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.
Our PDX
Saturday, February 23, 2008
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…
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Chemo 2- Finally...
Jay was finally well enough to go through his second chemo, today.
He is scheduled every two weeks, and from last weeks flu incident, he was behind a week. He's now back on track and will receive his third treatment two weeks from today.
More details, and pictures from today later- check back... Jay is feeling good, and writing about his experience.
He is scheduled every two weeks, and from last weeks flu incident, he was behind a week. He's now back on track and will receive his third treatment two weeks from today.
More details, and pictures from today later- check back... Jay is feeling good, and writing about his experience.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Latest Updates
Here are the latest updates. For those of you that don’t already know I was admitted to the hospital over night (Wednesday 6th – Thursday 7th) but I’m home now and getting better. All the details are described at the bottom.
Friday February 1, it was another crappy night of no sleep and lots of pain in my right arm. I also woke up to my infamous hiccups and heart burn again. I swear I will take the pain over the hiccups and heart burn any day. These symptoms lasted through out the day and night Friday. Saturday rolls around to the same but my arm pain is going away, guess the steroids are working as planned. Yet I still have the have the heart burn and hiccups. The good news is that I was able to take a 3 hour nap on Saturday trying to recuperate from all the lost sleep. After my nap we met with my brother downtown for dinner and my attempt to have a beer. That didn’t go over so well -I guess the carbonation really irritated my heart burn. Right after dinner I came home and felt like I blacked out. I lay in bed for a minute and next thing I know its morning. I woke up feeling really good having caught up on a solid full night of sleep and ready for super bowl. No hiccups, no heartburn and not much pain in my arm. I am feeling pretty good for super bowl Sunday. But with super bowl comes, chips, 7 layer dip, salsa and all the stuff I probably should not have eaten. By half time the hiccups and heart burn were back in full affect. That’s my own fault for making stupid food choices for the day.
Over the last week I have been dealing with a couple bouts of insomnia and Sunday was just another one of those nights. I woke up at 4am wide awake and unable to restfully lay in bed or fall back to sleep. Monday continued on with the heart burn but thank goodness no hiccups.
Tuesday February 5, proved to be an insomnia filled night but this time I woke up at 2:30 am. Laid in bed until 3:30 am and finally tried to watch some TV and NEVER fell back asleep.
YES INSOMNIA SUCKS!!! I need to find out if this is side affect or my own mind playing tricks on me.
Wednesday February 6, I woke up with a painful chest cough. Didn’t think much of it and hoped it would go away through the day. As the day went on I actually started feeling worse and thought I was just tired and needed some rest. I put myself to bed by 4pm and tried to sleep off the strange feelings and the cough. The next thing I know the body aches and fever kick in like I’ve never felt.
I just lay in bed not sure what was going on and completely incoherent. I think it was about 8pm when Becky and my dad decide it was enough; my fever was too high, I had a screaming headache and could barely speak. They called the doctor who advised that they get me to the emergency room immediately as he thinks my white blood cell count may have dropped.
They get me to the car and to the emergency room where the pain in my head is throbbing and sitting in a chair is just too uncomfortable. We waited what felt like a very long time before they took me back into a room. Once in the room they start with some oral Tylenol, an IV, check my temp and draw blood. Finally the doctor came and agrees to give me good ole morphine. I don’t like the way morphine makes me feel but I know that it will help ease the pain instantly. The nurse readies the shot and straight to the IV comes the morphine. I immediately feel my entire body get hot but relaxed at the same time. The strange thing is that it never takes away the pain that I feel in my head and my body it just makes it all bearable.
I am able to lay there and rest peacefully. After the pain is under control I am off for a cat scan and x-rays. Shortly after that a spinal tap is done to make sure I do not have meningitis. I’ve completely lost track of time at this point but I do remember that when all was done they admitted me into a real room at 3am. I try to sleep the rest of the night even though I am being checked on every two hours and every two hours they are giving me morphine. By morning my Oncologist comes in to check on me and states that all the tests came back ok. My white blood count was off and there are white blood cells found in my spinal fluid but that was expected and the numbers were not alarming. He thinks I just got a nasty virus or flu. He decides to take me off of the morphine and gives me oral oxycodone and an oral antibiotic. The oxycodone has a similar affect just not as harsh as the morphine.
They continue this every two hours through the day. I spent the day sleeping and hanging out with Becky and my Dad as they stayed with me for most of the day. By around 9pm I’m ready to go home sleep this off.
