Sorry for the long break in posts! Things got a little crazy and then it was vacation time and I was taking a break from all things cancer. Time is flying! Which I am happy about, only 2 more chemos left!! Woohoo!
This is probably going to be a long one so bare with me. I remember after I wrote my last post thinking I'd hardly have anything to write because everything was going so routinely. I even began making note of random chemo/cancer thoughts so I'd have something to say. Maybe I jinxed myself, it turned out to be a very eventful 2 weeks.
My last post was a month ago after my 8th chemo. I was feeling good after that treatment and going with the usual feeling sluggish for a week and then okay for the next week. My counts were low as usual and I was neutropenic but as you know if you've read my other posts this is quite normal. The Thursday before my 9th chemo I was at work and feeling pretty cold. This is not something uncommon for me because we tend to have the air conditioning blasting. So I opened my window and wrapped myself in the blanket I keep in the office. One of my coworkers was surprised at how cold I was but I was just like eh its normal but she suggested I take my temperature. This thought had not even crossed my mind but I am glad she suggested it. I had a temp of 99.6. I am supposed to go to the hospital if my temp hits 100.5 when I am neutropenic because it could easily spiral into more infections and I could get severely ill.
I stayed at work the rest of the day but kept track of my temperature, checking it every 10 minutes or so. Let me tell you how crazy and paranoid that makes you feel. It also felt weird because I did not feel bad at all, I was just having chills and I had a slight sore throat. I had a meeting at the end of the day and checked my temp afterwards before heading home and it was at 100.2. So I called my parents and let them know there was a good chance I would need to go to the hospital that evening. I also called Massey to try and catch a doc before they closed to see what they advised. *Its good to call your doctor/cancer center before doing anything to get their advice. My doctor said to keep track of the temperature like I was doing and if it hit 100.5 to head to the ER. An hour later with a temp at 100.6 I was headed to the MCV ER.
I was brought back into a room in the ER not too long after we arrived. I was to learn since I was neutropenic they wanted to get me out of the waiting room and ER in general as quickly as possible because of all of the germs. My ER visit ended up being around 6 hours which being my first time in the ER ever I was complaining about and ready to get out of there. My parents informed me that I was lucky and that is pretty fast in ER time. So one up side to being neutropenic! I also got to have my own room there and some people are on beds in the hall so that was nice as well.
Of course when we got to the ER and checked in my temp was 99.9, go figure. They did all the usual checking of vitals and things and put me on a drip for fluids. I saw many nurses and doctors who checked in on my history, how I was feeling, what brought me in, etc... Again all of this felt weird because I really felt fine. They did an xray of my chest to make sure I did not have build up of anything and it came back clear. However since I was neutropenic I needed to stay in the hospital a few days so they could monitor me and make sure I did not have any infections.
They took my blood and it was sent to get my blood cultures. I had never heard of that so they explained that your blood culture is how they tell if you have any bacteria/infection in your system. They watch the growth on your blood, or something like that. This process takes 48 hours. So I had to stay in the hospital till at least Saturday night. Then depending on the results of my culture and how I was doing I would either get to go home or stay to be treated for whatever infections came up. If the blood culture came back positive with an infection they would then have to run more tests to discover what kind of infection it is and then I would be treated for that infection.
I was admitted around 11:30pm Thursday into a very nice room (had my own room with a sofa and a chair) on the Acute Care Oncology floor. I had never stayed overnight in a hospital before. I of course had visited friends and family members and always wondered what it would be like. Welllllllll now I know haha and I'll be okay if I don't have to experience it again for awhile. I think it was worse because I didn't feel bad. So I was stuck in bed when I felt fine enough to be out and about. Overall the experience for me luckily was not too bad. I was supposed to have chemo 9 on Friday but that obviously was not going to happen and I found out my counts were too low so I would not have had it then anyway.
On Friday my temp spiked back up to 100.5 so it was a good thing I came in because who knows what would have happened if I had stayed home. I also had my blood pressure drop into the 70s Friday night and Saturday. That was the only time I got a little nervous and scared. When you stay in the hospital you get checked every 3 or 4 hours or so and at my 1am check up we discovered my low blood pressure. This meant getting checked on even more through the night. I was given a lot of special fluid in a short amount of time to try and help bring my blood pressure back up. I believe the fluids had potassium or something in it, I'm not too sure. As you've probably learned I'm not great at remembering or taking in that kind of stuff. Probably should work on that haha. Later the nurse needed to take some more blood and of course my port decided not to work. Needless to say it was an eventful tiresome night. My port finally started to work at 7am when the nurses were switching. I felt so sorry for my night nurse, everything started working fine when she was getting off. On Saturday my blood pressure went back up into the 90s and then decided to drop back down to the 70s again. I was highly annoyed with my blood pressure by this time haha. But luckily at the same time my temperature had gone back down to normal and stayed that way.
My parents stayed with me most of the time during the day and I had visits from friends and family that made the time pass easier. I am happy I was at MCV because I have so many friends who work there it was easy for them to stop by and say hi which was nice. I think they are good luck charms too because when Tiny was visiting Saturday evening I got the call my cultures came back negative. No infections! Woohoo. And when Crystal was there they came and gave me my paper work and I could go! By the time my doc called my blood pressure had gone back up to the high 90s and had been there all afternoon and my temperature had been normal all day so she felt comfortable letting me go home. I would just need to keep an eye on my temperature and blood pressure and then I would come back in on Tuesday for Chemo 9.
