What a week! Another visit with Dr Clemons & Chemo round 5

After the blood work in the chemo lab Kadriye and I trudged down to see Dr Clemons. The good news for me was that there was going to be little or no nausea with the Taxol. No more drugs required. No more crazy diets of ten pills for breakfast followed by another three half an hour later - repeat in the afternoon. Sadly, the Taxol is really hard on the white blood cells - so I'm still on the Neupogen needles. In fact, I was supposed to still do ten - until my blood work came in. It can take a while for the blood work to be done - and for some reason they keep scheduling my blood and the doctor appointments within about 15 minutes of each other. The result is that I have to sit around for a while waiting for the blood work and for Diane to interview me. (Diane runs the denosomab clinical trial that I'm on and I see her every four weeks.) Thankfully both Kadriye and I have a plethora of games on our phones and so we were able to keep ourselves relatively entertained while we waited. Diane came for the interview, but we left before the blood work came in so Hazel promised to call me and let me know the numbers. Remember the neutrophil that was at 0.4 after the first chemo and had to be at least 1.0 before I could get chemo? Well, normal is I believe between 6 adn 12 and mine was now at 17! My other white cell number was also through the roof. Do I get to stop the Neupogen? No such luck. My only reprieve is that I take 8 shots instead of 10. There is truly no justice! While the great thing about Taxol is that there is really no nausea, it can give one pins and needles in fingers and toes - and in young people (that's me) that can become permanent if I'm not careful. Noted: if pins and needles in extremeties occur, call Hazel immediately. Next, finger nails and toe nails can turn black and nails can fall off. Clemons seemed relatively unconcerned about this one, but I must say that it grabbed and kept my attention! So far so good on that score however. Friday morning about 05:30 mother and father came to pick up Kadriye for her reedonkulously early flight to Calgary. I couldn't get back to sleep and headed in for chemo scheduled at 10:00, not exactly well rested. I met a lovely woman who was in for her last Taxol that day. Her name is Tannis and she took one look at me and said, "Wow! You are inspirational! I don't have the guts to go bald." Seriously? She was quite a beautiful woman and would have rocked bald - no problem. We started to chat about kids and family and it turns out she has kept her illness a secret (makes the bald thing difficult to do:)) except from a close circle of friends and family. Her conundrum: as a celebration of chemo being over, she and her husband are taking the kids to Universal Studios in Florida and she is not sure how she is going to do the roller coasters with her wig! I burst out laughing. "Well, you won't know anyone there so maybe you should rock the bald and have fun with it while you're there! Just make sure to wear a hat when you're not on the rides and use a really good sun block." I waved her good bye when she rang the bell on her way out. Totally awesome. The Taxol takes a long time. It is administered over three hours and vitals have to be taken every hour. Debbie, my nurse for round 5, told me that the real problem isn't the drug itself but the medium they use to deliver the drug. They started me on the saline as usual and took the usual vitals to get me started. They then administer a big bag of Benadryl and something else as a precautionary measure b/c of this medium. Hello! A big bag of Benadryl will make you stoned out of your mind! I was reading and suddenly the page started floating and the words started moving all around the page! One of the nurses I knew from previous visits came over to say hello and I said to her, "I don't think this is right. I'm as high as a kite." She just giggled and said, "Enjoy the trip!" At least, that's what I think happened, but honestly everything for the next forty minutes (or even longer) is very suspect. Finally my drugs arrived and the moment that I had been dreading for two weeks was upon me. The Taxol was on its way in and what would be would be. Debbie told me that there were a few side effects that I should be on the look-out for and I was to tell her immediately if I experienced any of them: pain in the back; tingling fingers; flush in the face or hives. I tried to read but with the early morning and the Benadryl, I was presently dozing under my quilt. Suddenly, my face started to burn and I could feel the blood rush in. It was strong enough that it woke me up! "Debbie," I said quietly, "Sorry to interupt, but when you have a minute I think my face is flushing." Boom! She stopped what she was doing and rushed over. She called to the nursing student to call the pharmacy and get more drugs and she stopped the Taxol right away. Wow, I didn't mean to cause such a commotion. Apparently they take their side effects very seriously in Pod 4! As soon as the Taxol stopped the flush went away. They said I wasn't too red and the nurse and the pharmacist together figured I wouldn't need the extra drugs. Thanks heavens - any more of that stuff and I would be too stoned to drive home! How embarrassing to have to call your mom and dad to pick you up because you're too high to drive! The nurse had to get the green light from Clemons to start the Taxol again. He of no mercy of course told Debbie to let me have it. They watched me carefully however and took my vitals frequently and the rest of the Taxol went ahead without incident. I was able to drive afterward and I managed to get to a chiro appointment and then to the grocery store. I spent a lovely, quiet evening at home - without any nausea and even managed to have a lovely meal of filet, roasted potatoes and beans (still left over from Saturday!!) and I watched Forrest Gump. I thought I'd been doing pretty well after the AC chemo rounds, but the difference was phenomenal. I realize now that I felt like absolute crap after the other chemo - I feel so much better now that I'm not sure how I managed to do anything before. Well, that's the week. I'm glad that it's over. I felt like the planets were out of kilter the entire week and I look forward to the universe righting itself again. Heather and her family come to town late tonight for the week, the kids come home tomorrow afternoon and it promises to be another hectic week - but hopefully in kilter:)