Nose Dive

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The latter part of this week is definitely in the “loser” category. On the Wednesday after my second infusion, Phil, Shana and I headed for Anacortes to work on the boat. Shana was inducted to help me get some wood preservative and then primer on the new wood we’ve had replaced on the boat, while Phil was up to finish putting the engine back together, get sails back on board and do the myriad other tasks that are always there to do as we get ready to leave.

Things went well Wednesday, with Shana and I getting our project area halfway masked off so we could finish it up Thursday morning and get going with the preservative. This went reasonably well for me even though I was experiencing some of the same lightheadedness I had felt the prior week after my first infusion. On Thursday morning, as I began working, however, I began experiencing bouts of diarrhea. Not a fun problem to have when the only bathroom you have accessible is a porta potty halfway across the boat yard. As the morning wore on, I finally had to give up and go prone—just short of completing the masking of my part of the project. Shana filled in, and Phil stepped in to take care of my part of the preservative treatment. They organized themselves well as a team and zipped around the boat while I lay in the aft cabin, mostly dozing, which seemed to keep the diarrhea down to a tolerably number of trips.

During the afternoon I connected with my oncologist’s nurse to describe the collection of symptoms I was experiencing and she concluded that they were all noted side effects of the chemical I had received on Tuesday. She figured they should subside as it passed through my system (usually in 48 hours, though I remembered that the dizziness had taken until Saturday of the prior week to disappear). I managed to get through the evening, and even to go with out to dinner with Phil and Shana that night, and to breakfast in the morning. But the symptoms were still there in the morning, so I returned to my bed and the two of them finished up the boat work.

Friday night my condition worsened in the middle of the night, when my system began waking me up about every 20-30 minutes with cramping. I also knew I was dehydrated because my throat was extremely dry every time I awoke, even though I was downing water each time. So Saturday, I confirmed with Group Health’s consulting nurse what I thought she’d recommend—get thy miserable self to Urgent Care and let them help stabilize you. Shana proved a trooper again, taking me to the hospital and keeping me company through most of the next four hours, while I received 3 bags of saline solution and a nice dose of morphine that instantly cut out the abdominal cramping. I was sent home with directives for a mostly liquid, bland (no fats, no dairy) diet while my system rights itself, and to also use some strong pain medication to both cut down the cramping and slow down the peristalsis in the bowels.

So now I am lying around somewhat woozy headed from the Percocet I’m taking, supping on chicken broth and other assorted soups, drinking lots of fruit juices and working my way through the occasional English muffin half, while watching Phil and Shana put away crab, corn on the cob, and other delectables.

More than once during these three miserable days I have asked myself why I’m doing this. I know, I know—I do know why I’m doing it, but am beginning to give some more serious though to whether I will do the final three rounds after radiation. Lots of research to do on that. I also assume that the doctors are going to be able to figure out how to get me through the next round with this violent a reaction. At least I get this next week off for my body to rebuild itself and get ready for the next infusion. And they did blood work on me yesterday, so we know what went down and how far as a result of this first found.

I am feeling much better today than yesterday, but still waiting for the diarrhea to start turning around and my body to right itself. I’ll keep you all posted.