So the start of my memorial day weekend was a little rocky but I spent the rest relaxing by friends' pools and enjoying the weather so that was nice. On Tuesday I had Chemo 9 and it all went smoothly. I had set up with my doctor weeks before that I would come in that Wednesday and get a nuelasta shot that would help my bone marrow grow and get my counts back up. This is the shot that in the past was veeerrryy painful and I never wanted to have again ha. However I was set to go to the beach the following week and in order to go I needed to get the shot and nothing was stopping me from getting to the beach so the shot it was. One of my coworkers who is also going through chemo right now for colon cancer told me she heard Claritin helps with the nuelasta shot. That you are supposed to take it the day you are to receive the shot and keep taking it regularly till you think you're done with the muscle pain. I hiiighly suggest this too if you ever have to get the nuelasta shot. Who knows why but it definitely works. So I took my Claritin that morning and got the shot and was feeling good about it.
I never experienced muscle pain like I did the other two times I received the shot and I am going to guess the Claritin had a lot to do with that. However on Thursday I started to have a pretty bad headache. This happened the last time I got the shot as well so I was kind of expecting it. Since I was neutropenic though, like last time, I could not take any pain relief. As Thursday went on the headache got worse and worse. By Thursday night I was almost in tears I was in so much pain and the headache hurt so much it was making me nauseous. My dad called the on call doctor and I was told to come into the ER. Thursday nights in the ER were apparently becoming my new thing. However this time was so different than the last. As I said the week before I was feeling fine and this time I wanted someone to knock me out I was in so much pain.
Again they moved me through the ER waiting room and into my own room pretty quickly so that was nice. But ER rooms are not like the rooms you stay in overnight and not very comforting. Not to mention the background noise of people fighting and the fluorescent lights. All things you notice a lot more when you are feeling sick. I also of course had a cute young doctor that night ha, of course. My temperature was up to 100 but aside from that my vitals looked fine. The doctor said he wanted to try a drip drug and see if that would help to relieve the pain. I forget what it was called, something with a D, but apparently if nothing else it at least helps knock you out. I got sick a few times in the ER, thankfully when Mr. Cute Doctor was not present haha. He also wanted to get a CT scan of my head to make sure that was all clear. That kind of freaked me out. I mean of course I was glad for them to check but what if they did find something? Before they sent me back for the scan they started the drip of the D drug. I felt it enter my system right away, thank you port, and it immediately made me sick. But after that it started to work and I finally was getting some kind of pain relief. It did make me sleepy and I think it could have knocked me out if I did not need to be awake to answer questions and get checked on.
After the scan I was back in my room and they continued with the drip. Soon after it finished though the headache started to come back. The doc came in and said my scan came back clear, thank goodness!! He then decided to try a drug in pill form and see if that would help so he could prescribe it for me and I could go home. I know the name of this drug because I still carry it with me ha and it is BUTAL- ACET-CAFF, don't even ask me how one pronounces that ha but thankfully it worked. They also took my blood to check my counts and my white blood cell count was at 29,000! It had gone from 1,900 to 29,000 in 24 hours. The doctor could not believe it and drew more blood to double check but it was right. So the shot deeeffinitely works!! And I am assuming that is why I was in so much pain. I finally got home around 6am Friday headache free and exhausted. We were leaving for the beach on Saturday and I was so worried I was going to be admitted into the hospital again and not get to go to the beach. I am so grateful I was able to go home and still get to go to the beach!
Thankfully I was feeling better by beach time and able to enjoy the week. I had some minor muscle pain and I still experienced a headache off and on but the medicine really helped. I also was pretty exhausted but luckily I was on vacation so all of those things were okay!
The week after vacation was a pretty good week, I had a whole extra week with no chemo and my body could tell. I was run/walking everyday and getting up early and feeling great. My counts were high and that Friday I was able to have Chemo 10. Woohoo another Chemo down and now only 2 to go.
Chemo 10 went with no issues and I have luckily had no fevers or horrible ailments since. I have had a headache that has come and gone and I've been pretty tired but luckily neither bad enough to put me out of commission. I just go to bed by 9pm and wake up at the last second before work ha. But I have been able to go to yoga classes and visit with friends so that has been very nice. My counts are back down and I am neutropenic again but that's okay I feel very lucky for all of the good days I get, neutropenic and all. I have heard more stories over the past few weeks that have reminded me just how lucky I am. I'll go into those in a future post because I do want to address them but I think this one is as long as it needs to be ha.
I am scheduled for Chemo 11 this Friday, although I will not be surprised if it is postponed due to counts being too low. I have mentally prepared myself for my last two chemos to be postponed since that seems to be my new routine. Before I received this last shot I told my mom I was going to ask the doc to give it to me again so I could ensure my last two treatments would be on time but not any more haha. Noooo thank you! I will gladly add on another week to treatments versus having to get that shot again. So we'll just see what happens. I think not matter what, even if both are postponed, I'll be done by July 19th and that is good enough for me.
Thank you all again for your continued support, thoughts, and prayers!! It really means a lot and helps make the bad days much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment