I wrote the second installment of my vacation report here.
We had a lovely time, which is good, because this week was the opposite in just about every way possible... although it mostly has nothing to do with my cancer, so I'll just leave this past week to itself. Hopefully next week will be a little less traumatic.
In the meantime, go finish my vacation with me. I'll be here when you get back.
6/26/11
6/17/11
A Quick Note...
In case you were wondering where I had gotten to - I was in South Dakota and Wyoming, having a lovely time with My Boys. If you are interested, I've posted the first installment of my report at my other blog, here. I'll get around to the rest of it soon, I promise!
6/5/11
Now and Again
I've had a bit of a rough week. I had a sudden ramp-up of hip pain this past weekend, ending with a trip to the ER for high fever (102.8 F, which is considerably higher than they like to see temps on a chemo patient, since we don't have proper immune function to help us recover from infection).
They couldn't find the reason for the fever, but pumped me full of saline and NSAIDs and sent me home - after all, I had a chemo appointment the next morning.
The pain in my hip has been joined by fairly severe leg pain, so I haven't been sleeping well all week. And the Abraxane is raising my blood sugar to unprecedented levels, which leaves me feeling rather dizzy and unwell.
But all is not lost. Or at least, hopefully there is some hope that things aren't dire. From the patterns I saw last weekend (fever lower after 1/2 liter saline, lowered to normal temps after next day's additional 1 liter saline w/chemo), my feeling is that the fever was actually caused by dehydration and perhaps bad electrolyte levels... because now I'm building up a fever again. I don't know WHY I'm suddenly prone to dehydration - well, it's been hotter, so I've been sweating a bit more than has been the case previously. But only a bit. You wouldn't think it was enough to cause major problems, but who knows what chemo does to the individual system? Nothing is working the way it should.
But at least it's helpful to know what's going on, at least in part, and that something can be done about it.
So. If the fever is still there in the morning (I've been forcing fluids all afternoon and evening), I'll go in to the ER again in the morning and get a nice refreshing saline drip, in hopes that it will give me enough fluids to keep me reasonably functional for a week or so. And maybe have them check out the leg while we're at it.
Wish me luck. I'm heading out on a trip soon... I'm hoping to enjoy it from somewhere other than an ER bed!
They couldn't find the reason for the fever, but pumped me full of saline and NSAIDs and sent me home - after all, I had a chemo appointment the next morning.
The pain in my hip has been joined by fairly severe leg pain, so I haven't been sleeping well all week. And the Abraxane is raising my blood sugar to unprecedented levels, which leaves me feeling rather dizzy and unwell.
But all is not lost. Or at least, hopefully there is some hope that things aren't dire. From the patterns I saw last weekend (fever lower after 1/2 liter saline, lowered to normal temps after next day's additional 1 liter saline w/chemo), my feeling is that the fever was actually caused by dehydration and perhaps bad electrolyte levels... because now I'm building up a fever again. I don't know WHY I'm suddenly prone to dehydration - well, it's been hotter, so I've been sweating a bit more than has been the case previously. But only a bit. You wouldn't think it was enough to cause major problems, but who knows what chemo does to the individual system? Nothing is working the way it should.
But at least it's helpful to know what's going on, at least in part, and that something can be done about it.
So. If the fever is still there in the morning (I've been forcing fluids all afternoon and evening), I'll go in to the ER again in the morning and get a nice refreshing saline drip, in hopes that it will give me enough fluids to keep me reasonably functional for a week or so. And maybe have them check out the leg while we're at it.
Wish me luck. I'm heading out on a trip soon... I'm hoping to enjoy it from somewhere other than an ER bed!
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