Timeline of my first day of Chemo
First day of chemo
9 Got a cocktail of benedryl, zofran, compazine, Tylenol, IV fluids. Feeling tired from the benedryl.
10:15 test dose of bleyomicin given.
10:45 my first official bag of chemo.
11:35 I have a bag of fluids in my already. I have started in lacics that is supposed to make me pee every 15 min. The cisplat chemo drug has now been started. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
Did not log the time that etopiside started. No issues while getting it.
I got home and took zofran at 5 as directed. I got some mild nausea later in the evening and took a compazine and woke up early in the morning and had to take another compazine due to nausia.
I was told that I would not really be getting much side affects until 24hrs in. I need to keep on top of the meds to keep the nausea away.
First Bag of Chemo
Overview of First Week
The first week of chemo was extremely hard. My mind went insane and I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. I could not sit or lay down, and had bouts of nausea that made everything worse. There were several nights when LeeAnna was up with me every couple of hours. She wanted to help me so badly and kept asking what to do, but there was nothing that could be done, or that I knew how to fix. There was a lot of time aimlessly pacing around the house because I did not feel like I was able to sit still. I thought it was the steroid, but later found out that it was the Zofran having a reaction with another medication that I was also taking. Things got better after discontinuing the Zofran. I also got really dehydrated after my first 5 days of chemo and had to go in an additional 5 days in a row to get a liter of iv fluids to help with hydration.
The second week of the first cycle went okay. I had chemo one day that week to get bleyomicin. This one gives flu like symptoms and I remember immediately coming home and hitting the bed with chills and a slight fever. During the second week I had also started taking shots that were supposed to build up my white blood cells that had been destroyed by the chemo meds. It was about this time that I started to feel pretty awful and thought that it was linked to this nupegen injection I was receiving. I was out of breath, getting nausea, chills, very low energy, stomach pains, fever, and got to the point the one day where my tongue was also going numb. It reached the point on Sunday the 4th where I needed to go into the ER to see what was going on. While in the ER I started vomiting quiet a bit and my fever was getting higher. My white blood cells were dangerously low and I was told that I had a neupagenic fever with an infection somewhere.
LeeAnna visiting while I was in isolation for C-Diff
They immediately started to give antibiotics while they tried to pin point where the infection was. X-Rays revealed that I had a ileus, a partial obstruction of the intestine, that was believed to be causing my abdominal pain. They started to pump me with stool softeners, laxatives, and ultimately came down to having to get an enema. After things started moving, they were able to do a stool test to further diagnose infection. The blood work done up to this point had not revealed anything. The stool test revealed that I had C-Diff. From that point forward I was not allowed to leave my room and anyone coming in, nurses or visitors, had to get all garbed up due to the highly contagious nature of the C-Diff. The antibiotics that I was on were not the right meds for C-Diff. I had to go on a new antibiotic to start knocking it out.
Hair falling out into the shower drain
It was also during this time that my hair decided to start falling out. It started with my mustache. Big chunks of it were just pulling right out of my face. Then my pillow started to look like a dog had lay down on it and shed all over it. I had to constantly bring it over to the garbage can and brush it off. Showers were also quiet interesting, huge chunks of hair were coming right out and filling up the drain. Priority number one when arriving home was to buzz my head. LeeAnna was very kind and took care of it for me right away.
I am now going into my second round of chemo. My antibiotic is done, and I am waiting for the results of my C-Diff test to come back to make sure there is nothing left of it. LeeAnna and I have been doing a lot of praying for strength to get through these upcoming treatments. The first round took so much out of us that it was hard to get back at it. Every day of treatment is one more closer to being done, so for that I am grateful.