January 19, 2022

Quick update…

It has been a week and a half since I got the new chemotherapy infusion. Wanted to let you all know how it went. For many good reasons, the cancer center has not been allowing visitors to come in for visits since the pandemic was on the rise. The only way that you can is if your doctor writes a letter for you, and it has to be a specific day. They also have other reasons for visitors to accompany a patient.

That being said, I decided since it was a new chemo and I had no idea what to expect, that I would get a letter for Mark to accompany me that day. So we got to the appointment and I was taken to my chair. There are 5 other chairs in our area and only 1 taken directly behind us.

The nurse came over and she was explaining that Doxil (the new drug) can cause an allergic reaction and if it is going to happen, it will happen within the first 15 minutes. She said that she would be close by and to let her know if anything feels strange, started the chemo, and walked away. I’d say within minutes I felt strange, flushed, my ears were burning and felt like they had to pop, and I felt a closing feeling of my airway in between my breasts. I looked at Mark and told him to hit the button, like he knew what button! Then I raised my arms and started screaming to the nurses who weren’t that far away. I said to Mark, the red button, the red button. So he hit that too.

Next things I knew I was swarmed by nurses. Some asking me questions and other taking orders from the nurse practitioner who had also arrived. I heard 25 of benadryl, solumedrol, pepcid. I couldn’t hear all the doses of each medication but I knew they were giving them to me. Then I hear a nurse say, “her heart rate is coming down and her O2 is improving”. It felt difficult to breath but they said my numbers were fine but gave me oxygen for comfort. I have no idea how long this all took but it was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. I am SO thankful Mark was there because after this all, I realized I was never given my “call light”. I finally felt back to normalish, a little nauseous which they said could be from the meds they pushed into my port. At one point I went to the restroom and just dry heaved. They stopped the Doxil infusion and were just giving me plain fluids and said they would do that for 30 minutes then check on me. The 30 minutes passed and the nurse practitioner came over and asked how I was feeling. At that point I felt better. My head felt a little strange from the medications they gave me. With all this said and done they were going to try the Doxil again at a low rate and then increase it every 5-10 minutes.

The Doxil was completed with no other issues. It was decided that prior to every treatment, they will give me a cocktail they call pre-meds. Basically everything they gave me when they stopped the infusion will be given to me prior. That is the plan for next month. I can’t say I’m not slightly nervous but I guess that’s normal.

Well until next time. Just wanted to update everyone. Thank you for following…