My nausea finally began to ease last Saturday, and each day since then I’ve felt a little more normal. We’ve not stopped the diarrhea yet, but it definitely has a crimp in its style, and by the weekend I expect I’ll be back pretty close to normal. So Christmas dinner tomorrow will even taste good! I’m not ready for wine yet—that is still tasting a bit sour. But I’m close.
Off to complete the rest of this holiday vacation. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day and lovely restful days to follow.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Exit with a Whimper, not a Bang!
I had expected to have a grand celebration following my last infusion. I did get a small one, as the infusion center staff sent me out the door with a clever song about the end of treatment, sung to “Hit the Road, Jack.” But the patient was not feeling celebratory. My struggle with nausea and diarrhea continued through Monday, and has stayed with me so far this week. In fact, I learned that the vaguely “off” feeling I’d been experiencing, with no appetite for food or much of anything else, is also termed nausea.
The hospital staff gave me a new medication to take for the nausea, which I can’t say appeared to do much, though I dutifully took it for most of the three-day course I was given. It was treatment designed by a masochist…bitter pills that had to be dissolved on the tongue, and took 15 minutes to dissolve. What a nice treat for someone experiencing nausea!
Somehow I got myself and our trip goodies packed, and we bundled ourselves into the car on Tuesday morning to head south. After some bad weather Monday that had tied the Portland freeway in knots, on Tuesday we were fortunate to get a sunny day and good roads most of the way to Eugene, our first stop. From there we stayed on I5, rather than going to the coast, because we had a snow storm about 12 hours behind us and figured the quicker way was better. On Wednesday we got over the Siskiyou’s with dry pavement and sun most of the way, and on Thursday we landed safely with friends in Tiburon, so one more trip south made safely!
I shared in some of the driving, but mostly just nursed my poor body along, trying to doze when I could and stuff a bit of food into it periodically. Everything tastes a bit like straw, so that’s much easier said than done. Not feeling well is unfortunately a very self-centered activity—and I’m quite tired of focusing on me. I haven’t exercised or done much of anything for the past week. I’m more than ready for this to pass. I also don’t know if it’s related, but the onset of these current symptoms occurred just after I ran out of my Chinese medicines—and unfortunately the replacement batch did not arrive before I left for California (the herbs are ordered out of San Francisco). If it’s more than a coincidence, I certainly have a lot more appreciation for what they’ve done for me!
So knowing that it will pass is the only thing that pulls me forward. No more nasty chemicals will be dumped into me, so sometime in the next week this should begin to let up. I’ll post again when I can see the light emerging.
The hospital staff gave me a new medication to take for the nausea, which I can’t say appeared to do much, though I dutifully took it for most of the three-day course I was given. It was treatment designed by a masochist…bitter pills that had to be dissolved on the tongue, and took 15 minutes to dissolve. What a nice treat for someone experiencing nausea!
Somehow I got myself and our trip goodies packed, and we bundled ourselves into the car on Tuesday morning to head south. After some bad weather Monday that had tied the Portland freeway in knots, on Tuesday we were fortunate to get a sunny day and good roads most of the way to Eugene, our first stop. From there we stayed on I5, rather than going to the coast, because we had a snow storm about 12 hours behind us and figured the quicker way was better. On Wednesday we got over the Siskiyou’s with dry pavement and sun most of the way, and on Thursday we landed safely with friends in Tiburon, so one more trip south made safely!
I shared in some of the driving, but mostly just nursed my poor body along, trying to doze when I could and stuff a bit of food into it periodically. Everything tastes a bit like straw, so that’s much easier said than done. Not feeling well is unfortunately a very self-centered activity—and I’m quite tired of focusing on me. I haven’t exercised or done much of anything for the past week. I’m more than ready for this to pass. I also don’t know if it’s related, but the onset of these current symptoms occurred just after I ran out of my Chinese medicines—and unfortunately the replacement batch did not arrive before I left for California (the herbs are ordered out of San Francisco). If it’s more than a coincidence, I certainly have a lot more appreciation for what they’ve done for me!
