Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Oh man, do I owe y'all an update.
Shit, I don't even know what my last post was. *goes to check*
Holy shit. I am so behind. So good news: no cancer in the chest.
Other than that, WHAT A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
After that chest CT, I had my second chemo session (18 April). It went fine, same side effects as before except this time, I never felt better. I was back in the infusion center a week later (25 April) having lost 15 pounds due to severe dehydration. They pumped a litre of fluids into me, then sent me to the ER for another CT because my pulse was hovering around 140, though the labs all looked good.
CT showed nothing but possible inflammation, and they pumped another litre of fluids into me and sent me home.
Almost a week later (30 April), I was sent to the ER because I still felt like shit and wasn't really eating anything, couldn't stay awake. Turns out my port got a staph infection, which spread through my blood and into both my lungs and my heart. I spent a motherfucking week in the hospital, poked all day and night. They removed the port, did a TEE procedure (basically it's a camera shoved down the esophagus to get better pics of the heart - don't worry, I was sedated), and put me on this fairly powerful antibiotic called Nafcillin. It's hell on the peripheral veins - I ended up with four different IVs over the course of a week, and every one of the veins blew to some degree.
I am now on the same drug 24/7, IV via PICC line in my left arm. They said I have to be on it for 57 days, which is nearly two months. I'm almost a month down. I have a home health nurse in every Thursday to draw labs (off the PICC, thank deities), and the numbers are all finally starting to go in the right direction. Also, I was retaining a bunch of water, so my weight spiked back up, but as of today is back where it was before the second chemo session. My feet are still a bit swollen, the left more than the right, but they're going down.
I can't have chemo again until I'm off the antibiotic, and my oncologist wasn't comfortable with no intervention for that long, so I started radiation treatments this Tuesday. Once a day, M-F, for five weeks. Side effects have been effing killing me; the worst has been nausea/vomiting. I was queasy after the first treatment. Yesterday was number two, and immediately after I left the room, I went to the bathroom off the waiting room to #2 my guts out and ended up throwing up into the garbage by the toilet at the same time. I was queasy the rest of the day and night, even though I was taking the Compazine as prescribed. It just wasn't touching it.
This morning, we got into the car to go to session number three, and the minute I got in, I had to open the door back up and vomit on the ground. Saw the doc today as a touch base and told her I was having serious issues and the Compazine wasn't working. She made sure there was nothing else causing it, then prescribed me Zofran. We already picked it up and I took one, so we'll see if it does the trick.
The plan from here is to complete the radiation treatments (25 to go), get off the antibiotic, do another TEE to make sure the infection isn't still clinging to my heart, probably another CT to determine the same for my lungs, and then finish the last 4 cycles of chemo. With any semblance of luck, I should be done before October hits.
As part of all this, I haven't been given the OK to go back to work, so I've opened a short-term disability claim through work. I also filled out the PTO donation form, but have apparently only received about three hours of donations. Nice coworkers. *rolls eyes* Hopefully, the short-term claim will be approved, and we'll at least be in a better position to pay the damn bills.
Seriously, body. WTF is your PROBLEM?
In other news:
1. Baby sister is now married, and happy.
2. Middle sister had her fifth baby, a boy. They named him Nova Kai. As per tradition, I hate it. But at least he's cute.
3. Honorary baby sister (Baby sister's BFF) just had a possible-labor-at-seven-months scare, but she's okay. STAY IN THERE AND BAKE, LITTLE BUN! She's considered high risk, so they're taking ALLLLLL the precautions.
4. My parents come home tonight; they've been in CA with Middle sister and her family for the last month. They are THRILLED to be coming home, and we are equally thrilled to be getting them back!
5. Who can recommend flavorful drink things that don't have sugar or Aspartame in them? I need to watch it with full-sugar things due to diabetes, and most of the diet drinks contain Aspartame, which worsens diarrhea. And motherFUCKER, I hate water plain. I was using the pitcher packs you can get like Crystal Light (the Great Value brand, obv, we are not rich and some of the flavors are better), but it's got the sweetener in it and I am already suffering. Any ideas? PowerAde gets expensive, and obv diet soda also uses Aspartame. It's like my body is grinning while flicking me off and telling me to go perform impossible anatomical acts on myself. THIS IS WHY I CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS! *thin scream of frustration*
Sorry - I know that got long. I hope y'all are having a better spring!!
