Chemo Round 10

Since my last post a lot has happened. With the drain out I can actually move about without any pain but the abscess is still there and could be a constant source of potential infection as I fight my way through these last 3 rounds of chemo.

So I got my drain out on Friday, had a good day Saturday but woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning with a fever, sweats, chills and a headache - all the hallmark signs of an infection. So I hopped a plane home on Sunday afternoon from Victoria and headed straight to the Foothills emergency department for some good times. I got in pretty fast and was moved up to a bed in Unit 91 very quickly. I went for a CT scan at midnight (to see if the abscess had grown) then went back to my room where I went on some high powered IV antibiotics. I was sharing a room with a depressive paranoid schizophrenic chain smoker and a funny little Greek man who spoke English well (at a reasonable volume) and Greek very well (at a ridiculously loud volume). The CT scan showed no cancer in my liver and the spots in my lung have shrunk to the point that they can't be seen on a CT scan anymore (good news! The chemo is working!). It also showed that abscess in my pelvis was still there but had not grown. As such there was no way (and no reason) to try and put a drain back in.

One other explanation of my symptoms is withdrawal. At the time my drain was removed I had been taking a fair amount of high powered painkillers (oxcodone) and I stopped cold turkey when the drain got pulled out. I had no more pain so I figured I didn't need the drugs but I had forgotten that when you stop oxycodone you need to stop it over a few days or a week not all of a sudden. So perhaps I had an infection and perhaps I was suffering from withdrawal but either way I made it back tot he hospital Tuesday to get juiced up with my 10th round of chemo. I'm finding that I feel pretty good other than the fatigue, nausea, terrible taste in my mouth, sensitivity to cold and the neuropathy. The neuropathy is new. I'm starting to loose the feeling in my toes which is a common side effect of the oxaliplatnin. So now I'm sitting at home (and even out on the deck!) waiting for the good days to come. Only 2 more rounds after this one...

The picture is from our trip to NZ in 2000. We were kayaking Milford Sound in the rain.