Resolutions

Well as we wind down 2017 it is that time of year that people start making their New Year’s Resolutions.  I have been known to do just this in the past with almost no success (lose weight, exercise more, get a passport, procrastinate less, etc).  Well this year I’ve decided a new tact, be less Pollyanna, expect the worse and then when that doesn’t happen I will be pleasantly surprised.  Why you might ask I am taking this approach? Let me tell you about my last 2 fun filled, itchy, swollen days, full on pity party that I just came through.

I waited almost a week to write my last blog after my chemo treatment, reason being I wanted to make sure all the side effects were addressed and I wasn’t writing anything prematurely. By day seven when the heartburn hit, I knew I had made it through all the known side effects (tummy issues, flushing, bone pain, headaches, light headedness, night sweats, hair growing barbs to hold on for dear life, then finally heart burn).  Oh, how foolish of me!! I always went under the impression that side effects are something that occur shortly after whatever you have been exposed to.  Lesson learned, they can show up a full 8 days or later after you finish treatment.  I don’t know why this would have been such a shock.  I mean they are pumping high doses of poison into my body that is causing my hair to fall out 2 weeks post treatment, why would I not expect other things to crop up later?

So now you are all wondering what the heck happened.  Well treatment day is a Tuesday, 9-10 days later I need to go in to get my blood drawn to see how my white blood counts are doing.  So the following Thursday I had an appointment to do just that.  After being poked like a voodoo doll in Kamiah, I decided to treat myself and return to Lewiston to the blood and cancer center to have this done, convince a few girlfriends to join me on the trip, and have a fun girls day getting some last minute Christmas shopping in for my sweetie.  All was going pretty well according to plan.  I was feeling good on Tuesday, even better on Wednesday (so well I went out for a beer that night), and so was quite positive that Thursday I would be able to enjoy the day, stuff my face full of sushi, and drink a beer.  Well on Tuesday, Brent started to get a man cold.  I will admit I was not a very caring wife as I sat there thinking, I have cancer and you are going to whine to me about your body aches and dry cough – poor baby (not!).  By Wednesday I didn’t want to be around him as my WBC is still low and the last thing I want to do is get a cold right now.  So Wednesday night while I listened to Brent hacking in bed, I decided to grab my pillow and head down to the spare bedroom for a good nights sleep (I won’t share his snarky comment to me).  So I head to bed, looking forward to the next day.  As the night progresses my head starts to itch like a mo’ fo.  I dismiss this to the little bit of peach fuzz that has still hung on, giving the last good fight before falling out.  When I get out of bed the next day I notice a few “hot spots” on my body. What I mean by those is anytime I have an allergic reaction to something my body gets hives.  I had a couple spots by my hip, wrist and belly – but they were small and I dismissed it as touching something in the bed the cat likes to sleep in that caused this irritant.  So off to Lewiston I go, thinking nothing more (for at least 2 hours) of these little spots.

As we pull into Lewiston, my arms start to itch something crazy.  My friends are teasing nicely about me over there like a dog with fleas scratching away at my arms and head.  Now being the dumbass that I am, I go to get my blood drawn, in the same building as my doctor, and say NOTHING.  This action here will add to my tears the next day.  Even as we are drawing blood you can see some splotches on my arm and I’m like, meh, it’s no biggy.  So I leave the doctor’s office without even asking about the issue and head out to lunch.  I enjoy lots of sushi, a super larger beer (yummy Mac and Jacks!) and good laughs with friends.  We then head out shopping.  The beer is probably numbing me enough at this point I’m not itching too bad in store 1, by store 2 (which happens to be Costco), I’m starting to get miserable enough that I grab a super size bottle of Benadryl and some water on our way out the door.  I pop 2 pills and head over to store number 3.  Here the itching continues to get worse and I notice that pushing the cart my hands are hurting.  Well if my picture (along with my friend Joslyn) show up on the people of Wal-Mart, I won’t be surprised.  To say the two of us were a hot mess by the time we got to check-out is an understatement. She has her story to tell, so I won’t go into that here, but we weren’t looking good.  We got checked out and sped home (the 1 hour and 30 minutes to Kamiah at least).  By this time the Benadryl had kicked in and I was not itching (thank god!), but I was really drowsy.

At home the Benadryl started to wear off and the itchiness was returning.  Reading the bottle I determined it was safe to take 2 more since it had been 4 hours.  Two more down the hatch.  I repeated this every 4 hours until the next morning at 6AM, when I got up and called the cancer center where an on call doctor is always there.  I described my symptoms and by this time my arms were swollen from my palms all the way up to my elbow.  I looked like freaking Popeye and was wondering when I had gotten an anchor tattoo on my forearm.  I had hives all over my torso, neck and back of head.  To say I was in misery was an understatement.  The doctor called in a prescription of steroids for me, assured me that this isn’t an uncommon side effect, and it can show up for the first time after multiple treatments and days after those treatments. I wait until I know the pharmacy is open, and we leave through the fresh snow to head to Kamiah to get my drugs.  Of course nothing can be easy.  We stop by the pharmacy and they don’t have a prescription for me.  By this time I was in tears, tears of anger at myself for not talking to my doctor while I was at his freaking office!! Tears because I was so uncomfortable.  Tears because I was freaking myself out thinking, can I breathe okay? Am I swallowing okay? Is this going to get better?  I apologize and thank my co-worker who let me cry on his shoulder while I was having my pity party. I pulled myself together so I could call the cancer center (again) and asked to speak to someone.  I told her (again) what was going on and she refaxed in the prescription and then advised me to stop by my clinic to see if I couldn’t get a shot of steroids to treat my symptoms faster.  So off to the Kamiah clinic where I tearfully told them my predicament.  Fortunately they got me in to see a nurse, who took immediate pity on me, could tell how miserable I was, commented on how painful my arms and hands looked because the skin was just stretched tight and proceeded to give me a shot of high dose steroids through my port (that I am now just starting to appreciate) so I could get immediate relief.  She got me full of drugs, watched me for 10 minutes and off I went to grab the steroid pack from the pharmacy.  I will admit that within an hour I could actually discern that I had wrists, by eight o’clock that evening my arms were mostly back to normal and other then just a few hives on the torso things had faded.  By this morning other than some swelling still in my palms, everything seems to be back to normal.  I have discovered that my flushing comes from steroids though (which they give me a few the day I get treatment, but no more after that – well until now). So now I get to look like I got my face sunburnt for the next 6 days while I finish up this round of steroids, but that is far more tolerable then the full body hives!

So to finish up this blog, I am telling you again, my New Year’s Resolution.  I am dropping the dang Pollyanna attitude and going with Eyore for the new year.  That way I can be pleasantly surprised or at least not shocked when the other shoe drops. But remember, I never stick to my resolutions! 🙂  Happy New Year everyone, I hope it is a wonderful and healthy one!