August 3 (Monday)... today was a little rough. I woke up with a rash where they entered my body for the procedure last week. I knew I would see the doctor before the chemo treatments so I let it go and got ready to leave.
My mom had her own doctor’s appointment so she stayed home and Henry took me to mine. I am back to not driving this week due to last week procedure. When I arrived for my appointment, I found out Dr. Drengler was out of town and I would be seeing NP Wendi instead.
The nurse also had trouble finding a vein when trying to set up IV for the day and draw blood for labs. This has never happened to me. I have always had beautiful veins that are easy to find and share my life giving blood. Now I am forced to sit back in a chair and pray they find any place on my arm or hand. For those of you who suffer from this problem, I am so sorry this happens to you. I also pray that my veins can repair themselves. Through it all, I tried to remain patient as I do not blame the nurse today for not being able to be successful on the first attempt. Eventually, she found the spot on the arm I had originally asked her to try and we were back on track.
As you can imagine I was a little frustrated and I then moved to the exam room to wait for NP. If you have been following my story from the beginning, you know that I have had to come to terms with my respect and patience with NP. Today I realized she was trying to help as best she could under the circumstances.
She listened to my frustration over the IV. When I suggested I might be ready for a port, she told me she would need to clear this with Dr. Drengler when he returned. This means I will have to go through this week being stuck again each day.
Then I talked with her about the rash that had only become worse over the last couple of hours. She examined the area and determined it was a reaction to the adhesive on the bandage. I have never had a reaction to tape or adhesive. However, she insisted it was the shape of a bandage. She encouraged me to take Benadryl when I got home and she would order a topical cream as well. Then off I am sent to start my third round of chemo.
I blame myself a little bit here. I should have been more firm. I could have even insisted on seeing an on call doctor but I wanted to get on with chemo so I left NP behind and continued to chemo. I did tell Nurse D for the day about my concerns and she told me that we would take things slow and watch for any further reactions.
All was well for the first hour. Then I started noticing my arm turning a slight shade of pink above the IV line. When I pointed it out to Nurse Diane, she said I should avoid scratching. <SIGH> I don’t think I was scratching. Then fifteen minutes later the arm is completely pink down to my knuckles which were bright red. Before I can get the attention of the nurse my other arm is also affected. She says that we should stop the chemo but it probably is not related one to the other. Maybe the chemo just caused the earlier reaction to flare up.
Regardless of what caused what ... I would need to stop treatment until a determination was made on what to do. This meant contacting NP. Her answer was to prescribe Benadryl and Pepcid. By the time Nurse Diane had these meds ready, the redness had spread to my neck. Sweet Jesus, help me! I was not in pain or discomfort. I would not have known the redness had gone to my throat if she had not told me. Although I had felt my neck grow warm. I know she was afraid for the worst. I just tried to stay calm but I also remained frustrated because this concern and treatment should have happened before I even had the chemo treatment. Do I dare to say hindsight is 20/20?
It took over an hour to gain control of the situation. I am not quite sure how the reaction to my groin area affected the other reaction in my arms and neck. The area in my groin still remained a blotchy rash and itchy. The most frustrating part is no one knows why any of it happened. I sit here at home now and still have the problem in my groin area. In the morning, I will need to decide how I can find a doctor to listen to me.
The medicine given was enough to convince the nurse that I could proceed. I was glad to make it through the chemo without further reaction. Needless to say, I did not stay around and chitchat. I was out the door running.
I felt terrible for Nancy, who arrived to pick me up and had to wait outside in the parking lot for an additional two hours. However, she was kind enough to wait. I was glad to be home. But also wired and trying to be patient...not doing a good job! It did not help that my mom had her own frustrating day with doctors. She had a 10am appointment that was pushed aside for most of the day. She was eventually listened to and prescribed an antibiotic. Please pray for her to be well soon.
Thankfully, we had pizzas delivered to us tonight courtesy of one of my prayer warriors we have never even met! A big thank you to the pastors at Sandy and Cheri church. Lyn read my blog and wanted to help. So kind and generous.
Reflecting on the day, things could have been worse. My frustration comes from lack of control in the situation and not being listened to on how my body feels. Please pray that the next two days we can figure out the problem. I don’t just want a cover up or band-aid fix. I want to know what is causing the reaction. What changed from the time I was at the radiation treatment?
Thanks for reading my updates. Sorry this one is so long. So glad we can continue to pray for each other!!! God bless you!!
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