#213: Side Effects

Shakes. That's what I've got today. One of the drugs that comes with my chemo treatments is a steroid that tastes like peaches. I think that's the one, anyway. It really hypes me up. This is a good thing. One of my friends warned me that the steroids turned him into a real jerk. They just make me annoying. I finally wore Mrs P out with my fidgeting and chatter so she put herself down for a nap. I'm typing, but my hands are really shaking. Don't think I could handle a teaspoon full of soup right now.

I've been very lucky with side effects. I appear to have a sunburn from my cheeks down to the middle of my chest. That's from the radiation. Also the mucosa thingy I've described. Nothing earth shattering. Fungal and other biotic infections that are pretty quickly killed off. Oh, and everything tastes like dog butt.

My chemo drug is called Cisplatin. It's a pretty old drug, but still effective. The list of side effects is daunting. I've had only the highlighted ones.

•Nephrotoxicity - causes damage to the kidneys

•Neurotoxicity - causes damage to the nerves
•Nausea and vomiting - one of the most likely to cause severe nausea and vomiting
•Ototoxicity - hearing loss which is currently not treatable
•Alopecia - hair loss, not a common side effect
•Electrolyte imbalance - causes various problems with cell operation
•Decrease of blood cells in bone marrow
•Thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count)
•Leucopenia (low white blood cell count)
•Myelosuppression (decrease in bone marrow effectiveness)
•Changes in how food tastes
•Frequent diarrhea
•Numbness in the extremeties
•Extreme fatigue
 
Today I went back into the infusion center to get a shot of something whose name I didn't catch. Grace, who only called me "Hon," today - I was a little disappointed - told me the name then mentioned that the syringe full she was about to give me cost $6800. I kind of blacked out after that. The drug is intended to boost the functioning of my bone marrow and to get my white blood cells back in business. Grace really is a good nurse and an artist with a needle. I fled absolutely nothing as she stuck me in the left triceps and injected the mystery drug. Some people tolerate it pretty well. Others develop flu-like symptoms including aches that may be severe enough to require breaking out the Percocet. I don't want to be sick tomorrow. I want to go to the park to see The Merchant of Venice tomorrow night. That's the final dress rehearsal and I'm trying to avoid the really big crowds later in the week. Cancer is all about adjusting. And watching Shakespeare stoned isn't the worst thing in the world. I can think of several productions I've seen that would have been greatly improved by a few pain killers.

We took a trip to the Wal-Mart today. I prefer Meijer, but didn't feel up to the cross-town drive. Since we needed both groceries and medical supplies, we sort of walked cross-town instead. Water was in one corner of the store. Isopropyl alcohol and Ensure was in the opposite corner. Naturally there is no path "as the crow flies" from one end of the store to the other so we went arooooound. Twice. By the time we hit the check out line, I was pretty beat. We had a coupon for Ensure which our cashier forgot to scan. She looked pretty lost when we pointed it out, so we volunteered to go over to the customer service desk. Since that's my station at Meijer, I spent the whole time critiquing the disorder and the cool behavior of the person behind the desk. I would have treated us much better. Just sayin'.

Back home then, a two can tube feeding, and here to chat with you for a while. Someone posted a great scripture on the Motley Fool today. I loved it so much that I put it in my bio on this blog. I'll close with it.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair. - 2 Corinthians 4:8

AMEN!
Peace,
pennsy