Round 4A: One day inpatient chemo turns to an overnight visit

Round two of inpatient chemo didn't go exactly as we were expecting. The plan was to be able to go home once the infusion was completed and sleep in our own bed, all because the first desensitization went so well. We had our same chemo nurse as we did the first time, Tonya, who is simply amazing! She always is so sweet and has all of her ducks in a row. She makes sure pharmacy is on top of things so she has all of my medications lined up and ready to go.


So here is the line up of medications. I had medications I had to take all weekend to prep my body to avoid an allergic reaction. We get directly admitted to a room on the oncology floor, also known as the penthouse since it is on the 9th floor. After getting my port-a-cath accessed, my premeds get hung and infuse. These are more IV Benadryl, steroids, Pepcid, and a long-acting anti-nausea medication. Once these are done, my Taxol (chemo that I don't have an issue with) gets infused over one hour. THEN starts the Carbo in 12 separate bags with an increasing doses with each bag.

 Ted and Connie were kind enough to bring us lunch and dinner. My hospital dinner was good, so I got to enjoy a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake! Yum!

 

 

 Tonya, my nurse, worked past her shift to hang my last bag before she left. Meredith was taking over as my next nurse. She saw me start to have a hot flash, I kicked my covers off. After the last chemo bag was hung, I got up to go to the bathroom. This is always a difficult task since I'm hooked up via my port, EKG leads, blood pressure cuff, and oxygen monitoring. When I looked in the mirror, I saw that my ears were bright red. Kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the flushing went down my arms and to my chest. I started having itching on my chest and back. Meredith immediately put my chemo on hold and called the PA, Liz.

Meredith on the phone with Liz, who talked with Dr. Wallace since Dr. Skinner (our oncologist) was on vacation. Everyone on my medical team decided that my premeds just wore off by the last bag of Carbo. I got all of the premeds once again. So that is DOUBLE the steroids! The Carbo ended up being on hold for 2 1/2 hours and once the premeds were done infusing, the Carbo was restarted at half of the rate as before. At least this was a mild reaction, no change in my heart rhythm or rate, and no breathing issues.





My good friend from my GYN cancer group, Kim, came by to visit after all of the commotion wore off! She brought me a really cute Santa bag that I can't wait to use! I just love this picture of us  :) 
Kim always can put a smile on my face!

 

 

 



Change of shift again! Meredith passed the torch to Kristin, who I had general nursing orientation with when we started as new grads at Forsyth! Kristin is the night time leader for the unit. I got the big wig for a bit before she needed to go home and get some sleep for an early morning!

My ICU buddy, Jennifer McBride, came by to visit us too! Not only that, she brought us dinner tonight. Not just one homemade pizza, but two! So I have stuff for lunch tomorrow. Thanks Jennifer, it was delicious!!!

Wil brought in some Christmas spirit! We were getting ready to finish the infusion there!

FINIALLY! All done at 11 pm at night! One smile then time to get some sleep! Since I got double the dose of steroids, the PA ordered me some IV Ativan to help me get some sleep. I slept from about 11:45 pm until 4:30 am. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it was an improvement from the first inpatient stay.

 

 

 

Poor Wil's sleeping arrangements. I love him so very much and am so glad that I had him by my side the whole time.

 

The next morning, our PA saw us and cleared us to go home. I got a prescription for Ativan since I will have a tough time sleeping from all of the steroids. We were home around 10:30 this morning and were able to take a nap in our own bed. I called my boss, Susan, to tell her that I ended up having to spend the night. And what do you know, she was amazing again! I'm still planning on working this week but it is nice to know that my boss is on my side if I'm not feeling good!

 

Wil and I feel so truly blessed to be surrounded by family, friends, church, and amazing medical team! We only have two more inpatient rounds to go!

Halfway to the finish line!

We are officially halfway done with chemo! Only three more months to go. I had labs drawn Monday and we saw Dr. Skinner. She said that she was very please with my physical exam and that everything was looking good. My hemoglobin is slightly low which is causing me to get short of breath easily. My CA-125 has decreased slightly and is around 5 now, it was around 6-7. Again we can't really trust my cancer marker since a 1 point increase or decrease usually isn't much to make a fuss about. I am officially all healed from surgery! Very exciting news! Took longer than we were all expecting but God has His own timeline.

