Taxol #2

posted Tuesday, 18 October 2005

Has two weeks passed already??? Catie Flamme (pronounced "Flame" - what a great last name!) was my chaperone this time... and she was great! She brought along a few DVDs for us to watch, humored me by playing cribbage (Nancy thought the game was too weird and refused to play - click here to play cribbage online!) and even gave me a hand massage!
My blood counts are still fairly good (they always check my white & red blood cell counts to make sure that my body is rested enough for another dose of chemo) but I am starting to become anemic (my hemoglobin has dropped below 10, which is the cutoff). This is fairly common with chemo patients, and there is a shot, called Epogen, that can help rectify it. Epogen typically takes 4-6 weeks to really start working, and since I will be DONE in 4 weeks, they decided to hold off on the shots... we'll just monitor this and I'll have to take it a bit easier and rest more/eat better.
We picked on another vein this time and I took the IV in the side of my wrist (instead of the back of my hand). Last time, I got really sore all up the top of my arm, where the vein runs - felt like it was all bruised - so they wanted to give that set of veins a rest. Since my body tolerated the taxol well last time, I took the benadryl as a pill, and we started the taxol right off at full speed (as opposed to slowly building up)... so the day was a bit shorter (8:30am - 1 or so). I also mentioned the bone pain that I had experienced and they gave me a prescription for percocet.
We went for groceries and lunch afterwards... she hung around for the rest of the day and cooked me dinner (see - I told you she was great! - not that my other chaperones weren't great - they are all great in their own special way!)
On Wednesday morning, I slipped on the stairs and wound up sliding down the last 3 steps, spilling red gatorade all over the stairs... Way to start off the morning! I was ok and a bit of resolve took care of the stain...
The bone pain happened again this week - mostly on Wed/Thurs - and slightly worse than the first time (not sure if it was the chemo, the neulasta, the fall down the stairs... or a combination of all of the above!). I took advil/tylenol during the day and a perc before bed, which let me sleep. As it's getting colder, I've taken to wearing a cap on my head to sleep... my head gets so cold! I've been getting hot flashes at night since I started the taxol, so I typically rip it off at some point in the night! The taxol also causes an interesting side effect called "peripheral neuropathy". I didn't have it the first time, but apparently it happens as the taxol accumulates in your body... so it kicked in this time. Basically, my fingers and toes feel all tingly, like the pins & needles sensation you feel when your foot falls asleep - but in your fingers and toes... Pretty weird - not painful - just weird. This may have contributed to my slip on the stairs, so I better be careful now!
The good news: I went on Wed to pick up Otis! He is getting to be sooo good! I've taught him to sit, shake and lie down... he's so smart! What a pumpkin! He's such good company for me!