Holly's Notes and Condition

Feb 21 - Dose #08 of Chemo Done!

I had a good morning, before leaving for my 2 pm Chemo appt. I had gotten a good night's rest and that made a big difference. I had taken my doctor's advice and really tried to hydrate well before my chemo appt - plump up those veins. I talked to my sister Helene this morning and told her that this week I intended to be a 'plump pincushion'.

Chemo Dose #08 - The portacatheter worked well for the infusion of chemo, however after several attempts, including having me lie down flat - still no go on the blood draw. So Phyllis, my nurse tried to draw blood from the vein on the inside of my right wrist, just above where she was successful last week - no go ( it instantly bruised). My skin is sensitive and reacted to the tape bandage covering the port - so Phyllis used a smaller needle to access the port, even so, because she couldn't use the anesthetic spray - because it too can cause rashes, and I seem to get rashes - it hurt going in, as Phyllis said, "You're just gonna have to suck it up." After I was done and she had flushed the port - she put a single cotton ball with paper tape over the port area and told me to take it off in an hour, which I did as soon as we got home. (I still have red ring circles from the EKG contacts adhesive of last week's surgery and they were only on for 4 hours.) Because my hemoglobin was in normal ranges last week - Phyllis got Dr Okun to give me a one week reprieve - no more trying to draw blood this week - thank you.
Which also meant no Procrit shot - thank you again.

Dave and I met with Dr Okun and I noted that my left arm is still tingling and my left pointer finger is tingling more than anywhere else. I have several painful red spots under my left arm - inflamed hair follicles, he told me - treat with warm compresses. I still am having trouble sleeping on either side - but at least the surge of pressure up my neck and shooting pain in my head that makes me get back up immediately - has eased up considerably. He thinks the nausea of last week was just a part of my whole surgery experience and shouldn't be a factor this week.

His advice regarding the support group that I tried was to try and link up with the ladies that come into his office for treatment instead. I told him I was going to check out Dr Curcio's Young Women's Breast Cancer Support Group which meets next month, as I am considered a young woman until I turn 50 and the treatments if you have cancer after 50 are different than the way they treat young women - like me. So I'll give it a try - besides I know the moderator, Dr Curcio, my surgeon will give consistent information, as she's the one treating me to begin with.

So, I'm going back to see my surgeon, Dr Curcio on Mon Feb 26th to see what this portacatheter is doing that isn't allowing it to do blood draws - she'll ultrasound me, at the least -because as Dr Okun pointed out - we need it to work.

posted by Holly @ 6:23 AM