This weekend, we are preparing for inpatient chemo. I will be taking medications every 6 and every 8 hours starting Saturday morning. I have to wake up in the middle of the night to take them as well. So this usually leads to little sleep for both me and Wil. Since last round went so well, Dr. Skinner said that we can go home whenever the infusion is completed. We would much rather sleep in our own bed, even if that means going home late at night.

Last night I had my GYN cancer support where we had dinner and played dirty Santa. Let me tell you what, these ladies went crazy stealing over some purses and pottery! I always enjoy spending time with these ladies, women who can relate to what I am going through. We had a lot of laughs with some great people.

Me and Tracy Riazzi (one of the best!)

 



 

 

 

Our nurse navigator, Robin, explaining the rules

Our group leader in the middle, Teresa Ball. She does so much for our group and we love her dearly!

Jennifer being a goof with her bow

Chemo 3C and Wil's Birthday with Garth

 

 

Wil's 31st birthday was on Saturday and we got tickets with a bunch of our friends to the Garth Brook's concert. This is the week that my white blood cell counts drop so we weren't even sure I was going to be able to go to the concert. On Monday, my ANC (mature white blood cells) was 1200, which was good. Anything over 1000 is considered enough immunity that I don't have to be housebound. I had my counts checked on Friday, before the concert, and our nurse, Lauren, called and said we were cleared to go to the concert! My ANC was 1200 again, which typically counts would drop even lower as the week goes on . Definitely an answered prayer for us!

We were able to have dinner with Wil's family on Friday to celebrate his birthday. Filled with his favorites; Stubbs barbeque chicken, green beans with mushrooms, strawberry pretzel pie, and cookie cake. Wil got many great presents from his sister's family and from his parents.


Saturday, we spent the day shopping at Lowe's for stuff for Wil to make some Christmas decorations. We then picked up our friends and headed to dinner in Greensboro for the concert. We were able to hang out and have some good food! The concert was absolutely amazing! I only know a few Garth songs but this was the best concert I have been to. He is an amazing performer! Wil had so much fun! He sang every word to every song and even danced a bit!

 

 

Sunday, we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with our small group from church. We all brought a lot of dishes and desserts. We then put together shoe boxes with gifts for Operation Christmas Child. This was such an amazing night of fellowship and food!

Chemo today, my ANC was 1200 again. At least I am consistent! Chemo went well, and we found out that one of nurses who tried to leave us, decided to come back! Kristen was our nurse today and took amazing care of us! I took a nap in the chemo room and then one when we got home. After my nap, my steroids kicked in and the house got a good deep clean! I am tolerating this cycle of chemo much better than the first go around. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Chemo 3B: Niece Nola's Dedication and another round of Taxol

I meant to write a blog last week to let everyone know how I was feeling. Wil and I were honestly so exhausted, it was the last thing on the To-Do list. I didn't sleep much the weekend before the inpatient chemo since I was having to wake up at all hours to take meds and the steroids jack me up. Monday in the hospital, neither one of really slept. I was able to take a little nap when we got home Tuesday morning and Wil took one later that afternoon. It took us all week to catch up on our sleep. I had to come home during the day on Wednesday from work to take a 2 hour nap and was asleep that night by 8 pm. I finally started feeling the fatigue lessen by Friday, which felt amazing!

This weekend, Wil and I took our first trip to Cary to visit my family since the recurrence. Saturday, we had breakfast with Wil's 90 year old Grandaddy and Wil's dad, Ted. Grandaddy always cracks me up. We drove him home to Burlington, since it was on our way to Cary. Grandaddy said that he had two things he wanted to work on this weekend, his genealogy and his obituary. Wil asked him why he needed to work on his obituary, since he is doing pretty good for 90 years old! Grandaddy, without skipping a beat said, "Cause you fools will mess it up!" We got a good laugh out of him.

