We called the on-call oncologist and he was fairly insistent that we head into the hospital. I wanted to wait and see if I could try and manage it at home. But as evening come on the nausea grew worse so at 9:00pm we headed to the hospital.
I threw up again while they were bringing me back and that at least helped us get a room in ER. We were in the ER for 6 hours as they ran various tests and looked for a hospital bed. My blood tests came back phenomenally well. White blood cell count and platelets were still normal. Flu test came back negative, but the urine test showed possible infection. Why do I share all this? Because the nausea was far more severe than we expected and we were trying to figure out why. In the ER they bumped me up to morphine for the pain and then up another level to Dilaudid. That made a difference. The IV pain med and anti-nausea was enough to stop the finally stop the 32 hours of vomiting.
Yours truly.
The wraps around my leg get pumped on and off with compressed air to avoid blood clots.
For the next 30 hours in the hospital I was finally able to rest and let my body start to heal. We worked on getting the dosages and timing of anti-nausea right. Because the doctor wanted to keep an eye on my heart activity during my stay, they put me in the stroke ward. I was just happy to have my own room! I got out yesterday around noon and went to the "day spa" (aka Cancer Treatment Center" for my white blood cell booster shot. Several nurses at the "spa" had heard about my weekend and came to see how I was doing. Apparently, I had looked like death warmed over when I was there on Friday and they had been concerned.
I got back to house, checked the mail, had lunch and went to nap in our bedroom when I discovered that my parents had been playing Santa early over the weekend and had got me a recliner! Thank you both for it and for watching the kids and dog over the weekend. Thanks to my brother for delivering it.
It was great to nap in it and I think I will try it out again now. Conclusion: Home for now, back to a bit of work tomorrow (assuming all goes well) and trying to keep the nausea and pain under control for the next 3 days until the side effects begin to wear off.
Thanks everyone for your love and help!
Ugh, I'm so sorry you threw-up for that long! What a miserable experience. I'm glad you like the chair! It is very comfy. Elanor wanted to sit on it while I drove it to your house.
ReplyDeleteMichael! Thanks again for your help this weekend. The kids love your family so much - you are so incredibly good to them!
DeleteHa! Of course she did, I would have too!
DeleteContinuous vomiting really drains the body! I am sorry you are dealing with such severe nausea. I know those anti nausea meds are overall helpful. It seems they make a big difference right at first, and then don't you find yourself wondering if they are actually making it worse? Do they make you feel lethargic? I suppose it is probably a ridiculous question considering the intense chemo you are enduring. The side effects and medications probably make it very difficult for you to feel like yourself.
ReplyDeleteI hope this round of treatment will pass quickly for you so that you can return to normalcy and I hope that recliner increases your comfort. (what a nice gift)
Hang in there Christian. You are a remarkable person!
xoxox joce
Hey Joce! I think medication affects everyone differently - and it's NOT a ridiculous question. I think that we are hard pressed to nail down where the lethargy is coming from - either the meds or the effects of the chemo. Either way - it keeps Christian from doing too much which is just what we want after an intense week. I do think that his stomach is getting a beating from trying to move all of his meds from his stomach into the blood stream - the hospital was great that way because they fed him all his meds into his Port IV. Love those hospital staff members!
DeleteLet me just clarify my last comment. I have never enjoyed taking anti nausea medications. I don't like the way they make me feel. However.....I don't want you to mistake my comments..... I cannot even comprehend in the slightest bit how you must be feeling. I just can't even imagine how you are enduring this experience. I didn't intend for my comment to sound like I can relate in any sense. I cannot relate. That's why I am so amazed with you. Thanks again for sharing your experience.
ReplyDeleteHey Joce, so good to hear from you. Overall, this time around, I have been very grateful for the anti-nausea since we were able to get the medicine up to such levels that it actually stopped the vomiting. After round 1 when I was taking less, I noticed that they did a good job of preventing me from throwing up, but didn't make me feel less nauseous. As for not being able to relate, I think it's ok to try and relate it to our own experiences as that is how we try and process everything. I think the mistake comes when people think one experience equals the other and say things like, "Oh I know what you're going through because I did x." I wouldn't presume to know what even another testicular cancer patient experienced because everyone responds so differently to the surgery, drugs, etc. Thanks again for checking in, we so appreciate your support.
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