rough week, but its getting better....

well.. its been a pretty rough week for trish, but she continues to hang in there.
the first few days after tuesday's infusion were the worst to date, but trish is bouncing back and is beginning to feel better each day.

last tuesday was the day of 8 drugs:

zofran
benadryl
decadron
pepcid
herceptin
cytoxan
5-fu
epirubicin


so its no wonder that she was feeling like crap.


so, if we rewind a bit...

last monday night: i had food poisoning, and was tossing my cookies all night long..

tuesday night: after trish's treatment, that night she making good friends with the porcelain queen and the bathroom floor.

wednesday night: no porcelain here, caden likes to toss his cookies in his bed... twice...

so i believe there is an ancient proverb about a family who pukes together...


wednesday, thursday: not much going on...
trish spent most of her time in bed trying to rid her self of the nausea. she tried keeping herself hydrated the best she could, but there wasn't much of an appetite for a few days. it was really, really rough on her.

friday: back to stanford we went for her second dose of the 5-FU...
between tuesday and friday, trish had lost 7 pounds. she was feeling horrible, but she was determined to walked up the stairs to the infusion center, and she did.

trish got some pre-drugs of decadron, lorazepam and zofran from nurse nenita.
the lorazepam and zofran really helped out with the nausea.

dr. otis came up to visit with trish, and she prescribed a new anti-nausea drug,
emend.
this a set of 3 pills you take over the course of three days, and is a longer lasting anti-nausea medication for chemo based symptoms. it seems to be working really well for trish, so she will continue on this each week she gets the "Big Dose", and next time, we will do it sooner than later... on tuesdays, not fridays.



so we got here at 11:30am on friday and the predrugs and 5-FU was done by 1:30pm, so it wasnt' too long of a day.


saturday: another trip back to stanford...
this time for trish's nuelesta shot. similar to the neupogen shots, but she will get this one once every three weeks. the shot runs ~ $5000 so the insurance company is a little hesitant to send it home with me so i can play doctor with it...
thus the reason we need to come in and have the trained professionals administer it.

we were in and out... about 20 minutes and we were done..
free parking on saturdays, what a bargain...
its also interesting to see how many out of state license plates are in the chemo lot on the weekend.. thats why they call this place a Cancer Center... they know what they are doing, and folks come from hundreds of miles away to reap the benefits we get by driving 5.9 miles... we always feel so fortunate to have such great treatment, facilities, doctors and nurses so close to us.


sunday - monday: trish was feeling better... wasn't in bed all day, but still some fatigue, but less nausea.
the nuelasta has been good to her so far, and she isn't as achy as the nuepogen shots.
the itchiness hasn't been so much of a complaint, but i think its masked by all the other crappiness she is feeling.



so that brings us to today.... trish woke up and looked and felt pretty decent. probably the best in the past week. so i think things are just gonna get better for her. its another 2 weeks until she gets teh "Big Dose" again, so i think she will be able to better enjoy these coming 14 days than she did the previous 7.


back in the ITA (infusion treatment area) at 8:30am this morning.
no blood tests today, as the herceptin is technically a hormone therapy and not a "chemo" drug. this will make the day go quicker.

8:40am: seated again in window seat C5.. trish's weight is back to normal
8:50am: start on the pre-drugs with nurse Lea
9:15am: nurse lea done with the predrugs of benadryl, decadron and pepcid
9:40am: herceptin on the hook, and will be done in 30 minutes

trish is currently sleeping and enjoying the benefits of a direct shot of benadryl into her IV.

we should be out of here around 10:15am... another pretty quick day...

after this, just a quick stop at dr. carlson's office to drop of some long term disability paperwork, and then we will be heading home...



thanks for checking in..