Chemo, round 4, very tough morning - need reassurance

Erin · 04-23-2007, 02:21 PM

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and comments. I was starting to feel better but I had already called the onc and that sets a whole chain of events in motion.

Onc sent me to urgent care to check out my blood pressure, which was low, and went lower when standing. My heart rate climbed quite a bit each time I stood as well, so they are thinking I am a little dehydrated. Promised to keep drinking like a horse, so they let me go without an IV. I had been having a little problem with diarrehea over the last 24hours...but I guess it was more draining than I though.

Any truth to the rumor that the 4th round is the worst? That is something I have been hearing...hope it is true!

Thanks again for the support :-)

StephN · 04-23-2007, 03:08 PM

... the time when I passed out COLD at the breakfast table on my hubby's birthday on a Sunday. I was fighting mets and was getting both red and white blood cell support shots. But, the trial doses were high and needed reducing.

I awoke with the firemen trying to rouse me in my living room. I had really gone out for the time it took for my hubby to realize I was out cold, call the 911 and for the aid car to arrive. In the emergency, I was given an IV for hydration, they ran some quick labs and sent me to radiology for a brain CT to check for mets or seizure evidence.

The CT was clean (I was fearing brain mets!), and the labs showed a very low white count. SO low that the docs on duty decided to send me home rather than have me spend the night on the 7th floor with the other cancer patients! Like I was more at risk for getting a bad bug there, then going home to the bugs my body was used to. I was glad to be released with proviso that I get another blood test the next day at the cancer center. That test showed a marked increase in my white count as the neupogen drug just needed that much time to get back on track.

There were other times that I did feel dizzy and light headed, so that is NOT unusual and you are not alone on that. I am so happy you were able to go home. A lower blood pressure and increased heart rate plagued me all during my chemos. They are physiological side effects of your body trying to stay oxygenated while the red count is lowered. This also shall pass!

suzan w · 04-23-2007, 03:25 PM

So sorry that you are feeling crummy. I had a terrible time with A/C...every side effect in the book and then some. After the second infusion I developed a high fever and couldn't move. Ended up in the ER. Long story...bad ER (NOT the hospital where I was being treated...I am a ferry ride away from my doc and hospital and, of course it was in the middle of the night...Halloween eve...me, bald...looking like sh*%...scared one little girl there half to death! funny now, not at the time!)They sent me home after 4 hours of doing nothing. I went to my reg doctor the next AM and she was horrified that they had done nothing. She put me on heavy duty antibiotics and I skipped my next chemo. I was ready to call the chemo quits after that but did 2 more rounds, each one getting sicker and sicker. Eventually called it quits after 4 rounds...instead of 6. Looking back on it, I think I went into chemo with a slight infection of some sort that just got worse and worse. I am glad that I did the chemo, and have no doubt that I did the right thing by cutting it short. Hope you are feeling better and just know that some day you will look back on all of this and say, "Phew, what a long strange trip it's been...!!!"

Jean · 04-23-2007, 05:02 PM

Hi Erin,

Glad that your onc responded and you have everything under control once again. In regards to the rumor of the 4th being the worst....I found for me
that the 3rd trt. was the worst mid-way through....I was a bit concerned
about the 4th treatment. Turned out that it was not any worse than #3. As a matter of fact the 3rd was the hardest for me. The treatment is accumulative in nature and your wbc / rbc can take a nose dive.. I did have to have the shots for this.

Take a deep breath your rounding the bend and almost at the finish line. I realize it seems that this will never end - but it will. Wishing you the best.

Hugs,
jean

caya · 04-23-2007, 08:55 PM

Hi Erin

In Canada alot of us do - FEC ( 3 rounds), then Taxotere ( 3 rounds). I had my second of the 3 Taxotere last Thursday, and yesterday - Sunday, I was very dizzy, beyond exhaustion, very out of it. Hit me out of nowhere, I was so weak - it was me, my couch and the TV. I was also a bit nervous, but today I am much better, partly due I think to drinking more, although I am practically gagging on the liquid as my tastebuds are GONE, everything I can taste, especially water, is disgusting.

It's not easy, but we will get through it. My last chemo is May 10th (yippee!!), then my onc. wants me to have a month's break, have another MUGA and start Herceptin on June 7th.

Hope you feel better soon.

Caya

LisaElder1972 · 04-24-2007, 04:05 AM

So sorry that you are having a rough time.I had 4 DD AC and 4 DD Taxotere and I passed out on Halloween twice.Once on the concrete and again in a wheelchair once I got to the ER.My knee was cut bad and such a big chunk of it was gone that they couldn't even sew it up.I fell again on the same knee,opposite side 2 weeks ago,I am gonna need a new knee soon lol.I know the chemo just made me so weak I had to have someone with me 24/7.You will be done pretty soon and you will slowly get stronger.

Lisa