By Thursday, the nausea had passed for the most part, but only to be replaced by severe stomach cramps. These were not low in the stomach - they were "higher", and came in waves. I went to the Dr. on Friday, and mentioned it - he thought it was some sort of acid reflux or something - so he gave me some Prevacid to help. I also found out information on my last blood tests with the high liver enzymes - the only thing they could figure out was that it was some sort of viral infection that we just have to keep an eye on. There's no antibiotic that will help it, so "whatever". They did more blood work on Friday, and found that my blood counts were dropping - my white counts were low, and the plateletts were dropping. They weren't dangerously low, but I need to watch out.
After I got back home Friday is when things took a really bad turn. The cramping in my stomach was so bad, it felt like labor pains. The cramping was so intense. I wound up calling the on-call doctor and trying her suggestions . . . . then by about 1am, I was in tears for the rest of the night everytime a pain wave came. I woke up (from what little I slept) at 5am and called the Dr. again - she sent me into the Infusion Center to get some IV meds. What they gave me helped some - they gave me "stomach meds" along with some "anti-spasmatic" meds. Although I was still cramping here and there for the rest of the day. I wound up calling the Dr. back, and she called me in a Prescription for more anti-spasmatic pills to the Pharmacy. The combination of IV drugs and the pills seemed to have worked. I slept through the night on Saturday with only one problem, and was feeling better Sunday morning. However, I was still "on the verge" of having more problems, so I went ahead and went to the Infusion Center again for them to re-administer the drugs again.
Between the 2 days worth of treatment, I seem to have passed the cramping stage. However, periodically, I still have those moments where I have to stop and take a breath thinking that it's going to come back. I've got to call MY Dr. today and see if I should leave this needle in my port like they have it now just in case I need more medicine in the next day or so, or just go in and have them take it out. It took them 5 tries to get it to work right on Saturday - If it's going to be that hard to access, I'd rather not be stuck 5 times again if I can help it. I'd also like to find out if this is something that they can treat prior to having problems. Since we know I react this way, they might have a med they can give me during or right after chemo that will help to keep this from happening. . . . . I'll just have to see. I don't want to go through this again.
Today, I seem to feel much better. I'm tired - but not so much so that it disables me. I think this is just going to be par for the course. Other than those periodic twinges of pain in my stomach - almost a pain episode . . . getting right up to the edge . . not quite there. . . then it stops & goes away - I feel 20 times better than last week.
Hopefully I'm on the "up swing" , and will have a solid 2 weeks of good days before my next chemo treatment starts. Next chemo starts on Friday, October 29.
That's about all for now! I need to start getting Damon ready for school.
CHRISTY
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