Friday February 8th and Saturday February 9th I just lay in bed and sleep a lot. The headache is still there just not as bad. The body aches and the fever are gone and I just have a few dizzy spells every once in a while. .
Bottom line is while under going chemo you can’t get the flu. Your body does not have the ability to fight the flu after receiving chemo. For obvious reasons my second chemo treatment was cancelled this week and I’ve been rescheduled for Thursday February 14th.
Friday February 1, it was another crappy night of no sleep and lots of pain in my right arm. I also woke up to my infamous hiccups and heart burn again. I swear I will take the pain over the hiccups and heart burn any day. These symptoms lasted through out the day and night Friday. Saturday rolls around to the same but my arm pain is going away, guess the steroids are working as planned. Yet I still have the have the heart burn and hiccups. The good news is that I was able to take a 3 hour nap on Saturday trying to recuperate from all the lost sleep. After my nap we met with my brother downtown for dinner and my attempt to have a beer. That didn’t go over so well -I guess the carbonation really irritated my heart burn. Right after dinner I came home and felt like I blacked out. I lay in bed for a minute and next thing I know its morning. I woke up feeling really good having caught up on a solid full night of sleep and ready for super bowl. No hiccups, no heartburn and not much pain in my arm. I am feeling pretty good for super bowl Sunday. But with super bowl comes, chips, 7 layer dip, salsa and all the stuff I probably should not have eaten. By half time the hiccups and heart burn were back in full affect. That’s my own fault for making stupid food choices for the day.
Over the last week I have been dealing with a couple bouts of insomnia and Sunday was just another one of those nights. I woke up at 4am wide awake and unable to restfully lay in bed or fall back to sleep. Monday continued on with the heart burn but thank goodness no hiccups.
Tuesday February 5, proved to be an insomnia filled night but this time I woke up at 2:30 am. Laid in bed until 3:30 am and finally tried to watch some TV and NEVER fell back asleep.
YES INSOMNIA SUCKS!!! I need to find out if this is side affect or my own mind playing tricks on me.
Wednesday February 6, I woke up with a painful chest cough. Didn’t think much of it and hoped it would go away through the day. As the day went on I actually started feeling worse and thought I was just tired and needed some rest. I put myself to bed by 4pm and tried to sleep off the strange feelings and the cough. The next thing I know the body aches and fever kick in like I’ve never felt.
I just lay in bed not sure what was going on and completely incoherent. I think it was about 8pm when Becky and my dad decide it was enough; my fever was too high, I had a screaming headache and could barely speak. They called the doctor who advised that they get me to the emergency room immediately as he thinks my white blood cell count may have dropped.
They get me to the car and to the emergency room where the pain in my head is throbbing and sitting in a chair is just too uncomfortable. We waited what felt like a very long time before they took me back into a room. Once in the room they start with some oral Tylenol, an IV, check my temp and draw blood. Finally the doctor came and agrees to give me good ole morphine. I don’t like the way morphine makes me feel but I know that it will help ease the pain instantly. The nurse readies the shot and straight to the IV comes the morphine. I immediately feel my entire body get hot but relaxed at the same time. The strange thing is that it never takes away the pain that I feel in my head and my body it just makes it all bearable.
I am able to lay there and rest peacefully. After the pain is under control I am off for a cat scan and x-rays. Shortly after that a spinal tap is done to make sure I do not have meningitis. I’ve completely lost track of time at this point but I do remember that when all was done they admitted me into a real room at 3am. I try to sleep the rest of the night even though I am being checked on every two hours and every two hours they are giving me morphine. By morning my Oncologist comes in to check on me and states that all the tests came back ok. My white blood count was off and there are white blood cells found in my spinal fluid but that was expected and the numbers were not alarming. He thinks I just got a nasty virus or flu. He decides to take me off of the morphine and gives me oral oxycodone and an oral antibiotic. The oxycodone has a similar affect just not as harsh as the morphine.
They continue this every two hours through the day. I spent the day sleeping and hanging out with Becky and my Dad as they stayed with me for most of the day. By around 9pm I’m ready to go home sleep this off.
Friday February 8th and Saturday February 9th I just lay in bed and sleep a lot. The headache is still there just not as bad. The body aches and the fever are gone and I just have a few dizzy spells every once in a while. .
