Like getting hit by a bus

Today brought more joint and muscle pain, and another call to the on-call oncologist since my temperature promptly went back up once I went off the Tylenol. This doctor also didn't seem that concerned by my temperature since supposedly the Taxol doesn't depress the bone marrow as much. So he told me to take no more Tylenol, and to keep watching for a rise in temperature, or new symptoms that may arise. 

When I complained about the joint pain, the oncologist suggested that I take some ibuprofen. This is a bit strange, since I'm on lovenox to thin my blood due to the DVT and everyone else told me to stay away from ibuprofen and other NSAIDs while I'm on blood thinners. Yet this doc, even after I reminded him of the lovenox, said it was fine "as long as you don't take much." He told me to "take two and see if it works." Of course, he seemed to forget that ibuprofen also lowers fever. So much for his instructions to not take more Tylenol. It was rather weird. Not only was his advice conflicting, but he almost seemed like he never even bothered to look at my file. Odd.

Anyway, I took two ibuprofen tablets, and they helped somewhat with the joint and muscle pain. It was far from complete pain relief, though. I am finding the taxol treatment quite a bit harder to tolerate than the AC regimen. A bit of nausea and fatigue I can deal with, but this joint pain that makes me feel like I got hit by a bus is quite debilitating. My knees hurt so badly I can only make it up or down the stairs if I hold on to both railings and take it one step at a time. Even when I just sit or lie in bed almost all of my joints hurt, no matter how I adjust myself. Taking a walk with the dog this morning proved to be quite painful, as every step hurt. Is this what it feels like to be a ninety year old with osteoarthritis???

Luckily, tonight my temperature finally started to go down and the bone pain is abating a bit. When I came upstairs to go to bed, I scampered up the stairs like a seventy-five year old that got hit by a bus. That's at least fifteen years of progress right there. I just hope that the temperature stays down and the joint pain goes away entirely. I'll have to bug my poison man about better pain relief, as in this day and age, I do not feel that I should have unrelieved pain at all. None of that "take two tylenol and call me in the morning" kind of thing. 

Given that I tolerated the taxol less well than the AC chemo, I am particularly glad that I wasn't traveling this weekend. We had considered going to our niece's wedding shower, for which almost the entire family came up. However, attending would have meant a nine hour car ride for us that I simply could not have made. In addition, running a temperature while being so far from my oncologists and the local ER/hospital would have be nerve-wracking. So while I miss everyone and wish I could have been there, I think staying home was the right thing to do. Hopefully I will have better pain meds and know how to deal with the elevated temperature by the end of the month, when our niece's wedding will take place, so that at least we will be able to attend the main event.