What a pain!

This has been one of the roughest weeks Emily has had since the beginning of this process. The chemo drugs that she was on for the first four treatments (the AC combination) will stay in her system for another two weeks, so they overlap with the new drug that she started last week (the Taxol). The combined effects have been nasty! The fatigue is dramatically worse than in previous weeks and the newest side effect is terrible pain in her joints and bones. Her femur bones ache, her hips and knees hurt, and she has pain in her toes and oddly enough, in her fingernail beds! The docs prescribed Oxycodone to ease her suffering (and possibly get her into a Hollywood rehab clinic) but it only works for about 2 hours. The discomfort keeps her from sleeping, even when she takes an Ambien. Yikes! According to her nurse, these symptoms should abate as the AC disappears from her system. Let's hope so!

Em, none of us can fully understand what your body is going through and how hard it must be to face each day with these yucky symptoms and side effects. Just know that we are all thinking of you and hoping that this too shall pass - hopefully sooner than later!

Cumulative effects

Chemo causes tiredness that sleep cannot erase. The doctors say that the effects are cumulative, so with each treatment she gets more and more exhausted. Emily will be sitting on the couch and chatting and suddenly she will slowly tip over and fall asleep. The best example of this fatigue is Em's recent description of the simple process of taking a shower. She can manage to complete the actual shower part, but has to sit down for a couple of minutes before even attempting to dry herself off. Once dry, she has to lie down on her bed for a rest period before getting dressed. Usually right after she gets dressed she falls asleep for approximately one hour. I guess it is a small blessing to not have any hair to dry or style during these days!

This week she started her new chemo drug called Taxol, which has some potentially scary effects during the first treatment. They have to deliver the drug very slowly into her system because whatever is in the drug cocktail can potentially trigger an allergic reaction and send the patient into anaphylactic shock. They pumped her full of Benadryl before they started to administer the Taxol and fortunately she did not have any reaction to the drugs. She also had to have her heart checked last week to make sure she had not sustained any heart damage during the first half of her chemo regimen. Those tests came back with good results and her heart continues to function normally.

The countdown continues - as of yesterday, Em completed her fifth treatment. Three more to go over the next 2 months. We are officially on the downhill slope!

Is nothing sacred?

It has been two weeks since my last post and Em has had her ups and downs. Literally. First, she spiked a fever, which is quite scary when you are a chemo patient. As long as your fever stays below 100.5, you are okay but once you hit that point, you must rush off to the emergency room, just in case. When her temp got up to 100.3, my dad fired up the heating pad and wrapped her in two dryer blankies. As all good Porters know, the heat treatment will fix anything! Fortunately the trip to the emergency room was averted and her fever slowly came down.

Her next crisis came during a fun afternoon outing with her lovely sister. :) She was feeling pretty good on Sunday afternoon and we trundled off to the movies together. After enjoying a good chick flick (27 Dresses, for those who are interested) and plenty of popcorn and candy, we stood up to exit the theater. The next thing we knew, she tripped and went rolling down the stairs! Fortunately for what was left of her pride, her wig and hat stayed firmly on her head, but she ended up sprawled out on the floor upside down, blocking the exit aisle. She managed to regain her composure (and her balance) but she has some nasty bruises to show for it. In the chemo literature that she received it does mention that the lack of red blood cells can cause severe lightheadedness and falling is actually very common. Bummer, huh? Especially in public!

A surprise highlight in her week came just today, when Jocelyn, Kathryn and I showed up for a visit. Em was getting ready to go to her chemo appointment and had not yet put on her hat. She put Jocelyn on her shoulders for a quick ride and got quite a surprise. Jocie could not resist leaning down and LICKING Em's bald head! We have attached some photos of the incident.

Being the good aunt that she is, Em just laughed and helped me search for a camera to capture the moment. It was truly an event to remember!

Today was her 4th chemo treatment and the last one of this particular drug combination. Starting two weeks from now she begins her Taxol treatment, which doesn't have nausea associated with it. Yipee! It will be interesting to see what fabulous new side effects it will have, however. She has reached the 1/2 way point! Way to go, Em!