No Chemo - Pt 2

Well, I went in for chemo again yesterday - if you remember, the last time they sent me home because my blood counts were too low. This time my blood counts were good, so they got me all set up with some magnesium while the chemo was being made - I'm always low on magnesium; I think it has something to do with avoiding green leafy vegetables.

As soon as they started the first chemo, Gemzar, I started to get really hot and flushed and my left leg started to hurt - it felt like it was swelling up or something. The nurse was still in there - apparently even if epople don't have reactions in the first round they can develop them in the 2nd or 3rd rounds - she said that was especially true of the gemzar. She could se that my face was flushed and immediately stopped the chemo and put me on saline.

Then she called my nurse coordinator to see what they wanted her to do. The coordinater - Heidi/Holly (there are two of them and I can never keep them straight) - said that since it was 5pm and there would be minimal support available in case anything went really wrong, that she should stop the chemo. So, we just finished up some saline and some additional magnesium.

Jess and I kept ourselves entertained by mocking the people on Food Network - if you mimic the hand gestures that Rachel Ray makes you get quite a workout!

I suppose that Heidi/Holly is going to call me on Monday and figure what we're going to do. I'm hoping that I they set it up for next week, since I already told work that I wouldn't be in the office.

I'm going over to Jess's house tomorrow for Dawn's birthday - I got her something she's really going to love, but I can't post it here yet on the off chance that she reads this before the party. And I'm going to do something special with her cake - it's going to be awesome!

That's it for me - I hope to be posting with some good news early in the week!

No Chemo

Well, I went in Friday (yesterday) for chemo, but my counts were too low so they sent me home. Apparently my neutrophyls (or something) are really low, which explains why I've been feeling so crappy all week. I went to work on Monday, which was really stupid because my vision was way off from the dexamethesone. I left early and have been home ever since. Mainly I just feel tired and weak - the nurses tell me that's typical for Gemzar and Taxo-whatever. They're going to see how I do over the weekend and then I have a blood test scheduled for Wednesday.

My doctor has been out of the country (in Bangkok) so they're going to check with him next week and see what he wants to do about my chemo and about my port.

For those of you who don't know - I was supposed to get a new port last week but got all the way there (thanks for the ride, Jason!), got an IV put in and a gown on only to have the doctor come out and explain two options for the surgery. Neither of which was what the SCCA team had described to me, so I had him call SCCA. Well, the UW doctors didn't want to do it the way the SCCA team thought it should be done, so I was sent home. That was fun.

Anyway, I'll be posting updates about my health and stuff here - so no complaining about not knowing what's going on!

Post your own stuff - we have this blog for a reason!

Treatment update

I went in for treatment yesterday and everything went well. They're still having trouble accessing my port, but since I only need it every 3 weeks (and it's already my third one) the nurse doesn't think that I should get a new one. I agree.

Next treatment is at the end of the month, along with another CT. Sounds like fun!