycles (4 months), with two sessions of chemo each cycle, for a total of 8, with radiation potentially happening after he completed his chemo. Let's hope he is well enough to get his 4th chemo session out of the way this week, and on to a speedier (and LESS COMPLICATED!!!) recovery.
Love from Bek and the boys.
PS- as Jay is still in the hospital, please do not call his cell phone!!
Feel free to email us, and I'll get the messages across, or give me a call.
He's mostly in and out of sleep, and not even up for 5 minute chats- and isn't getting much rest anyway, with the constant vital checks every two hours... and the whirring /beeping of all the devices in the hospital.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Port Surgery Complete
The surgery went well on Monday and I’m ready for chemo on Thursday.
My Mom and I got to the hospital at 6:20 am. I was really nervous just for the fact that I have never had any type of surgery before and the lack of sleep from the night before.
We check in and directed to my room. The first attempt to hook up the IV failed and caused nothing but pain and lots of blood in my left arm. The nurses and I joked around that at least this is the last time I have to deal with an IV. Pretty ironic that my IV gets botched when I go in for a port placement!
The nurses finally get the IV going on my right arm with some saline and some antibiotics. At 8am I meet my surgeon and we go over the procedure briefly. I explain to him that I still have a cough from being sick and ask if this can cause problems. He states that if my cough is harsh enough that I can pull the tube right out of my vein so I just need to be aware of my cough and don’t purposely cough hard. That is a scary enough thought to make me not want to cough at all.
They wheel me into the surgery room where it is ice cold. They have me switch beds and thankfully the new bed has a heating blanket. They start hooking up all these sensors to my chest, stomach and legs. Then they shave my chest and start cleaning the area. That’s it…. I don’t remember anything after that.
I woke up in my room and by 12pm -ready to go home. The next couple of days my chest feels like I have a 20lb weight tied to it and moving around, sleeping and especially coughing hurt like hell. But overall I am happy I got the port put it in and anxious to see it in action tomorrow.
Some good news is that the size of the tumor on my neck has gone down considerably. It’s like it is not even there now. I know it’s there and I can still feel it but if I tried to tell a complete stranger that I had a tumor growing on my neck they would think I was crazy. Hopefully the tumors in my chest are going down just as much.
My Mom and I got to the hospital at 6:20 am. I was really nervous just for the fact that I have never had any type of surgery before and the lack of sleep from the night before.
We check in and directed to my room. The first attempt to hook up the IV failed and caused nothing but pain and lots of blood in my left arm. The nurses and I joked around that at least this is the last time I have to deal with an IV. Pretty ironic that my IV gets botched when I go in for a port placement!
The nurses finally get the IV going on my right arm with some saline and some antibiotics. At 8am I meet my surgeon and we go over the procedure briefly. I explain to him that I still have a cough from being sick and ask if this can cause problems. He states that if my cough is harsh enough that I can pull the tube right out of my vein so I just need to be aware of my cough and don’t purposely cough hard. That is a scary enough thought to make me not want to cough at all.
They wheel me into the surgery room where it is ice cold. They have me switch beds and thankfully the new bed has a heating blanket. They start hooking up all these sensors to my chest, stomach and legs. Then they shave my chest and start cleaning the area. That’s it…. I don’t remember anything after that.
I woke up in my room and by 12pm -ready to go home. The next couple of days my chest feels like I have a 20lb weight tied to it and moving around, sleeping and especially coughing hurt like hell. But overall I am happy I got the port put it in and anxious to see it in action tomorrow.
Some good news is that the size of the tumor on my neck has gone down considerably. It’s like it is not even there now. I know it’s there and I can still feel it but if I tried to tell a complete stranger that I had a tumor growing on my neck they would think I was crazy. Hopefully the tumors in my chest are going down just as much.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Another trip to the ER meant another stay in the hospital.
