Pump Problem

It was another cold day today so I wore gloves and glad I did. My face was very red from the oxaliplatin I got yesterday. This is normal and usually goes away after a couple of days. It was a good visit, good exam report and short infusion then hooked back up to portable infusion pump for another 24 hours.

When I got into my car to leave, the pump started beeping constantly and I noticed it said "shutoff" on the display, so I went back inside and they checked it and re-set it. I hope that it doesn't happen around 3:00am overnight.

The steroids in the meds from yesterday first made me sleepy and I had a nap when I got home. Unable to drink (or even want) cold or room temp beverages, I had a coffee...well...I couldn't get to sleep until after 2:00am....learn from experience...no coffee after mid-day from now on.

My cough and post nasal drip is just about gone. I never filled the Flonase prescription, but the saline nasal spray seemed to work fine with the B-complex and folic acid.

I've accumulated a good sized "med package" that I pull out when I go to chemo now. It includes these items, but not all used each time/cycle :

Lidocaine

Bandages

Medical Tape

Gauze

Anti Nausea Meds

Nyacin Powder (for rashes)

Tom's of Maine drymouth anti-cavity mouthwash

Milk of Magnesia

Senecot

Stool softeners

Antibiotics for certain infections I've gotten.

Saline Nasal Spray

and other prescriptions that I haven't had to fill.

I've probably forgot about some of them too...chemofog syndrome most likely.

Cold and Windchills - 9th cycle continues

Today was the coldest day yet that I had to drive to my chemo treatments. It wasn't too bad driving there at 7:45am (about 35 degrees with a windchill that made it feel like 25 degrees). I wore a winter coat, sweater, warm shirt, undershirt and GLOVES.

Coming home I was shivering the whole way home and couldn't wait to put on an extra pair of socks and a heavy sweater, even though the heat was on and it was 77 degrees inside! The oxaliplatin is the worst chemo med in my opinion. Maybe in the near future they will have something that only kills the bad cells and not the good cells with it?

I came home, got warmer and decided to have a nap. Naps are your friend during chemo infusions. I'm hooked up to my infusion pump of 5-FU and will be going back tomorrow. Due to the numbness in my fingers, this is taking me a much longer time to type, so I'll keep it short and update later in the week.