Chemo is nothing compared to this crud!

Well it has been well over a week since my last blog update and I've had a lot going on as you will see below!

4-11-13: Today I had my forth round of Taxol. I am officially a third of the way done with my first chemo treatment! I went by myself again this week and got caught up on some of my TV shows. Thank goodness for an iPad as I don't think I could handle day time TV!

4-16-13: Today I felt like I was getting a cold along with the reoccurrence of my lovely seasonal allergies. I started popping some of my allergy meds today in hopes of heading it off. I had seen my family on Saturday and my niece woke up with a fever and had stayed home from school ever since. She was tested for strep and everything else and it all came back negative. She was told she must just had a virus. My sister and brother-in-law have since caught the bug, so hopefully my nephew and Chase spare the crud!

4-17-13: I woke up not feeling so hot today. It was board meeting day and I knew it would be a long one so I stayed home in the morning to try to sleep it off. I went into work at noon. I didn't feel hot all day long and just thought I was getting a nasty cold. When I got home that evening I had a low grade fever of 99.5. My oncologist said they wanted me to call in if I have a fever of 100.1 so I took some aspirin and went to bed. I didn't get any sleep most of the night. I think I saw every hour on the clock. I finally got out of bed at 5:00 a.m. and took my temp. It was now up to 101.5. Okay, time to call the doctor. I called the Cancer Center and my doctor was on call. Since I had chemo later in the day, he instructed me to take some more Tylenol and try to rest all morning before I came in for my afternoon appointment.

4-18-13: I slept the morning away but was still not feeling well. My mom came over for my appointment today. We got there about 1:00 for my labs then I went in to see Dr. Singh. He was concerned about my health and decided to test me for mono and strep throat. Because of the other things I had going on he decided to hold my treatment for a week. Having me take chemo on top of whatever else I had going on wasn't in my best interest. You can tell that an Oncologist doesn't have to deal with strep throat cases very often as we could hear him and his nurses in the hallway trying to figure out how to swab my throat for the strep test! Mom and I got a giggle out of that one!

I also mentioned to him that I have been having constant headaches since I started my chemo treatments. He mentioned that some of the nausea medicine they give me before the Taxol does have a side effect of headaches. He is able to switch up my medication next week when I get my next treatment. Just to be on the safe side he ordered a CT scan of my head for just to make sure something else isn't causing the headaches.

I had noticed when doing a self breast exam last week that I could really feel the "lump" anymore. Dr. Singh did an exam on me today and let me know I am responding well to the treatment and that he couldn't feel the mass that was once there either! Hallelujah. All this is really working!

I left the office with a prescription for some Vicodin for my headaches and Azithromycin for the potential virus/Strep Throat that I might have.

I went home and took a nap. My mom picked up Chase from daycare and took him to his swimming lessons. She kept him entertained and away from me most of the night so that he wouldn't get whatever I might have. Mom took Chase to daycare the next morning and headed to work while I stayed home to try to test and get over whatever I might have going on.

4-19-13: I woke up about 8:00 a.m. My throat had been really scratchy all night and I was starting to have trouble swallowing. I couldn't eat anything and it was becoming difficult to swallow in general. Dr. Singh's office called about 10:00 to schedule a CT scan for Tuesday. I asked about my Strep throat test and it did come back positive. Oh goody. I decided to take an aromatherapy bath about 11:00 hoping that would make me feel better and it really didn't work. I texted my mom to let her know that I wasn't able to swallow to eat anything. I also hadn't been able keep any liquids down as I had thrown up what I did drink the night before. Since I couldn't talk I asked her to call Dr. Singh to see what I should do and she started to head back my way.

When she got back to my house the doctor had told her to take me to the ER to get me checked out. We got to Allen about 1:45 p.m. I had difficulty talking to the medical staff and my mom had to do most of the talking for me. The doctor said my throat was so swollen due to the strep throat that it was causing me the trouble swallowing and talking. They gave me a shot of steroids to decrease the swelling. They also wanted to give me some Penicillin for the strep throat as that is what is typically prescribed for this type of virus. When the doctor found out the Oncologist is the one that prescribed the Azithromycin she wasn't concerned about switching my meds as an Oncologist typically isn't prescribing meds for Strep throat. They ended up giving me a shot of penicillin so that I wouldn't have to take meds with my sore throat. They also hooked me up to an IV with fluids to get my levels back where they should be since I hadn't been able to eat or drink for 24 hours. After about 3 hours at the ER I was finally discharged. I was able to finally drink sprite before I left and keep it down. What a great feeling being able to swallow is! 

Once we left the doctor is was back to the pharmacy for more meds and to the grocery store for soft foods! Once home I was finally able to eat. Man I was hungry! I had some soup, jello, ice cream, and cake. I surprisingly wasn't tired and stayed up until about 11:00 watching TV. Mom stayed tonight just to make sure I was okay. Chase went home with Jim to Eldora so we could keep him away from me and the sickness at our house. The last thing I need is for him to get any of this crud!

4-20-13: I woke up today feeling much better. Mom has been busy all morning with laundry and cleaning my place from top to bottom to get rid of any germs that may be here before Chase comes home. I am bummed that I am missing Veridian's Annual Meeting today but I know I have a great bunch of people behind me at work that will do an amazing job. I did get some Prednisone yesterday that I have to start taking today. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will feel even better and Chase can come home! I miss my little guy!