I got an hour of a drug called melphalan on Monday. They prepped me with anti-nausea medicine and that buffered me for the beginning. But later though the day the waves of nausea just kept coming. So I took pills and got injections though my catheter. The weasiness was like being in a boat -- a tiny row boat that wobbles from side to side and had trouble keeping stable. I was feeling like my stomach had gone off for a ride on a roller coaster and was just sending me the feelings of the ups and downs. Yuck!
I have been trying to hang on to a steady middle of the road. And the only way to doo that for some big pieces of the day is to go to sleep. It's a bummer, but it is a well expected side effect of the melphalan. And it will continue until my blood cel counts fall down to really low levels. At that point, I am suppposed to have so little energy, that nausea will be beyond my reach. I will basically be a lump.
Today, I just messed up and didn't keep the anti-nausea meds at a sufficient level, so I was puking into a bucket midday. The nurse came over and hit me with the atavan right away and that allowed me to put a lid on it and crash out gain. Thank goodness. I just have to hang on until the counts drop. Supposedly the nausea fades then.
But there is nothing to do until we get to those days.
Yesterday I received my own blood stem cells back. That was day '0' and today is day '1'. By day 10, I should be recovered to a level that will let me go home. All I can say is that I hope that all works out. Today I just want to rest and avoid pukking again.
.. that's it for now..
From what I could read at National Cancer Institute, taking Melphalan means insurance said OK and experiment has begun?
ReplyDeleteDoes that also mean that previos treatment fell short of expectations and you opted for a more powerful weapons...?