Tuesday Feb. 19th was a sleepless night due to pain throughout my entire body. I had a lot of bone and muscle aches along with sharp shooting pain. This kept me up all night. The same symptoms continued on throughout Wednesday and Thursday. I started to take two Vicodin at night and one during the day every few hours. Even with the amount of heavy meds I was still in a ton of pain and unable to get out of bed. Thursday evening it was worse and I suddenly came down with the chills. I knew that this could only mean a fever was on its way. While going through chemo any temp over 99 means a trip to the emergency room. So around 6:00 p.m. I took my temp and just as I thought I was 101. As soon as Becky came home she called my Doc who informed us to get right to emergency. Luckily the ER was not busy and I was put in an ER room right away. They took some blood, did a chest x-ray and immediately got me on Dilaudid injections through an IV. This Dilaudid worked great and would instantly make the pain tolerable. After a couple of hours the doctors said my white blood cell count was up and looking great, although my Neutrophil white blood cells were only at 7%. With this news the doctor admitted me to the Oncology department and got me started on antibiotics. I was given the Dilaudid every 4 hrs even though it only lasted 3 hrs, go figure- so I had to spend that last hour in pain. Finally we decided to try to stagger the drugs and give me the Oxycodone 2 hours after the Dilaudid. While this worked, I became completely useless and could do nothing but try to sleep. Finally this morning [Saturday] I took my last Dilaudid injection at around 6 a.m. and only took the Oxycodone for the remainder of the day. I was finally able to go home this afternoon. I am continuing to take the Oxycodone every two hours. On Sunday if I have any pains I’ll only be able to take Tylenol due to my surgery being Monday. The doctor thinks that the pains are most likely due to the Neulasta shot as my overall white blood cell count on Saturday was really high. So my bone marrow was working extremely hard trying to produce all the white blood cells. He also thinks I got another infection which is what brought the fever on.
I just gotta stay germ free and healthy.
I just gotta stay germ free and healthy.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Chemo #2- Full update
I had a couple of really good days before I started my second chemo treatment on Thursday. It felt great to actually feel 100% normal with no flu symptoms and no side affects.
On Thursday morning (Valentine's Day) we started with the IV around 10:30am and they gave me the nausea meds first. During the day a men's acapella quartet showed up to sing to the cancer patients for Valentine's Day. Then they did the "push" drugs which are given through the IV but pushed in with a needle. These are too thick to go through a bag and drip in. And these are the bad ones that give you all the nasty side affects. The first was the Vinblastine, which was clear, and
you can see this in the first picture.
The second was the - Adriamycin, the nasty red one- that could cause damage if it got outside of my vein. They both went in with out any problems.
After the push drugs were administered, they put me on the IV/bag starting with the Bleomycin, followed by the Dacarbazine. When they started the Dacarbazine, I ran into some problems.
It made my whole right arm lock up and extreme pain was shooting up and down my arm from my elbow to my finger tips. I thought this was so odd because I didn't have any problems like this the first time. So they hooked up two bags of saline and let those drip fast and put the drugs on a slow drip to try and dilute it. Then they wrapped my arm up with an electric heating pad. This helped but it was still uncomfortable just not as painful. This process took about an hour and half and I was done with the days treatment by 3pm.
The nurses have suggested that I get a port installed due to this latest issue with the drugs. It will prevent this from happening again and it will also save my veins from any damage that can occur with the treatment I receive. This port basically gives the nurses and doctors unlimited access to withdraw blood or administer the drugs- like having direct IV access without all of the continuous prodding and poking of veins. I have decided to go with this. It is a minor out patient surgery that should take about 4 hours. The port goes in the chest and through the larger veins by the heart. My port procedure will happen before my next Chemo appt. in two weeks.
I left the Oncology center feeling ok, just light headed and dizzy. Becky and I grabbed a quick lunch then went home and I got in bed. I stayed in bed for the majority of the evening and waited to see if the pain would come back like before. BUT IT DIDN'T. THANK GOD! I even had a chance to attempt some meditation based on a CD that was given to me.