My younger sister, Lauren and her husband, Hunter, had their youngest daughter Nola dedicated at church. We were so happy that we were able to make it. We love getting to spend time with all of our nieces and watching them grow up. They are all getting so big! My older sister's baby, Naomi, got to play with us all day Sunday too!

 

Hunter, Lauren, Tillie, and Nola up on stage

 

Uncle Wil getting some love from Naomi and Tillie!

 

 

Chemo today was just the Taxol at the outpatient unit. No issues at all! My ANC (mature white blood cells) were slightly low, 1200. They prefer it to be above 1500 for treatment, but my oncologist approved it since it was close. I don't have to be housebound until it drops below 1000. Below 500, I'm housebound on strong antibiotics. Wil's birthday is Saturday and we are suppose to go to the Garth concert. I will have my counts checked again on Friday since they typically drop more 8-14 days after Carbo. We have to make sure that my white blood cell counts are high enough before being around a lot of people. So we shall see!

 

 

My buddy from ICU, Jennifer McBride brought us beef stew for dinner. It was amazing! 

Chemo Round 3A: First ever INPATIENT chemo

Needless to say, the unknown is scarier than the known. I think I put that in an earlier blog, but it holds true for inpatient chemo. Wil and I had never been admitted to the oncology floor, after surgery we were on the women's surgical floor. Thank goodness, being a nurse at that hospital before, gives you some connections. I had general nursing orientation with Kristen Foley over 5 years ago. She went to nursing school with one of my best friends, Heather Smith. Kristen reached out to me after I posted that we were going to try desensitizing at the hospital. She told me that we would have great nurses watching over us and she would stop by and check in when she came in that night. I LOVE reading her blog, she is so crafty:  http://thedoublelifehousewife.wordpress.com/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog

 

 

Holly, my ICU trainer and sister-in-law, stopped by Sunday night to give us a poster that she made us. It has the song lyrics from "Strong Enough" which has stuck with Wil and I during this journey. It came to the hospital room with us and was right by my bed. 

 

 

I reused some Scripture quotes that our friend, Julie Gupton, made for us when we went in for surgery. Of course, she printed them out on teal paper, just perfect! They were so inspiring and uplifting the first time around, I wanted to stick them back up!

 



 The oncology floor is on located on the 9th floor of Forsyth Medical Center, the pent house! We had a GREAT view and a large room, which was really nice. I loved being able to open the blinds and see all the trees.

 

My mommy was able to come up to spend the day with us and take care of the dogs while we slept at the hospital. She brought a gift from her really good friend, Dana. Dana is very crafty and made me an amazing TEAL quilt!

 

Needless to say, it was put to good use!

 

 

 

 

 Me and mom!

 

Wil's work station during the infusion

All of the pumps and equipment

 

 

I got all of my usual IV pre-medications that I get in outpatient chemo. Then they ran in the first chemo, Taxol, the one that I did NOT have a reaction to before. Then my WONDERFUL nurse, Tonya, started my "brown bag special." That is the Carbo which I had the allergic reaction to. It hangs in a brown bag to protect it from sunlight. I get 650 mg (I think) of Carbo over 12 bags. The first bag started out with only 0.015 mg of Carbo. Each bag increased in dosage and ran in over 15-20 minutes. So by the 12th bag, it had the majority of the drug and infused over 3 hours. 

 

One of my GYN cancer support girls, Kim, came by to see me. I met her a year and a half ago when she was first diagnosed. We have formed such a special bond and I love her dearly. She even brought me a little gift, sticky notes! These come in handy since my chemo brain is so scattered!

Wil is actually rubbing my mom's neck, hence his face  :)

 

Then laughing about it too

Me and my wonderful husband during my infusions! He had to sleep in that super uncomfortable recliner next to my bed. So needless to say, not much sleep for either of us but we can always catch up at home!



 

The infusions went great, no problems occurred at all! They kept me overnight just to monitor me and plus I didn't get all unhooked until around 8:30 pm. Makes for a long day since we got there at 7:30 am. They kept my port accessed just in case I needed any medications overnight. We were able to get up, and walk around the unit and move around more easily. We had so many people that came by to check in on us. Wil's parents, my mom, former ICU co-workers Jennifer and Glenda, and countless calls and text messages! We appreciate all the support and help. We are safe and sound at home now and planning on both going back to work tomorrow. 

Here is right before we were discharged. We will be back to 9th oncology in 4 weeks to do this all again! Only 3 more inpatient rounds to go!

Getting ready for Desensitizing- Inpatient Chemo

    Tomorrow will be the big week for chemo, both the Carboplatin (the one I had an allergic reaction to) and Taxol. I had to take pre-medications starting Saturday morning. I am taking 20 mg of Decadron and 50 mg of over-the-counter Benadryl every 6 hours. Then every 8 hours, I am taking 300 mg of Tagamet. The Decadron is my steroids and a high dose of it. So even though I'm taking Benadryl, which usually knocks me out, I have not been sleeping at all. I am having to take medications during the night, 12 am then 2 am. I woke up a little late for my 2 pm dose but have been awake since 2:45 am. I have tried twice now to take a nap and no such luck.

Just to give you an idea, this was the handful of pills I had to take this morning.

Some are my regular medications and calcium gummies, and some are my pre-medications.

And yes, I do I have a pill box!

To recap what the game plan is for the next two days:
    We will go to Forsyth Medical Center (where I use to work and have had both of my surgeries) at 7:30. I will go to outpatient admitting and get a bed on the oncology floor on the 9th floor. Our PA told us to expect the infusion to start around 9 am. I had my labs drawn last week, so I don't have to wait for those. It just takes awhile to get to the room, admission paperwork, IV medications mixed, and my Port-A-Cath accessed.
    We will have just one nurse assigned to me so she will always be in the room. This will help for me to be closely monitored in case I have another allergic reaction. The goal of this is to "sneak" the Carbo into my system without my body noticing and having a reaction. It will be a small amount of Carbo to a lot of fluid.
    I will also get my Taxol in the hospital so I won't have to go back into outpatient chemo room for that. I will still get my regular IV pre-medications.

    I will do my best to keep everyone updated on the progress from tomorrow. Not sure if the IV Benadryl will knock me out or not. We shall see. We both would appreciate prayers to make sure I don't have another anaphylactic reaction. Also for Wil and I both to get sleep while spending the night in the hospital.

To Tampa and Back

We saw my oncology PA, Alison, on Tuesday to make sure my counts were high enough to travel safely. They were good but my exam showed that I'm still not fully healed yet. I was told that to fly, I needed to wear my compression socks, take an aspirin, and wear a mask. I took hospital grade Sani wipes and gloves so Susan (my boss) and I could sanitize our seats and everything we may touch on the plane.

Needless to say, we got a LOT of looks at the airport. I guess a lot of people are scared of Ebola. So when someone was staring a little too much, I would cough and say Ebola... Susan told me I should stop that :) I may freak someone out too much.

Susan and I had a crazy travel schedule, fly to Tampa on Wednesday at 2 pm and get there at 6:30 pm. We were able to go to dinner with a former employee at the Greensboro center. He was promoted and works at the corporate office now. Go Aaron! We had advanced injector training from 9-5:30 pm. We worked and trained all day. Then we left straight from the center to the airport. I didn't get back home until 12:30 am. Tired but learned a lot and had fun too!

 Flight 1: Greensboro to Atlanta

 

 

Flight 2: Atlanta to Tampa

 

Our awesome trainer, Katrina, and the whole gang!

 

Susan decided to doll up my masks for the flights home!

 

Flight 3: Tampa to Atlanta, as Marilyn Monroe

 

Flight 4: Atlanta to Tampa with Buckteeth, ready to be home!

 

 

The best part about this trip, was seeing some of the other state preceptors with teal bracelets on at breakfast. I saw that they said "Team Erin." I asked about it and was told that there is another provider that was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October. I'm not saying that I'm glad that she has cancer, just the opposite. I'm just glad that I may be able to reach out and help her.