Saturday, June 13, 2009

My Moms Chemo Reaction

My mom had her first chemo treatment yesterday. When she woke up the morning of her treatment, her eye was red and badly bloodshot. She hoped that that would not stop them from giving her her chemo.

When she got there they checked her eye out to make sure it was not anything that needed to be treated and then tried to start her chemo, but her port that she had put in was not working. They finally got it to work an hour and a half later, so she started the chemo late. The port clogged a few more times, so Monday she has to see the doctor and they are going to do a dye test with the port to see what the problem is. She might have to have a new one put in.

At the end of her chemo they gave her a large dose of one of the drugs. (The same drug that she would be hooked up to all weekend at the house. She ended up having a reaction to the drug. She said she developed bad shoulder pain, her heart rate shot up, lips went numb, head got fuzzy and she started having bad hot flashes and dizzy spells. The nurses hooked her up to a heart monitor right away. Her blood pressure was very high, so they have her a shot of Benadryl and gave her Tylenol. They kept her there for an extra 40 minutes to make sure she was OK. The chemotherapy treatment place canceled the transfusion nurse that was suppose to come to the house to hook the chemo to her port, because her doctor is debating dropping the drug or just seeing if she needs a slower dose and not a large one all at once.

So Monday she goes to have her port checked and because she was not able to do chemo this weekend she will go in Wed. of this week to have the rest of her chemo. That is when they will test the drug she had the reaction too. If she has a reaction again they will drop the drug and add a new one. Tuesday depending on how the port test goes Monday, she might have to have the port reinstalled, she doesn't know yet.

When I woke up this morning she was sleeping on the couch, but since then she has eaten a light breakfast. She is very wore out feeling and has cramps and an upset stomach. She has not thrown up yet though. She also says that her sinuses hurt and her teeth.

I canceled my therapy appointment for Wed. at 2pm because my mom has to have chemo and there will be no one to take me. So I told the therapist I will call her next Monday to make another appointment because I will know more by then.

I am still having dreams about having chemo. Last night was no different, only in this dream, both me and my mother were getting chemo at the same time and I was sick to my stomach and vomiting in my dream. I started crying in my dream and woke up from the sound of me actually crying which was weird. So I guess I cry in my sleep.

Side story that most people won't believe, but I want to just add it here for myself.

Yesterday around 3pm I was on the internet and I developed bad right shoulder pain, deep inside the shoulder and the pain was also in the side of my neck. My first thought was "Oh great, I am having a heart attack and no one is here and I can't reach my parents" (The cell phone has to be off in the chemo area.) I looked up heart attack online and that was only mildly helpful. It said the arm pain is usually on the left side (mine was on the right), but that it can be in either arm and sometimes there is no symptoms at all...great.

So I got up and went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror and I looked fine, but my shoulder continued to hurt. I thought maybe I slept on it wrong or lifted something the wrong way. I then took Tylenol and figured I would see if it helped. It did and it went away 20 mins or so after.

It was not till my mom came home and told me about her chemo reaction that I even knew she had severe shoulder pain. The pain was the same as mine, deep shoulder pain going to the side of the neck. It was the same side, both were in the right shoulder and for the pain the nurse gave her Tylenol...the same pill I decided to take for my pain. Her pain started around 3pm the same time mine came out of no place.

Either way coincidence or not it was interesting. I have had no shoulder pain since that point.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your shoulder pain was interesting.
Is your Mum dreaming, too?

Brian Baxter said...

Not that she has told me, so I don't think so. I have casually mentioned my bad dreams to her, so I assume she would have told me if she was. :)