I was able to get a good nights' sleep and woke up on Friday feeling good. I went back to my oncology center on Friday to receive a Neulasta shot that will help produce more white blood cells since mine are on a steady decline but still in good shape. This is more preventative maintenance. The downside is this shot makes your bone marrow expand which means lots of bone aches for the next 2-3 days. On Saturday I woke up feeling completely off. I can't really describe how I was feeling. I had no energy at all and some pretty bad bone aches, which I am assuming was from the Neulasta. I spent the entire day in bed and took a couple of naps.
On Sunday (today) I woke up feeling a little better. I still had some bone aches and the jaw pain that I experienced last time was back again. This jaw pain causes my entire mouth to hurt and makes eating a very painful experience for the first few bites. I decided to not take any of the heavy drugs the doctor has prescribed and stick with just Tylenol through out the day. This helps but of course doesn't take the pain away. It's now Sunday night and the jaw pain is only getting worse. I think it may be time to load up on the heavy stuff…
On Thursday morning (Valentine's Day) we started with the IV around 10:30am and they gave me the nausea meds first. During the day a men's acapella quartet showed up to sing to the cancer patients for Valentine's Day. Then they did the "push" drugs which are given through the IV but pushed in with a needle. These are too thick to go through a bag and drip in. And these are the bad ones that give you all the nasty side affects. The first was the Vinblastine, which was clear, and
you can see this in the first picture.
The second was the - Adriamycin, the nasty red one- that could cause damage if it got outside of my vein. They both went in with out any problems.
After the push drugs were administered, they put me on the IV/bag starting with the Bleomycin, followed by the Dacarbazine. When they started the Dacarbazine, I ran into some problems.
It made my whole right arm lock up and extreme pain was shooting up and down my arm from my elbow to my finger tips. I thought this was so odd because I didn't have any problems like this the first time. So they hooked up two bags of saline and let those drip fast and put the drugs on a slow drip to try and dilute it. Then they wrapped my arm up with an electric heating pad. This helped but it was still uncomfortable just not as painful. This process took about an hour and half and I was done with the days treatment by 3pm.
The nurses have suggested that I get a port installed due to this latest issue with the drugs. It will prevent this from happening again and it will also save my veins from any damage that can occur with the treatment I receive. This port basically gives the nurses and doctors unlimited access to withdraw blood or administer the drugs- like having direct IV access without all of the continuous prodding and poking of veins. I have decided to go with this. It is a minor out patient surgery that should take about 4 hours. The port goes in the chest and through the larger veins by the heart. My port procedure will happen before my next Chemo appt. in two weeks.
I left the Oncology center feeling ok, just light headed and dizzy. Becky and I grabbed a quick lunch then went home and I got in bed. I stayed in bed for the majority of the evening and waited to see if the pain would come back like before. BUT IT DIDN'T. THANK GOD! I even had a chance to attempt some meditation based on a CD that was given to me. I was able to get a good nights' sleep and woke up on Friday feeling good. I went back to my oncology center on Friday to receive a Neulasta shot that will help produce more white blood cells since mine are on a steady decline but still in good shape. This is more preventative maintenance. The downside is this shot makes your bone marrow expand which means lots of bone aches for the next 2-3 days. On Saturday I woke up feeling completely off. I can't really describe how I was feeling. I had no energy at all and some pretty bad bone aches, which I am assuming was from the Neulasta. I spent the entire day in bed and took a couple of naps.
On Sunday (today) I woke up feeling a little better. I still had some bone aches and the jaw pain that I experienced last time was back again. This jaw pain causes my entire mouth to hurt and makes eating a very painful experience for the first few bites. I decided to not take any of the heavy drugs the doctor has prescribed and stick with just Tylenol through out the day. This helps but of course doesn't take the pain away. It's now Sunday night and the jaw pain is only getting worse. I think it may be time to load up on the heavy stuff…
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