I have quite the eventful 2 weeks. I'm starting to actually feel like a cancer patient, or at least how I had imagined a cancer patient would feel.
After my chemo on July 11th I got a fever. We were able to get it under control with tylenol. It got up to about 102.
Then again after chemo on July 25th, I got another fever. It started as soon as I got home from chemo. This one was accompanied by chills and shivers that I couldn't control. Craig ended up calling my doctor who told us to just take tylenol and keep an eye on my temperature. It spiked to 104 when Craig called again and we were sent to the ER.
When we got to the ER my fever was breaking, but I was pretty delirious. One perk of having cancer and having to go to the ER is that they don't mess around. I waited for maybe 5 minutes before I was taken back to triage and then was instantly taken back to a room. My temp was down to 102 by the time I got back there. They drew tons of blood, did blood cultures from both my IV and my port and admitted me. My white blood count was way elevated to 17,000 and my liver enzymes were elevated to 200 (normal being about 40).
My oncologist thinks I had a reaction to Bleomycin (the B in the ABVD cocktail). The hospital doctors said they thought it was an infection of some sort. By 9pm my temp was normal, I was hooked up to saline and IV antibiotics. Friday was spent just getting monitored to see if my fever was going to come back, checking my levels and waiting for something to grow in my cultures - nothing did.
On Saturday, the hospital oncologist came to pay me a visit. He was an awkward man who wouldn't look at my face. He basically said he doesn't think it was a reaction to my chemo meds and he wasn't really sure what caused it. He said nothing was indicating infection, but sometimes that happens. Since my cultures from my port didn't grow anything, there was not reason for him to do a port study. If I end up in the hospital again then I will most likely have one done. I was given some antibiotics, instructed to call my doctor on Monday and sent home. At this point my liver enzymes were back to normal, my white count was a little elevated and my platelets were about 50 (normal is about 140)
Levaquin - the antibiotic I was given to take at home, has some nasty side-effects and lucky me, I seemed to have got them all. My doctor was off on Monday and her partner sent me to get blood work done to check my levels. I had to take Oliver with me, which is a task in itself, but to top it off I had already taken my medicine and had to drive. I was fine on the way there, but by the time I left I was so dizzy I was seeing black. I ended up sitting in the parking lot for 15 minutes waiting for it to pass. I ended up driving home in a dizzy haze. It was frightening and I never want to do that again, especially with Ollie in the car. If I didn't live 1 mile from the Katy clinic I never would have made it. On the brightside my levels were all fairly normal.
I have spent everyday since then feeling pretty bad. I've had a constant headache and no energy. A lot of quality time with my bed and my books.
I saw my doctor on Friday 8/2 and we came up with a game plan to hopefully prevent another fever. She is still convinced it's a reaction. I'm going to get tylenol before chemo and she is upping my IV steroid. She also gave us some tips to do at home to it down. If it was an infection then the antibiotic should have knocked it out.
Because I was in the hospital on Friday I missed getting my Neulasta shot on Friday. I've been fretting about it due to the fact that the one time I didn't get it after my first chemo my counts were too low. Most people get these shots once a month, but I have to get them after every treatment because my body reacts so poorly to the chemo. I had a bad feeling going in today. Since I haven't been feeling too great it wasn't a shock when my infusion nurse came back with my lab results and said "I have bad, bad, bad new. You're numbers are down the toilet." She gave me a print out of my labs and circled 5 numbers that they look at to determine if I can get chemo.
White blood count: 0.9 the range needed is 4.0 - 10.5
Hemoglobin: 8.9 the normal range is 11.1 - 15.9
Hematocrit: 26.6 the normal range is 34.0 - 46.6
Neutrophils: 14 the normal range is 40 - 74
Neutrophils (Absolute): 0.1 the needed range is 1.8 - 7.8
(Click any of the names for info of what each one is)
My doctor want me to get 5 Neupogen shots. I had this shot after the last time my count was too low. It hurts like crazy. I only had 2 that time and I was in more pain than I've ever been in, so this should be a blast. Over the weekend Craig gets to give me the shots. My nurse had him do today's so he could learn how. I hate shots and the idea of him doing them instead of someone who has been doing it for a while is kind of frightening. If all goes well I will be getting chemo next Thursday. This puts my last chemo on the 29th. I'll be getting chemo then heading to the airport to pick of my childhood best friend to see Backstreet Boys and Jesse McCartney on the 31st. I'm disappointed that the dates fall like that, but I'm determined to feel well that week. Mind over matter worked with Stevi came to visit in June, so I'll make it work again :) Plus it's like getting to celebrate remission with her so it'll be great.
- - - - - -
1/16/13 to 8/8/13
63 Veils of blood
3 PET Scans
3 CT Scans
8 IVs
3 Surgeries
10 Chemos
9 Neulasta Shots
3 Neupogen Shots
4 Blood Cultures
1 Hospital Stay
