I can't decide if I should do the blog entry I was working on when I started having a violent allergic reaction to the chemotherapy drug....or if I should write about having a violent allergic reaction to the chemotherapy drug.
Maybe both??
Which first?
Ok. The violent reaction to the chemotherapy drug.
It was a dark and stormy night...haha. Not really, it was kind of sunny, cool morning. And I was there for my fourth session. Or as my doctor pointed out, 1/3 of the way through! yeah!
I had received all my premeds (Zofran~for nausea, Pepcid~for reaction prevention and nausea, Benadryl~for reaction prevention, Dexamethasone~for reaction prevention and nausea, Tylenol~to prevent fever with the Herceptin) and then they started Taxol. This is the drug that kills all the fast growing cells in the body. But it can't tell the difference between cancer cells and healthy cells. This is why we experience T O T A L hair loss. (Yes, the chemical-induced-involuntary-Brazilian Wax) And intestinal problems and mouth sores...those are also fast growing cells.
If a patient is going to react to Taxol they "usually" (I love that word) have it during the first half hour (it's a 90 minute infusion) in the first two sessions. This was my FOURTH. They give a lot of saline during the infusion so I'm in the bathroom a lot. I decided to use the restroom then settle in with my lunch and watch a DVD on my little player while I received the Taxol.
While in the restroom I was washing my hands and had a fleeting thought, "Hmmm, I haven't reacted yet, so I must be ok" No sooner did I complete that thought that my chest started squeezing and I couldn't breathe. I grabbed the IV pole and walked out the door and told the first nurse I saw...well, signaled her really, that my chest was closing in. She immediately stopped the infusion and grabbed both my arms and practically threw me into my recliner. I started seeing stars. They put a pulse/ox indicator on my finger and in those few seconds my oxygen saturation dropped to 85%. They slapped oxygen on me.
By stopping the infusion they push saline to rinse. When I started reacting all the premeds kicked in and between the rinse and the premeds it took about 5-10 minutes for the symptoms to dissipate. All of this is through the tube that is hooked to the port in my chest.
About 30 seconds after I started having a hard time breathing, my lower back completely seized up. O M Y G O S H. They have a pain scale from 1-10. 1 being really no pain and 10 is the worst. This back pain was a 15. I had completely frozen up and any movement was excruciating. They put a blood pressure cuff on me and it was 168/118. Then the pain moved from my back into my hip joints and thighs. That's when I started crying. They don't give pain meds because stopping the infusion and starting the saline rinse stops the pain and reaction faster than anything additional they could have given me. One of the nurses who was helping sat on the floor and held my hand and I have to say that simple act of compassion helped calm me down faster than anything else.
As the pain finally began to go away I was able to sit back in the chair. I remembered that during the worst part of the reaction my little voice was telling me to listen to the nurses and not to panic. I would be fine, they know what to do. Just hang in there. And My Big Voice was saying "I WANT DAMON HERE!!!"
Finally after about half an hour I had settled down enough, the pain had gone away and I had stopped shaking. I reclined the chair and put my wonderful blanket that Lynette Guarino sent me for Christmas over me. The nurses called my doctor to find out what the next step was. They gave me another dose of dexamethasone (the steroid) which is why I'm up at 2 in the morning writing this, and then they restarted the Taxol at a very slow rate. I completed the the infusion without any more incidents.
Each nurse asked me a couple of times how many sessions I have had of Taxol. I kept telling them four. They'd shake their heads. I asked if it was usual to react like that on the fourth session. The answer was No. Well, of course! Nothing about this has been normal!
I'm grateful for the still,small voice that whispered I would be ok, just stay calm and listen to the nurses. I'm grateful for a nursing staff who acted so fast and with so much care and compassion. I'm grateful to Lynette for sending that wonderful blanket that was perfect for snuggling in to get warm again. I'm grateful to my husband for being 3 blocks away at his favorite Mexican restaurant eating the Friday lunch special so he shot right over to see me after this happened. (Los Compadres on 4th Street) I'm grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who has been right next to me through this whole thing.
Keep the Faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment