Treatment #5...A whole new ballgame!

So, the doctor ordered a week off from my chemotherapy treatments.  It was wonderful.  I felt like garbage most of the time, (It takes a while for those "medicines" to clear one's system) however it was decreasing in intensity.  It was nice to gradually feel more normal as the week progressed.  A very generous friend offered me and Ron the use of her brand new cabin in Pine for the weekend, and we took her up on it.  If I felt very well right now I would tell you all about that weekend and her beautiful cabin, but suffice it to say it was a much needed and appreciated weekend.  As much as I never actually felt very well for very long, I just kept thinking how grateful I was that another dose of that AC treatment had not been added on.  I cannot tell you how happy I am to have that part of my life over for good.  That stuff is a beast!

So come last Tuesday, I felt almost back to normal and was feeling ...I think a bit over confident...that the next round of 4 treatments of Taxol would much easier.  I was excited to have no more nausea....or at least significantly less of it.  I've read many experiences and was under the impression that Taxol would be a piece of cake compared to the A/C.

So on Tuesday, I went in with a good attitude and they hooked me up to a new cancer fighting drug.  The whole process took about 6 hours including the Dr. visit, blood tests and infusion.  They put a whole lot of drugs in you before they actually give you the Taxol.  The pre-drugs made me sleepy so I slept most of the time, while my mom watched a couple of movies. One thing I noticed is that I had cramps in my abdomen and I was sweating profusely while receiving the infusion.  They watch pretty closely for allergic reactions to this stuff, but didn't seem concerned about the sweating, so I just slept and sweat away.  When I was done, I felt a bit groggy, but OK.

The next day, I felt pretty good.  In fact I felt really good.  The Dex, a steroid, that they  give you before the infusion is credited for that.  It really gives you energy and makes you feel good.  So I was optimistic that this was going to be pretty easy.  Until Thursday... About halfway through Thursday, Taxol began to show it's true colors, and all I can think is SERIOUSLY????!!! Why didn't the doctor warn me of this??  Why didn't he give me prescriptions for super narcotics for this?  At least tell me to take Ibuprofen for a few days or something.

Truly the pain is something else...like nothing I have ever experienced.  Well maybe, but not for so long.  Kind of like being in labor for days, while a little elf kicks you in the crotch to randomly inflict shooting pains as well.  That was on Thursday...by Friday the shooting pains were everywhere and excruciating...even my teeth on occasion would get a shot of pain.  I didn't quite know what to do.  I am not a big medicine taker.  I started with Naproxen at times and Ibuprofen at others...all the while looking at the bottle of Vicodin that Sarah got a couple of years ago when she had her wisdom teeth removed.  I've kept it around...just in case, and on very rare occasions of extreme pain, I've taken one.

It took the whole day  and into the late night of extreme pain on Friday to convince me to take one of those little pills, and within 15 minutes I was asleep.  A little bit later I woke up writhing in pain again and I took another one and fell back into a relieving comatose type sleep.  I woke up a few hours later and took another one.  Saturday I called the on-call doctor to ask what I should do for the extreme pain they never warned me about.  He told me the pain I was experiencing was unusual...yet when I read online I see that it is not.  He also told me outside of going to the emergency room, there was not much he could do for me as he can't call in narcotic prescriptions.  So he told me to keep taking the ones I had and call my doctor if it didn't get better by Monday, but to go to the emergency room if it got any worse (heaven forbid!).

I have read that the pain usually subsides within 4 or so days.  Today it is 5 days since my treatment and I am feeling some relief.  I still have pain shooting from my tail bone up or down...or wherever...but not as often or as intense, but still pretty painful.  My feet feel like I have been walking on concrete for 5 days without rest.  They feel swollen and tingly...so I try to stay off of them as much as possible.  

Fortunately, the nausea from the first 4 AC treatments has gone away.  What a relief.  The Vicodin makes me nauseous, but it is different...much more serious, like I will really throw up, but don't, however it is a relief to not be so hungry.  I can eat normally when I feel like it, but if I don't eat for a while, it doesn't become painful and desperate.  So far, I think I will take the pain over the way the AC made me feel.  Perhaps after a couple more treatments of Taxol, I might rethink that.

I am receiving 4 bi-weekly treatments of Taxol for 8 weeks and should be done by mid-July.  I have read that I could opt to have less intense treatments weekly that have fewer side effects, however they would be for 12 weeks.  I am debating...finish and be done with it in 8 miserable weeks, or stretch it out, be less miserable while adding 4 extra weeks on.  I don't know...I am so done with this.