Shit, I don't even know what my last post was. *goes to check*
Holy shit. I am so behind. So good news: no cancer in the chest.
Other than that, WHAT A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.
After that chest CT, I had my second chemo session (18 April). It went fine, same side effects as before except this time, I never felt better. I was back in the infusion center a week later (25 April) having lost 15 pounds due to severe dehydration. They pumped a litre of fluids into me, then sent me to the ER for another CT because my pulse was hovering around 140, though the labs all looked good.
CT showed nothing but possible inflammation, and they pumped another litre of fluids into me and sent me home.
Almost a week later (30 April), I was sent to the ER because I still felt like shit and wasn't really eating anything, couldn't stay awake. Turns out my port got a staph infection, which spread through my blood and into both my lungs and my heart. I spent a motherfucking week in the hospital, poked all day and night. They removed the port, did a TEE procedure (basically it's a camera shoved down the esophagus to get better pics of the heart - don't worry, I was sedated), and put me on this fairly powerful antibiotic called Nafcillin. It's hell on the peripheral veins - I ended up with four different IVs over the course of a week, and every one of the veins blew to some degree.
I am now on the same drug 24/7, IV via PICC line in my left arm. They said I have to be on it for 57 days, which is nearly two months. I'm almost a month down. I have a home health nurse in every Thursday to draw labs (off the PICC, thank deities), and the numbers are all finally starting to go in the right direction. Also, I was retaining a bunch of water, so my weight spiked back up, but as of today is back where it was before the second chemo session. My feet are still a bit swollen, the left more than the right, but they're going down.
I can't have chemo again until I'm off the antibiotic, and my oncologist wasn't comfortable with no intervention for that long, so I started radiation treatments this Tuesday. Once a day, M-F, for five weeks. Side effects have been effing killing me; the worst has been nausea/vomiting. I was queasy after the first treatment. Yesterday was number two, and immediately after I left the room, I went to the bathroom off the waiting room to #2 my guts out and ended up throwing up into the garbage by the toilet at the same time. I was queasy the rest of the day and night, even though I was taking the Compazine as prescribed. It just wasn't touching it.
This morning, we got into the car to go to session number three, and the minute I got in, I had to open the door back up and vomit on the ground. Saw the doc today as a touch base and told her I was having serious issues and the Compazine wasn't working. She made sure there was nothing else causing it, then prescribed me Zofran. We already picked it up and I took one, so we'll see if it does the trick.
The plan from here is to complete the radiation treatments (25 to go), get off the antibiotic, do another TEE to make sure the infection isn't still clinging to my heart, probably another CT to determine the same for my lungs, and then finish the last 4 cycles of chemo. With any semblance of luck, I should be done before October hits.
As part of all this, I haven't been given the OK to go back to work, so I've opened a short-term disability claim through work. I also filled out the PTO donation form, but have apparently only received about three hours of donations. Nice coworkers. *rolls eyes* Hopefully, the short-term claim will be approved, and we'll at least be in a better position to pay the damn bills.
Seriously, body. WTF is your PROBLEM?
In other news:
1. Baby sister is now married, and happy.
2. Middle sister had her fifth baby, a boy. They named him Nova Kai. As per tradition, I hate it. But at least he's cute.
3. Honorary baby sister (Baby sister's BFF) just had a possible-labor-at-seven-months scare, but she's okay. STAY IN THERE AND BAKE, LITTLE BUN! She's considered high risk, so they're taking ALLLLLL the precautions.
4. My parents come home tonight; they've been in CA with Middle sister and her family for the last month. They are THRILLED to be coming home, and we are equally thrilled to be getting them back!
5. Who can recommend flavorful drink things that don't have sugar or Aspartame in them? I need to watch it with full-sugar things due to diabetes, and most of the diet drinks contain Aspartame, which worsens diarrhea. And motherFUCKER, I hate water plain. I was using the pitcher packs you can get like Crystal Light (the Great Value brand, obv, we are not rich and some of the flavors are better), but it's got the sweetener in it and I am already suffering. Any ideas? PowerAde gets expensive, and obv diet soda also uses Aspartame. It's like my body is grinning while flicking me off and telling me to go perform impossible anatomical acts on myself. THIS IS WHY I CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS! *thin scream of frustration*
Sorry - I know that got long. I hope y'all are having a better spring!!