Saturday, December 15, 2007

Broken Wing or possible early Christmas present

Good news, bad news.
Just finished round 7 of Oxaliplatin. 7 down, 3 to go.
The bad news is that my right arm is functioning like a broken chicken wing this morning.
With Oxaliplatin, some side effects are cumulative. Basically, with each treatment one may experience harsher side effects for the platinum (Oxaliplatin is a platinum based chemo drug taken intravenously) builds up in your body and thus takes longer to be purged.

Peripheral neuropathy: Numbness and tingling and cramping of the hands or feet is a very common side effect that can get worse with each subsequent treatment.

In my situation, my body, specifically my veins are having a harder time with each round of Ox. After round 5, my right arm was hurtin' purdy bad and was achy-numb-tingling for the next 5 to 6 days. We slowed the rate in which the drug flows via the IV, that helped somewhat for round 6.

Ding Ding Ding - I answer the bell for round 7 and whamo!
Two hours and 45 minutes into the round, I call No Mas. My arm is hurtin' damn bad this time and I notice swelling to the left of the needle. We stop the treatment. I feel defeated as I look at the not quite empty clear plastic bag. I am told I may need to have a port embedded as to receive the Ox from here on out. I am thinking, "nahhh, not me Doc. I'm 70% done. 7 down, only 3 rounds to go. I can almost see the finish line from here..."

A port is definitely not on my Christmas wish list this year.
I shall find out next Thursday.

By the time I get home, I break out the percocet rx I had filled in August after being released from the hospital. The best way I can describe how my arm feels is this: Step 1, someone sneaks up on me and pulls my arm straight up over my head hyper-extending it. Step 2, most likely the same person, whacks my arm 18 to 2 dozen times with a broom handle. And Step 3, for good measure they sprinkle some sort of pixie dust concoction from my bicep down to my wrist that renders any touch/pressure to my arm excruciating.

So now, ever so gently draping a sheet over my arm is very painful. Pulling a t shirt on is ow-inspiring. A kind meaning touch of the forearm is extremely unwanted. Etc... I am hoping the painful aspects of this latest round leave town real soon as I am expecting a nice storm of fatigue to be blowing in over the next 12 hours or so.

No comments: