Sunday, August 23, 2009

Fire and Ice

Last Wednesday was my second dose of Taxotere. In my best effort to ward off side effects, I gulped down nearly 2 liters of water prior to the treatment. We were home, all ready to go, and then the phone rang. There was a problem at the pharmacy inside the hospital -something with ventilation - and they were unable to prepare the drugs for me. Thankfully, we weren't yet on our way and could just sit at home and wait.

Ole decided to take advantage of the little break and put on his painting clothes. Just as he was halfway through painting a window the phone rang again and now, of course, they were ready for us! He predicted that simply by changing his clothes and getting out the paint brush, they'd be ready, and he was right!!

When I go in for each treatment there is a whole question and answer session about the side-effects from the last time. This is where they decide what other glorious pharmaceuticals they will send me home with - more little bags of pills! The best thing is that I never have to go to the pharmacy for any of this stuff, they just give me little baggies with whatever pills I'm supposed to take.

In reviewing the last treatment, and my complaints about the numb fingers, it was decided that my hands would be put on ice. The nurse came with two frozen gloves and stuck my hands into them... holy ice, that hurt! But, I kept telling myself, if it helps, it's worth it!!


During the course of treatment, these frozen gloves came in quite handy. You see, one of the other wonderful side effects of all of this is that my body goes through menopause... or as it's called in some places, chemopause. And with chemopause, comes hot flashes. They were interesting and fascinating when they started, now they're just annoying! However, if you happen to be wearing an ice glove when you get a hot flash, just put your hand on your head and you'll instantly feel better!

After treatment, I was feeling the usual tiredness and spent the last few days just trying to take it easy knowing the worst was yet to come. Yesterday I spent most of the day in and out of sleep and wasn't feeling great last night so I decided at 10:30 pm that I would just go to bed. I mentioned to Ole that I was cold and as he gave me a hug, he said... "You're not cold, you're burning up." Bah. We then took my temperature, and yep, I had a fever.

The 'book' says that if I have a fever, I'm supposed to call them immediately and we did. And then, an hour later, I found myself in a small room, in a bed, in the hospital. They spent the next hour poking me, drawing blood, checking me, questioning me, etc., trying to determine whether it was just a fever or if I could have contracted something else. With my blood counts so low from the chemo, I'm not really able to fight off any possible infections, so they have to be extra cautious. Finally, they hooked up an IV with some antibiotics and saline and let me sleep, and Ole went back home.

After a frustrating morning of waiting around to see whether or not they'd let me come back home, and some pretty decent breakfast and lunch at the hospital, the doctor finally came to talk to me around noon. My fever had gone down and they cleared me for release. And here I am, home again!

So how did you spend your Saturday night?!

10 comments:

  1. My Saturday night was definitely less eventful than yours! I'm sorry to hear about the nasty side-effects. Did the ice-gloves work?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those ice gloves look awesome! I never knew they had that kind of thing in the hospitals. Sorry to hear about the hot flushes, it sounds dreadful to have to deal with that so early in your womanhood. Get better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe I can borrow those ice gloves when we have heatwave here in Denmark? :D

    My Saturday night was spent in front of TV, watching horror DVDs. It was pretty fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Saturday night I ran into all the trouble on Nørrebro forcing me out of a bus with one kid sleeping in the stroller, and another one on my hip. I walked halfway home and then got a cab. Fun! Then I woke up with a terrible head cold, ugh. Could use those gloves though since I have a fever now!

    It's good to hear they admitted you so quickly and you're home again too now!! So, does that mean that drinking all that water didn't help?!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My Saturday night was spent working on Thank You cards. Not nearly so eventful, and probably a lot less tedious than yours. Feel better soon! Only one more of these bad boys left and you're done with this round, right?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gosh, Pattie. The good things I think of to say don't really seem impressive. Well, you're keeping yourself together, and you're going in the right direction. Stick with yourself and your family, girl, and keep going. Good on you! And keep blogging - we all read you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm completely confused as to how ice mittens are supposed to keep your hands from going numb... but I am glad you had them for the hot flashes! Perhaps you could come put one on the back of my neck, I seem to have pulled a muscle while sneezing yesterday. (Seriously. I moved crap from the basement without a single mishap other than a paper cut and then pulled a neck muscle during a rather intense sudden bout of sneezing. Pathetic.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am so glad the ice gloves helped with the numbness... anything to get you back to your online games as soon as possible!

    I am so glad Ole decided to hug you before you went to bed!!! I knew he was a keeper! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gosh - what an eventful few days! So glad to hear you're now back at home.

    Did they let you bring some of those handy ice gloves back with you?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Goodness!! My weekend was SO much more lame. You are SUCH a trooper and I think about you all the time and hope you're going well. Just wanna let you know I'm thinking of you!
    Heather

    ReplyDelete

Questions, Comments, Snide Remarks?

Blog Widget by LinkWithin