Bottom line is while under going chemo you can’t get the flu. Your body does not have the ability to fight the flu after receiving chemo. For obvious reasons my second chemo treatment was cancelled this week and I’ve been rescheduled for Thursday February 14th.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Update on Jay
Not to worry, so far nothing too major.
Came home to Jay with a severe fever this evening and somewhat incoherent.
Couldnt get up, talk, etc. Lots of pain.
He had a cough this morning, and body aches.
There has been lots of nasty flu going around.
Called his doc (as he was supposed to have Chemo Thursday morning) to advise.
He asked that we take him to the hosp. to have white cell count checked out.
Anil Sr. and I took him in and after evaluation, they think his count isn't exactly where it should be, and most likely he is also fighting a virus.
They did a spinal tap to make sure it was nothing serious as bacterial or viral meningitis, and did a ctscan to make sure nothing was going on in his head, as he has a severe headache.
They've decided to keep him over night to make sure he stays hydrated, and his fever is controlled, and that the infection is not bacterial. His oncologist will come to see him in the hospital tomorrow morning. I doubt any chemo will be administered at this time.
Right now Jay needs lots of rest, and some down time...his phone is off- please do not call his mobile while he's at the hospital. Feel free to send your good wishes to him on the blog (God knows he'll be checking it first thing in the morning from the hospital!). If you have any questions, feel free to email and I'll check in with you guys later.
Off to bed.
-Bek
Came home to Jay with a severe fever this evening and somewhat incoherent.
Couldnt get up, talk, etc. Lots of pain.
He had a cough this morning, and body aches.
There has been lots of nasty flu going around.
Called his doc (as he was supposed to have Chemo Thursday morning) to advise.
He asked that we take him to the hosp. to have white cell count checked out.
Anil Sr. and I took him in and after evaluation, they think his count isn't exactly where it should be, and most likely he is also fighting a virus.
They did a spinal tap to make sure it was nothing serious as bacterial or viral meningitis, and did a ctscan to make sure nothing was going on in his head, as he has a severe headache.
They've decided to keep him over night to make sure he stays hydrated, and his fever is controlled, and that the infection is not bacterial. His oncologist will come to see him in the hospital tomorrow morning. I doubt any chemo will be administered at this time.
Right now Jay needs lots of rest, and some down time...his phone is off- please do not call his mobile while he's at the hospital. Feel free to send your good wishes to him on the blog (God knows he'll be checking it first thing in the morning from the hospital!). If you have any questions, feel free to email and I'll check in with you guys later.
Off to bed.
-Bek
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Update...
Good news first- my bone marrow biopsy came back clean!
It has been one week since my first chemo treatment and I must say nothing has been what I was expecting. The side affects have not been easy to deal with, although they have been much different then what I was told.
Friday, the 25th- I woke up tired but feeling pretty good. I took the opportunity to stay in bed for the better half of the day. Midday I started to get the hiccups along with nausea.
The nausea was expected and I have two different prescriptions to help deal with it.
The hiccups on the other hand I just thought were not a side affect and just normal old fashioned hiccups. Shortly after the hiccups started heart burn kicked in!
Now I know everyone reading this has probably had hiccups and heartburn after devouring a bratwurst dog covered in sauerkraut and spicy mustard- now just imagine eating 5 of those dogs in a row and the heartburn that would follow. This went on throughout the day and night. I tried to sleep but kept waking up to feeling like I was going to vomit and hiccup my spleen out of my mouth.
Saturday the 26th, I awoke to the hiccups and heartburn. Now that I am on day two of this I am convinced it is a side affect from the chemo. Both the hiccups and heartburn continued on throughout Saturday. Naturally, I’m all over the internet looking for remedies since my nausea medication isn’t doing anything. I try all the tricks to no success.
Sunday, the 27th I awake and the hiccups, nausea and heartburn are all gone. My energy level is up a lot and I’m feeling pretty good. I guess I got excited too soon. Now, the mouth issues begin, which I was told may happen. First my tongue is itchy and any food that touches it does not feel right.
Then I start feeling pain through out my jaw and it begins to go down into my teeth. This continues through out the day and I decide to just try and let some Advil deal take care of it. Strike one, Advil does not work. A few hours later I take some IBUPROFEN, strike two nothing happens. Then right before bed I take a Darvacet - strike 3 nothing happens. I just give up and go to bed. Tossing and turning, waking up to the mouth pain every couple hours.
Monday the 28th comes around and the pain is worse. Now I can no longer take a bite of any food with out sending pain through out my mouth. By night fall the pain has gone from my jaw and into my head. I can’t sleep and no pain medication is helping.
Tuesday the 29th I’ve had it, feeling miserable I call the doctor. I speak with a nurse who consulted with my doctor and they decide to give me Miracle Mouthwash and Vicodin. They stated that if by Wednesday afternoon I still have pain to call back and they will have me come in.
So Tuesday evening I take the mouthwash and it basically numbs my entire mouth (the miracle mouthwash is a combination of lidocaine, diphenhydramine, and Maalox). This is great as it took care of the itchy feeling I had on my tongue. But the pain is not on the skin – it is deep inside my mouth. I take a vicodin and pray that it helps. Now I am thinking that this pain may be caused by my wisdom teeth. I was told years ago to get my wisdom removed but just never did and never really experienced any discomfort from them.
The nurse stated that it could be that my white blood cell count has dropped and that I am no longer able to fight off any inflammation caused by the wisdom teeth.
An hour or so after taking the vicodin I am feeling worse and decide to take another. This does nothing for the pain. All I am feeling is like I am completely intoxicated - and in pain.
Again I just try to sleep it off with no luck and no sleep.
Wednesday the 30th comes and I call the doctors office and explain the Vicodin didn’t help either so they book me for Thursday morning. I just deal with the pain all day Wednesday with out taking any pain meds. I guess not taking any pain meds caught up to me that night as I had the worst aches and pains all night long. Everything from my back, to my elbow, shoulder and even the pain from the bone marrow biopsy came back. It was by far the worst night since the first night of chemo. I took a Darvacet at 4am hoping it would just knock me out for a few hours.
When I woke up this morning, I had sharp pains all though out my right arm. I had no idea what this was but I was on my way to the doctor anyway. When I got there he was worried that the pain in my arm may be a blood clot which can be very bad. So he sent me in for an ultra sound. They took some more blood to check my white blood cell counts and gave me a stronger pain medication that is a steroid called Dexamethasone. The ultra sound came back with no signs of blood clots. So the doctor said it could be that the tumor cells are breaking down and going into my blood stream. Since the tumor is on my right side and it is my right arm that hurts it seems logical.
He also said to remember that they are injecting me with poison that kills both good and bad cells. So this may just be part of the treatment process especially since the pain in my arm is the same arm they injected the chemo in. But he is glad that I came in and he wants me to continue to report everything that I am feeling. So I have taken the steroids this evening and I am hoping I can get some good sleep in. The pain in my arm is pretty severe, the pain in my jaw has gone down a bit and so has the pain and aches I had through out the rest of my body.
It’s hard because as soon as some strange side affect goes away another one immediately kicks in. This all plays a big role in taking that positive attitude away that I started with. I’m going to try my hardest to stay positive and all your love and support really does help. I love reading all the comments so keep em coming. I have one more week before my next treatment and I hope it is a good week with little to no problems.
It’s super bowl weekend I need to be able to enjoy it!!! Pats over the Giants by 20.
It has been one week since my first chemo treatment and I must say nothing has been what I was expecting. The side affects have not been easy to deal with, although they have been much different then what I was told.
Friday, the 25th- I woke up tired but feeling pretty good. I took the opportunity to stay in bed for the better half of the day. Midday I started to get the hiccups along with nausea.
The nausea was expected and I have two different prescriptions to help deal with it.
The hiccups on the other hand I just thought were not a side affect and just normal old fashioned hiccups. Shortly after the hiccups started heart burn kicked in!
Now I know everyone reading this has probably had hiccups and heartburn after devouring a bratwurst dog covered in sauerkraut and spicy mustard- now just imagine eating 5 of those dogs in a row and the heartburn that would follow. This went on throughout the day and night. I tried to sleep but kept waking up to feeling like I was going to vomit and hiccup my spleen out of my mouth.
Saturday the 26th, I awoke to the hiccups and heartburn. Now that I am on day two of this I am convinced it is a side affect from the chemo. Both the hiccups and heartburn continued on throughout Saturday. Naturally, I’m all over the internet looking for remedies since my nausea medication isn’t doing anything. I try all the tricks to no success.
