I had round five of my chemo today, the first Taxol round. Another round bites the dust -- yay! Unfortunately, I could not blog from the treatment room as usual, as their wireless was squirrely today and I couldn't get a connection. So my post comes a bit later than you might be used to.
Overall, this round went pretty well. But it turns out there is a good reason why they had me premedicate with the five decadron the night before and five more this morning. On top, they gave me a benadryl pill together with a pepcid and a zofran to prevent nausea. That taxol stuff is highly allergenic (it's not so much the taxol itself, as the solvent cremophor they need to get it into the cells), as I ended up finding out through personal experience!
The first fifteen minutes of my two hour infusion had just passed rather uneventfully and the nurse had triumphantly proclaimed that everything was just fine when I said, "Actually, I feel a bit hot and sweaty." When DH and the nurse looked at me, they told me I was really flushed. This is not a good thing, much like the one that sent me to the ER after my port implantation. But luckily they caught it early, and it was a fairly mild reaction. The nurse immediately stopped the infusion, and pumped me full of the benadryl and hydrocortisone injections she had standing by for this very eventuality. As it turns out, this reaction is not at all uncommon.
Then we gave my poor body a few minutes of rest, until my symptoms had cleared up entirely. Only then did the nurse restart the infusion of taxol. The second time around, everything went truly smoothly for the remaining 2 and 3/4 hours. Another round of chemo done.
Now comes the wait for the side effects -- which ones will I get, how bad will they be, and how will I deal with them? Initially, I was pretty tired from the benadryl. So far, I have absolutely no problems with nausea. By now that tiredness has worn off, however, and I feel wired. My guess is that is from the high dose of decadron. Based upon previous experience I know that I'll probably need an Ativan to sleep, which is why I took one just in case. I'm feeling a slight twinge in my shins, but I'm hoping I am just imagining it, as I am still trying to fool myself into believing I'm not among the twenty percent or so of patients that experience it.
At least any bone pain shouldn't be compounded by a neulasta shot, as these are not administered routinely with Taxol since it supposedly affects the blood less. Instead, with taxol they worry about the kidneys and liver, which is why I need to have chemistry blood tests in addition to the CBC before every round. These need several days for analysis, which means rather than go for a neulasta shot the day after chemo, I will go for a blood draw a few days before chemo.
So hopefully I will get some restful sleep tonight, and the next couple of days will not bring too many unpleasant side effects. Everyone has assured me I'll do just fine, and that most people find the taxol much easier. But these folks do not remember that I am not like "most people"!!!
The next few days will provide me with a better idea of how my body reacts to this new good poison. This will be extremely helpful in aiding me plan the rest of the summer, and what I may be able to do when. There are two family weddings coming up, and I'm hoping to be able to travel to at least one, if not even two of them. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out for the best.
1 comment:
I'll be waiting to hear how you are doing after the first couple of days (and even today). It sounds like at least after the initial problems yesterday, the remainder of your day was okay. That's terrific. But, does this mean that you will likely have the same problems during the next three treatments? If so, will they proactively give you all of the many medications so that you don't have the reaction?
I know that NoL and her mom are going to be around briefly on Sunday/Monday before they head off again. Hopefully, you'll feel well enough to at least see NoL for a short time.
There's a committee meeting I'd like to attend in September (I think it's the 16 and 17, but if not it's around those dates). Given that, I'd like to be sure to see you at some point during that time as well. I'm pretty sure I'll go to both days of meetings, so I'll probably be there for about three days. I think NoL might be coming as well.
So, keep keeping your spirits up (you're amazing) and let us know (via email) if you are up for a skype chat sometime. Even though we wouldn't be able to use video, we are both set up for skype (it just occurred to me as I was writing this that we should communicate that way once in a while since we are in multiple places).
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