Ok... so from June 14th to June 21st, Chris has his induction chemo. Its pretty intense stuff that goes through the tubes into the cathetar and there is also a chemo that they push (injection) a couple times. They tell him he will most likely lose hair. Might have nausia, diareaha, all that good stuff... Chris is in pretty good spirits. He is getting around much better than when he first got diagnosed. The steroids worked. (and the radiation shrunk the leisions also)... Chris decides he is going to shave his head so that he doesnt lose it in clumps. My brother Chris comes over one night and helps him shave. Chris requests White Castle - he wants to enjoy it while he is able to still eat what he wants. So I bring a Crave Case for the shaving occassion. I clearly remember this night because I took some Xanex when I got there... and I was initially disinterested in the burgers but once the Xanex kicked in, I was craving them badly ;) Chris and Chris got quite a kick out of my sudden happy mood. One night, a day or 2 after chemo starts, Chris gets terrible pain in his arm. They think they hit a nerve when they put that catheter in his neck. he is up one night with awful pain.. the nurse Mary was actually crying and praying with him... some of these nurses are very special.. I am thankful... somehow i slept thru that.. i usually wake up whenever nurses come in... but not that time...
Chemo week is over and now we are to wait for his CBCs (blood counts) to drop... A few days after chemo ends, his counts are dropping but not too low yet. Once they get to a certain low point, he is considered neutrapenic. That means his white blood count is so low that he is very suseptible to getting sick, shouldnt eat cold cuts or raw veggies or fruit, etc etc... Visitors should not come or wear masks if they feel sick... The diareaha starts and one night around June 24th, he is in the bathroom in the middle of the night, a lot. By the morning, I notice his blood pressure is a little low. I go to work... By 11am, his nurse Debbie calls me and suggests I come back to the hospital. He has spiked to 102 degree fever, blood pressure had dropped to a very very low point and they were transferring him to the bone marrow transplant unit one floor below. Its sorta like an ICU for leukemia patients. Closer watch... they arent sure whether he has an infection or what is going on. I am scared as hell when I get to the hospital. He is shaking so bad from the fever and chills. I am feeding him ice chips... the shakes stop. We move downstairs. Chris is not excited about moving to another floor. But, we find such great nurses down there too.. Thank goodness because he will be spending more time down there when he finally has a transplant
2 nurses (Liz and I forget the other one's name) are both ready to have babies... And we love love love Tracy and Nancy... Chris is very comfortable with them... He also tells me all about Nick, the CCT... I meet him later that day and he is very funny
They schedule him for a catscan of his bowels. Before they can treat the diareaha, they have to see what is going on. Chris recovers really nicely from this crash. Doctors are impressed. They tell him not to eat until the bowels can rest. Poor Chris doesnt eat for 3 days. They go back and forth on whether or not he can have clear fluids. They dont want to give him the IV nutrients cus there is sugar in that and can make him sicker.
So, the results of catscan come back. Good news is that the bowels were just annoyed from his diareaha and all. But, the happen to find a blood clot in his lung!! Come on... whats next? He has no symptoms. They schedule a doppler test to check for more clots. That doesnt happen til the next day. Some of these departments take forever for scheduling. Chris is feeling much better. They find clots in his right leg near knee. They decide to put a Greenfield basket/filter in to his vein or artery near his groin. Basically, when any clots from legs try to move up to his upper body, it catches the clot and breaks it up so it doesnt move to heart or lungs. The doctors went back and forth about whether thay could do this because you cannot have an MRI for 30 days after having this put in. The decide they can do a petscan if they need to scan during those 30 days. Now, they cannot schedule the filter for that day, so overnight, I pray that the clots in his leg do not un-lodge and move up to his lungs or heart. They tell him not to move. Go to the bathroom bedside if he has to... Of course, I am paranoid.. I cannot sleep. Because I worry... but thats what I do.. The interesting thing is that his platelets were so low due to chemo that the doctors were shocked he had clots. But, Chris is an interesting case;)
Basket is put in. Chris is neutrapenic... but after a few days of that, his counts start to go up. They give him neuprogin injection for 10 days after chemo, that helps with the white blood cells. A few times they transfuse him with platelets and once with red blood. After 6 days in the bone marrow unit, Chris is ready to go back to the 5th floor. we miss that floor. There are so many restrictions on the 4th floor because of the bone marrow transplants, obviously. There are HEPA filters and doors must be closed.. etc etc... It is not as social down here, but its ok when its necessary
The doctor gets him back to the 5th floor. There is one night when Chris has ativan or something and in the middle of the night, he has to get up to pee... And he is half awake, talking about Batman and being on some mission.. it was quite funny
And by July 3rd Chris is discharged just in time for the holiday. We are scheduled for bloodwork followups every 3 days, but its ok.. he is going home! Pictures in this post is from the head shaving with white castle!!!
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