Sunday, the 27th I awake and the hiccups, nausea and heartburn are all gone. My energy level is up a lot and I’m feeling pretty good. I guess I got excited too soon. Now, the mouth issues begin, which I was told may happen. First my tongue is itchy and any food that touches it does not feel right.
Then I start feeling pain through out my jaw and it begins to go down into my teeth. This continues through out the day and I decide to just try and let some Advil deal take care of it. Strike one, Advil does not work. A few hours later I take some IBUPROFEN, strike two nothing happens. Then right before bed I take a Darvacet - strike 3 nothing happens. I just give up and go to bed. Tossing and turning, waking up to the mouth pain every couple hours.
Monday the 28th comes around and the pain is worse. Now I can no longer take a bite of any food with out sending pain through out my mouth. By night fall the pain has gone from my jaw and into my head. I can’t sleep and no pain medication is helping.
Tuesday the 29th I’ve had it, feeling miserable I call the doctor. I speak with a nurse who consulted with my doctor and they decide to give me Miracle Mouthwash and Vicodin. They stated that if by Wednesday afternoon I still have pain to call back and they will have me come in.
So Tuesday evening I take the mouthwash and it basically numbs my entire mouth (the miracle mouthwash is a combination of lidocaine, diphenhydramine, and Maalox). This is great as it took care of the itchy feeling I had on my tongue. But the pain is not on the skin – it is deep inside my mouth. I take a vicodin and pray that it helps. Now I am thinking that this pain may be caused by my wisdom teeth. I was told years ago to get my wisdom removed but just never did and never really experienced any discomfort from them.
The nurse stated that it could be that my white blood cell count has dropped and that I am no longer able to fight off any inflammation caused by the wisdom teeth.
An hour or so after taking the vicodin I am feeling worse and decide to take another. This does nothing for the pain. All I am feeling is like I am completely intoxicated - and in pain.
Again I just try to sleep it off with no luck and no sleep.
Wednesday the 30th comes and I call the doctors office and explain the Vicodin didn’t help either so they book me for Thursday morning. I just deal with the pain all day Wednesday with out taking any pain meds. I guess not taking any pain meds caught up to me that night as I had the worst aches and pains all night long. Everything from my back, to my elbow, shoulder and even the pain from the bone marrow biopsy came back. It was by far the worst night since the first night of chemo. I took a Darvacet at 4am hoping it would just knock me out for a few hours.
When I woke up this morning, I had sharp pains all though out my right arm. I had no idea what this was but I was on my way to the doctor anyway. When I got there he was worried that the pain in my arm may be a blood clot which can be very bad. So he sent me in for an ultra sound. They took some more blood to check my white blood cell counts and gave me a stronger pain medication that is a steroid called Dexamethasone. The ultra sound came back with no signs of blood clots. So the doctor said it could be that the tumor cells are breaking down and going into my blood stream. Since the tumor is on my right side and it is my right arm that hurts it seems logical.
He also said to remember that they are injecting me with poison that kills both good and bad cells. So this may just be part of the treatment process especially since the pain in my arm is the same arm they injected the chemo in. But he is glad that I came in and he wants me to continue to report everything that I am feeling. So I have taken the steroids this evening and I am hoping I can get some good sleep in. The pain in my arm is pretty severe, the pain in my jaw has gone down a bit and so has the pain and aches I had through out the rest of my body.
It’s hard because as soon as some strange side affect goes away another one immediately kicks in. This all plays a big role in taking that positive attitude away that I started with. I’m going to try my hardest to stay positive and all your love and support really does help. I love reading all the comments so keep em coming. I have one more week before my next treatment and I hope it is a good week with little to no problems.
It’s super bowl weekend I need to be able to enjoy it!!! Pats over the Giants by 20.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Chemo Day 1
Wow- what a day. Started off feeling great at 7am and ready to take on the chemo. After getting the boys to school and Jaden to Pam’s, Becky and I went straight to Pacific Oncology where we thought the chemo would begin. After taking my vitals I met with my Doctor to discuss today’s happenings.
He asked- How did the PET SCAN go?
Well I never had one and I was still waiting for his office to make the appointment. He says they can’t proceed with out getting the PET SCAN first. He said he doesn’t need the results before he can start he just needs it done because after the first round of chemo everything will already change. So after he strong armed the nursing staff they called clinics in Portland finally finding someone that could take me in right away. The problem with this is that a PET SCAN requires fresh radioactive material - so I needed to hope someone else had cancelled in the last 24 hours. Luckily after some searching by the nurses they found an opening at Meridian Hospital about 20 min away.
