Wendy
9-13-11
I was just in the hospital from September 1st until the 9th. I had a chemo treatment on Thursday (Sept 1st) and waited for my blood levels to clear so I could go home. On Sunday morning (Sept 4th) my levels were clear (which is a record for me), but I had a fever and felt terrible. If your temperature is 100.4 or above they admit you (or keep you) in the hospital. I had a fever for several days and felt lousy so it postponed my leg surgery twice that week. The doctor went out of town so my leg surgery is rescheduled for Wednesday, September 21st. I will supposedly start chemo back up 2-3 weeks after surgery, but I'm not sure because of the lung surgery. I've got another 4 1/2 months of chemo before I'm done...
They did another CT scan of my lungs and it is still showing the nodule in my left lung, unchanged after chemo. Since it is under 1 cm in size they aren't sure if it is cancerous, but they want to remove and biopsy it to be sure, so that's another surgery I have to go through. They'll cut the back left side of my body, collapse my left lung, and feel for any bumps and cut them out along with the nodule. If it turns out to be cancerous, they have to do the same procedure with my right lung as well. They are going to wait until I heal from the leg surgery before they do the lung surgery. The lung surgery will be at my local hospital though.
While I was in the hospital with a fever for several days I noticed my texting began extremely difficult for me one evening. It took me literally 30 minutes to type a 5 word message--it was insane! That freaked me out, so I let the doctor know. Later that night I woke up and immediately threw up in my bed...had no reaction time at all. The nurse called the doctor and he ordered a CT scan of my brain at around 2 am. The next morning I woke up and my mom was there with me. I was slightly confused about certain things which worried my mom. First it was the texting, then I couldn't sign my name for a consent, then it was me attempting to pee on my bed or something, then it was me trying to put soap on my toothbrush, but ending up trying to put toothpaste on my toothbrush holder...go figure. Just some weird neurological stuff was happening.
They had me do a lumbar spinal tap to test for meningitis, an EEG to test for epilepsy/seizures, and an MRI of my brain to make sure I have one...haha ok so it was really to make sure everything was functioning properly. I will say, the MRI of the brain is very different from any other MRI I've had. It's much more annoying and if you're claustrophobic, FORGET IT! The day of the spinal tap I had terrible nausea, constipation, and a fever which was not fun AT ALL. I also had to talk to a neurologist to see if I was losing it. Let me just say for the record, I can't count down from 100 by 7's if I was completely fine mentally or mentally ill! Geez lol. All of my tests came back ok. Basically what we think happened was all side effects of the methotrexate. Here is a list of what COULD happen:
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); black or bloody stools; blood in the urine; bone pain; calf pain/swelling; change in amount of urine; chest pain; confusion; dark urine; diarrhea; dry cough; enlarged glands; fatigue; fever or chills; inflammation of the pancreas (stomach tenderness, nausea, vomiting, fever, increased pulse rate); irregular heartbeat; mental changes; mouth sores; muscle weakness; persistent sore throat; red, swollen, or blistered skin; seizures; serious infection (herpes, hepatitis, blood infection); trouble breathing; unusual bleeding or bruising; unusual pain and discoloration of the skin; vision changes; vomit that looks like coffee grounds; yellowing of skin or eyes.
I had a few of those side effects and am still experiencing the discoloration of the skin (mostly on my hands, and they're very dry), but I think everything else is back to normal for the most part. That was a very scary thing that happened and I pray it never happens again. I know this note has been very personal, but I've been wanting to type a list of changes that have been happening to my body or describe pain I've been experiencing so I can remember in the future and so you can understand what I'm going through. The next paragraph will be about that stuff, so if you don't want to read it you can skip it.
Sometimes my tibia feels like it wants to break in half, right through my skin. I've had neuropathy in my left leg since May 17th when I had my biopsy. First the pins and needles feeling followed by numbness and then burning. The left side of my leg is STILL numb and the top of my left foot is sensitive to the touch/burns. My feet have gotten a few spots on them from discoloration, however my hands are the worst. They have been very dry lately also. My fingerprint pads are peeling right now, so it's the perfect time to commit a crime! Haha that was a joke, but it rhymes which makes it even better! I've had a few yeast infections from all the medications I've been put on. My arm hair and eyebrow hair are finally starting to come out. My leg and armpit hair grows back like peach fuzz and not very quickly. My head hurts about 1-2 weeks after my mom shaves my head. The hair looks like little splinters sticking out of my head and it feels kinda like that when I lay down...that's when I know it's time to shave again! I haven't lost my taste as of yet, though I have had a long period where I couldn't eat anything spicy due to mouth sores. I'm sure that day will come again soon when I do more chemo, but they gave me a new drug called Palifermin which did prevent mouth sores the last few weeks. I had a loss of appetite the last several weeks. I've experienced back pain--intense burning throughout the back muscles and only a heating pad helps it. Pass that along to any friends you may have going through chemo. Sometimes I feel bruised from the waist up...the slightest touch feels like someone is pressing on a bruise and it's quite painful especially when they take your blood pressure! My face broke out into baby acne all over...I changed my face soap and it's better now. The cancer/chemo has pretty much affected my whole body since I pretty much put info about it from head to toe in here.
I have a week off right now to enjoy life and I am doing my absolute best. I've been fighting off migraines from the spinal tap and laying in bed for the last few days...not fun. Richard took me to work today to say hello to my co-workers/friends and when we got home I was VERY CLOSE to throwing up. On Friday night when I got to go home I threw up in my dad's truck because the bright lights from cars driving by hurt my head bad and I just felt sick. I felt terrible for that happening, but everything got cleaned up and all is well. It was just late and bad timing. I am hoping to be able to drive in the next day or 2. I just need to be able to sit up and look at stuff in the light. When you have spinal migraines you are supposed to lay down immediately in a dark room. It's been hard for me to walk around very much in fluorescent lighted places or in the sun without getting a headache, so that's been the only pain since I've been home. I want to enjoy my time and go out, but my back has got to get better first.
As always, I want to thank each and every one of you that has prayed for me over the last several weeks. I love you all and you are a wonderful support system to me. I don't know what I'd do without my parents, family, and amazing friends. You all make a difference in my life and I appreciate the love you've shown me. Keep up the prayers as I have 2 surgeries approaching. I will put my trust and faith in God for He is the ultimate healer.