So knowing that it will pass is the only thing that pulls me forward. No more nasty chemicals will be dumped into me, so sometime in the next week this should begin to let up. I’ll post again when I can see the light emerging.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I Had to Have One Last Adventure!
Just as I was about to sail through the week following infusion #5, my body decided to give me one last adventure—with a new twist!
All was well this week up to Friday, looking like the pattern was going to follow last week, with no real side effects. I’d been feeling a tad “off” but other than that, had energy (I took our club single out to row on Wednesday morning, getting it in and out of the water by myself), and was focused on getting everything ready both for our annual egg nog party tomorrow and our departure for California on Tuesday.
I still don’t know what happened to trigger it, but yesterday afternoon my system fell apart. It started off by having me upchuck my lunch, and then anything else that might have been hiding in my stomach, and then expanded with rounds of diarrhea—so I was loosing liquids at both ends, with no means to stop it! I couldn’t keep any medication down to halt the vomiting or the diarrhea. The nausea and vomiting were new to me in terms of dealing with it--I've had very little of it and nothing this serious. I figured the only solution was to get to the urgent care center so they could stabilize me intravenously—which the consulting nurse confirmed. So Phil took me there about 6:30, completing the opportunities for each member of the family to accompany me to urgent care over the course of my treatment.
Three hours later we left urgent care with me hydrated by saline, my stomach calmed down with medication to stop the nausea, and the doctor puzzled by just what had instigated my symptoms. He wasn’t sure it was the infusion (he thought it was a bit late in the week). They also did blood work to check me out, and he said my blood count was actually pretty good, and I hadn’t lost much in the way of electrolytes (I think I avoided that by getting to them fairly early in the game). So perhaps it was something I ate that triggered the whole thing (I ate out for lunch), and then my system simply couldn’t put itself back together. Wouldn’t it be nice to know so I could try to avoid repeating it!
Today’s task is to gradually put some nourishment back in my system (back to broth, rice, and maybe later even bananas and applesauce!). Phil’s a little anxious about the idea of taking off in the car next week with the potential for me to “go south” somewhere along the way—but I figure there are emergency rooms along the way and we can handle it. It will all pass (I do seem to come back pretty quickly) and my system should start getting into recovery mode somewhere around Christmas.
All was well this week up to Friday, looking like the pattern was going to follow last week, with no real side effects. I’d been feeling a tad “off” but other than that, had energy (I took our club single out to row on Wednesday morning, getting it in and out of the water by myself), and was focused on getting everything ready both for our annual egg nog party tomorrow and our departure for California on Tuesday.
I still don’t know what happened to trigger it, but yesterday afternoon my system fell apart. It started off by having me upchuck my lunch, and then anything else that might have been hiding in my stomach, and then expanded with rounds of diarrhea—so I was loosing liquids at both ends, with no means to stop it! I couldn’t keep any medication down to halt the vomiting or the diarrhea. The nausea and vomiting were new to me in terms of dealing with it--I've had very little of it and nothing this serious. I figured the only solution was to get to the urgent care center so they could stabilize me intravenously—which the consulting nurse confirmed. So Phil took me there about 6:30, completing the opportunities for each member of the family to accompany me to urgent care over the course of my treatment.
Three hours later we left urgent care with me hydrated by saline, my stomach calmed down with medication to stop the nausea, and the doctor puzzled by just what had instigated my symptoms. He wasn’t sure it was the infusion (he thought it was a bit late in the week). They also did blood work to check me out, and he said my blood count was actually pretty good, and I hadn’t lost much in the way of electrolytes (I think I avoided that by getting to them fairly early in the game). So perhaps it was something I ate that triggered the whole thing (I ate out for lunch), and then my system simply couldn’t put itself back together. Wouldn’t it be nice to know so I could try to avoid repeating it!
Today’s task is to gradually put some nourishment back in my system (back to broth, rice, and maybe later even bananas and applesauce!). Phil’s a little anxious about the idea of taking off in the car next week with the potential for me to “go south” somewhere along the way—but I figure there are emergency rooms along the way and we can handle it. It will all pass (I do seem to come back pretty quickly) and my system should start getting into recovery mode somewhere around Christmas.
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