Almost Round 7…

Two more to go, that’s the phrase that motivated me to head out the door for round 7 of chemo. I had my usual crew with me, my Mom and youngest sister. This appointment was a little earlier than the previous ones, so we had to head straight to the university medical center. Unfortunately, we had to satisfy our caffeine habits with impressionistic renditions of our favorite coffee drinks from the cafeteria.

I got my port accessed and had labs drawn like usual and then headed in to chat with my PA. That’s when I got a bit of startling news; my blood counts were too low to receive chemo. So I’d have to wait another week for my blood counts to recover enough for chemo. In hindsight, that probably explains why I have been so exhausted lately.

The PA then asked how things were going, so I went on to explain my recent trip to the ER and the subsequent trip to the doctor for a suspected UTI. I have also had a few bouts of pain in my chest that I chalked up to overdoing things. She was very thorough and recommended that we add a new long-acting three-day anti-nausea med to my pre-chemo cocktail. She also prescribed a steroid to get me past the first four days when I’ve ended up in the ER. With these new drugs, I should be able to stay hydrated and out of the ER.

Additionally, since my white blood cells decided to leave the party early, she is going to add in an injection to boost my white blood cell production. But wouldn’t you know it, the information about the chest pain and glucose in my urine triggered a few red flags with my PA. After a physical workup, it had been about 30 minutes, so I knew my Mom and sister were probably getting worried. Especially since these appointments usually take 10 minutes max.

Once I returned to the exam room with my crew, it was time to pee in a cup to see if I was still a glucose factory. Then after that adventure, my PA ordered an EKG to see why I was having random pains in my chest. The EKG looked ok, so that’s a positive sign.

Then I had to meet with the scheduling folks to register for a cardio stress test. I don’t think I’d do very well on a stress test without the whole ass cancer thing going on. So, I can’t even imagine how much fun an ass cancer-ridden, low blood count stress test is going to be. They had an opening the same day, but unfortunately, you cannot have caffeine 12 hours before the test, so the crappy cafe coffee saved me.

Anyway, I digress. Then I was off to get a chest x-ray to see if I had pneumonia, fluid around my heart or anything else that shouldn’t be in my chest.

I got most of the results back from the testing, and the urinalysis and chest x-rays had a few minor anomalies on them, but the doctor didn’t call and tell me to go directly to the ER. So, I’m assuming I’ll make it until my stress test in three days.

Usually, I’d be happy to get another week off in between chemo sessions, but I feel too crappy to enjoy the time. I’m exhausted and am at extreme risk of getting sick or an infection. So, I have to lay low at home and catch up on blog posts and stream mind-numbing shows. Oh But I guess there is nothing wrong with taking it easy, I’ll need to save up all my energy for my treadmill time on Tuesday.