Good Afternoon blog readers! Who thought the end of chemo would go out quietly? Well, you were wrong!
Mom and I made it to the doctors office by 8:00 for lab work. Then we met with the Doctor at 8:15 a.m. He says this is my last session of chemo. He also confirmed the little sores I have on my fingers, hands, arms and back are a side effect of chemotherapy. He ordered two follow-up test. The first is the MUGA, which will see if my heart has been damaged by one of the chemotherapy drugs. The second test is at CT-Scan. He said we would redo the PET scan after radiation but we would do a CT right now. If those two things are clear...then he will discharge me to the radiology.
After the Doctor's visit, we headed into the treatment room. The first thing the nurses do in the treatment room is flush my PICC line with saline to make sure it is working. Then they start me off on the mix of steroids and anti-naseau medications. Well somewhere after the flush and during the first medication, I got cold. Then I really got cold. I asked Mom for a blanket, then another, and another. Mom had the insight to get a nurses attention quickly and they told me that cold chills were the result of a germ/bacteria that was probably in my PICC line and had gotten flushed throughout my entire body when they flushed the lines.
The end result, I had massive cold chills for nearly 45 minutes (think convulsions! My entire body was uncontrollable shaking. I was shaking so bad that my body ached!) They had to give me a large dose of Benadryl to stop the shaking, which put me to sleep. When I woke up 2 hours later, I was no longer cold and was warm. My temperature then spiked to 101 degrees. The nurses asked me if I even wanted to continue with the chemo. Knowing it was my last one, I said yes. I slept off/on the entire treatment.
Afterwards, I just felt weak. Walking was a chore. They took blood and urine samples and sent them off to the lab. They prescribed with an antibiotic to start fighting any infection I have.
Tomorrow, I have to report back to the doctors office to get disconnected from the pump. I imagine they will go ahead and remove the PICC line from my arm tomorrow. Keep in mind, that PICC line is 39 inches in length. Can you imagine that being pulled out of my arm. Do me a favor, get a measuring tape out and look to see how long 39 inches is! I did, I am a little freaked out about the entire process.
Unfortunately for me, the Doctor wants me to stay on the Neupogen shots for another 8 days. Got to keep those white blood counts up!
Mom and I made it to the doctors office by 8:00 for lab work. Then we met with the Doctor at 8:15 a.m. He says this is my last session of chemo. He also confirmed the little sores I have on my fingers, hands, arms and back are a side effect of chemotherapy. He ordered two follow-up test. The first is the MUGA, which will see if my heart has been damaged by one of the chemotherapy drugs. The second test is at CT-Scan. He said we would redo the PET scan after radiation but we would do a CT right now. If those two things are clear...then he will discharge me to the radiology.
After the Doctor's visit, we headed into the treatment room. The first thing the nurses do in the treatment room is flush my PICC line with saline to make sure it is working. Then they start me off on the mix of steroids and anti-naseau medications. Well somewhere after the flush and during the first medication, I got cold. Then I really got cold. I asked Mom for a blanket, then another, and another. Mom had the insight to get a nurses attention quickly and they told me that cold chills were the result of a germ/bacteria that was probably in my PICC line and had gotten flushed throughout my entire body when they flushed the lines.
The end result, I had massive cold chills for nearly 45 minutes (think convulsions! My entire body was uncontrollable shaking. I was shaking so bad that my body ached!) They had to give me a large dose of Benadryl to stop the shaking, which put me to sleep. When I woke up 2 hours later, I was no longer cold and was warm. My temperature then spiked to 101 degrees. The nurses asked me if I even wanted to continue with the chemo. Knowing it was my last one, I said yes. I slept off/on the entire treatment.
Afterwards, I just felt weak. Walking was a chore. They took blood and urine samples and sent them off to the lab. They prescribed with an antibiotic to start fighting any infection I have.
Tomorrow, I have to report back to the doctors office to get disconnected from the pump. I imagine they will go ahead and remove the PICC line from my arm tomorrow. Keep in mind, that PICC line is 39 inches in length. Can you imagine that being pulled out of my arm. Do me a favor, get a measuring tape out and look to see how long 39 inches is! I did, I am a little freaked out about the entire process.
Unfortunately for me, the Doctor wants me to stay on the Neupogen shots for another 8 days. Got to keep those white blood counts up!
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