Chemo #5

Chemo #5
This was supposed to be easy by all accounts. No more steroids! No more red death! I was getting the good stuff. Just one drip bag, fast and easy. No more meds. It started out good. It was less than an hour before my little buzzer rang to call me for my turn for chemo, a miracle compared to the over 2 almost 3 hour wait I'd had for Chemo #4 and 2 hours for Chemo #3.

Abraxane instead of Taxol this time. Abraxane I am told is a better choice for me then taxol, although they are essentially the same chemo drug but Abraxane uses a different solvent that does not cause the severe allergic reactions or side effects that the taxol does. They'll be a rant about this and insurance companies elsewhere.

The nurse hooked me up to the drip with my port and all is well. Drip, drip, drip. I'm drinking my water as I am supposed to. I've been sick with this nasty cough for a long ass time, 4 weeks so I coughing and hacking over dosing on Ricola cough drops as they're the only thing that helps. I'm reading my novel, eating a few high protein Newman's pretzels and thinking about going to get some food afterwards, in the time in between my appointment with the genetic counselor to go over my BRAC results. Yeah. The drip is done, the nurse comes in and unhooks me and I start coughing, coughing hard and BLLLLEEEEECHHH!!! Vomiting! Luckily, I am isolated (not sure why) and I have my own bathroom or it would have been all over the floor. I puke in the sink. I puke in toilet. I puke again and again and again. God...awful. Nurse comes in and checks on my meds. Yes upstairs when I saw a PA (no more oncologist for me), they gave me a prescription for something for the coughing but I won't be able to fill it til I get home which is hours away. I recover from the coughing and vomiting, drink a small cup of cool water real slow and make my way up to my appointment in genetics skipping lunch. I have no desire to eat after all that heaving. The appointment goes well. They check my cafe au lait spots, measuring and counting as well as checking other possible signs for neurofibromatosis which runs in one branch of my family. They decide that further testing is unnecessary as I don't exhibit enough signs to warrant it.

We make our way downstairs to leave and I have to pick up my appointment sheet for next time and oh no!...upset stomach. I run to the bathroom. Yes, massive diarrhea. I keeping trying to get out but no. Repeat x 6. wtf. How am I going to make it home? I call upstairs to the breast clinic and tell them what is going on. They have be come up and give me two anti-diarrhea pills.

Finally, we make it to the car and I pass out. My mother said I didn't even wake up for the gas or tool stop.

Run over by a truck feeling when we get back to the house. I go to bed at 9pm.

In the morning, I think I may have to miss taking my daughter to school and my walk. I do it anyway. I get home and feel beyond hot flash hot. I take my temp. 101.9. damn it. I call Rosewell. They say they'll call back. I wait. They tell me my white blood count is decent so I need to take tylenol. My mother gives me some knock off. I'm too sick to go to my kid's violin lesson that night. I don't know if the fever is from the chemo or I have a bug. Folks at Rosewell are not helpful. If any thing strange or different happens go to an urgent care center is what I am told. They're not around but for 9-5 basically M-F.