Cody Updates by Mom

My second time of “the week of chemo side effects” is done.  It has been better than the first but with a few new items.

Monday I was able to see Dr. McCormack (aka Doogie Howser) prior to my chemo.  We discussed everything that had happened throughout the last three weeks in detail.  Now, anyone that has been my boss over the last years will understand how this appointment went.  I have a tendency to be over-prepared for meetings.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I was very impressed with the fact that my Dr. was extremely patient as I went through my four pages of handwritten side effects in order of how bad they were.  He never made me feel that I had to speed up or skip anything.  It was nice to know that all of my concerns were being addressed without impatience.

The stomach issues were more in check with the change in my meds.  The joint pain still happened but was a little less than the first week and I was able to control them better this time with the new plan of pain meds.  I had some new muscle/nerve spasm’s in my feet which were pretty constant for a few days.  Its a little weird to have your big toes doing somersaults on the inside.  These have gone away for the most part but will be on my list of new items for the Dr. the next time.

After my appointment I went for my chemo.  The only thing notable that happened was getting my IV in for the chemo.  I had a new nurse and she was pretty concerned about getting the IV into my arm correctly.  She tried to put it into the bottom of my elbow but it did not take.  If you have ever had someone root around in your arm with the IV it is not a pleasant experience.  Well, she tried a different vein and with luck we got that one to work and all was well.  At least we thought it was.

A very big bruise developed on my elbow where she had tried to put the IV the first time.  I didn’t think much about it until this weekend.  My bruise turned from regular ugly black and blue to bright red on Saturday.  By Sunday, the area was burning and hurting quite a bit.

So started the next six hours of “funness” that we had for the rest of the day on Sunday.  I called the after hours care line that the chemo clinic had given me.  I was able to talk to a nurse right away.  She had me have Jim draw around the area with a sharpie so they would know if it was getting bigger throughout the process of figuring out what to do.  She then called the on-call oncologist and called me back within about 15 minutes.  They were worried that I was getting an infection in the area and that there might be a blood clot.  They sent me to my local urgent care with very specific instructions for the Dr. on call.  It is an interesting thing to go in and simply tell the Dr. what they are going to do.  Kind of fun actually.  The Urgent care Dr. was supposed to determine if she thought it was infected and if there was any concern of a clot I was on my way to the ER to have an ultrasound done on my arm.  Anyway she felt that it was infected but could not rule out a clot.  So, off to Regions we went to hang out in the ER.  By the way, she wasn’t all that thrilled that I was calling the shots but I am sure she got over it.

Spending the evening in the ER, downtown St. Paul, on a holiday weekend is an interesting time.  The people that work there were actually all very funny and talked to us quite a bit.  I am sure they do not see people like me that can just walk in and hang out for four hours without significant babysitting.  I met a young triage nurse that told me she loved my haircut and she had they same one as a teen.  She had leukemia at 14 and doing great.  Based on the sounds that we heard from my room I think they deal with a lot of drug induced emergencies.  Security was very tight and I had to make sure they knew that Jim was parking the car or they would not let him in.  The triage nurses joked that they hadn’t lost any spouses that the patients did not want to lose.  Unfortunately, they were busy.  After 2 hours of Jim and I entertaining ourselves with random stuff we got to see the Dr.  He talked to their on-call oncologist and they approved the ultrasound.  An hour later I got to get my ultrasound.  The lady was very nice but had to leave a few times out of the room because a patient waiting to go back to the ER kept getting out of the bed.

In the end, I have an infection in my elbow and some superficial clots.  They had taken some blood work and my white blood count was already way down but my platelets were ok.  I guess that was important to know so they could determine what direction they were going with my immediate care. They gave me very specific instructions to chat with my oncologist tomorrow, an antibiotic and directions for home care.  As long as I take my meds I can continue on my plan for the week.

Lastly, I am happy to say that I am finally going back to work tomorrow!!!!  I cannot tell you how excited I am to get out of this house and get back where other people are.  I will be working around my final two sessions with sick time and hopefully will only have to miss a few days for each!  This is a huge step to feeling that life can get a bit more normal with all this going on.  Wish me luck!!  🙂

Caring Bridge Comments

Lorelie|May 27, 2014 9:42am
You are a trooper!! You get to go to all sorts of neat places, including the ER at Regions on a holiday – lucky you! Good luck at work and be sure to take it easy and don’t overdo things.