Latest Treatment

I received my latest treatment of Taxol yesterday. It was a very long day. We got there at 9am and did not leave until 4pm. They decided not to give me Herceptin this week to make sure it was not a drug interaction that was causing all my problems last week. I actually do not feel that badt this morning, a bit weak is all. The side effects of severe muscle and bone pain will kick in in about 48 hours after treatment so tomorrow I should start to hurt. I have a prescription for Oxycodine for the pain. Will keep you posted.

Sunday Update

I am starting to feel better - yeah, but still weak. At least the stairs are not so difficult. Once I was able to start eating real food again my strenght has been returning. I still have not left the house yet, but we hope to remedy that today with a matinee movie and some last minute school supply shopping. After this last week, I plan on playing more of a hermit until my chemo treatments are over. I really do not want to repeat this week again. If my strenght keeps rising I plan on taking my treatment this Wednesday, but do dread it. It just keeps getting harder and harder to convince myself that this is a good thing. sigh....

A Light at the End of the Tunnel, or is that a Train?

Sorry, I messed up the HTML, so the site was blank for the last few days.

So, my late night of nursing activities turned into a scary late night of nursing activities. Between 3 and 4PM Tues afternoon, Cheryl took some Tylenol because she could feel the beginning of a fever onset. All through the evening, her temperature hung around 101. By 9:30, after the critters went to bed, she shot up to 103. And started vomiting. And being as quick on my feet as I am, I figured out that vomiting means she can't take the Tylenol, which means no medical intervention until I can get her stomach calmed down, which means I needed an old fashioned method to bring down the fever.

Amazing what you can find on the internet. The Mayo clinic had some good common sense advice on bringing down a fever:

1. Lukewarm rub-downs, not cold (which causes the person to shiver and drives the temperature up),
   
2. Have them drink as much cool fluids as they will tolerate, and
   
3. Don't let them bundle up if they have the chills (see 1 above).

I skipped the holoistic sites (paper towels soaked in egg whites and wrapped around you feet seemed a little weird to me), and followed the advice of the good doctors at the Mayo clinic. It took about 2 hours at the 103 range to get her fever to break, and over the next 2 hours get it down to a manageable temperature, and remove the naseua to get in the medicine. The whole incident lasted until 2:30AM before I could relax and get some sleep.

The good news, is that the fever seems to have broken, and she's up and moving about (slowly), but we expect her to get stronger each day.

Until we start over next week. Hopefully, this time, without a virus.

From the That-Sucks-Even-More Dept.

So, easy round, except for a minor fever due to the pro-crit.

Yea, right.

Cheryl's been running a fever everyday since Wed. I called Hopkins are Saturday, and the Oncologist on call wanted her to come in, thinking it's a bacterial infection. Of course, the mere thought of going to the hospital started a vomit fest. I talked to the doctor-on-call again, and we agreed to let her stay home, and I'd call back if her condition didn't improve.

Well, it didn't. I talked to a different oncologist on Sunday who says that given her high white cell count, it's probably a viral infection and to call in first thing Monday. So, I pulled late night nurse duty on Sat and Sun to try to keep the fever at bay, and this morning Cheryl's mother took her to Hopkins for a full blood work-up.

The general consensus was that the second doctor was correct and it is most likely viral, combined with a too high white blood cell count (from previous Neulasta injections, this one is just starting to get rolling). She spiked pretty high this evening (102.5) after the Tylenol wore off, but the fever is breaking and on the way down (for now).

So, it'll be another late nurse night for me. Cheryl's mother, aka Mother Superior #1, leaves tomorrow, and she's been a godsend. The kids we're swinging from trees in those clothes made from draperies singing happy songs. We're going to miss her. In a week, Mother Superior #2 arrives from California to continue the whipping into shape.

I'm sure we'll get Do-Re-Mi right eventually.

A New Round (and Blog info, Please Read)

Cheryl started on the Taxol and Herceptin this week. We had a very long day at the hospital, we arrived at 9AM and didn't leave until after 5PM. They started the chemo at around 12, and the first drug, Taxol, is a 3 hour treatment. The nurses sat with Cheryl during the first 15 minutes to watch for an allergic reaction, but Cheryl sailed through that round with flying colors. The next treatment, Herceptin, is an 1.5 hour treatment. About an hour in, Cheryl said her hands were cold, and I noticed that her arm was spasming. In the 45 seconds it took the nurse to come over, Cheryl started convulsing, for comparison, think a bad case of the shakes associated with a fever chill. They could intervene, but the nurses said that the patients who had this reaction did better if it could be resolved on its own, and about 50% of the women on this treatment have some sort of reaction, at least on the initial dose. It was decided that given the late hour, and she had received two-thirds of the dose, that it would be OK for her to go home.

Two days out from the treatment, she's still very weak, but only has a small amount of naseua that would be associated from the last treatment. She's also having bouts of fever and muscle aches, which are to expected for this treatment (she also had a shot of the 2nd-generation of ProCrit to boost her red blood cell count which was low this round).

-- Blog Update --
We love all the comments and posts that people are providing, and we encourage you to keep posting, but I'm going to have to manually approve comments from non-registered users. I'm fighting a losing battle against a determined spammer/potential bot master (ask if you don't know, but they're evil) who keeps posting and leaving hidden links that lead to potentially dangerous (for your computer) web pages.

So, comments may not show up for a day after you've posted, but know that we have or will see it and appreciated the thoughts.

Thanks.

A Monday Update

We had a nice weekend and thanks to my mom even had some friends over for a BBQ on Saturday. On Sunday we drove to Harper's Ferry WV. It was really pretty. I however, found the heat and trip exhausting. I am more winded now then ever before. I feel like I have less energy now than last Thursday. Today I picked up my prednisone prescription to take before my Taxol treatment (130mg!). Tomorrow I go in for my heart screening. Then Wed is the big day again. I am really starting to dread going to the hospital. I guess that should be of no surprise. Again, thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers.

More of an OK Friday

Well it is Friday before treatment and I am not up to my usual perky self. (OK I have not been perky in months). I am still battling a very upset stomach that just will not settle down. I did manage to go out with my mom shopping for the day, but felt yucky on several occasions. My mouth now has some sores and due to a constant dry mouth they will not go away. I am looking forward to realxing this weekend and trying to settle my tummy. I sure hope this next go round goes better, but anticipate loosing my breakfast before treatment - yuck....

Keeps Getting Harder

Sorry for such a long delay in posting. I really had a hard time with this last round. I managed to get up and moving sooner but am definitely weaker. The hardest part has been the nausea and the fact that I am still getting sick. All I have to do is think about my treatment or the hospital and it sends me running to the restroom. Supposedly, the next set of drugs will not have this effect, but I am fearful as I am so conditioned right now (like Pavlov’s dog). Unfortunately, none of the drugs seem to really work for me. On the plus side I am down 6 pounds this round and getting into clothes I could not wear earlier in the summer.

At the halfway point

Well, Cheryl's made it to the halfway point in her Chemo treatment, and the last of her A/C treaments. The bad news is that this one has hammered her more than most with severe naseua and fatigue.

Also, the start of the rotating house guests/caregivers has begun. Cheryl's mother is here for 3 weeks followed by my mother for 3-4 weeks followed by a friend of the family after that. So, Cheryl has support to help through all the remaining treatments.

Keep your fingers crossed that the Taxol round of chemo is not as bad as the first.