cheryl58's Cancer Blog
December 8, 2007
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Third Treatment:
I had my 3rd treatment on Thursday this past week. I almost didn’t have it, I had a few set backs from my 2nd treatment. I was in so much pain from my arthritis and could not take any Advil or Morton and Tylenol just don’t work I was hardly walking and so depressed with my situation that I felt like throwing in the towel on this new treatment. The Dr.’s finally agreed that I could go back on the Advil and I was thrilled. I went to my regular Dr. on Friday and she strongly disagreed with the Advil because my Blood Pressure was up to 190/108 and she felt the Advil would make it worse. So a discussion began again and they decided to put me on a Morphine patch for pain it’s the lowest dose they can give me and it is working the pain in my knees are bearable and I am able to get around better. A week later, I had my third treatment feeling pretty good. So everything went off with out a hitch. Come Friday morning when I got up for work at 4:30am I was not my self at all I was very light headed and could not get my bearings my blood pressure was at 150/90 (which, lately is the norm) I took my shower hoping it would make me feel better and ate breakfast then off to work I went. I could not shake that feeling of not being with it at all, I had a hard time focusing on my job. Lucky for me I work at a hospital and my boss took me to the ER she was concerned because I was looking very pale I spent most of the day in the ER. They did find I had a bladder infection but no answer as to why I was dizzy my BP was all over the place at 1st then it normalized and I stayed at 127/80 for the rest of the day. They sent me home with no real answers as to what happen. I guess we will caulk it up to a side effect. I slept most of today and still don’t feel much like eating. So I don’t know what will be happing till I see my Dr. on Thursday of this week. I hope I can stay on this treatment. I think it is better then chemo well at least I hope it is. My theory is I know I am not eating as I should and with my dietbites I have to be careful with my food intake. No one addressed that fact but who knows maybe I am crazy.
06.22.08 - 
Thanks for your support -
Cheryl,
I thought about something while I was reading your post. Are they giving you anything for low blood count? This can cause pretty severe pain similar to arthritis but worse. Also is GM-CSF part of the trial drug therapy? It was part of my clinical trial and made my joints very painful. I had a hard time walking.
I have arthritis too, and when the pain got much worse I finally made these connections. I would just take advil or whatever helps and monitor your blood pressure to make sure it doesn’t get too high.
Be careful with your sugar counts and blood pressure, that sounds a little scary. Are you sure you were not dehydrated?
I almost passed out taking a shower while on chemo and later found out I was dehydrated. I hadn’t drank water in 4 days. The chemo nurses were very angry with me for not calling sooner but at the time I was too sick to notice I went that long without water.
Hope next time is better.
Donna
I agree about watching the dehydration. I had chemo on Friday and noticed on Saturday that I was hardly drinking anything. I wasn’t thirsty. It’s easy to let it slip up on you. I drink Gatorade after chemo for the first couple of days. I started pushing the Gatorade yesterday and I can tell by looking at my hands that I am pretty well hydrated.
It can be really hard sometimes to eat and drink but like my chemo nurse is always reminding me—that’s how you push the poison out of your body. However, I do have to say that I am one of the fortunate ones that doesn’t have nausea after chemo. I have other problems that made me not want to eat or drink but (knock on wood) I not suffering from those now.
I hold you in my thoughts and prayers.