8/17/10 "Catch Up"

Third round of chemotherapy was 8/6/10 and 50% of the way thru my treatment, I still have about 50% of my hair! It's not enough that I feel comfortable leaving the house without a hat, but it's enough I am ok with close friends and not having to have my head covered.

Went as planned - no crazy side-effects. I was running late because we had the appointment upstairs for William, and the scheduler had said "Just come downstairs when you're done" probably assuming his appt wouldn't take that long (Haha!). THANKFULLY they are both in the same office, so I was able to RUN down there when we were finished. I made the poor nurse manager poke my arm for the lab work knowing if she tried to start an IV fast before I saw the doctor, she'd regret it (since she'd likely be the one picking me up off the floor). She was distraught at the thought of sticking me twice, but I have horrible anxiety attacks when IVs are started. I literally get so lightheaded and dizzy that if I'm not already sitting down, I have trouble not blacking out for a good 20-30 minutes following. It is BAD.  It's literally easier for me to get a blood test done than have an iv started for whatever reason.

I got my 2 dose package of  Emend (anti-nausea meds) and one was pretty smashed up. The 2nd pill was obliterated. They are capsuls, so I poped it out of the foil to be covered in tiny beads of medicine and plastic pill parts. Thankfully, the nausea wasn't too bad, and I had another med to take. These pills retail for $115 EACH. While I only had to pay $40 for the two pills, I was still angry they hadn't made it in tact and by the time they'd ship me any more, it'd really be too late to cover the nausea from the chemo. Thankfully, the pharmacist I talked to was great about it and sent me two more, for next month, free of charge. I guess when drugs cost that much, you get GREAT customer service. :)
My count that day was 7,000 and Dr K was REALLY hesitant to let me go home without any additional treatment. The problem with that was that the month before she started the Plaquenil 1 week following chemo and we have no way of knowing if the extra nausea and yuckiness I felt was from chemo or Plaquenil, additionally, we had no way to know what helped my count go up! I reminded here there was a teeny amount of steroid in the IV (to help with nausea) and that my kids would be gone ALL weekend, and I promised to stay in bed. With that, she let me go and happily, my platelet count was up to 19,000 the following week! I go in again Friday to have my blood drawn again.

Health Update

I know, I KNOW! I am the worst blogger. I think life just keeps me busy and then I had 4 great months where I didn't have to blog anything! And now...

I had been backed off to once-a-month blood tests with the promise in January that I'd be able to not see Dr. K again until July. JULY! Life can finally start getting back to normal!

I went in for my monthly blood test on February 4th to be told that my count was 2,000. The nurse freaked a little, not letting me leave until she talked to the doctor. Thankfully, they did not make me go to the hospital for platelets, but put me on a dose of Dex. I went back Friday and was up to 49,000. Went back Tuesday and was 16,000. I saw Dr. K on Thursday (the 12th) and she decided to put me on hydroxychloroquine in an attempt to get me off steroids. It's an anti-malarial drug that has been used in other auto-immune disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. The drug worked! By the following Tuesday I was up to 92,000 after taking it Friday through Sunday. There was a problem though and that was headaches. Debilitating headaches. And headaches that were CLEARLY related to the medication. I would wake up fine and take the first dose. Get a headache which would last most of the day. I'd take the 2nd dose late afternoon, early evening and by 7:00 or 8:00 be laying on the couch completely out of commission. That's just not okay when you have 3 kids that need dinner and baths and bedtime routines. I called Monday (the 16th) and they told me to stop taking it and come in on Tuesday to see the doctor again. NOW, I am taking azathioprine, and anti-rejection drug for organ transplant patients! I'll be honest, I am starting to feel a little like a crash test dummy for drugs. But, it seems to be working. I started taking that on Tuesday and yesterday my count was 164,000, which is the highest it's been in months. Praise the Lord! So far, the only side-effect I've had with the azathioprine (I should really earn money for learning how to pronounce all these drugs) is an upset stomach, but Zantac seems to take care of that pretty quickly.

I'm going to go for now...we're heading out to look at a new house today (our landlords are trying to sell the house we're currently in) and we need to get little people dressed. I'll update on the kids and the fam later! Promise!!