Middle of the Night Blog

Chemo six yesterday was an interesting experience. I went in without any fears at all, not all scared like the first time two weeks ago. Karen was assigned to me as my nurse, and she had been my nurse before. It was a comfortable feeling. She even had put my name on a chair, all waiting for me with a pillow! She knew I'd probably sleep from the Benadryl. That was so nice. It was about 10:15 when we arrived, and by 10:30 she was accessing my port. No problems, she got it on the first try very well. I'm really glad I'm over the fear of having that port accessed.

The four pre-meds were first, so the Decadron was started. Yesterday the doctor had agreed that the Decadron can cause you to feel highly energized the next day. Tonight I remembered that I didn't sleep a wink the Wednesday night after the first Taxol. I tossed and turned all night in the bed, wondering why I couldn't sleep. Tonight I went up to bed at 11:20, and as usual, Mark and I read in bed until about midnight. Once he turned the lights out and went to sleep, I kept reading my iPhone book in the dark because it has it's own light source. I kept reading; I played solitaire; I read some news on the Time app; I went into the bathroom with the paperback book I'm reading; I sang through all the songs from the first half of the Cabaret in my head to see if I could remember the words; I looked at the clock on my phone every half hour. At 3 a.m. I was ravenously hungry and still not a bit sleepy, so I got up and came downstairs for breakfast. I had a toasted English Muffin, hot tea, and an Activia yogurt. Now I'm writing my blog for the day. Hm...yes, Decadron does give you crazy energy!!

Before the Decadron was actually started, they took my vitals, standard procedure. My BP was low, 83/51, so Karen was afraid to start the Benadryl or Taxol before it came up a bit since both drugs can lower blood pressure. She brought me a glass of ice water and told me to drink it up pretty quickly. She also put up a bag of saline. The Decadron takes 15 minutes to go in and another 15 minutes for some more water and saline. By then my BP had come up to 101/60, so Karen pronounced me ready for the Benadryl, Reglan, and Pepcid. All went well.

Well, I finally had my four pre-meds, just like two weeks ago, and the Benadryl definitely made me a little groggy and sleepy again. I tried to read and watch TV, but it was hard to focus. About 11:50 Mark had to leave to drive down to Laurel Pharmacy and pick up another one of his medications. I was being offered lunch about that time, so I got a tuna salad sandwich, chips, soup, and two delicious-looking oatmeal raisin cookies. I ate everything except the cookies, which I wanted to save for later in the afternoon when I figured I would get hungry again.

At 12 Karen started the Taxol drip. I wasn't at all concerned, but at 12:10 or so I got VERY concerned!! Suddenly I could feel my head and face get hot. A minute later my ears felt like they were on fire. My heart was slamming in my chest, and I could not catch my breath. Whoa! Where did this come from? I saw Karen just a few chairs away from me with another patient. I called to her, "Karen, I'm not feeling right." Immediately she looked at me and suddenly three nurses were hovering over me. George, the nurse who had given me the Taxol two weeks ago was the first to arrive. Instantly he turned the Taxol off. He also called over his shoulder, "Tell the EMT's not to go to lunch." Karen was preparing a syringe of 50 units of Benadryl that she pushed by hand into my IV through the port. The third nurse was taking my vital signs and putting on an oxygen mask. Fortunately the vitals were looking pretty good. I was very red, they said. George remarked that I had not had any of these allergic reactions last time. They were calm and reassuring, constantly telling me that I would feel better soon. They were right. In about ten minutes, I could feel the heat in my ears receding; my head and face did not feel so flushed; I was calming down. They told me to relax and wait about a half hour or so before resuming the Taxol. I remained on the saline and oxygen through that time.

Now it gets really weird! Karen came up to me and asked, "Don't you wear glasses? Are these yours?" She was holding my glasses. I had not realized I wasn't wearing them. She said they had been removed with my lunch tray, but someone noticed them and brought them back. Huh? My lunch tray was gone? My glasses were on the lunch tray? I had no memory of taking them off and putting them on the lunch tray. I remember eating lunch while Mark was still here. In fact, he left while I was still eating. I remember them starting the Taxol because I made a comment to Karen that the main event was starting. I don't remember taking my glasses off, sleeping/passing out, or realizing that the tray had been removed. Weird. The WORST news was that they also removed those delicious-looking cookies that I had been saving for later. Sniff.

At that point I decided to text the kids, Mark, and Cindy about what had happened. I reached into my lap for my iPhone because that's where it had been when I was eating. It wasn't there. I panicked thinking that somehow it might have been removed with the lunch tray also. YIKES! I called out to Karen that I couldn't find my phone. The nice lady who was sitting with another patient to my left told me it was in the chair next to me, the chair Mark had been using. Weird again. That chair is at least a foot or two lower than the big recliners the patients sit in. I have NO memory of reaching over the arm of my recliner to lay the phone down in that chair. It's like I totally lost about ten minutes of time. Passed out? Sleeping? Doing things unconsciously? None of that is like me. It's just weird. Anyway, the phone was there, so I texted everybody about the weird events. I teased Mark by saying, "You can't leave me alone for a minute!"

Karen started the Taxol back up about 1:20, over an hour after my reaction. They went back to the protocol used for the first time: a very, very slow drip, check vitals in 15 minutes, if vitals are good, increase the speed, repeat. After about an hour the speed was back up to the full, normal speed (whatever that is!). Apparently, since I had no reactions last week, they thought that I could tolerate the full, normal speed right away. WRONG! So next time they are going to start it slow and watch for any reactions, following the protocol of the first time. They are undecided as to whether I will get the extra Benadryl right away or not. It's noted in my chart, and the doctor will make that decision. I finished up at 4:10. Officially the center closes at 4, but they stay until everyone is done. I wasn't the last to leave, but there only a few other patients left behind when we walked out. Wow! It was a bit more of an adventure than I had planned on, but it's over. Six down, Two to go, three/quarters of the way finished. I feel really, really good about that.

Mark returned close to 2 p.m. from Laurel, but he had not had time to eat lunch. He went to the Subway in the hospital food court for his salad, but he also brought me three oatmeal raisin cookies! He's a the Best Breast Cancer Husband EVER!! I really enjoyed those cookies. Thanks, Mark.

So now it's 4:10 a.m.! I have finished the story of my Taxol infusion, and I'm watching the Nutcracker Ballet on WETA. Very nice. Maybe before the all-night study sessions of Shavuot, everyone should have a Decadron IV drip. I have never stayed up all night this alert and energized in my life! It's weird.

I have to go get my neulasta shot this afternoon at 4:10, always 24 hours after the chemo ends. That means we will probably be driving through some snow and ice, not much, but the first sticking kind of the season. I hope it's not too bad out there at rush hour in bad weather. Oh, wait, this is the Baltimore/Washington area and it's ALWAYS bad at rush hour and even worse in bad weather. UGH.

We have some shopping to do for Thursday's dinner. Mark is going to make a special steak, french fries, and mushroom dinner that he saw on the Food Channel. Lowell is coming over again for more TV and DVDs. I hope I can stay awake for all of this having now spent the whole night awake. I'll let you know tomorrow!