He asked- How did the PET SCAN go?
Well I never had one and I was still waiting for his office to make the appointment. He says they can’t proceed with out getting the PET SCAN first. He said he doesn’t need the results before he can start he just needs it done because after the first round of chemo everything will already change. So after he strong armed the nursing staff they called clinics in Portland finally finding someone that could take me in right away. The problem with this is that a PET SCAN requires fresh radioactive material - so I needed to hope someone else had cancelled in the last 24 hours. Luckily after some searching by the nurses they found an opening at Meridian Hospital about 20 min away.
When I get to the room they immediately start an injection of the radioactive material which they will let flow through my body for 1 hour before they can do the scan.
Feels quite strange knowing that your body is now emitting radioactive waves. During this hour they kept me in a small room and all the walls and doors to this room were lined with lead plates. So at this point all I’m thinking about is how bad is this for me and everyone else?
The nurses assure me that I am fine and not harmful to anyone else or to my self. After my one hour is up they place me in the PET SCAN tube with my arms over my head for 20 minutes. Talk about an uncomfortable position to lie completely still for this long.
When it was all said and done I had to rush back to Pacific Oncology and be there by 1pm. If I was not back by 1pm then they could not administer the chemo today. And there was no way in hell I was going to wait another 24 hours before going to treatment. I had to really psyche myself up today to go in and did not want that feeling to go to waste. Becky and I hustled and made it to check in three minutes before 1pm.This time I was able to get in, skip vitals, and get to it. The nurse administered the IV drip first with an anti-nausea medication. After that completed, the first treatment began. The Chemo medication I am on is ABDV- four separate medications given consecutively during treatment, two through the IV drip, and two through injection (also through the IV).
All this time I am feeling great and ready to take in this fight. Becky left to go back to work for a meeting, so I just lounged around watching Spiderman 3 on Jai’s PSP.
After that I sat with the nurse and discussed side affects and what to do with them all. At this time we also discussed staging. The reason was- based on the PET SCAN, the doctor did find more cancerous tumors in my chest area. This does not mean that the cancer spread like it does in metastatic cancer it simply means there are other cancerous tumors in my lymphatic system. This means I have been elevated to a Stage II but this will not affect my treatment in anyway. This does not lesson the chance of being cured in any way. The doctor did confirm that I will do radiation once we have completed the 4 chemo cycles. Staging will be complete based on the impending results from the bone marrow biopsy. Should that be clear, my stage will stay a II... if there is any sign that the cancer has reached the bone marrow, then that will alter the stage further.
After letting the first two drugs drip slowly into my system the nurse then took a giant syringe filled with red liquid. This is the BAD stuff. This was the stuff that will cause most of the nasty side effects and it’s so bad that if for some reason the liquid leaves my vein it will immediately cause severe damage to everything it touches. Yeah- that scared me but all I can do is sit there and make sure I don’t feel a burning sensation. After that was done they did one more drug through a syringe and I was done for the day. Four hours later.
I left the building feeling good and starving. We got to Pam’s house after picking up my prescription nausea meds and hung out for a few minutes.
Not long after being there I really wasn’t feeling too hot. So we left, I went home to walk my dogs and make some phone calls. Immediately after my last phone call I got hit with the worst body aches and chills I ever had. I was not expecting this at all but with this type of treatment I don’t think you can be fully prepared for what may come your way. I loaded up on the layers of clothes, blankets and cranked the heater. Nothing worked I just felt horrible. My hands were like ice, my head felt hot - I just laid there in pain. I drank some warm tea and tried to eat some soup. Nothing got me warm. Finally I started to hyperventilate and panic. Becky helped me until I was able to calm down.
Once I got myself under control I took some Ativan for anxiety and nausea. This also makes you sleepy which is exactly what I needed. Shortly after, I was able to fall asleep for about an hour. Once I woke I was HOT. I kicked off the blankets, took off all my layers and just sat there. I felt like I just got hit on every part of my body. I was weak, tired and could barely speak. But after some time I did feel a little better. I ate some food and drank a lot of water. And now of course I feel well enough to type this blog.
Now, my body is just really weak and mentally I am in shock. I did not think I would have those side effects so fast and so hard. At least now I know what to expect the next time around and let’s see what tomorrow brings me.
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