" escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!" he said, and it became a proverb, though now we say, out of the frying pan, into the fire. in the same sort of uncomfortable situations." from the hobbit, by j. j. tolkein

one chemotherapy session down, three to go! what was supposed to take three hours, ended up lasting six. one reason was that the chemotherapy nurse took it easy on me, and reduced the rate times on all the drugs i received today. the other being, they were terribly busy. i even had to share, though i did not mind, my room with someone. she got off easier than i did. she was only there for about an hour.

i do not have a port or a pic line. the doctor said since i have only four chemotherapy treatments( his assessment, not mine), that we can just do them straight IV unless my one good vein runs away. after today, it might just do that! i started off with a little normal saline, to hydrate me. then, they added a pepcid drip. this is usually used for stomach trouble, but it is technically an antihistamine, and is also used for allergic reactions.( hint, hint, the taxotere). then, i got a small bag of the decadron, which is a steroid and is also used to help prevent allergic reactions. next, was the aloxi. now, i had never heard of this drug. it is used to help prevent nausea, but it really stings as it goes in. last, but not least, was an IV push of benadryl. this usually puts people in la-la land, but i fought to stay awake  and alert, well, as alert as you can be with all of these  medications on board.

just as the nurse was getting ready to hang the dreaded taxotere, i asked her if it was preservative free. she said no, and i explained my sulfite preservative anaphylaxis to her. while she was on the phone to the hospital( i had a great nurse), i got my smart phone out and looked it up myself. it does not have sulfite preservatives, score one for me! what it did have, however, was a " black box warning". now if you are a pharmacist and you are dispensing a medication to a patient that has a " black box warning" you worry, a lot, and you definitely counsel the patient. if however, you are a pharmacist and you are RECEIVING a drug that has a " black box warning", you nearly pass out! a very small number of patients have had anaphylatic shock and died during the first few minutes of a taxotere drip. my nurse came back in, with an epi pen, no less, and told me that we were going to take this very slowly since i had never had it before. i never knew that i could hold my breath for so long! since i am here, writing this blog, we can all assume that this had a happy ending.

the last IV bag that i got was the cytoxan. here is where the " escaping goblins to be caught by wolves" part comes in. i had not worried one bit about this medication.i have dispensed the tablet form of this on many occasions, and it has been around for years.  they administered it slowly, which i was thankful for, but this drug causes( short term) extreme pressure in the sinuses, eyes, forehead,etc. think of the worst sinus headache that you have ever  had- bingo! long term, it can cause urinary tract infections from, well, you know where. i was drinking water like crazy because you have to flush it out of your system. it has a rather short half life, so it is very important to get on with the water before, during, and after chemotherapy- especially with this drug. the terrible " sinus infection" went away about 30 minutes after the treatment ended , thank goodness.

so i survived my first chemotherapy infusion. jeff was loyally by my side, and was very supportive. the nurse told me that the nausea, vomiting,etc, from the taxotere would happen on day 3 through day 7. i have zofran, which is a drug for nausea/vomiting, that i plan on taking every eight hours around the clock starting about thursday  night. tomorrow, i go back to get a neulasta injection. it stimulates the production of new white blood cells. this reduces the risk of serious infections. of course, this drug has side effects,too. i always tell my pharmacy patients  that they need to weigh the side effects of any drug against the health benefits. in the case of neulasta, it can cause extreme bone pain in some patients. my nurse told me that  taking aleve and zyrtec could possibly prevent or lessen these side effects. i understand how the aleve would help with bone pain, but i am not sure how or why an antihistamine( zyrtec) would help. i already take zyrtec for my allergies, so this is a moot point, i guess.


i like to have information about my health care. i feel more secure when i have knowledge about medications and their possible side effects. i would still get the treatments, of course, but knowing makes me less scared. and even if i escaped ( i may have to wait until friday to say that conclusively) a goblin only to be caught by a wolf, i feel that things went about as well as they could today.

thank you to all of my family and friends  who said prayers for me  and sent good wishes my way. i really appreciate each and every one. i hope that the information that i have provided may help someone else who is dealing with this health issue. and i sincerely hope that goblins and wolves can be avoided.